Fun Game: Six months of FREE living expenses - what would you do with your time?

[IdaBriggs]

In our imaginary scenario, for SIX MONTHS you have a free place to live, adequate food supplied to you, access to laundry facilities, a working vehicle at your disposal, and (if required) health care. You may even receive a *very* small stipend ($20?) weekly to cover "private necessities", but other than that you have no other income or expense. You cannot "travel overnight" outside of the city you pick to stay in for the duration of the game.

For Six Months, what would you do to keep busy/benefit the planet/benefit yourself? Oh, and what city would you pick for your adventure? What would you hope to accomplish during the time?

[arcane1]

1. That would be the perfect opportunity to thoroughly clean my apartment.

Not very exciting

[IdaBriggs]

8. Eeek! Six months of house cleaning -

we aren't trying to TORTURE you! Lol!

Check out www.flylady.net - she is AWESOME, and I was introduced to her by another DU'er several years ago. "FLY" means "finally loving yourself" and she teaches those of us who "flutter" how not to live in "CHAOS - Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome" while keeping things managed in fifteen minutes.

I FlyLady.

[arcane1]

12. Thanks, I'll check it out! I definitely suffer from CHAOS :)

[IdaBriggs]

26. She got me to stop climbing "Mount Washmore" --

to the point where my dryer had an issue last week, and even though I was without it for nearly THREE DAYS, things were so under control, we had clean clothes, AND they were PUT AWAY and I am talking THE WHOLE TIME, like, it wasn't even A CRISIS or anything!!!

(Okay, the "born organized" folk are probably shaking their heads at my awe, but this was *really* cool for me -- Lol!)

[tridim]

2. Pick up my guitar and play...

Just like yesterday.

[IdaBriggs]

10. Would you be doing this on a street corner?

Or in a studio setting? Or in a school for under privileged children? More details, please.

[tridim]

35. Just playing with other people and having fun.

But ideally I'd do all of the above.

[TlalocW]

3. Six months of

Intensive studying and practice of all the balloon twisting and magic tutorial DVDs I have. Plus some jogging.

TlalocW

[IdaBriggs]

13. Nice. Would you be "demonstrating" at local children's hospitals?

Is this a passion? It sounds interesting.

[TlalocW]

38. I probably would - if they allowed latex

This is a hobby that turned into a side business that I'm now trying to take bigger for the last year and a half in a new city.

TlalocW

[fleur-de-lisa]

4. I would stay put and . . .

spend my days providing additional care for the feral cats in my neighborhood (after Hurricane Katrina, the population skyrocketed). May I please have a larger stipend to pay for cat food and trips to the vet for spaying/neutering/shots?

And I would spend my nights continuing with my ancestry research. I never get tired of this.

[IdaBriggs]

7. For the purposes of this project, could you can spend your time

recruiting other people to fund your on-going work for them?

[fleur-de-lisa]

27. Perhaps . . .

but I would have to recruit outside of my immediate neighborhood. There are some rabid anti-feline folks that live around me, so they wouldn't be willing to contribute. I spend half my time trying to keep the ferals confined to my yard where they are safe (an almost impossible fete . . . the term "herding cats" comes to mind).

I recently discovered that there is a network of people in and around my city that feed the feral cat population and also trap, neuter/spay and return them to their colonies. But these folks are always strapped for cash because there are so many ferals.

Every time I think I have trapped all of the cats in my little neighborhood and had them spayed/neutered, another one comes along.

[Incitatus]

5. Montego Bay nt

[IdaBriggs]

14. I don't understand --- ???

Can you share a little more, please?

[loli phabay]

15. vacation is what hes talking about.

[Incitatus]

33. Yes, for an extended vacation.

My second choice would be a more secluded mountainous region. I guess that's a sign I need to make more personal/relaxation time in my life. It may be a selfish choice, but if I didn't have to worry about money at all, the majority of my time would be dedicated to good causes.

[11 Bravo]

6. Work for Terry McAuliffe's gubernatorial campaign.

Terry wasn't my first choice, but Cuccinelli would be a fucking disaster for our state. I don't have the luxury of standing on the sidelines and whining about McAuliffe and the DNC. My wife, my kids, and I would all bear the burden of a Cuccinelli regime.

[IdaBriggs]

16. Very cool! I like this one!

Are there specific things you want to do to help the campaign? Are you a "door to door" person? Or would you like to be a "behind the scenes doing computer things" or "running around pounding in yard signs" or "attending neighborhood events" person?

