I've got a month of spare time to kill.

November 16, 2005 2:58 PM

I've got a month of spare time to kill.

My semester ends shortly before Christmas and school doesn't start up again until the end of January. I have a work-study job on campus that fills in the blanks during my school week and pays the bills, but I won't be working over break since the school is closed, and there isn't much of a job market here for those who only want to work for four weeks. My live-in boyfriend will be working full-time during the month, so I will be stuck at home. Thusly, I have nothing to do for approximately a month. Normally, I don't have any spare time to myself, so I'm worried that I'll drive myself insane with boredom!

I don't want to travel because the boyfriend and I are planning a trip to Gettysburg for spring break, so I'm trying to save. I was contemplating volunteering over the holidays, but that would require gas money which I won't be earning at that moment. I could also get to work and read a ton of books that I've been saying I would for a long time. I could do a bit of work out of my home from the computer with my bit of tech "skill", if anyone has any suggestions for that. I'm looking for suggestions on fun, fulfilling projects I can do to fill the month while pretty much snowed in and limited to staying in my city.

(Am checking out this link as well)

posted by sian to sports, hobbies, & recreation (15 comments total)

I highly recommend you take a look at this book (and the website!).

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posted by Independent Scholarship at 3:14 PM on November 16, 2005

Perhaps a creative endeavor? Do you play an instrument? Maybe take one up. Or do some writing or painting.
posted by ludwig_van at 3:19 PM on November 16, 2005

Can you find a winter internship in your city?
posted by necessitas at 3:26 PM on November 16, 2005

Or maybe find a volunteer/intern position that you can do from home? Check idealist.
posted by necessitas at 3:27 PM on November 16, 2005

A lot of malls hire people to wrap holiday gifts around this time of the year. You might try that.
posted by Trinkers at 4:00 PM on November 16, 2005

Is there transit where you are? Because a lot of volunteer gigs will offer free transit tokens to get you there and home again. It's not as convenient as driving the car, but it'd save you the gas money angle.
posted by jacquilynne at 4:49 PM on November 16, 2005

Most people I know who are older and working would give their left arm to have a month to do whatever they wanted to do. And would not see it as killing time, but living time. the kingdom of life is within you, so even to spend the time spending time with yourself might be fascinating. But metaphors like spending and killing time might be worth looking at and rethinking the idea of your life and relationship with time. You could cook. You could explore in depth some area of interest. You could write. Go for walks. Lie in bed and do nothing. Or do whatever you want to do. What a great opportunity. Good luck, Lucky Sian.
posted by madstop1 at 5:00 PM on November 16, 2005

I laughed when I read the old thread. Everybody agrees around one proper answer which is... LaTeX?

I'm in a similar position, starting a graduate in January. I will hopefully travel some, but first I'll get all my stuff sorted up and in order. For me it doesn't get done properly unless time is abundant. If there are free evening courses where you live, maybe take a short one on a subject you've never touched before. It's good if you want to meet some new people too. Definitely read all the books. Start exercising. Borrow movies from a library and work your way through one of the 100-best-films-ever lists.
posted by springload at 5:04 PM on November 16, 2005

Most people I know who are older and working would give their left arm to have a month to do whatever they wanted to do.

ah, it's the eternal paradox. Free time and no money, or no free time and money to burn.
posted by fishfucker at 5:10 PM on November 16, 2005

This is a gift.

At the same time, don't feel you HAVE to do anything. It's a gift. Take it. Enjoy it. Make sure you include doing something that will get you out of the house, and make sure you exercise a bit every day.
posted by xammerboy at 5:20 PM on November 16, 2005

My big plan for six (!) weeks of winter break is to read all the books that I've been meaning to, conquer the video games that I never have time for, watch a bunch of movies, take the dog for longer walks...basically just enjoy it. You don't get this kind of break forever....might as well relax and appreciate it.
posted by youcancallmeal at 7:17 PM on November 16, 2005

I'm so jealous. Learn spanish. You can use it over the biggest portion of the world (after english) when you do travel, and you'll get so much more out of intl travel if you can connect through native language.
posted by kaestle at 7:56 PM on November 16, 2005

Back in 1994, I took a simliar period to relax and goof around ... went to the park, read books, went to art galleries. It was an enormously valuable period, but not for the reasons you might think. What I found was that I lost a huge amount of time (80%) NOT doing the above things but instead lazing around watching teevee or dorking around on the new computer (in the days when the internet was just starting to explode, just before the web caught fire). And so what I learned from that period is that I needed to have more structure in my life to get things done. In my case, that means a day job that limits how much free time I have, and more importantly forces me out of bed and into the world every morning.

A few years later I discovered voice note recorders, and a few more years later discovered a Palm PDA, and haven't looked back. Breaks are for chumps :)

But I don't ever find myself making time to read books like I used to. I think I can blame Matt Haughey et al for that though.
posted by intermod at 8:01 PM on November 16, 2005

There are a lot of people who feel that a month is long enough to learn anything (at least at a basic level), and I tend to agree. If you like music but don't play an instrument, a month is plenty of time to learn how to play guitar. You can teach yourself to juggle. There is a key to this, however.

Whatever you want to learn, spend 30-60 minutes a day doing it, EVERY DAY. Now 30 minutes isn't a long time, but if you do it every day for a month you will learn more than you thought you could.

Do you like websites? You could teach yourself how to write html, css, and basic PHP in a month. Ever wanted to learn to paint? Get a Bob Ross video and start painting.

The best thing about spending 30 minutes a day is that you can learn several different things over the course of a month.

If I was in your place, here's what I would do: I would try to learn 3 things, one of them a hobby, such as playing the guitar, one of them something productive, such as cooking, and one thing that is not really practical, but a fun thing to bring out at parties, such as juggling. It may seem a little like you are in school, but these are skills you will keep with you for the rest of your life. This will also take you less than 2 hours a day, so you still have plenty of time to waste doing whatever else you want.
posted by markblasco at 9:45 PM on November 16, 2005

This all seems to hinge on what city you're in. According to your profile you're in AK which, I was unsure (Arkansas v. Alaska), according to Google means Alaska.

I would take up with some activist cause, there's a lot that's going to be going down up your way pretty soon -- check out the New York Times' series on the arctic on the sidebar at http://www.nytimes.com/pages/science/earth/ -- especially global warming problems. It might be good to get involved in dealing with that and help save your part of the world and, you know, the rest of us down here in the continentals that're gonna be flooded when you melt down.
posted by ryrivard at 2:17 AM on November 17, 2005