I work a full time job five days a week, and at the end of the day, I am often visiting friends. During my down time when I am sitting at home, and it’s not quite bedtime yet, I like to pass the time.

I personally play games. I play on my laptop “regular” video games when I can’t pick up WiFi, and I play a couple browser based games as well. Check them out. I play OGame, a space game where you run a planet, build defenses, and ships, and go to war with other players. I also play NationStates, a political game where I run my own country they way I want to. I’m classified as a “Father knows Best State”, and I am a benevolent Dictator. You can find me in a region called Gatesville, I am Arathi Basin there, the Gatesville Enlistment Advocate and member of the Imperial Council on our forums. My job is simple, recruit new nations to Gatesville in order to become the most powerful player created region in the game, and defeat the World Assembly.

It’s important to be able to entertain yourself when living in a van. I watch movies as well, but I don’t have TV. Nor did I watch TV prior to moving into my van, but some people do. A suggestion for other van-dwellers, or anyone with a laptop for that matter. If you are looking for a way to watch TV, but don’t have a TV, or internet connection to stream. There are adapters that you can buy at any Best Buy or Future Shop that allow you to grab TV from airwaves. Check this one out: Hauppauge Win TV HVR USB Stick

I watch a lot of movies as well, and it’s great to sit back, watch a movie and have a beer. For someone like me, I have a lot of DVD’s from when I was in a stick built. Obviously, holding onto a couple hundred DVD’s in a small space is silly. What I do is rip to AVI, it’s my backup copy which legally can be made. I use Xillisoft DVD Ripper which works awesome, and is worth every penny. I store the DVD’s on an external hard drive that gets its power directly from the laptop via two USB connections. I still own the DVD’s, and they are packed up in storage. Everytime I buy a new DVD, I rip it, and store my original copy. I don’t share them, I believe in supporting the movie industry. If I buy a movie, and it sucks, I don’t rip it, and I get rid of the DVD. I usually will trade it at a pawn shop or movie store for something else.

I borrow TV Boxsets as well, watching Dexter and True Blood currently. Love both those shows!

What do you do to pass the time?