What do you do for entertainment?  How much do you spend on entertainment.
Feel free to argue about the meaning and philosophy of entertainment, and
whether it has always been a lucrative industry or whether Americans now have
too much free time.

18 responses total.

Webster:  Entertainment - the act of entertaining;  something diverting or
engaging, esp. a public performance.
Entertain - to provide entertainment for, esp. for guests, syn, see amuse

Both from old French entre-tenir  - inter-hold.  Used to mean 'maintain'.

Amuse (from old French amuser, to muse) - divert the attention of, occupy the
attention of, entertain or occupy in a light, playful or pleasant manner.

So what do you do for diversion or amusement?

Go out with friends to eat, go to movies, lately have been shooting tons of
pool, watch tv, read.  How much?  Gah!  The mind fairly boggles.

watch hockey, play hockey, talk about hockey, hang out with friends, 
movies, bowling, frisbee, bike.

Cost varies a lot ... in some months, I can spend less than $30 on 
entertainment, in other months, I can easily spend more than $300.

It depends on the season. 

In the winter, I watch a lot of TV and I read quite a bit too. I 
sometimes go out to dinner and to movies and stuff with friends. There 
are lots of parties around Xmas. I like to walk my dogs even in the 
winter. 

In the summer, I do more outdoors. I love swimming and spend hours by 
the lake at my parent's house. I am kind of, sort of, starting to like 
gardening and yard work although I suppose it is still more of a chore 
than entertainment. 

I suppose my most frequent entertainment choices are swimming, 
kayaking, movies (both renting and going to the theater), reading, and 
watching tv. I also like to go to museums and the theater but only a 
couple of times a year. Oh yeah, I entertain people in my home a lot 
too.

Costs = Movies $8.50 
books = I spend under $100/year because I get lots of books free from 
work. 
TV = $40/mo for cable. 
swimming = free
kayaking = free
 

If I am going to the movies and then out to dinner, I usually plan on 
spending at least $30. Sometimes I dont spend anything due to a 
generous friend but I have spent around $100 for an evening out that 
pretty much consisted of dinner and a movie. This is why, like ea, my 
entertainment costs vary a lot. 

Sometimes there arent any movies I want to see and my friends brave my 
cooking so I just stay home and hardly spend anything at all. Last Sat 
for instance, I bought $13 worth of bagels and cream cheese, made a pot 
of coffee which I guess might have cost a buck. I bought some half and 
half just for the occasion which cost 89cents. Then one friend stayed 
into the evening and I cooked him a "fancy" dinner of $2 noodles 
combined with a $2 jar of sauce. We watched a DVD I got for free from 
work. So that day, I spent just $17.89 on entertainment and my guests 
spend nothing so I think it is a REALLY good return on what was spent 
but even when I consider just me, I think it was worth it. If I hadnt 
had people over, I would have probably gone out to breakfast and then 
out to a movie and dinner which would have cost me MUCH more than 
$17.89. 

Mostly I read. That can cost a lot or a little, depending on what books I'm
currently in need of and whether I can find them used or have to buy new (and
whether they're paperback or hardcover, of course). Since I'm normally in need
of a book every day, that amounts to finding something new to read for at
least four days out of the week (I do reread and sometimes I don't finish
something at one sitting, but normally I do) -- I have a bag o' books right
now from the library bag sale, which is keeping my costs down this month,
although I still have bought a few new ones. 

Then there's tv. Although I don't watch THAT much, I do watch all the
incarnations of Law and Order, Buffy, and Enterprise, plus any old movies or
history channel shows that catch my attention. 

Going-out wise, I have a regular Thursday date with my friends Linda and
Andrea, so we usually have a drink (Coke, or a milkshake, or like that!) and
hit a bookstore or so. Every month, we pick one Thursday as dinner-out night,
but we're all cheap, so we hit a cheap Chinese restaurant and have dinner and
conversation.

I've been going to see a lot of theatre lately.  Usually I get in for 
free (primarily because of who it is that asks me to go with them).

Reading - library books (lots of them).  No TV.  Radio music - free.  33s -
10 cents each or less by the pound at the library booksale.  Free lectures
and concerts on campus.  Restaurant meals once or twice a month averaging
$10/2 people including a generous tip.  I view entertainment as something
passive, so this does not include playing with old computers or bikes, or
gardening, or cooking.  Scrabble games with friends and home-cooked meals.

Oh yeah, I forgot about my saturday morning NPR habit. It costs me $100 
a year in donations to the local NPR station. 

Hmm.

Mostly I read, watch baseball, and use Grex.  I read old books, of 
which I have a large supply, so I haven't spent much on books this 
year.  I watch baseball games, mostly on TV, and pay $47.50 per month 
for cable TV.  I use Grex from work and home, my home Internet 
connection is $40/month.

Additionally, I travel for vacations.  My trip to Tennessee ran about 
$500, and I'm going to the UP at the beginning of June for a week, 
which I expect will run about $1000.  I'll be going on some weekend 
trips over the summer, to such places as Lake Michigan.

I go to things such as occasional movies, the zoo (today's trip to the 
zoo was free, with my kid's kindergarten class), museums, etc.  I 
probably drop another $50/month on this kind of stuff.

I have a pickup truck which, as of this weekend, will have cost me $900 
this year in repairs, plus who knows how much in insurance and gas.  (I 
don't keep track.)  I only use it for recreational purposes.

I've spent maybe $300 on my fish tank and accessories, such as fish.

I eat out for fun and to avoid starvation; since there are other ways 
to avoid starvation, call it all recreation; I probably spend about 
$150/month doing it, anyway.

I guess I spend quite a lot on recreation.  I hadn't really realized it.

This response has been erased.

I try to go cheap in the summer, because there are so many good things to do
(lake swimming, frisbee golf, walking the arb, Top of the Park) that happen
to be free.  Besides, I need to recharge the recreational spending accounts
after/before a fall-winter-spring whirlwind tour of the United States, mostly
relating to football or hockey games that I attend.  I'm considering investing
some cash in a trip to Stratford to see Christopher Plummer in King Lear,
but I'd have to decide soon.

Has anyone been to the new county park northeast of town, which is suppoed
to open this year and have a swimming beach?

It does seem to me that I spend a disproportionate percentage of my 
entertainment dollars on hockey related stuff.  For example, during the 
month of April, my hockey spending was probably $500-600, while the rest 
of the entertainment for that month was under $25.  (however, this is 
somewhat of an outlier ... usually the monthly hockey expenses are much 
lower ...)

This response has been erased.

i hear liquid plummer works well in kitchen sinks

Grex; the Camarilla (and occasionally, other RPGs)-- and ALL things 
gaming at one point or another; getting the news by newspaper, TV, 
or 'Net; occasional reading-- I have been quite the naughty boy-- 
books haven't grabbed me lately; movies once in a while (much rarer at 
the theatres); random TV viewing; activities as they happen with 
friends and co-workers during more serious stuff.  In other words, I 
entertain myself and I am entertained at work, and at meetings 
(church, support group, etc.)

recreation & entertainment: long walks with the dawg, some jogging 
interspersed, play music, listen to music, read, rent a cupple of
movies per week...and all of the above as often as possible with 
my gal.

one, two, three, look at mister lees...

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