I need a project. It's about halfway through the summer and I'm making my Canadian liquor money, and that's all well and good, but I've come to realize that 32 hours of my week is filled with nothing-time. I sit. Sometimes there's a breeze. Sometimes it rains. I need a big, cool project that will fill up my time and keep my interest. Can anyone suggest one?

The tools at my disposal include a laptop with about five hours of battery, a library card, run-of-the-mill office supplies and a bored brain. Be advised that I still have to do my job, meaning that I've got to talk to people every ten minutes or so, and that I don't have a lunch break or car.

Come all ye bored Matazonians! Give me something to do! Because no one knows better than the Internet!

Create a beautiful origami garden! Like in the story of the paper garden. Make it a garden for all the senses. Look beautiful, sound beautiful (write some music for it), smell beautiful. I don't think it can taste that nice or feel all that nice, but sshhh.

Or not.

You could better yourself and do that thing where you read a book (fictional or non-fictional) then find two subjects relating from that book and read books about those, then repeat for these two books, and again ad infinitum. And you have a mental book tree and become a polymath!

Or daydream. It's too fun.

Make a trebuchet from the office supplies. Or a giant Rube Goldberg machine.

Or learn something new. Make some flash animations or something?

Make a zoo out of office stuff. You can draw animals on paper and then color them. Use like paperclips and tape to keep them standing. Then make exhibits for the animals. You can even make some music to play through your zoo.

Life size paper clip person.

Explore! Find new places and cool things. Go places you've never been before either walking or by bike. Make new friends. Sleep. Learn how to do cool things you've always wanted to do, but never had the time. Write stories (but I get the feeling you're already doing that?). Sleep. Download Google Sketch-Up or.. what's it called... that program where you have a person and you get to make them do stuff, or kill them in funny ways. Starts with an E I think.. Become unnaturally good at poker, become a millionaire, and get yourself a cool beach house. Rearrange things. Learn to juggle multiple things. Pretend to be a different person everyday. Take photos of things. Play board games. Make videos. Break into buildings. Make some cool tower thing with a deck of cards. Stay up all night and sleep all day. Try typing things with your eyes closed. Go to a sculpting class. Learn to surf/skateboard/snowboard/wakeboard/skimboard. Go to the beach. Research things and write essays on them. Do math. Study?

try 3d oragami stars.
http://www.geocities.com/mmukhopadhyay/creation/star.html
You can make a ton of them, and use them as gifts or decorations. and they're pretty fun to make once you get the hang of it.
(examples of cool things to do with them)

http://jru.deviantart.com/art/Paper-Stars-17017150
http://sponch.deviantart.com/art/Stars-8651326

OR
they were originally made as wishing stars - write your name, age, and wish on the strip of paper before folding them, and keep it in a safe place. It's a silly idea, but tends to be rather ammusing.

Erm..... I was going to surgest origami as well....... You could always teach your self how to make chainmail but turn the paperclips into the links.

Given my recent successes, and your very interesting collection of weirdy-beardy folk, I'd be more than happy to propose a comp-swap. Granted that would depend on how comfortable you are with swapping addresses with someone you don't really know all that well, and your music collection being present on said laptop, but, if you're up for it, drop me a PM with a few interests and influences, and I'll reply in kind. You could even decorate the CD case with office supplies, if you like.

Buy some beads, nylon string, metal clasps and pliers and make bracelets and other jewelery.
Learn to code in a new language.
Get hold of the music and score to Wagner's Ring Cycle and listen whilst following the score. That's about 14 hours if played non-stop. Perhaps that's not so fun, hmm.

I like a lot of these! Clearly matazone is used to having lots of time on its collective hands.

I've put an origami book on hold at the library, but I have to find somewhere I can buy paper for super-cheap. Impending Canadian whiskey don't come fo free. I really like the idea of making a garden--it'd be nice to have a pretty desk.

InKy, I'm on postcardx and give away my address like a Friday night whore. The only thing I'm worried about is creating a sufficiently awesome mix. Done and done!

Izzy, I love your ideas but can do very few of them while keeping my job. I doubt they'll give me an "explore-abandoned-buildings-break" if I can't have one for lunch!

You know thats really wierd cause i was wondering how to do this yesterday and never got around to looking. so thankyou. lol.

EDIT: man these things are hard to make >:(

Don't worry about the sufficiency of awesomeness, elphaba. Your posts in the Media forum make me confident that you know your onions music-wise, so anything you send would doubtless be of a greatness.

They take awhile to get good at balancing, and a lot of it depends on what type of paper you're using. I suggest strips cut out of an old newpaper or magazine, fyi.

Look through magazines and newspapers to make poetry using cut out words. And obviously a few ransom notes.

Maybe I could interest you in taking part in an art thing I am doing?
I'd need your address, As I'd have to send you a note book. The thing is kinda like this: you ask me for an idea, I reply with one, you plan it all in the sketch book and what not (will have to look for the brief, but it's on another computer not near me), then at the end of the summer/ sometime thereish you send it back me and I then go about actioning the plan.

Junk mail makes interesting origami paper. Except, oddly, for political literature, which tends to be too thick.

Er, the paper is too thick.

Found this out while making 1000 paper cranes in one year. It was an interesting project and strung together they made a fun wall decoration. That is until the cat decided that it was the perfect play toy.

Stuff to do? Sorry, don't really have any suggestions. Any or all of the above? Perhaps in combinations?

Eep! I forgot completely about this thread! Everybody had such good ideas and I just wound up readin' books and farting around with the iPod touch. Ah well. It's been a good summer and I'll have the same exact one next year.

So how did I actually spend my time? Well, there was the aforementioned reading/farting around, but also:
-watching the filming of an amateur horror movie
-refereeing an epic soccer game (despite the fact that I barely know the rules)
-diagnosing tree diseases
-many manicures
-sewing an awesome upholstery print as lining to my favorite backpack so now it can actually DO something
-episodes of Weeds on youtube
-finagling my way out of the all-girls' dorm at college ( )
-becoming a Quebec resident
-fixing my sandals
-eating heartbreakingly delicious peanut-butter-fresh-fruit-waffle sandwiches
-reading the whole New York Times
-drawing silly things on the whiteboard

It turned out OK, I think. 3 more days of work before I leave!