Every week this calendar lists the random--serious or not-so-serious--activities that happen outside of the usual theater/art/music/film circuit. This week the Diversions calendar is dedicated to temporarily diverting your attention from deep mourning for those lost in the recent terrorist attacks. For a moment, hour, or afternoon, we recommend relieving your mind by engaging in the following diversions.

· Watch kids' programming on KCTS. While the networks supply hour after hour of tragedy coverage, PBS continues to joyfully trot out its usual fare: Merry purple dinosuars, self-esteem building singalongs, and joyful (if animated) displays of functional multiculturalism. If we can't retreat to the womb, we can at least retreat to a childhood surrogate.

· Go smell some flowers.

· Turn on some loud music and clean your house or apartment.

· Ride a bike somewhere beautiful.

· Go to the kids' section of the public library and sit cross-legged on the carpet. Read Goodnight Moon.

· Go to Magus Bookstore (1408 NE 42nd St, 633-1800), which is the best secondhand bookstore in Seattle, and buy a copy of Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. It's not a depressing book, but a very funny book. Indeed, it's almost as funny as Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. Discipline and Punish studies the history of punishing criminals, starting with the 17th century and ending with the 19th century. Certain parts of the book are a bit gory, but Foucault's wit and poetry make them easy to digest. (If they don't have a copy of Discipline and Punish then try History of Sexuality volume 1.)

· Go skateboarding.

· Have at least four drinks at the Mecca Cafe (526 Queen Anne Ave N, 285-9728).

· Go to Uwajimaya (600 Fifth Ave S, at Dearborn), wander around for an hour or so (don't forget the gift shop and bookstore!), and buy some food you've never seen or heard of before. Eat it.

· Let a fat dog up on the bed and sleep with your nose in its ear.

· Go to Discovery Park in Magnolia, smoke some weed, and watch the freights go through Puget Sound.

· Enjoy a real ice-cream shake, like the ones from Häagen-Dazs or something of that ilk.

· Go to Elliott Bay Book Company (101 S Main St, 624-6600) and buy a copy of Das Capital, the Penguin edition. Even if you only make it through the first chapter of volume one (it is made up of three volumes, each about 1,000 pages long), it will be one of the most rewarding reading experiences in your short life.

· Build a fire on the beach and poke at it with a stick.

· Go to the beach and skip rocks.

· Prepare yourself a meal of comfort foods: mashed potatoes and meat loaf, pancakes, grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, or just chocolate chip cookie dough.

· Flee to Leavenworth and pretend you are in another country.

· Buy a plastic model kit of your favorite muscle car, and build a model.

· Kiss someone. With a lot of tongue. Especially someone you've just met.

· Lie on some grass. Remember that the earth is still there, plants are still growing, insects are still building their nests. Even if civilization as we know it comes to an end, plants are still growing, insects are still building their nests, and birds are still eating insects. Let the dirt stain your clothes.