nonaa.org

What to do when bored

Overview

Find activity by keyword

Suggestions: 1 - 25

Suggestions: 26 - 50

Suggestions: 51 - 75

Recommended

Books

Suggestions: 1 - 25

1. Prepare for a marathon

Even if you jog frequently, running a marathon is not something you can do without preparation. You need to check your physical health, buy the right shoes, slowly step up training, and prepare mentally. For marathon preparation check out these web sites:
State of the Art Marathon Training   The New York Marathon

2. Build a model plane, model boat, model car

Building scale models is more than child's play. In fact, if you want to drive it to the extreme, you can turn yourself into an aviation, naval or automotive engineer and design, draw and construct your own scale models.  And then you have to learn how to fly or drive your model via remote control. Its not easy! The best place to start your new scale model hobby is: Tower Hobbies: R/C Models

3. Investigate your ancestors, build a family tree

Have you ever wondered where your family came from? The Internet provides impressive new tools and web sites to find out everything you can about your ancestors.
Ancestry.com

4. Get yourself a dog and train it

If you are fed up with everyone, get yourself a dog! A dog can be your best friend. It is more challenging than you think to train a dog and take proper care of it. Don't buy one of those neurotic pedigree dogs with crippled legs, oversized eyes, or absurdly long ears. There are thousands abandoned dogs in animal shelters that just wait for someone who would take care of them.
AnimalShelters.org

5. Built a kite with your son or daughter

Of course you can buy a kite kit for a few dollars. But this is half the fun. Built your own kite from scratch! All you need are two sticks, a long string, some paper or plastic sheets, and a little glue. You can learn a lot about mechanical construction and aerodynamics. If you have talent you may end up with some truly spectacular designs (see below).
How to built your own kite   Kite builder plans  
Wikipedia: Kites   List of Kite books

6. Collect antiques from yard sales

It can be great fun to buy some old painting in a yard sale and then get it apprised at a few thousand dollars at "Antiques Roadshow". You don't have to be an antiques specialist to find the "gold nugget" in all the trash. Follow your gut feeling! If you have the talent you will see what could be valuable:
Antiques Roadshow

7. Visit all public parks in your area

If you like to hike look for new trails in all the public parks in your area. All major metropolitan areas have great parks to visit. In some of these parks spectacular landscapes have been created. Relax and recharge your batteries in their soothing environment. Here are some of the greatest public parks ever created:

8. Read a murder mystery or thriller

Are you fed up with those TV shows or movies that are interrupted 5,000 times for some stupid ads, which you have seen already 10,000 times? Read a book! You can read it uninterrupted as long as you want. I have spent whole nights reading a book which I could not put down. Nothing is more relaxing on a boring commute than a good book! You can find the top-100 thrillers of all time at:
addictivebooks.com

9. Learn a foreign language

There are few things more useful in life than to speak foreign languages. If English is you native tongue you are privileged, because you can get away with being linguistically ignorant. Everyone else, including a few hundred million Chinese, are learning English - or some other foreign language. The best way to learn a foreign language is to start with an intense interactive language training and then spend some time living in the foreign country (having a friend who only speaks the foreign language makes it even easier). Here are some products you might use to learn Chinese:
china-profile.com  
Rosetta Stone: Chinese (Mandarin) - Level 1

10. If you have musical talent join a band, orchestra or choir

Making music together is a great experience. Most colleges and universities have their own bands, orchestras or choirs. The Harvard University Choir, for instance, has provided a unique opportunity for student singers to perform choral literature at the highest level for 170 years. But there are many other opportunities.
Harvard University Choir

11. Buy an old car or motorbike and restore it

When I was 18 I just had to have a motor bike. Ignoring the panic of my parents I bought an old BMW 250cc, 1 cylinder. Those who know these machines can appreciate what I mean when I say it was a "brain rattler". The upright one cylinder vibrated the bike so much that you thought you had ants in your hands after driving half an hour. I spent about 6 months taking the machine apart and building it up again. Then I drove it about 3 times - the last time I got nearly killed by a truck. But it was a great experience and I enjoyed it tremendously.
Harley Davidson  BMW Bikes  Kawasaki Bikes  Nostalgic Bikes

12. Learn how to sew or crochet

People who know will tell you that few things can calm you down better than crocheting. Once you know how to do it, your hands will move automatically. Its one of the most soothing activities possible. And in addition, you can crochet all kinds of things for birthdays or Christmas. 
Learn how to crochet

13. Build robots

For those who like to "tinker around", building robots is a fantastic hobby. It requires skills in mechanical engineering and construction, electronics and computer programming. You can start with a simple "line-follower" or "wall-hugger" or build yourself a "smart six-legged crawler". There is no limit to your technical creativity - you can set it up all the way to "self-balancing" humanoids. There are hundreds of robot web sites, but these are some of the best: 
Parallax   Lynxmotion   Lego Robots   Microsoft Robotics Studio

14. Learn how to make a web page

Are you frustrated with blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites? Create your own web site the way you want! If you know the basics of html its actually quite easy. For starters, you should learn something about html. 
Basic html tutorial  
Free CK Editor  
Wikipedia: All about html  
Wikipedia: html5 - the new standard

15. Visit all art museums in your city (or state)

Didn't you always want to learn a bit more about painting and sculpture. Get off the couch and visit the nearest art museum! Its more fun than you think. Even if you don't like the paintings or modern art installations, you can always watch the other visitors or visit the museum's coffee shop. During the week entrance to many art museums is free of charge. (For single men: You will frequently find the hottest chicks in art museums.)

