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[side_show]

Friends, I know I never have any right to complain.  I have a job I love and a good, comfortable life.  But I am also poor.  This is usually not an issue, as I bring in enough to survive, and that's really all I need.  I'm very content to live life simply.  Right now though, I have been laid off from my regular theatre gig until September, and I have no source of income.  I've worked harder than I've ever worked over the past few months, writing three plays in three months, and I've had some insane stresses in my personal life, so I've decided I need to just take a break and not bury myself in a new writing project for the next little while.  So I have lots of time off, but no money.  (I mean, I've got enough money to pay the mortgage and bills for the next two months, but that's it.)  My modes of transportation are foot, bike or bus (though even spending bus fare right now is a bit of an extravagance).  I do not want to spend my entire vacation sleeping and surfing the internet.  Because I am generally a type-A personality, if I do not have plans I will sink into working my ass off on house and yard work that doesn't really need doing, or made up projects that only seem important at the time.  So it is very important for me to actually plan enjoyable activities, or they simply will not come to pass.  Plus, certain shitty things are going down, and if I'm not occupied I could slide into depression pretty easily too.  Not cool.

I'm sure you've all been broke and bored at one time or another... so please, share if you will any suggestions as to how to pass the time in an enjoyable fashion using little to no cask.  I am up for anything.

[jaydub]

Well, my suggestion requires a handheld GPS - if you don't have one maybe you can borrow one from a friend who does.  I've had a lot of low-cost fun hiking around in search of geocaches with my family.  This has the perfect storm confluence of intarweb geekiness, healthy activity, and childlike coolness of finding hidden treasure.  A quick look shows 1369 caches in Manitoba - I'd bet a lot of them are near/in Winnipeg.

[AugustWest]

Go to the library.
Take a walk/hike.
Paint something (either a room or a canvas.)

[wombat]

Hmm, many of my suggestions are useless, being exactly what you don't want to do: what I did in similar circumstances was write a book and surf the internet.

What I should have done but didn't was go to all the free museums that there are where I live.  You may not have the same options, but lots of museums have an evening a week where they are free or cheaper than usual. 

In general, it's a good idea to force yourself to get out of the house.  Is there some kind of volunteer work that you could do for the summer?  Doing something that's on a schedule, where other people will notice if you don't show up, is the best way not to slide into the pit of lying around depressingly doing nothing.

[Nabubrush]

When I was poor, I went to the library basically every day. I usually would check out movies (back before DVDs) and watch some truly unusual shit. This may not work for you due to it being inside activity stacked on top of inside activity.

[CortJstr]

What I should have done but didn't was go to all the free museums that there are where I live.  You may not have the same options, but lots of museums have an evening a week where they are free or cheaper than usual. 

I remember going on a school trip to New York and vising one of the museums. Several of us were totally confused when the museum wanted us to pay to get inside. Half the reason we went there is because museums are free. That's part of the inherent museumness. Do libraries and playgrounds charge admission up there, too?

[Nabubrush]

I remember going on a school trip to New York and vising one of the museums. Several of us were totally confused when the museum wanted us to pay to get inside. Half the reason we went there is because museums are free. That's part of the inherent museumness. Do libraries and playgrounds charge admission up there, too?

Our museums charge. I think it's a big city thing that they do because you kids are up to no damn good.

[wombat]

Cort, honey, are you sitting down?  Because museums charge admission EVERYWHERE ELSE.  Zoos too. 

Even in DC, some museums charge.  But there are so many Smithsonian museums that you almost don't notice.

[Nabubrush]

I remember going on a school trip to New York and vising one of the museums. Several of us were totally confused when the museum wanted us to pay to get inside. Half the reason we went there is because museums are free. That's part of the inherent museumness. Do libraries and playgrounds charge admission up there, too?

Bum: Got any spare change, man?

Grampa: Yes! And you ain't gettin' it! Everybody wants something for nothing. [He walks into the Social Security Office] I'm old! Gimme gimme gimme!

[CortJstr]

Cort, honey, are you sitting down?  Because museums charge admission EVERYWHERE ELSE.  Zoos too. 

Even in DC, some museums charge.  But there are so many Smithsonian museums that you almost don't notice.

B...but they're museums! And zoos. Zoos!

I've been in Natural History several times not to look at exhibits but because it was air conditioned and nobody would mind if we used the bathrooms and just generally loitered while deciding where to eat dinner.

[wombat]

There are some museums in New York where admission is really 'suggested donation' if you look very carefully.  One teacher in high school always told us to ignore the suggested amount at the Met and put down 'a polite quarter.'

I think the Smithsonian has some donation boxes near entrances now, but it was a big controversy to introduce them.  Opponents argued that the boxes would eventually get closer to the doors... and then turn into desks where a person took the 'donation'.... and then they would put up a sign with different 'donations' for adults and children and students.... and eventually it would be just like the Met where you can't distinguish it from an admission fee and everyone just pays what they ask.

But yeah. In other cities you don't go into the museum just for a rest stop.

[AugustWest]

Masturbation is pretty darn cheap.

[Nabubrush]

Masturbation is pretty darn cheap.

I don't normally do this, but:

QFT.

[Carlos del Vaca]

Well, my suggestion requires a handheld GPS - if you don't have one maybe you can borrow one from a friend who does.  I've had a lot of low-cost fun hiking around in search of geocaches with my family.  This has the perfect storm confluence of intarweb geekiness, healthy activity, and childlike coolness of finding hidden treasure.  A quick look shows 1369 caches in Manitoba - I'd bet a lot of them are near/in Winnipeg.

A slightly lower-tech version is letterboxing.  Unfortunately their map doesn't show anything in Manitoba.
http://www.letterboxing.org/

[wombat]

http://www.volunteermanitoba.ca/newsite/vmvol_current.htm