[11 Bravo]

30. For Jim Webb's Senatorial campaign I manned booths at farmer's markets, went door-to-door, and ...

did phone banking. I would be willing to do all of that or anything else the McAuliffe campaign might require. (I'm not too tech savvy, so the computer thing would probably be off the table!)

[Zorra]

9. Living in a city would be like being in prison for me. Couldn't do it.

I'd rather be broke and live on the beach or in the desert or forest for a month.

Serious.

[IdaBriggs]

18. If you want to live on a beach or a desert or a forest....

that would be fine, too. Just what would you *DO* there? Will you be patrolling? Cleaning up pollution? Measuring salmon spawning places? Tracking pollution levels?

Expand, please.

[loli phabay]

24. what are you not allowed to just drink beer and get a tan

[IdaBriggs]

29. It is interesting, but I wasn't thinking of this as a "vacation" or "retirement"

thing, but more like "you can do ANYTHING you want for SIX MONTHS - what do you want TO DO?"

But it is interesting to see that people immediately mentally head into vacation or naptime; I have to assume it is because they are exhausted.

[Zorra]

36. I really can't say. I would have to wait to feel my course, which could take

some time. I'd take the gig, and wait for inspiration. I've been fortunate to already have spent several years in that position, but without travel restrictions, and with a livable disposable income. At those times, I live day to day, primarily acting on whatever felt right at the time.

Sorry, I'm not being snarky, I use several processes for determining these types of things, and my primary direction would be based on intuition/insight, my course of action probably on a day to day basis

The range of possibilities is very broad; OK, right now, I'm feeling that visiting with my young grandchildren in rural Vermont for six months would be the most pleasurable and productive direction for me to take.

Cool. Thanks for the inspiration! I'm going to see how much tickets are now.

[loli phabay]

11. no city for me, just six months in the empty quarter or mayby the amazon.

Love th tough places of the world

[IdaBriggs]

19. See reply #18.

Same questions.

[loli phabay]

22. either place just being, i would be content no matter where i was

More fishing in the amazon though.

[el_bryanto]

17. Paris or New York

i'd write. And I'd also, in advance, make very clear what the term "adequate food" referred to. In some detail. With illustrations if possible.

Bryant

[IdaBriggs]

21. What would you be writing about?

Are we talking novel, short story, poetry or blog? Are you currently published? Would you be doing fiction, or educational investigative reporting on the city?

[el_bryanto]

28. Probably a bit of both -

Sci fi fantasy set in a real city.

Actually Miami or San Francisco are also possibilities. Bruxelles too maybe.

Bryant

[EdwardSmith74]

20. Take a lot of naps.

[IdaBriggs]

23. What would you do when you *weren't* napping?

What is your passion in life?

[EdwardSmith74]

25. That might be a little too personal to reply to.

[librechik]

31. Oddly enough, that is about to happen to me.

My company is shutting down my regional office, and I am about to be laid off with six months salary paid biweekly as usual. After that I am eligible for retirement.

At last I can return to my first love, writing/art. Even tho I have degrees & I've worked professionally as both, I never had any time for it while working 5/40 in a position just outside my field of study.

Very nice to have a steady paycheck and benefits, though, unlike so may of my peers.

Oh, and like someone else said, I've always thought retirement was the ideal time to finally clean my house. What a mess!

[abelenkpe]

32. Former job

each employee earned between 6-12 weeks of pto a year depending on length of employment and every five years earned a two month paid sabbatical. One could bank their pto for several years and instead of using it choose to be paid out. Most chose to use the time. What did they do with it? Travel around the world, spent quality time with family, participated in charity drives and community programs and work on their own art and film projects.

Last year I used 22 weeks of saved pto. Best time of my life. I got to spend quality time with my young children, found a better school for them, helped my son with dyslexia get ahead in reading and writing, visited relatives and friends, planted a small garden, volunteered at a local shelter and put together proposals for two creative projects. Everyone should have such an opportunity. Every worker should have such a deal.

Instead we live in a country with the least amount of vacation time, where we demand ever increasing productivity from our workers, while wages have stagnated and benefits are constantly reduced. And there is no such thing as job security. Yay!

[dionysus]

34. draw, play guitar, work out. read a bunch.

[Cleita]

37. Sounds like a couple of quarters in college for those with parents affluent

enough to support their kids, or if those kids are fortunate enough to live in a country like Norway that provides educations like this for all its citizens. Getting an education seems to be the goal here and it does keep one very busy.

But I'll answer. I'll keep doing what I'm doing because six months isn't enough time to do anything meaningful like run for elected office, cure cancer or do anything that would make things better.