Family and Florida, Only 2 Days Away

I am counting down the days that I get to see my family in Florida. It's going to be such a fabulous visit. It's been six months since I've seen any of them. My nephews are going to be so big and my folks have their new house they get to show off. I'm just so excited. It's going to be in the 60s and 70s while we're there, which is just perfect. This is also going to be a great vacation getaway for Jason and I, we need an exit from reality.I love you guys and can't wait to hug everyone one of you!!

Wonders, Questions, and Balance

When I was younger I used to wonder about the many different "whys" in life, I would have deep conversations with older people or just listen to their fascinating analytical thoughts about the world. I would be completely enthralled and write about my findings and dreams when I had alone time. I was such a deep thinker in high school and I would only surround myself with people similar to me.

I feel the older I get the less patience I have for listening to profound wonderings and the less I come up with my own. I guess once you become an adult you lose your focus on the true unknowns of the world and only allow yourself to focus on what tasks will get you through each day. I miss those times and the person I used to be. Jason is very much a thinker and thought provoker. This is one of the many reasons why I love him and it's also why he can drive me crazy at times. He tries to get me thinking all the time and I somehow very rarely latch on to his ideas or questions about the world. I really wish I could escape like he does. But it's hard when you feel we'll never get to where we are going or get the laundry finished if we keep escaping into our own heads. I wish for a balance, a way I could escape with him every so often and at the same time be responsible.

Really, a nice all-inclusive vacation is what we need. Jason, this does mean that you have full range to talk my ear off once we are on this vacation. You can moderately tell your wonders and I will be able to do the same. We will also have to add in some time for peace and quite, which is also one of my favorite things.

Day to Day

Day Planners were one of the best organizational tools ever created, I used to use them all the time when I was busy in school with a part-time job and then when I was a free-lance production assistant in NY. The four years I was at Renegade I didn't use a personal one only one for work that I kept there. I now am using a personal one again, it's needed badly for things like photography gigs, my Our365 schedule, Dr. Apts, family and friend affairs, birthdays, vacations, and unemployment and school deadlines. I'm just a busy girl with a lot on my plate. Unfortunately I misplaced my day planner a few days ago and I'm hoping I can remember all my upcoming engagements. I did not realized how important that book was to me until it was gone. Time to start a new one.

Being Overly Prepared is a Good Thing

Being overly prepared for something is better than not being prepared enough. I've learned this lesson first-hand when I figured out that all the studying I've been doing for the past week and a half has been real overkill. I was given notes from a friend that went through the subjects like: Social Studies, Economics, Biology, Chemistry, Math, English, Politics, Geology, Writing, and a few more. It comes to find out that the Praxis I I am taking tomorrow morning only consists of writing, reading, and math. And my guess is that all those other subject matters are on the Praxis II, which I also have to take eventually, so really I didn't waste my time, I'm now just ahead of the game. Well, now I'm going to do something relaxing, since I didn't let myself relax like I could have while on vacation. Oh well, I should have read the fine print.

Sometimes Routine is Nice

When your day is wide open, and anything is possible, that's when sometimes you're the least productive. That's how it is for me, at least. With a week of vacation I've done nothing but enjoy myself. Which is great, don't get me wrong. I've had a nice break from the grind. But all my grand plans of getting the last bits of work done around the house...not realized. I did get the AC unit in, as you read yesterday. But that's it.

Which is why I say that sometimes the routine of "the grind" is a good thing. It gives your week a structure. A schedule you can operate inside of. It demarcates your productive times from your non-productive times, and offers relaxation time as a reward from your labors as opposed to a freely available, easily exploitable constant. It's sort of like putting a toddler in a play pen. The fenced in area defines his/her world for a time. It gives borders and limits choices. It lets them feel safe and encourages play.

It's something like that...loosely.

I'm not necessarily looking forward to going back to work, although I like my work, so it doesn't bother me. I'm looking forward to the routine, and having Kate around again. I'm looking forward to our little rituals and the things we normally do to spend time together. I can't wait for my play pen to have a bit of a fence again.

Bachelor Chow

Hey Steph. This is food entry number 22.

I'm glad to say that I've put the bachelor chow diet behind me. Kate and I are both becoming decent cooks, Kate even more so than I, and we generally eat pretty well.

