Boredom, The Other Little Death

[Philip Overby]

I'm bored. Cure my boredom, oh Clerics of the Interweb.

I've been having lots of sleepless nights recently because I'm off work for a couple of more weeks. Staying up until 7 am or some such. Does anyone know of some internet places to find interesting stuff for those wee hours of the morning? It can be educational, stupid, or whatever. Preferably writing related if possible (i.e. good blogs, sites for stories, etc.)

I have lots and lots of stories I'm working on, but sometimes I need a break. I usually go to my Kindle for reading, but anywhere else that's cool I'm happy to check out.

 

[Ravana]

Go to Wikipedia, pick something you're interested in, and start following the links to related topics. Or scroll down to the reference links and check those out. Or, better, look up something you know might be relevant to your writing, but which you haven't ever looked into before… my recent searches include textiles, dyes, and horses. Or pick some of the stories on the home page–whether they fall into your normal interests or not–from the "Did you know…?" or "On this Day…" lists. No, Wikipedia isn't the "best" reference work (never, ever cite it in an academic paper), but it's a great starting point.

That's my "cure": when in doubt… learn something.

 

[Leuco]

Here are my favorite sites to kill time.

1. reddit is a website where folks share everything and anything. Think of it as the unfiltered tumblr. Lots of gifs, lots of conversation, lots of pictures and links.

2. smashwords.com has a lot of free downloads of ebooks- no apps required.

3. Here you can watch old X-Men cartoons from the 90's. Watch '90s X-Men Animated Ep. 7 for Free | X-Men | Movie & TV News | News | Marvel.com

4. ebay.com window shopping (don't bid or you'll be sorry!)

5. And of course youtube for obscure music, or nostalgic videos

My advice, however, is find a good (physical) book to read.

 

[Fnord]

Dwarf Fortress.

 

[Xanados]

I've got a...mild case of insomnia. I used to go to College with no sleep at all. MAN UP

 

[Philip Overby]

Well, I went to Tokyo last night and got drunk so I slept like a baby last night. So insomnia is now cured.

Thanks for everyone giving some thoughts. Now I'm going to go check out this Dwarf Fortress.