Pointless but fun things to do

Originally published on: 22/02/2011 (my birthday again)

Exploring places with Google Maps’ street view

My latest addiction. It’s like playing a racing game on your computer, except that you’re moving much slower. Also, there’s no one to overtake and no pedestrians to hit :(

Making annoying noises

This is fun in general, but especially so in boring classes. Students get distracted and annoyed, so teachers get distracted and annoyed, and there’s general confusion, so at least you’re not falling asleep. I love the popping sound Donkey (in Shrek 2) makes with his mouth, right after “Are we there yet?”. It’s contagious – you start and everyone else tries it too. Repeatedly opening and closing creaky doors so as to make the loudest creaks is also pretty wonderful. However, I’ve found that what annoys people (especially my teachers in school) more than anything else is the clicking of those pens which require you to press the back to make the nib come out.

Cursing Shakespeare

He might have been a genius, if you want to call him that, but when you have to study his work year after year, it gets to you! So it helps sometimes to argue about how overrated he is (and, consequently, gush about how awesome the Reduced Shakespeare Company is)

Spell check

For people like me, spotting errors in spelling comes naturally. I try hard to restrain myself from always pointing them out, but it’s satisfying to do so and get the necessary changes made (not to make myself feel smug but because spelling mistakes make me uncomfortable)

Isn’t it ironic?

One of the most fun things to do if you’re just a teeny weeny bit sadistic is point out when someone says something is ironic but it actually isn’t. In my experience, the ratio of people who use “irony” or “ironic” correctly to people who use it in all the wrong contexts is about 1:13

Scribbling on walls with big pencils

This is a little hard to do when you’re living with your parents and no longer 2 years old because they tend to get upset. The best you can do is try and get them to join you and discover how much fun it can be.

Playing with balloons

Dribbling a balloon against the wall to see how long you can keep it up may sound like a stupid thing to do, but it’s unbelievably addictive. Another alternative is tossing it into the air and not letting it touch the ground. It’s equally fun, but not as challenging.

Paper rockets

Making them is fun, and flying them is even better. I got into a spot of trouble in high school for flying one in class because it almost hit the teacher, but it was worth it. Paper boats are fun too, but only if you have water to float them on.

Hey, that’s a song!

Anyone who loves music enough will understand the kick one gets out of recognizing something someone says as lyrics to a song. For me it happens all the time :)

Calling people Ignoramus.

Best insult ever. You don’t need to censor it, it’s relevant in a lot of situations, and the best thing about using it is that most of the time, the victim’s response is “What?” :D :D :D :D

I couldn’t think of anything to draw for this post so I wanted to put up a few photos and links to make it more interesting, but I’d rather not do that right now with my limited knowledge of copyright laws. I just started the blog and I would NOT enjoy getting sued.