Saturday Funday

Last week, we talked about how to chill out in style on Friday, i.e. without spending the entire day like a complete slob. If you read our column, you'll know we also promised to share our invaluable tips slash insights for Saturday Funday.

While Saturday Funday doesn't have the same ring to it as Sunday Funday, Sunday's sadly a weekday on this side of the globe. But it's the same idea minus the Bloody Marys (they're optional). If you are already acquainted with the philosophy and are actively pursuing this lifestyle, then give yourself a pat on the back. You're doing it right. If you have never heard of it, Saturday Funday is all about extending your weekend festivities before hanging up your dancing shoes (unless you're a professional ballroom dancer and it's your main source of income.) It's about tiring yourself out enough to miraculously fall asleep at 9pm so you can wake up for the 8am start-of-the-week meeting with the bossman fresh as a daisy.

Partying hard has its health benefits. So put your party hat on and go crazy. Get wasted by 6.30ish – that's gotta be a full-proof plan even if you'd "accidentally" slept in till the afternoon. For the rest of the 90 percent non-alcoholic population, activities of the day can include, but are not limited to: watching sports games outside, taking part in sports games outside, or basically doing every single physical activity you can come up with that you actually enjoy. Can't think of anything?

Try something new and exciting. Drop by the gym at DU and take up squash. If that's too far away, intense laps of swimming butterfly-style will also do the trick. Or wake up early and take out that brand spanking new bike that's been sitting in your garage collecting dust. If you've cut out manual labour from your life altogether, you'll find out that this can be a real challenge. Heck, a couple of kilometers of harmless walking and you'll be pooped.

You can substitute intensity for quantity. Instead of extreme physical activity (which is desirable for a Saturday Funday), take up a weekend class. Whether you're learning a new language, polishing your musical skills or finally doing that EMBA course, getting out of the house, meeting new people and being forced to to socialise are enough to make many of us exhausted.

And why not put your oven to acutal use instead of using it to heat up your miserable microwave TV dinners? Bake yourself and your loved ones a steaming hot batch of pretty little red velvet cupcakes, complete with a fancy swirl of cream cheese on top. Don't be fooled. Past experience has taught me that baking is no small feat, especially if you're an amateur. Whipping up all that flour and egg and butter and sugar, washing the dozen different bowls you somehow managed to use, and wiping down the entire kitchen because everything just went flying, are enough to leave your arms feeling like putty. You might've even grown some biceps. So much win, right?

You probably have your own ideas about what you'd like to do best on a Saturday Funday. Jot them down and if you're willing to go a step further, plan an entire list of Funday activities for you and your friends. Whatever the ulterior motive is for passing out early, the gist of it is to do the things that you love with the people who you love. Surprise them. I personally plan on travelling around Dhaka on foot one of these Saturdays and writing my own guide to the city. A bit ambitious for someone like me, but one can dream.

The writer is Sub-editor of Next Step