Sloth: Being Entertained During a Bout of Sickness

I've been down with a nasty cold for a couple of days now, with no sight of it lightening up (oooh, why not morph into an eye infection on top of it all? Sounds great, right?)... Aside from having to work on a couple of my other jobs due to deadlines, I've managed to get a couple of necessary days off from the full-time. During the brief moments between trying to cough up both lungs and sleeping so much it's almost a clinical coma, I've had a bit of time to fill with nonsense and entertainment. Maybe when all this is over I can post a shitty survival guide to the common cold... too bad I'm not exactly surviving. Below is a list of the different things that can keep you entertained when there is nothing to do but drink hot liquids and try not to infect the whole building:

#1 Get a list of BLOGS to read (the best are those that publish posts at LEAST once a day)

Dear Girls Above Me
This one is written by Charlie: he's a guy that lives beneath two young girls that happen to be extremely daft in a building with very thin walls/floors. Hilarity ensues!

Design*Sponge
A well-maintained blog of Do-It-Yourself projects and Design features (in mostly Interior Design and Graphic Design); updates more than once a day.

Sleep Talkin' Man
This poor guy talks in his sleep, and his wife records it and posts it every day in their blog. He's extremely vocal about his dreams and sometimes it's just too crazy; a post every day.

Three Fashion/Style Blogs that post at least once a day:
Style/Clicker
Jak & Jil Blog
The Sartorialist

Fantastic blogs of my friends:
Guise by Jennifer Burland
I GUESS I'M FLOATING by Rhea Da Costa-Clark
TOO RUDE Mag by Erin Pea
Gramma Jones by Graeme Maitland

#2 Get some good tunes going to keep your spirits up; here are a couple sites that have streaming capabilities:

Grooveshark
Search for your favourite music (great amount of selection, just don't look for the Beatles 'cause you won't find 'em), or listen to their narrow selection of "radio" stations.

8-Tracks
I like this one because it's user-based and allows anyone to create a themed playlist and publish it with streaming music for free. They're based on various categories, seemingly endless. Careful, some of them are just complete shit, but I find it's mostly 30% shit and 50% good and 20% brilliant. Happy Hunting!

SoundCloud
User-based, allows musicians to upload their own tracks, add tags for a category search, and the ability to add comments throughout the track from the musician and anyone that feels the need to chat about it. Check out my buddy Blue Neptune (aka Minhaj; his website) for some ambient, techno, progressive house and progressive trance beats.

#3 Visual Stimulation is KEY; videos and movies galore!

Ted
What a mind-blowing site. This place is a great organization that hosts lectures from the most up-and-coming scientists, innovators, teachers, inspirational speakers, entertainers; stellar talks on important topics, or just some awe-inspiring acts from musicians and actors. I don't know why I'm spending so much time on this post when I should just be broadening my mind with this bad boy.

Vimeo
One-stop shop for user-based videos that aren't shit; think YouTube with class. I suggest EXPLORE>HD VIDEOS for an all-you-can-watch buffet of beauty and creativity.

TV Shack
Feel like being a pirate? Your basic streaming website for current flicks and past favourites, TV and Movies alike. I suggest watching An Idiot Abroad; a new series produced by SkyOne about a guy that doesn't enjoy traveling, being sent out by Ricky Gervais to visit the Seven Wonders of the World. Hilarious and you get to see the outdoors from your indoors!

Movie Trailers via Apple
Watch the latest trailers streamed in high-quality from the Apple website; this one sometimes posts some great International trailers.

#4 GAMES, that are FREE and can be quickly ended if you need a fast nap or to puke in the toilet.

Yahoo! Games
I've been playing these bad boys ever since my glory days in High School when I would spend 30% of class time at home being "sick" or "tired". Pool is fun!

Neopets
WHAT! Yes, it's still around. Yes, I still have my old account, with my shop and my little Neopets. But the REALLY great part about this website is their collection of Flash games. Sure, they're made for kids, but holy shit they can take up a lot of your day and they're super creative. You have to sign up for an account, but once you've quickly done that it's smooth sailing from there. I like playing National Neopian, but that's only because I win lots of NEOPOINTS and can buy food for my Neopets, things for my shop, etc, etc... now I must seem pretty lame. Oh well... I have more Neopoints than you.

Shockwave
Lots, and lots of weird flash games. Not much else needs to be said about this one.

#5 Travel the World

Google Maps is brilliant. I really don't think I need to explain much since everyone knows about its capabilities; but just think about how you go to Street View to see if your favourite restaurant downtown is close to the subway, and then take that and go to PARIS. Or EGYPT. Ok bye!


If you're still bored and aren't sick enough to be entertained by all of this crap and should put some clothes on and get your lazy ass to work.

Feel better!