Recycle, Reuse, Procrastinate

Whatever form of creationism you chose to believe, it cannot be argued if you’re on BlogSpot right now you’re alive somewhere on planet earth. It seems the new trend to be eco –friendly and to decrease your carbon foot print is the new “Can you believe the Knicks last night?” in most hipster circles. If you’re one of those people who refuses to engage in activities based on the simple premise that “everyone else is doing it”, take a look around and be grateful that the planet you’re sitting on has given you such magnificent things as Snapple (made from the best stuff on earth) and the ingredients for the $12 salad you paid for last night at Applebee’s- so take care of it.

 In light of the contributions Mother Nature has provided you with and asks for nothing in return, take your excessive amount of wasted time and make some reusable everyday items. You don’t have to be an interior designer, an architect, frankly you don’t even need to have the slightest shred of style- all you need is the creativity of your mind and the massive amounts of cluttering waste that you have accumulated over your commercial consumer driven buying lifetime (okay, okay enough of the hipster guilt). Here are some great examples of people who put their time to better use by creating some reusable everyday items that would make Mother Nature so thrilled she would buy you and your friends a round of Patron shots, in reusable shot glasses of course.

Make A Friend At A Toll Booth, The Confessions of A Traveling Procrastinator

There are certain man made inventions that I will never support based purely on principal. MP3 players make it so a person never truly knows what artists they love because they have 2,000 songs on shuffle, self check outs take jobs away from workers since people are not patient enough to wait for an employee to swipe their can of creamed corn, and the E-Z Pass eliminates human contact all together turning people into cyborgs with no sense of common courtesy. Toll booths have this air of romance about them that can’t exactly be articulated, you speed through, smile, and if life hasn’t jaded you completely you tell them to have a nice day. If you’re trolling the internet for your future mate, you may have already handed them a folded dollar bill and never even looked up. In an effort to put off the thing that really isn’t that hard to do in the first place but you’ve built it up so much in your mind, you would rather be in a traumatic car accident so you could suffer a head injury and hope for short term memory loss- make a friend at a toll booth. Maybe learn their name, a simple “have a lovely day”, or if there isn’t a lot of traffic get their number.

This applies to both men and women- if you can get a person’s number at a toll booth; you have mastered the highest level of pickups and you deserve to have a statue erected in your honor.

GENTLEMAN- If you are speeding through a narrow garden State Parkway lane and have the ability with your pure charm alone to persuade the opposite sex into providing you with her cellular phone number, you deserve to brag to your friends. You should brag until they get the number of their favorite centerfold because in essence the tasks are equally as challenging, except you’re breathing in a little more carbon monoxide.

LADIES- If you find yourself being asked for your phone number in an average situation, you normally shrug and wish the person would find another victim to verbally harass but let’s look at the context more closely. The person must have seen the sides of at least 5,000 women’s heads in that day alone and yours for whatever reason stood out. You are a rare and delicate jewel, be proud and return your    E-Z Pass immediately.

Build A Tree House, Procrastinate At Higher Altitudes

 

 

I was never a very jealous child, I shared my toys and took turns on the merry-go-round but nothing sent me into more envious rage then when I saw a kid with a tree house. When you’re a kid you have little independence, your room is your palace, office, and innersactum. I could never wrap my mind around having a space to call my own where nobody could tell me what to do, even if it was located roughly 15 feet from my house and the walls were made out of bark, the concept was still amazing. So if you’re putting off whatever is your supposed to be doing, now that you’re a little bit older, try capturing back some of the youthful desires you had when you thought you’re third grade teacher was  the meanest possible human alive. Here is a website which provides all the instructions for proper tree house building, whether boys or girls are allowed is at your own discretion.

http://www.thetreehouseguide.com/workflow.htm

 

I cannot stress enough the importance of safety. If you did this project when you were nine like those kids in the ABC sitcoms you would have your dad handling all the logistics and you would be focusing on the bonding process while your mother served you peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. What those shows conveniently left out, is wood and bolts without proper support 30 feet in the air, inside of a tree can result in you becoming the leading story on your local news station.

Start Your Own Reality Show- Procrastinator Tested, “Situation” Approved

It’s 10 o’clock on a Thursday night, even though you told you friends you needed to spend the night in to finish an Art History paper, your words reek of deception. You pull down the shades, put your phone on silent, turn off your lights, and let the overwhelming strong grip of your addiction dictate another night of solitude, just as you come terms with your loss of control- you get the gratification that has made you come back so many lonely nights- “I’m going to the Jersey Shore Bitch!”

Admitting you love reality television is the equivalent to saying you have absolutely no brain cells. Once you disclose that Keeping Up with the Kardashians  is your favorite show, it doesn’t matter if you’re a Supreme Court Judge or Ke$ha, you lost all the credibility you may have once had. While there are legions of judgmental people who are getting nosebleeds from standing on their moral high ground, shaking their heads complaining that “television today just isn’t what it used to be”, you have to keep in mind people like this have always existed. I bet when Gilligan’s Island first came out, there was somebody’s disapproving dad complaining “What’s wrong with the world these days? People on an island, remember the good of days of I Love Lucy, kids today” The point it is that you can never satisfy everyone, if you can’t beat them you might as well join them. So start your own reality show, it’s easy because all you have to do is be yourself and if you can’t do that then you should really allocate this time to finding a personality. If MTV has taught us anything (besides that teen pregnancy is 100% preventable) it’s that regular people can get paid a lot of money for acting like they do every day (see the Real World). Here are some pointers to help you get yourself followed by a camera crew:

• Accentuate What Makes You Special- There are a million girls who get drunk and sleep with strangers but what made Snooki a household name? To be honest, I’m still not completely sure but if I had to guess it would be a combination of a lot of factors- an interesting hair style, a humorous outlook on life, and most importantly a catchy a nickname. Take a good look at yourself, what makes people want to be your friend, find that quality and take it to the next level.
• Find Co-Stars- Every great reality show has a supporting cast who holds their hair back when they throw up. The Hills would have been just a bunch a rich girls eating salads with low-fat dressing if it were not for the beyond self involved antics of Heidi and Spencer. Find people who complement your personality, ultimately others who bring out the best in you and aren’t afraid to let you have some of the spotlight as well.
• Have a Theme- Sure it may have sounded absurd at first when producers threw around the concept for Survivor. So let me get this straight people are going to live on an island without food, shelter, or any basic necessities then they’re going to systematically vote themselves off and get absolutely nothing in return, oh and they’re going to volunteer for this ? When it comes to reality show the more absurd the better. It may be an idea you and your friends always wanted to do but never thought anybody would care about, well its 2011 and the world will watch 30 seemingly sophisticated women publicly go on dates with one guy and hysterically cry when they don’t receive “the final rose”.  If you film it, they will watch.
• Don’t Hold Back-. Today more than every people can tell when someone is being fake; it stands out more than Pauly D’s blowout. There’s a reason the genre is called Reality Television, if you want to be calm and composed I suggest you audition for Grey’s Anatomy. The general rule is, the more tears the higher the ratings. You should cry and you should do it often. People want to empathize with you, that’s why they started watching, so don’t be afraid to let the water works flow people will only like you more.

At the end of day you can either stay in your room in the dark pretending to write a nonexistent paper or you could make use of whatever shred of talent you do have and turn it into a television phenomenon. Lift your shirt, live on a island, or you could just live in the “Real World”, whatever it is I’m sure you’ll be successful at it and I’m even more certain you’ll kill some time before you have to be in class.