Things To Do While Waiting

So your flight's delayed. Or an event you were going to attend has been canceled. You're stuck waiting for an appointment far longer than you anticipated.

You've entered what I call liminal time. And this, dear reader, isn't a curse. It's an opportunity. As Austin Kleon wrote in Steal Like An Artist:

"Take time to be bored. One time I heard a coworker say, “When I get busy, I get stupid.” Ain’t that the truth. Creative people need time to just sit around and do nothing."

Inspired by recent events, here's a list of things you can do while occupying this phase of existence. Some require a willing companion, others you can do by yourself.

Suggestions marked with a * are others' kind contributions.

Single Player

• Counting Objects: Choose an innocuous/overlooked object, and see how many you find.
• Stranger Backstories: Why is a person acting that way? Who are they talking to? What wild, generous, hopeful stories can you invent?
• What If: Choose something that's commonplace in our world, and flip it. For example, the sky is blue here, but what if it were green? Now, what would the consequences be?
• Yellow Car Syndrome: You may think something isn't common, until you actively start noticing it. You'd be surprised how much your brain filters out.

Multiplayer

• Find The Word*: One person thinks of an object that's somewhere around. They don't say it, but describe a a category it belongs to. The other has to scan their surroundings and guess the word.
• I-Spy (Riddle Edition): The classic game with a brainteaser twist. Choose an object within sight, and create a puzzle for the other person to solve. Here are ones I created:
  • What has a nose and a tail, but no legs? An airplane.
  • How do you ethically eavesdrop on a conversation? Listening to a radio/podcast.
  • What sings, but can't speak, and breathes air, but can't whistle? A whale.
• One Sentence Stories: Start with an intriguing concept, and take turns, seeing what ridiculous and interesting paths it leads you down.
• People Watching Postulation*: One person looks at someone nearby and starts a story with a single sentence. The next person adds a sentence, building off the first, and so on. Together, you create an imagined story about the folks around you.
• Two Words Per Turn: Inspired by Shoot From The Hip, a British Improv troupe, agree on an idea for a letter: the sender, receiver, and topic. Compose it together, two words per person per turn.
• Unexpected Associations*: Player A says a single word they see in the environment. Player B looks around and finds another thing they observe. Together, they figure out a way those two words are connected. The more surreal, fortuitous, funny, or weird, the better.

Want more? Though they aren't specifically games to play while waiting, The Art Of Noticing by Rob Walker is full of creative exercises for finding creative inspiration and delighting in the mundane. I'd also recommend the accompanying newsletter of the same name.

Credits

• Vagmi Pathak: for find the word, people watching postulation, and unexpected associations.

And if you have suggestions to add to this list, please email me! I'll add them and credit you.

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