Combating Boredom

I grew up in the homogeneous inner-ring suburb of Fairview Park. Apart from the occasional hullabaloo from the trailer park (on which my high school looked out) and a spot of homicide on the now (mostly) demolished Motel Row, life in the FP was pretty dull.

Back then I wasn't too good at figuring out things to combat that boredom. You have to be creative. Mostly I would just daydream about other places, poke around for cancerous lumps, and watch the Learning Channel.

Now I find myself in a similar situation - like a young teen caught in suburbia without a drivers' license, I live someplace where it's become clear that you have to make your own fun. Matters are made worse by the fact that I can't figure out if this is suburbia or what. What is this place? I've lived in a city, I've lived in the burbs, I've lived in a smallish college town in the Rockies, and I can't figure this one out.

But my resourceful friend Sue Problema pointed this out to me: when you're in a place where there isn't much going on, take the time to learn all those things you've been telling yourself you want to learn, or explore those perennially back burner interests. Here's what I've been into so far:

• Middle Eastern dance
• Bollywood music
• Knitting (yes, I want to be one of those people)

What do you guys do when you're bored?