I’m unemployed and that phone doesn’t ring, I have some much free time but I’m anti social… So I stay at home almost all day and only go out if I need to buy something or an interview comes up. Aside the house chores and videogames I don’t do anything else.
What you do when you have lots of free time?
Edit: I forgot I’m online studying for a driving license, but is so boring I forgot I was doing that.
I was unemployed for a bit, and also underemployed at various points in my life
Hiking/running/swimming is a great way to pass time. Looking for new spots to do these things, taking note of nearby restaurants and other things. Planning larger trips based on what I find. Sometimes just setting aside an hour for no purpose other than to walk by some shops or other parts of town I’m not familiar with.
Volunteering is good and also can help when applying for jobs just by the merit of giving you something to fill the time with. I’ve done trail cleanups, tabling, soup kitchen type stuff. Did some work with a mental health hotline.
It really all depends on your circumstances and what you want to get out of your time moving forward, you know?
Overthink everything.
Not that I don’t do it otherwise, but in this case it doesn’t impact anything else… maybe besides my sanity.And stuff like doing backups and updates. I use HDD, btw. Takes plenty of time.
Become overwhelmed and do nothing. This was not a problem prior to having children though. In the before time I’d go train in martial arts, video games with friends, etc.
I am trying to get back into the groove of working on pet projects, to further fill out my portfolio. I’m a software engineer, and the last 6 years have been spent working on proprietary codebases. So, I figure it’s a good idea to come up with more ways to show my chops.
So what are you working on exactly?
I have a few projects I dabble in with a bit of rotation.
I want to start a new one, building out a CLI specifically for LaserDisc collection tracking and organization.
How would that work? More automatic or manual input? Those are the bigger CDS right? You have a machine to just put them in and your program reads out the data you need to categorise it? Or is it a Web crawler for publicly available information?
The idea (without having drawn out a tech design yet) is that first and foremost it serves as a search engine. I want to use the lddb search engine, however I don’t believe they have an API so I’d have to scrape the results.
You can hand input search terms, or you can use a barcode scanner and scan the UPC. If you’re like me and you use QR code stickers to catalogue your collection, you can also scan those with the right gun.
Results pop up. Then you have the option to save it to your collection, if it already isn’t. If it is already in your collection, you may have other meta data available such as watch count incrementing, a “loaned to X” flag, notes, etc.
Initially the database would be a simple, local Sqlite db that can be backed up. Later I could add some more connectivity options, for remote dbs.
Those are the bigger CDS right?
From outward appearances, but it’s different technology. LD is actually analog.
Buy a Kindle and read books.
I have my fill of reading with this place. Plus it teaches me English.
Reading online comments and reading a book might technically be the same action, but trust me it’s really not comparable. Books are also a great way to practice English. It’s basically how I got to my level despite never having studied for tests.
Fuck Kindle. Get a Kobo! They are way better value for money, particularly if you like to pirate your books
Pirating books on a Kindle is trivial as well.
Some things I do:
- Read a book
- Learn/practice a language
- Go cycling or hiking through nature
- Take the train to a city or town I haven’t been to before and explore
There are a lot of hobbies you can get into that can be started with little or not cost, or with equipment/materials you already own.
Figure out what interests you and see what can be done inexpensively.
With a phone or computer, there’s writing, music, programming, learning new skills, Wikipedia, Pinterest, et al. Maybe take your phone and start photographing stuff in your area that interests you.
Find someone who has experience in an area you’re interested in. People tend to like to talk about their hobbies and interests and they can tell you how easy or difficult it is to get started. They might even be able to help you get started.
Maybe find a volunteer opportunity that helps pad your resume. Like animals? Volunteer at a local shelter.
There are a bunch of job certifications you can train for online that can also help build your resume.
I don’t like animals and I honestly don’t care about other people tbh volunteer isn’t for me. Also usually does not pay. I can’t waste time like that. I’m poor low class we usually don’t do any of that.
I’m an immigrant in a small town in Italy. So majority of the stuff here is more I would say middle class shit, and exploring has always been lame for me.
Ah, now it makes sense. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen you before, with a post about how can one plan to live alone for the rest of their life, or something to that effect, and it was exactly like this.
Seriously, I think you should not only consider, but also just straight out start therapy. And you should start it pronto. I’m sure Italy has a more or less accommodating welfare system that makes this possible. Takes jumping through a few loops likely, but my man, you seem miserable and it makes me sad to see anyone live with a mind like this. Life could, and should, be as tolerable as possible, if not even nice. I realize you are in a mental state where this sounds unrealistic or just out right hopeless dreaming, but I’m telling you, if you are in a western Europe country and have access to internet and basic utilities, you already have all it takes to make you happy. The rest of it is just improving mental health and attitude.
Best of luck, though I expect you won’t even consider any of this and will just continue taking the easy road of ignorance and giving up. And that’s fine, it’s your prerogative. But I truly hope you find some help and people around you to get you through this rut.
Sigh
You were asking for suggestions of activities to spend your “free” time on, and then dismissed suggestions because they don’t pay.
