Hey, you’re back! Sweet. Okay, stop juggling your new pets, you show-off. Let’s find some more fun for you to have. Luckily, I work at a place where people are silly all the time, so there’s no shortage of ideas. (If you work at an accounting firm or something, you can be the one bringing the fun.) So let’s keep playing! With lists!
21) Handshake!
Invent a handshake with a friend. Do you remember DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince used to have that greeting? Haha oh man… what, you don’t? Okay, how about the Blue Jays with the door knocking? Yeah, like that.
Find someone you know, and celebrate seeing each other with your very own handshake. Get the legs involved, maybe a spin, some fancy handwork. I had a complicated fish-dancing one with somebody and when we’d see each other there was the joy of anticipation, followed by the pride of getting it right, or the laughs of messing it up. Have a different one for everyone you know. Non-stop fun (especially if you run into a big group).
22) Read!
I just remembered I said I’d do this one this round. Can reading be fun? Hell yeah. Just find something that makes you smile – or even laugh out loud - when you read it. I’m usually reading non-fiction, ‘cause if I’m going to read I might as well learn some shit. But every once in a while it’s nice to just read something silly. Pure Drivel, My Custom Van, Scaredy Squirrel (might not count, ‘cause I learned some shit) are some of my faves. Oh! Also this blog. Thanks for reading!
23) Bananas!
Write on your bananas. (If you aren’t already.) Take a toothpick and draw or write something on your banana. About an hour later, it’ll go black and your artwork or message will appear. Write a secret message and leave it in someone else’s fruit bowl to surprise them. Amazing!
24) TV!
Oh man, how could I have left TV this far into it? I grin ear to ear when I’m watching Just For Laughs Gags. Not a quality show per se, but it makes me giggle every time. Also I can’t recommend Breaking Bad enough. Again, for giggles.
25) Movies!
Different than TV in that I mean, go out to the movies. I remember skipping off work to wait in line for tickets to an advanced screening of Fight Club. Lemme tell you, you haven’t really seen Fight Club until you’ve watched it with the kinds of people who were willing to wait in a line at Dundas Square for hours in the middle of a work day. The energy in that theatre was, um, intense? So much fun.
26) Comedy Shows!
While I’ve got you going out to see stuff, why not go see some improv? Here’s the reason a friend recently gave me of why not: “I’m scared it’ll suck.” Fair enough. And I’m not going to say there aren’t sucky shows out there. But even going to see crappy comedy can have its fun moments. You get to make fun of how crappy it is. And if it’s great, well then you get to enjoy how much you laugh. Definitely worth the risk!
Check out some shows at these places (in Toronto): Comedy Bar, Second City, Bad Dog, Social Capital, and more.
27) Reenactments!
Speaking of shows, you can have one at home any time you want. Something funny happen at work today? Act it out for someone else. Why just tell a story, when you can show them? (I’m sure there are probably occasions when you should just tell someone, like if you’re a doctor delivering bad news, but hey, give it a try and lemme know how it goes.) Play each of the characters, take on their physicality and do their voices. How was work today? Oh man, let me show you!
28) Invent a game!
This painting has over 80 different games. Most of them took just some imagination to create, because they’re all basically just using bodies, or maybe a stick and a ball at most. Or you take an existing game and change it. Even boring Monopoly can be fun if you change it, or turn it into a drinking game. (Please, play irresponsibly.)
29) TV Dub!
Going back to TV. If there’s nothing on and you just can’t turn the TV off, put it on mute and dub the voices of the characters you see. Interactive television. It’s the way of the future! Wave of the future? For advanced players, don’t even mute it. (Don’t ever mute JFL Gags, that music is gold.) Do a running commentary. Mystery Science Theatre 3000 built a whole franchise around it.
30) Sidewalk Boogie!
That. Try to do that on purpose! Oh man, I’m sending people out to create chaos. I love it!
Want more? There’s 70 more! Here’s the next 10!! Exclamation marks!!!
UPDATE: Check out 365 Days of Play on Instagram!