Would you like me to send you Diablo II? I have it sitting in its original box, smirking in its little jewelcase on my bookshelf, taunting me to play it again.
**
Diablo II** eats up time like nothing else in this world. It consumes your days like the Devil consumes souls. It is computerized crack.
**Diablo II is hungry for your time, Aesiron. **
Send me an e-mail if you would like me to send it to you. I would be happy to.
You could organize the SDMB Secret Santa exchange for this year. I just did the Coffee Mug Exchange, and it was a lot of fun for me. It takes time, especially when when you have to assign names and email everyone. You’ll get a ton of email and get to learn where people are from. And it’s a bit of a power trip.
You’ve expressed reluctance at accepting Doper help, but I for one have never done a thing for you, and I’d enjoy sending you something to keep your spirits up – even if it’s just a postcard or greeting card. I’d even be glad to organize a “cards for Aesiron” campaign. If you emailed me your address, people could get it from me so the cards would be a surprise when you get them. (I’m missing the high I got from organizing the coffee mug exchange, so you’d really be doing me a favor.)
Aesiron, does your computer play DVDs? I have a Netflix subscription, and inside every CD, it advertises a FREE TRIAL I can give to a friend…
Do you have a telescope?
Do you have neighbors?
Do you have a girlfriend (or boyfriend) who is willing to dress up like Grace Kelly?
Problem solved!
Yeah, I haven’t done anything for you either! And now you won’t give me a chance? 
Go ahead and email your address to her! I want to send you a card or something!
Now, it would be tough for me to recover from a physical ailment without TV (I’m recovering from surgery, but I fortunately am not ‘laid up’ as badly as you). So I’m trying to think “what would I do if I had no TV?” You have a computer with internet access, though.
Make a list of subjects you always wanted to know more about. Like the history of New York, the real life of Billy the Kid, what have ya, and spend time researching that on the internet.
You’re kind of broke, but used bookstores have good books CHEAP. Write down some book titles you want, call libraries or used bookstores to see if they have 'em, and send your helper out to get 'em. Or even post a list on this board and let us Dopers send them to you! You know we don’t mind!
Best wishes on your recovery.
Oh, I can relate. I don’t live alone but the BF works long hours and I’ve worked from home without a car for the last 3 years. While it’s nice to have lots of free time it can also drive you completely insane, especially since I only really have to work for a few hours a day. Granted I can go out and have fun and I have a great view of the racetrack and stables from my windows, but it’s hard being in a house by yourself all day.
It’s very important to have creative outlets, so I second the NaNoWriMo thing. I would have to advise againt playing Jimmy Stewart per Eve’s telescope suggestion, as it can be very hard to provide the forced community service if you can’t walk. 
Make yourself a schedule and stick to it. Seriously. That more than anything will keep you from going insane. My day consists of:
Wake up
Get ready, breakfast
Clean house/ pay bills/ chase squirrels away/ etc.
Work on Nanowrimo for a few hours
Lunch
Work for a few hours
Improve my mind for an hour (or 2, or 3… study literature, language, history, something)
Dinner
Yoga (or other indoor workout. It’s important to get out some of that energy)
Go out/ do whatever I want until bed
And take some of the dopers up on their offers. It’s important to have human companionship and interaction. We weren’t built to be completely solitary creatures. If you need someone to talk to or to entertain you I would be glad to give you a call or drop you a line. Email’s in the profile.
Yeah, but the folks across the way have to cooperate. One has to be the hacker, the other the hackee, and they must have sturdy luggage. 
Thanks for the advice, everyone. I’m already looking into the book delivery by the library here and, of course, will be fighting the boredom as best I can by looking for things online to do.
It’s just that I think I’m going through a bit of post-operation depression and nothing’s entertaining me as much as it used to. If I can just snap out of it, the SDMB alone will be enough to keep me entertained for at least a month of my recuperation.
I appreciate all the empathy, good vibes, and offers of help.
Speaking of which: **Sattua **-- what’s the deal on the free Netflix trial? I have a DVD Rom and would love to be able to watch movies on my computer if I could… I’m just not able to afford an account right now. If it’s a good enough deal, I’d gladly be your friend.
Anyone who wants to send Aesiron a greeting, email me (mef3rd “at” yahoo dot com). Here’s another thread about it.
Netflix is AWESOME. I don’t rent enough movies to make a continuing membership cost-effective for me, but I signed up to try it out once I had made a list of about ten movies I really wanted to see. Back in April, they offered a free two-week trial membership, and I was able to cycle through two groups of three DVDs during that time. Their turnaround time is really fast, especially for newer members. Before the two-week deadline, I went back to the website and went through the process of canceling my membership, but in order to keep me around, they automatically gave me another free two weeks! You really can’t go wrong with that, and their selection is much better than any local Ballbuster or Hollyweird Video.
Teach yourself something!
Homebound for a couple months is a great oppurtunity: check out some foreign language books from the library. Impress your friends with your newfound knowledge of Latin when you finally start stepping out in two months. No? Maybe a musical instrument then? Rental isn’t that expensive. Now’s your chance go become a superb mediocre beginning oboist in only two months! Have a computer and a net connection? There’s good chance right there–pick up some marketable computer skills! Learn Java (Java is especially good, because Sun has lots of good tutorials and documentation on the net), or Python, or some other language. Hell, become an Excel wizard, or learn the basics of a major RDBMS for that matter (you can download full versions of Oracle for educational use gratis).
I’ll second Metacom’s suggestion. This is a golden opportunity to pick up some skills that will help you improve your lot in life.