You also dismissed some other great suggestion completely, like programming and making art, drawing, composting etc.
Assuming your game interests aren’t strictly limited to Call of Duty and FIFA, you might be interested in making games and game related art, like pixel art, 3D models, chiptune music, etc. There’s tons of free tools for creating those and practically unlimited resources to learn from.I never asked for advice, I asked what are YOU doing
Ok, I guess you’re technically right; you didn’t, in fact, ask for suggestions. But your post heavily implies that you are. Because why else would you be asking? Just to learn what other people are doing with no particular goal? Usually people ask such questions to get some ideas.
I nEvEr AsKeD fOr AdViCe
Keeps replying to people to express their disinterest in the offered free time activities.
Honestly OP is clearly depressed and angsty and is taking it out on us.
Kill a half hour working out and/or go for a jog. You don’t even need weight, just do bodyweight.
Take up hiking, it is nearly free, you get sun and exercise. You can even take a trash bag with you and clean up litter.
Find someone to stalk and murder.
Fishing is a great and cheap waste of time and you get sun.
Find an unsolved mystery in your area and work on solving it.
Start collecting pinecones, cool rocks, or used syringes.
Birdwatching can obliterate free-time and you might meet some widowed GILF to be your sugar momma.
Go places and give them Google or yelp reviews, be derrainged in your writing style like Hunter S Thompson with a head injury.
Take up meditation and have a false sense of superiority because you practice socially acceptable rotting with a calming mentally healthy spiritual guise.
Yoga is a thing, I’m sure you can make yoga pants look great.
Taxidermy roadkill armies don’t assemble themselves, you can even find a tabletop game event to unlease your army upon and meet new people. Worst case you learn about the criminal justice system and that will kill even more time.
Befriend a murder of crows and receive their gifts.
You have no idea how much I appreciated the slow lead in your comment. The entire thing is very high quality and I highly enjoyed reading whatever the fuck that was.
Excellent answers and I’d add -
Baaa-ing at lambs and baby goats - they’re incredible vocal little guys
Sticking googly eyes on things (not artwork or statues)
Feeding ducks - one should always use canned peas because they sink slowly, creating a kind of “How low will it go” game
Befriending geese - this is remarkably simple. Just walk past them every day and feed them a few dandelion leaves. Within a month or two you will have your new friends that you can pat on the head, and for some reason they show their affection by nibbling your shoes
Some of these are not like the others
Plant some seeds, nurture them, and watch them grow. Flowers, veggies, herbs, anything.
Start heroin, it’s better then a full-time job.
You need money for that though
You got a mouth, don’t you?
You’ll discover ways to make money.
Trust me.
-
Reading books
-
Going for long bike rides to cool spots
-
Trying new recipes
-
Crochet
-
Learning frivolous, semi-useless skills (juggling, solving a Rubik’s cube and unicycling to name a few)
-
Trying a new operating system
-
Work on my family tree
-
In short: whatever you enjoy.
We’ve all been conditioned to think that time spent doing things you enjoy instead of working or some type of work-training is meaningless. There is more to life than employment. You’re allowed to do things you enjoy simply because you enjoy them.
I already play videogames.
Do you actually have fun playing them or just use them to pass the time?
Yes
I had the same thought for a while, then I started playing dnd and subsequently DMing. Now any extra mental bandwidth I did have goes to solving open-ended people problems my players give me while we’re playing.
Side benefit is I’ve felt more empathetic and patient with people since starting because I have to constantly put myself in a character’s head when we’re role-playing. I imagine that makes one seem more personable and cool to be around possibly helping with the unemployment too
Plus if you struggle with social interactions, particularly if you are neurodivergent, it’s a fantastic way of building those social skills up in a safe and structured environment.
Thanks for this, one of the more interesting suggestions I have seen.
I have no clue of what are you saying.
They’re talking about Dungeons & Dragons, it’s kind of a tabletop game where one player (the Dungeon Master, or DM) basically creates adventures for the other players. It’s very nerdy but very fun and also takes a lot of time.
Oh yeah that shit people make fun of in big bang theory. Ngl always looked ultra lame.
Well this at least confirms my theory about who bbt was written for.
I hate that show btw. Only saw liflke the first season because came before Simpsons and didn’t had internet
Looks can be deceiving. Also BBT is really not something you should base any assumptions or decisions on.
Of course not, I’m not stupid. But it does look lame you gotta admit that
No, I don’t. There are millions of people who play TTRPGs, and millions more who watch livestreams of people playing RPGs. Critical Role and other shows like it have a massive audience. People watched shows like Stranger Things and Community and decided they wanted to try the game for themselves. If you see people having fun with their friends and think “wow that looks lame”, you may be too judgemental.
I don’t think so. There’s millions around the world who like Golden shower porn, that doesn’t mean isn’t fucking weird.
Program a video game
I work from home and have similar outside interests. Free time can be used to hone a skill, you just need to find something that interests you. For instance, learn a new language, take up reading, writing, some creative outlet like creating music, art etc
