What will you do while you wait in line?

It's kind of a blatant rip-off from a book I came across at Borders. It's titled "This Diary Will Change Your Life 2007". It has probably become an annual publication since it's appearance in the bookstores in 2005. In the book, there are many suggestions, formulae, charts and forms, and all sorts of ingenious devices that proposes to help the reader think about his or her life in a different way and, more importantly, make a conscious effort to do something that he or she (or heshe. Can't deny their existence...) has never done, or thought of doing, before.

These 'never-done-before' schticks aren't limited to obnoxiously 'big' matters (e.g. get rich), earth-shaking endeavors (e.g. be important) or existence-affirming ambitions (e.g. become rich and important). A good many of these suggestions are surprisingly goofy and dumb upon first sight, and decidedly against the grain of sane social behaviour. Example: Pour coffee into someone's socks (?!). There is also a detailed chart for you to assess your current state of virginity, how to lose it (if you so desire to), and a road map to getting there (the instructions are there, but I should assume it's up to the reader what he or she wants to make of it anyway).

The whole point of it all? I did not read through any of the author's notes, introductions or prefaces that might be in the book (might. You don't read in strict page-one-to-the-end order when you are browsing in a bookstore, do you?), and thus I have no idea of the intention of such a publication. That said, I do find the premise interesting, simply because it challenges us to think laterraly about our lives, and how we can make it different even if, at the end of it all, none of us gets a Nobel prize for our trouble. Who knows, though? Some of the more innovative ideas on Earth did spring from seemingly stupid or unimportant ideas that nobody give a crap about (think Wright brothers).

We'll spare ourselves from all the inspirational chicken soups like 'a journey of a thousand mile begin with a single step'. How about taking that step barefooted in a leap, in the direction where the sun doesn't shine?

Instead of adopting the usual author-prescribes-everything approach, how about you, as readers, suggest how you can change your life by doing something different, idiotic, smart, whatever, that takes you away from the normal course of life, and in so doing develop a heathy wanderlust that might hold surprises ahead? Just type your ideas in the comments box, barring controversial issues like racism, violence, pornography and all things anti-social.

Attention: Don't be too dead serious and stiff about this. This is meant to be a fun way to express some goofs in our heads, to help us break out from our ruts. The last thing I want is an all-out philosophical warfare happening here. THIS IS NOT A FORUM (where all other abuses usually happen). Thank you.