Today was a good day.

It’s been a long time...I shouldn’t have left you...without a dope ‘blog’ to step to…

Today’s topic of discussion is Self Entertainment or as some would call it Passing Time. As a matter of fact, that’s what I’m doing right now, passing time by writing.  As the saying goes an “idle mind is the devils playground,” so today I’m going to talk about making sure your mind isn’t idle. Making sure it’s occupied by the right things.  Who am I kidding? I’m the last one you want to hear about occupying your mind with the right things because I look at myself sometimes and I’m surprised at the filth that goes on in my head.  I’m going to talk about passing time on a much simpler level.  A sort of how to guide for my fellow professional basketball players, homebodies, introverts, or people in general that have some free time and never know what to do with it.  However, the do know what they DON’T want to do and that is leave the comfort of their home.

People who know me know I’m that guy. I get all my work done, I have free time, I want to do something to occupy that time, but one thing I know I do not want to do is go out.  I would rather be at home all day and I’ll enjoy every minute of it.  I’ve perfected the art of passing time and occupying myself at home over the last 25 years. I’m now an expert on this subject.

This might not work for everyone but for me there are a few things that are essential for me to enjoy time by myself. For one I need a decent internet connection. It’s 2015 people, there is so much on the internet that there is no reason for you to ever be bored if you have a decent connection. There are youtube videos, the infamous worldstar website, amongst other things. There is even a website out there (stumbleupon.com) designed specifically for people that are bored and looking for something to entertain themselves. You go on there, pick out your interests, and the website does the work for you. It brings up articles, videos, random sites and online activity geared towards those specific interests.

My favorite PRODUCTIVE internet related activity is going on Yahoo; specifically Yahoo news. There’s news on almost every category you can think of, and I promise it’ll keep you intrigued and entertained, but more importantly educated and aware.  There is something on the internet for anything you’re interested in.  Just make sure to invest in some reliable devices so you can get the best browsing experience.

Another essential of self entertainment is books, preferably two or more. I say two or more because I enjoy all kinds of books, from self help to fictional to philosophical.  I read each of these books differently.  Fictional books I breeze through, simply because it’s usually a great story and I’m eager to see what happens next.  For self help or philosophical books, I like to take it slower. Read a few chapters then put it down and try to digest, and implement what I’ve just read.  Sometimes I just need time to decide if that’s something I really want to try or not.  That’s why I always have a couple of books around that I’ve yet to finish, or I’ve read already but I’m rereading for that very purpose.

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I’m going to conclude with this....I’m sure that there are many other ways for one to entertain themselves but there’s one to me that trumps them all. Well it’s two but they go hand in hand.  With these two the other ways I mentioned are just space fillers. The two best, and most fulfilling activities in self entertainment are food and sleep.  Maybe it’s because of my line of work, maybe it’s because I’m a big guy, maybe it’s because I’m Nigerian, who knows? All I know is that you can’t adequately pass time or self entertain time without those two.

Why, you ask. Well for one eating makes you feel all good, nice, and warm inside. You eat well when you’re alone it sets the tone for how the rest of the time will go. Now couple that with some good sleep and the possibilities are endless.  When you wake up from this sleep you’re energized. You brain is fresh and ready to process whatever you feed it, whether it be the junk that’s all over the internet or with some actual knowledge from the book you might want to read that day.  Even if you turn on the TV (or go online) and watch a show, you’re more inclined to be better entertained and follow the storyline.

Picture this scenario...it’s a Saturday...you wake up and take care of all the chores and errands you have to do that day...maybe you even worked out...and you come back in the afternoon sometime and realize you’re free and have nothing to do the rest of the day...you don’t want to go out, yet you want to be entertained...and there’s no company...so you fix you a great meal, or order in from your favorite take out...eat a hearty meal...go lay on the coach and thumb through you social media outlet of choice...then you fall into a nice deep, fulfilling, happy dreamy sleep...wake up feeling all kinds of refreshed….you get up fix you another snack and eat the snack while watching the latest DVR’d episode of your favorite shows...finish that pick up a book, knock out a few chapters….then proceed to pick your mobile device and catch up on what you’ve missed in the world for the last couple of hours...click on or visit a few news outlets so you know what’s going on in the world in general.  Before you know what happened, it’s time for bed again. Get yourself another late night snack and then head to bed feeling great and accomplished. Today was a good day (in my Ice Cube voice).

The above proposed scenario might end differently for others though. Some might end up with some company at the end of the night. Some might end up in the streets getting their party on, but that alone time in between definitely did it’s job.  Personally, I’m somewhere in between all that.  More often than not though, I end up falling right back to sleep on my couch because after doing a cost benefit analysis of going out, or having some company to mess up the vibe I already created. I pick being solo and going to sleep.

Hope you enjoyed this read. Hopefully it gave you some insight into me as well.

Until next time. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Magnificent Su.

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