A Boredom-Bashing Bleg

As i noted the other day, I'm having surgery on Wednesday, and, while the recovery period is not expected to be that long in the grand scheme of things, there's still going to be a period where I won't be able to drive, so I'll be stuck at home for a much longer time than usual.

I have the feeling that, during at least part of this time, I'm going to be extremely bored. So I'm trying to figure out in advance how to alleviate that boredom. I have a few ideas already:

• Practice. A musician can always do that, of course, and once I'm at the point where I can sit comfortably enough to hold a saxophone, there are some personal-enrichment things that I've needed to do on the horn for a long time.


• Compose/arrange. Either for my hopefully soon-to-be-not-dormant sextet, or my evening group at the college, which is exploring new twists on Real Book tunes this summer. (But I may need to get a mouse; as I found out while working on some stuff in the spring, Finale NotePad can drive you crazy using a track pad!)


• Read. A few months ago, when the economy got weird and lots of people were talking about "going John Galt," I decided to buy Atlas Shrugged to see what all the fuss was about. Clocking in at nearly 1100 pages in paperback, that ought to keep me busy for a while. (And yikes--what tiny print! Wish I'd looked at that more carefully, as I might have actually thrown down for the hardcover edition.) And if I need a break from that, I still need to finish what I call "The Brick of Narnia"--the entire set of Chronicles in one volume. And there are some magazines--mostly Down Beat--that I still need to finish.


• Watch Rangers games on TV. Despite a scary past week, the boys of summer are doing really well this year; they've been in first place for 40-something games now. I have my usual tickets, and I'll go once I'm way more healed and can stand the walking, but until then, Josh Lewin and Tom Grieve are good company for a slow night.


• Watch movies. I think I may own a few DVD's that I still haven't seen in their entirety, and now's as good a time as any. Also, this is something that friends can come over and do with me, so we can still get to hang without me having to go anywhere. (It's not that I can't go anywhere, but I'm guessing that even riding in others' cars may be kept to a minimum for a little while until my knee doesn't have to be locked down at all times.)


• Watch the Tour de France. My no-driving period will likely seep into the first week of July, so I'll be able to watch the famous bike race--of which I've been a fan for years--with a lot more regularity. Can Lance recapture the magic?

I realize that, between all those things, plus teaching (which I should be able to resume next Monday) and sleep (not to mention this blog, online games, etc.) ought to take up a lot of my spare time. But still, I'm trying to think outside the proverbial box here and make a different flavor of lemonade out of the lemon that the time immediately post-surgery will likely be. Am I forgetting anything here? Feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments; my only parameters are 1) no real physical activity involved (duh): 2) nothing that costs money, if at all possible, and 3) things I can do around my own house.

I'll also be linking to this post on Twitter, as well as at the next free-for-all "cafe" post at Althouse, so if you're arriving here for the first time from either one of those places, welcome!

A boredom-bashing what? If you're unfamiliar with the term "bleg," it's not a typo; the Freakanomics blog defines it as "using a blog to beg for information." It's pretty much a cross between "blog" and "beg," and, while sometimes blegging is an appeal for money, this one is strictly for ideas.