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how to waste time
Jul. 22nd, 2008 10:52 pmYou are trying to fall asleep on a hot summer night. Or maybe you're just standing in line somewhere, or hanging onto a pole or rail on public transportation, or listening to the automated voice calling the next number at the DMV.
Suppose you are dying. You have enough blood, and enough energy, to scrawl six characters. Maybe you were murdered and want to point police toward your murderer. Or maybe you're trying to clue in one of your family members, but not the others, toward where you've hidden the diamond bracelet. You can use any letter (any alphabet), number, character (from @ to $ to ?), an arrow pointing in any direction, a sketch of a hand pointing in any direction (you know, like a WingDing), a stick figure (line for body, circle for head, short lines for two arms each and two legs each) in any position, or any similar sort of icon that only takes a few lines to sketch - for example, a child's-style outline of a house with a door is an allowable character, but a detailed drawing of the floor plan of the second story of your house isn't - that's too complicated. So, who are you scrawling for, and why, and what do you scrawl? Note: of course it's OK to play with the number of characters, but you don't have time to write entire paragraphs. IMportant note: no, do NOT comment here with your answers; this is just a mind game to occupy your time, not something I'm challenging anyone to respond to.
And an older one, that I used to play on the trolleys all the time:
You win or inherit a certain amount of money. Where does it go to? First, think of $100. What would you do with that when it came out of nowhere? How do your thoughts about it change if it's $500? $1000? $10,000? $100,000? $1 million? Where, for you, is the dividing line between just spending it, and actually doing something with it? If you're giving a portion to charity, which and why? And how does your decision about charity change as the amount grows larger? If you are giving 10%, say, when it's $100, you're giving $10 so that probably all goes to one place, since it's not big enough to split up - but would you split up the 10% of $10,000 into several recipients of $100 each, or give all $1000 to one organization where it might make a bigger difference? When you get to the larger amounts for charity, would it make a difference to you if giving it all to one charity meant you'd get a plaque in their building or maybe even a room named after you? And on a separate tack, how do you choose to pay off your debts? Smallest ones first to get rid of some entirely? Ones with the highest interest rate first? Are you going to earmark a couple hundred to pay a lawyer to update your will? (See murder, above.) Note: No fair saying you'd put it all in your kids' college fund, or that you'd invest it all and spend it later; that's not in the spirit of the game. Important note: once again, I do not want you to tell ME what you're thinking - I'm just passing along this idea of how to waste time. If you comment at all to this post, it should only be to suggest similar ways to pass an hour's wait at the DMV where you've forgotten to bring a book.
Suppose you are dying. You have enough blood, and enough energy, to scrawl six characters. Maybe you were murdered and want to point police toward your murderer. Or maybe you're trying to clue in one of your family members, but not the others, toward where you've hidden the diamond bracelet. You can use any letter (any alphabet), number, character (from @ to $ to ?), an arrow pointing in any direction, a sketch of a hand pointing in any direction (you know, like a WingDing), a stick figure (line for body, circle for head, short lines for two arms each and two legs each) in any position, or any similar sort of icon that only takes a few lines to sketch - for example, a child's-style outline of a house with a door is an allowable character, but a detailed drawing of the floor plan of the second story of your house isn't - that's too complicated. So, who are you scrawling for, and why, and what do you scrawl? Note: of course it's OK to play with the number of characters, but you don't have time to write entire paragraphs. IMportant note: no, do NOT comment here with your answers; this is just a mind game to occupy your time, not something I'm challenging anyone to respond to.
And an older one, that I used to play on the trolleys all the time:
You win or inherit a certain amount of money. Where does it go to? First, think of $100. What would you do with that when it came out of nowhere? How do your thoughts about it change if it's $500? $1000? $10,000? $100,000? $1 million? Where, for you, is the dividing line between just spending it, and actually doing something with it? If you're giving a portion to charity, which and why? And how does your decision about charity change as the amount grows larger? If you are giving 10%, say, when it's $100, you're giving $10 so that probably all goes to one place, since it's not big enough to split up - but would you split up the 10% of $10,000 into several recipients of $100 each, or give all $1000 to one organization where it might make a bigger difference? When you get to the larger amounts for charity, would it make a difference to you if giving it all to one charity meant you'd get a plaque in their building or maybe even a room named after you? And on a separate tack, how do you choose to pay off your debts? Smallest ones first to get rid of some entirely? Ones with the highest interest rate first? Are you going to earmark a couple hundred to pay a lawyer to update your will? (See murder, above.) Note: No fair saying you'd put it all in your kids' college fund, or that you'd invest it all and spend it later; that's not in the spirit of the game. Important note: once again, I do not want you to tell ME what you're thinking - I'm just passing along this idea of how to waste time. If you comment at all to this post, it should only be to suggest similar ways to pass an hour's wait at the DMV where you've forgotten to bring a book.