16. Write a diary

I know! I know! You are saying diary writing is so out of tune with our time. Really? Or is it just that more and more people are half-illiterates - barely able to thumb short messages on their BlackBerry? In my mind there is no doubt that the "messaging culture" has deprived a generation of basic writing skills. I am not talking about literature! I am just pointing out that fewer and fewer people can write down what they have experienced during a day in coherent sentences. Our "western" culture is falling apart as a privileged few are trained in ivory league schools and universities to express themselves, while the masses have become speechless zombies being spoon-fed popular nonsense on TV and by commercial Internet Services. Let me give you a good advice: Buy yourself a nice, small booklet and just write down what you have experienced during the day. Don't force yourself to do it every day, but make sure you do it at least once a week. You can write about whatever you want - the people you have met, the kind of food you liked, the music you have listened to, new ideas or deep philosophical thoughts. What is most important: Don't censor yourself! Just write down whatever pops into your head. I can promise you will be surprised and thrilled when you read this stuff 10 years later!

Some of the most famous scientists, writers, and politicians have kept diaries - often throughout their lives: Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) who wrote "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", Franz Kafka, or Virginia Woolf (documenting each day in her life). Famous politicians who wrote diaries include the Presidents George Washington, John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Harry S Truman. One of the earliest diary known was written by Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), an ordinary merchant whose diary gives interesting insights into 17th century life. Probably the most famous diary is Anne Frank's. Below are a few examples of great diaries.

Famous Diaries   The Diary Junction

17. Write, design, print, and bind your own book

You can get one of those online books where you upload photos and text and they send you back a small booklet. However, you can also hand-craft your own book with a solid leather cover and sewn pages. You can document and illustrate the story of your own life, of your parents, or someone else. You can produce a very small number of copies, hand-sign each and give it away as a birthday present or keep it on your bookshelf to brag about. If you have a little artistic talent you can produce a really nice book that could be in your family for generations. Of course, you can also use a commercial book binding service to get professional results.
Book binding sources  
Easily make your own book  
How-to-Instructions  
Wikipedia: Bookbinding

18. Build a Gingerbread House

Christmas is coming. Why not build yourself a nice gingerbread house? Its a nice tradition and you can involve your whole family - and in a few weeks you can eat it all up. There is no shortage in recipes and construction plans. You can build a small cottage, a haunted house or an impressive castle. See the links below!
Gingerbread House Recipe Instructions  
Building a Gingerbread House  
Unusual Constructions: Fractal Gingerbread House  
Patterns for unusual Gingerbread Houses
Haunted Gingerbread House

19. Build a Nonsense Art Machine

For those who have engineering and art talent it is a great project to build a nonsense machine! Below are a few examples. All you need is trash, tools, and fantasy.

20. Take a evening course in (Photoshop) photo editing

Tired of looking at your lousy photos? Spice them up with Photoshop or some other image editing software. It is absolutely amazing what you can do with a bad photo if you know how to do it.
Photo editing tutorials

21. Make your own marmalades, jellies and jams

Have you ever tasted a home-made apricot, raspberry, cumquat or orange marmalade? It has nothing to do with the sugary stuff you get in the supermarket! Factory-made marmalade is usually full of corn syrup, sugar or artificial sweeteners and all kinds of additives for preservation, coloring and consistency - not to speak about the fact that it is always made of processed fruit pulp, which comes in big containers. I have never seen factory-made marmalade that was produced from freshly harvested fruits. On a weekend trip, pick your own berries on a farm and cook your own marmalade. You can create hundreds of varieties and combinations. For ideas, check out the following web sites:
www.staindl.at (Best Marmalades in Europe)
What is the difference between marmalade, jelly and jam
How to make orange marmalade
The Book of Marmalade

22. Breed butterflies or giant moths

Breeding butterflies or giant moths is a beautiful hobby. You can buy breeding kits and larvae over the Internet.
Equipment for breeding butterflies
The Entomological Livestock Group, UK
Butterfly and moth photos
Catalog: Butterfly breeding kits

23. Cultivate rare succulent plants and cactuses

Succulents and cactuses are some of the most fascinating plants, which you can cultivate in a small greenhouse, your apartment window, or your garden. Succulent plants, also known as succulents or fat plants, are water-retaining plants adapted to arid climates or soil conditions. Succulent plants store water in their leaves, stems, and also in roots. Succulents are booming in popularity for two reasons: they are beautiful and nearly indestructible.

Wikipedia: Succulent plants
About.com: How to grow succulent plants?
eHow: How to grow cactuses and succulent plants

24. Brew your own beer

Home-brew beer has become a hot item in recent years. Many beer drinkers have found out that the usual can of "Bud" is just a tasteless waste of money. There are a few brands that deliver more tasty beer, but the real thing is to brew it yourself. It is easier than you think! But you need some experimenting. Check out the following web sites:
The How to brew your own beer magazine
wikiHow: How to brew your own beer
Home brewing equipment

25. Solve the New York Times crossword puzzle

This will surely keep you occupied for a while. The NYT crossword puzzle is famous for its witty clues and shrewd answers. There is a huge community of fans (see: Wikipedia). Don't despair, if you can't solve it the first time.
Historical NYT crossword puzzles
Download: Across Lite 2.0 Crosswords software
Wikipedia: The New York Times Crossword Puzzle

Copyright © 2010, 2011, 2012 by nonaa.org. All rights reserved.

Updated: 30 March 2012