Bored Over Break? Start a Wolf Band (and Other Options)

The holidays are over, no one's giving you stuff anymore, it's cold for some people (others might not necessarily have this issue, but you know … surfing … is … hard.) Anyway, regardless of where you live, it's a long, winding road back to school. You have hours, days, or maybe even weeks to kill. Luckily for you, we have ways around the soul-crushing boredom that you're probably feeling right this very minute.

1. Start a family band.
What? You're already in the same house, unless you were raised by wolves or something (in which case: kudos, survivalist). Assign everyone an instrument, rent a bitchin' van and, oh, I don't know, wear glitter jumpsuits or lederhosen or something. You handle the details.

2. Start a wolf band.
Wolves. Tambourines. Rabies, maybe. No? Ok, moving on.

3. Be a do-gooder.
See if the local soup kitchen needs a hand, sort clothes donations at the local Goodwill, help the alien in your garage get home. Check out DoSomething.org for more ideas. But if all else fails, you can volunteer to explain to your parents what Ke$ha's deal is. That should eat up the better part of the rest of your vacation and your whole entire life.

4. Begin a letter-writing campaign.
Ask Uggs why they still exist. Just spit-balling here.

5. Play Mario Galaxy.
You know what, go big or go home. Play ALL the Marios. Beat 'em. You've got nothing but time. No warps. Just you, a controller, your wits, and the man with the mustache. Homemade Tanooki suit is optional but recommended. You can go with the classics, the recents, Mario Kart or the totally bonkers second one where it all happened in a dream.

6. Think of all the different words you can use for "money."
We'll get you started: bones, dabloons, bread, dough. This can go on for days and days. Then, think of all the ways you can use a spoon. Again, spit-balling.

7. Research your family tree.
Find all the rogues and rebels, uncover a family mystery, see how many people had twins—maybe someone was a cowboy or a sea captain? Who knows? The point is this: you have a history and it COULD be totally bad-ass. It also might be just a bunch of people named Reginald, but roll the dice.

8. Go on a quest.
What are you looking for? A part-time job? No, that's boring. Also, if it's an object you can find on the walls of your local T.G.I. Fridays, you can forget that too. But figuring out where Darren Criss lives, and then tracking him down using only a homemade compass and a forged passport? Now you're talking.

9. Catch up on your stories.
TV on DVD is pretty much the best time suck ever. Thoughts: Party Down, Eastbound & Down, anything else with "Down" in the title somewhere, Summer Heights High, Arrested Development, or anything from Joss Whedon—it's all gold.

10. Give platelets.
You save lives. BONUSES: It'll kill a couple of hours at least plus you can act really weak for the rest of the day and eat cookies.

11. Plan your Halloween costumes for the next 10 years.
Buy all the props you need, then find a way to keep yourself from growing, gaining/losing weight, or changing anything about yourself until you've used all the costumes you've spent so much time creating.

12. Find a way to make everyone stop trying to keep up with the Kardashians.
No, really. Can you do that?

Are you still on break? Even if you're not, these are great ways to waste time. We've already come up with loads of other words for money, including "bananas" and "Dwight Shrute Bucks." What do you do when you're bored?

Related post: Beating the Winter Break Blues