DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Pathologic or cytologic diagnosis of solid tumors or lymphoma

• Metastatic disease

  • No curative or effective therapy exists
• Measurable or nonmeasurable disease

• No clinically relevant third-space fluid collections

  • Fluid collections must be drained before study enrollment
• No leukemia
• No CNS metastases

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• ECOG performance status 0-2
• Life expectancy ≥ 12 weeks
• ANC ≥ 1,500/mm^3
• Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm^3
• Hemoglobin ≥ 9 g/dL
• Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• AST and ALT ≤ 3.0 times ULN (5 times ULN if liver has tumor involvement)
• Creatinine clearance ≥ 45 mL/min
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception during and for 3 months after completion of study therapy
• No active infection or other serious illness that would preclude study participation
• No weight loss ≥ 10% within the past 6 weeks
• No peripheral neuropathy (e.g., diabetic neuropathy) ≥ CTC grade 1
• Must be able to take concurrent vitamin B12 and folic acid

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• No more than 1 prior chemotherapy regimen for metastatic disease
• More than 12 months since prior adjuvant therapy
• More than 30 days since prior drug that has not received regulatory approval
• More than 30 days since prior radiation therapy and recovered (alopecia allowed)
• Prior standard postoperative adjuvant radiation therapy for rectal cancer allowed
• No prior radiation therapy to ≥ 25% of bone marrow
• No prior oxaliplatin or pemetrexed disodium
• No NSAIDs or acetylsalicylic acid 2 days before (5 days for long-acting agents [e.g., piroxicam]), during, and for 2 days after each dose of pemetrexed disodium
• No concurrent nonpalliative radiation therapy or surgery for cancer
• No concurrent hormonal cancer therapy (except medroxyprogesterone)
• No other concurrent experimental medications (except thymidine)
• No other concurrent chemotherapy or immunotherapy
• No other concurrent anticancer therapy
• Concurrent palliative radiation therapy allowed for small areas of painful metastasis that cannot be managed adequately by systemic or local analgesics