If you don’t mind playing against immature lil kids, a free game like gunbound might be a good way to kill some time. It’s just a multiplayer tank game with cute graphics. It helped me kill some time while unemployed last year.
Another good free game is called pristontale. It’s a hack and slash rpg type game. It’s not something I would pay to play since it lacks story and depth, but last I knew it was free until you reach level 40 or something.
Of the two, I’d lean towards gunbound. It’s a smaller download but can be a lot of fun once you get the hang of it.
How about teaching yourself to knit or crochet? (Or maybe you already know). I think it might help if you were to do something that you could take pride in. I like crocheting myself, and it’s something I always enjoy doing when I have the time. It doesn’t take much concentration at all once you get the hang of it, and it’s always satisfying to watch a blanket develop. Heck, if you live near Columbus, I’ll teach you!
Aesiron, please consider accepting people’s offers of help. Good communities band together in times of crisis. Offers like this are what make SDMB a community, rather than just somewhere that people come to yell at each other about their politics. Accepting this help makes the community stronger.
Also, no one here has offered because they feel obliged to. We genuinely want to help.
Plus, dude, it really sounds like you could use the help.
I was pretty much homebound for 5 years taking care of my grandmother. Too bad about the TV since Adult Swim was a big help. Too bad we can’t talk about some of the stuff we do for fun over the internet.
I did a lot of volunteer work over the net though. Transcribing records for genealogists. All the while doing genealogy myself. You’d be surprised how much stuff there is out there for free. Take the images and make a text transcription or index. It can be a lot of help for people without broadband. I’d spend days and days typing out tens of thousands of names while listening to music.
I also … used to play cribbage and chess and other games with myself. Playing each player as if he didn’t know what the others were doing. That might sound a little weird but I did enjoy it. Ok, so it’s a little snap.
Drink loads of nyquil and write that NaNoWriMo masterpiece.
Mention my name when you win a Pulitzer.
Reading is good, but surely you have other interests that can be pursued while homebound? There are things you can do with your computer besides surfing the web. How about scanning/digitizing old photos and then clean them up on your computer? That will take up a lot of time and, at the end, you can have copies of your photos safely stored on CDs. If you’re more ambitious, convert any home videos you have to DVDs. I sure wish I have more time to do all this.
** Aesiron**, I have a 3-D jigsaw puzzle of a castle (okay, it’s Camelot) that I’ve never gotten aroung to putting together. You’d be doing me a favor if you got it set up, because then I could see what it looked like and if it was cool, I could keep it. Or, you could, I have soooo much clutter already. But it’s still a favor to me, so no feeling like you’re taking advantage or wearing out some imaginary welcome. Well, the welcome isn’t imaginary, of course, but you can’t wear it out.
I also have Hoyle Board Games and Hoyle Card Games for the computer–they’re old, but compatible for all computers, so if you have an old operating system, they should still work. Each has 14 different games (hearts, poker, gin rummy, cribbage, chess, checkers, battleship, etc.) and you get to play against a couple different aliens, a T-Rex, a bear (he’s smarter than he looks) and a few people as well–or you can play with real people. I have them loaded on to my computer, so you wouldn’t be depriving me of anything.
I have a bag full of books I keep meaning to sell or donate–you can look through them first to see if anything interests you. I have a guitar I can lend you, or a Doumbek–maybe you can find someone to belly dance while you drum. Ever had any interest in sketching? I know where to get some decent, but inexpensive pastels and artist’s pencils–but if you ever become a famous artist, I’d insist on getting some of the credit. And an original, of course.
So why don’t you send me a list of stuff you need at the store, or your favorite fast food indulgence and I’ll drop off the games and stuff with the groceries. Tuesday evening is perfect for me. I may even make brownies.
My e-mail is in my profile, and I think you have my phone number. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll bring you Spam and canned sardines.
Really, I will. 
That’s a really cool offer and I appreciate it but I think I’ll pass. I’m not very good at first person shooters and those kinds of games tend to make me nauseous (something about polygonal first person games give me migraines) so it’d be best not to add insult to injury.
I’m usually in #straightdope, an mIRC chat, when I am online and have people in there to keep me entertained. I might take you up on the email though… I’ve been corresponding with a few people the past couple days and it kills time. Plus, the few posts of yours I’ve read make you seem like an interesting person.
**Sattua **gave me her code and I have Rear Window (someone suggested it considering my condition), The Royal Tenenbaums, and Saved! being sent to me in the next day or two in addition to about seventy others I’ve already put on my list. $18 a month won’t bankrupt me.
I’ve already broken down by some people nagging me in emails. I’m not going to ask for help outright but if someone wants to help me, I’ll let them. It’s just hard to have to actually rely on someone else to survive after getting used to fending for yourself.
My hobbies are mostly reading, music, and the net with occasional movies thrown in. After Sattua gave me a Netflix account and the other person brought up the delivery of books, I’m pretty much set… good thing too, 'cause I don’t have a scanner or any CDs to save stuff to like you’ve suggested.
I’ll pass on the games (I usually play Yahoo! games if I am bored) and the jigsaw puzzle (I don’t have a table to put it on) but I’ll gladly rummage through your books to see what might interest me.
And I’d LOVE some chinese or indian although those obviously aren’t fast food. I’ve not had either in a while and my mouth’s watering at the idea of either right now. I’m tired of ham and swiss sandwiches already and it’s only been a week.
I’ll email you later if you like. Tuesday might be a problem as I’ll be in Salem with the orthopedic surgeon doing a follow-up.
Thanks again, everyone.