I get bored very easily. I need to be constantly amused, whether at work or at home; I desperately seek to maximize the limited time I have on this planet. So, when I am working on the computer, I need something to do on the side. So I keep my connection to the Internet live and surf every couple of minutes to keep the old boy upstairs awake. Looking through wrestling newsboards goes by quick, constantly checking my email gets stupid over time and playing solitaire gets pretty boring as well. Being the strange guy that I am, I started typing in words in the URL section, such as www.minners.com, www.helpmeplease.com and finally, www.bored.com. Amazingly, there is a real site for us bored people-and its hardly boring!
The website was created to give surfers a lot of little things to do to make our lives at work, and for some of home, more enjoyable. The site itself is wonderfully laid out. It is very simple, with colors and icons that are refreshing and soothing, keeping you to fall asleep onto your keyboard. Many of the sites that www.bored.com lists were exactly what I didn't know I was looking.
First, I tried something totally stupid sounding that I thought for sure it would be a joke Lemonadegame.com, which was a whole lot of fun to play. You own a lemonade stand and you have to buy ice, sugar, lemons and cups to keep in business. You decide how many pieces of ice, number of lemons and scoops of sugar to use in each batch. You even get to charge whatever price you want. Then depending on the weather, you change your game plan and go out there and get customers. The screen becomes animated with characters walking by your stand, buying cups if they choose, and making comments about the taste and price before heading off. After each day, statistics show how well you did and what was thought of your sales for the day. There is even a message to tell you your ice has melted or your lemons have gone stale and so on. Then you go out and buy more items before the next day's events. This game lasts "30 days" and is very addictive to play, so be warned that this could take up a good 30 minutes of your time. I couldn't stop playing and satisfying people's taste buds.
I also enjoyed bored.com's weekly crossword puzzle, which was really hard. Questions vary in difficulty and finishing it all depends on how much useless knowledge you have absorbed over the years. But no matter how smart you are you will definitely be able to fill in the blanks at blibs.com, a game that is patterned after the childhood favorite Mad Libs. I always enjoy creating dirty ones.
Also play with some Virtual Bubble Wrap that allows us to play with our favorite stress reliever through the power of the web. You can also play arcade classics like Frogger, Breakout and more. I played arcade bowling, which is a lot harder than playing the real thing. I only scored a 120!
If games are not your thing, you can listen to music from the bored.com's radio station or listen to parodies of many of the songs on the radio. My favorite was Oops...I Farted Again. Also, you can read up on your favorite television shows, read the lyrics to many of the top songs, look at your favorite newspaper comic strips and even donate digital money to your favorite charities, matched by corporate sponsors who pay for banner clicks. Social Responsibility with mindless fun what a combination!
In addition to all this, I enjoyed looking at pictures of girls and giving them ratings points. I feel bad because most of them were pretty ugly, and beauty is on the inside (at least that is something ugly people tell themselves). You can also read stupid jokes, vote on grudge matches between such stars as Gary Coleman and Webster and get the lowdown on everything from fart and poop.
But my two favorite links at bored.com were definitely Timelab 2000 and Yesterday Land. Timelab2000, which many of you history buffs are familiar with if you watch the History Channel, is a treasure chest of interesting historical occurrences. For example: The 17-year-old girl who struck out two baseball legends! It's April 2, 1931, during an exhibition game, Jackie Mitchell takes the mound to face the legendary Babe Ruth. After four of Jackie's "mean drop pitches", Ruth is called out. Lou Gehrig is up next; he swings three times -- for three strikes. The crowd goes wild! Jackie's future looks bright. She was signed by a minor league team, the Chattanooga Lookouts. But, a few days later her professional status is revoked and her contract voided. Though Jackie Mitchell proved herself ready to compete in the big leagues baseball proved unwilling to play ball with women.
The other site Yesterday Land, is one I will continue to visit for a long time to come. Inside, you can see brief summaries about all your favorite cartoons, songs, video games, lunch boxes and more from decades past. I got tads of info about such past icons as Pac-Man, Madonna and the Star Wars lunch box. Yesterday Land is truly a site for those who like to reminisce.
Overall, bored.com is the least boring thing on the net. I have never been to a site that has made me want to come back, as I was writing this piece, I kept going back to play and was distracted so much that it took me hours to complete this article. Not only has Bored.com made the Random Acts of Surfing column, but it has also made my AOL favorite places list as well.
Send your comments and or questions about this article to JMinners@ybfree.com.