50 Things to Do This Weekend

Bored? Burned out? Sick of your routine? Here's a list of 50 things you might do this weekend to shake things up. Don't blame us if you don't like the consequences; it's your choice to do any of these things, and we take no responsibility for the consequences (unless they're happy consequences that garner us fame and fortune). Brace yourself, 'cuz here they are:

1. Go back to playing a video game you never managed to finish.

2. Buy and read the most obscure-looking comic you can find at your LCS.

3. Cook dinner. Like, with real ingredients. I.e. not Easy Mac.

4. Call up one of your relatives just for the heck of it.

5. Invent a theme song for yourself and hum it every time you go outside.

6. Draw a picture of the most awesome weapon you can think of. Bonus points for ASCII art.

7. Teach yourself a totally pointless party trick.

8. Imagine that somebody is going to make a movie about your life and write up a list of which actors you would want them to cast for all the most important roles.

9. Shave.

10. Start with reading one random Wikipedia article and keep following links until you end up at the article about Kevin Bacon. In theory, this should take no more than six clicks, but some people may never get there.

11. Pick out three words from the dictionary and find every excuse to use them as often as possible this weekend.

12. Write a computer program that tells you you're awesome.

13. Peruse our sidebar and click on one of the links you've never visited before. This includes checking out the profile of any one of our Loyal Minions (thank you, Loyal Minions, for being loyal and miniony).

14. Become one of our loyal minions and join our Facebook group.

15. Give a dollar to the first person you see after reading this post. Or a quarter, if you're cheap.

16. Read The Time Traveler's Wife. Alternately, buy a box of tissues and then read The Time Traveler's Wife.

18. Watch a movie you know and love in a different language than usual.

19. Create blueprints for your ideal home/villain's lair.

20. Listen to all the tracks of a CD you like in reverse order.

21. Check the oil and other important fluid levels in your car. If you don't have a car, check someone else's. With permission, of course.

22. Start up a blog.

23. Leave a coherent and relevant comment on any of the posts we've ever done. Coherent is key, as is relevant.

24. Spend your entire day impersonating other people when you speak, changing voices whenever you get tired of the one you're using.

25. Arrange all the silverware you own to spell out a message--but you have to use everything.

26. Attend some event happening in your community, such as a school play or a local band's performance at a nearby coffee house.

27. Using nametag stickers or whatever else strikes your fancy, create medals of achievement for yourself every time you do something remotely productive ("I took a shower!") and wear them proudly around the house.

28. Write the ugliest poem you can possibly come up with.

29. Hold a staring contest with an object of your choice.

30. Gather a group of friends for a big lightsaber battle.

31. Do a marathon of some kind--watch an entire movie trilogy back-to-back; try to play through a whole video game series in a day; read every book an author of your choice has ever written, in sequential order; etc.

32. Enter a submission for a contest or two. Or three!

33. Create something with the sole purpose of destroying it. Lego kits and SimCities come recommended. Romantic relationships are discouraged here.

34. Try out a new hobby or learn a new skill, such as gardening, sewing, or responding to e-mails in a timely fashion.

35. Whether it's from a religious service, a podcast, a news article, a conversation, or other source, pick out one meaningful message you hear this weekend and find a way to apply it to your life this week. We're not picky--"Be excellent to each other" is just fine, as is "For the love of Wesley Snipes, do your taxes already!"

36. Spend at least 15 minutes listening to a genre of music that you never listen to. Don't hesitate to do something else while you're listening.

37. Invent a joke, and tell it to somebody.

38. Keep a tally of how many times you hear anybody say the word "um," including yourself.

39. The next time you need to go somewhere, take a totally different route. (Note: Getting to the bathroom by breaking down the wall doesn't count, Hulk.)

40. Find any sort of "100 Things To Do Before You Die" list and do one that you've never done before.

41. Go online and discover the price of the single most expensive piece of geek memorabilia you can find. Calculate how long it would take you to save up enough money to buy it. Cry.

42. Figure out what happened to #17.

43. Strike up a conversation with a waitress, bus driver, cashier, bank teller, or anybody else with whom you aren't obligated to converse.

44. Without the aid of any outside help, complete a crossword puzzle/beat an adventure game/solve a Rubik's Cube/etc.

45. Make a video recording of something and put it online. Adding audio commentary couldn't hurt; all the cool people are doing it.

46. Write a letter expressing some kind of appreciation to a person or organization you appreciate. Seriously, it's amazing how much of an impact a kind letter can make, and who knows? Maybe a company will send you free stuff for being an appreciative consumer.

47. Read Watchmen. Or reread Watchmen. Or rereread Watchmen.

48. Recreate a notable historical event using a creative medium: an origami Battle of Gettysburg, or the Apollo 11 moon landing made out of pancakes and maple syrup. Okay, so maybe origami is a stretch.

49. Catch up on all of our blog posts that you've missed.

50. Accept that it's 2:52 AM and realize that you should stop blogging and go to sleep.