However...

While Kate is gone this weekend I'm enjoying a culinary cruise down memory lane, sampling bits of the bachelor chow lifestyle as I go. And leaving all the unwashed plates on the living room table when I'm done.

So far I've had pasta with a can of Chunky Chicken and Corn Chowder dumped on top, a pizza with an accompanying Chicken and Bacon Calzone (it was free from Papa Johns as part of some promotion...I'm not that much of a pig), leftover Chinese food, and bullseye eggs every morning for breakfast. That last one isn't truly bachelor chow, but it qualifies because I'm using the only breakfast-type foods we have in the house to create a meal, and any meal created to save a trip to the grocery store counts as bachelor chow on some level.

For lunch today I'll be dining on cold pizza, leftover from yesterday, and soda. That will likely be my dinner, too. And actually soda is the beverage accompaniment for all my bachelor chow meals, sometimes in a mug, but generally right from the two liter bottle (the most recent of which is empty now, sitting on the floor next to the living room table.)

Am I classy this weekend? Probably not. Do I care? Definitely not. Will this all be cleaned up before Kate gets home? Most assuredly yes. If it weren't for this written confession, Kate would have no idea what a classless barbarian her man becomes when she goes out of town.

But sometimes you just have to get back to the basics. And sometimes your macaroni and cheese, garbanzo beans and tuna fish are just screaming to be combined together. This weekend they get their chance.

The Life

Being on vacation, with nothing to do all day, but with dozens of potential things to fill the time is the life. I can, subject only to my whimsy, do something productive, something fun, or nothing at all. I can plan out my entire day and then, with no reason given or needed, tear it down and rebuild it differently.

Schedules are for suckers with jobs, which for this week, isn't me. I going to go install an in-ground pool in the backyard and relax by it.

Swimming Pools

If there was one thing I could have in life, excepting world peace, universal happiness, and a lifetime of good hair days, it would be a swimming pool. I've been on vacation a few times now where I've stayed at places with a pool in the backyard, and there's almost nothing like being able to roll out of bed and take a quick, relaxing dip before starting the day. And I can imagine if I had that luxury at home, how nice it would be to float all my stress away at the end of a frustrating day at the office.

The feeling of weightlessness you get floating in liquid is like no other sensation on earth, for me at least, and is as close as most humans will ever get to what must be a supremely magical sensation, the weightlessness of space. I remember being on vacation, floating on my back at night, looking up at a clear, star-filled sky, and being nearly overwhelmed by the experience.

To have access to that on a continual basis would be worth the cost of the pool and the time involved in maintenance. Of course that dream is far in the future. First I need a backyard big enough to accommodate a pool. I've dabbled with the idea of converting our current tiny backyard over to the purpose, filling in the entire yard with water, except for a thin sidewalk around the outer edge. It could work, but I'm not sure how well. It's a moot point though, since the funds don't exist to make it a reality.

Which is why I'm officially incorporating the Buy Jason and Kate a Swimming Pool not-for-profit fund. All contributions can be made out to me, and anyone coming in at the Platinum level or above will be granted full pool use privileges for at least a year or shorter. And everyone who helps out will receive a lovely gift of indeterminate value and existence, and the knowledge that they've contributed to a cause worthy enough to supplant even world peace, universal happiness and a lifetime of good hair days.

You contribution is not tax-deductible.

Unless you're feeling lucky.

Flexible Employers

This is yesterday's entry.  Sorry for the late posting.  Earlier this morning I tried writing last night's, but my internet wasn't working.

So, I've had a frustrating day hanging drywall.  None of my measurements were working out correctly, and then I ruined a whole sheet...yadda yadda.  I decided to flip the situation over and look at the positive side.  The fact that my employer is flexible enough to make last minute vacations for hanging drywall possible in the first place.  It's a small perk, but it can come in very handy.

I haven't gotten as much done this workation week as I'd hoped, and I'm thinking about asking my boss if I can work two weeks of night shifts.  I get so much more done on the house during the day than I can get done at night.  Assuming client schedules permit, I'm sure he'll say yes.

I'm very glad that my company understands that people have personal lives, and sometimes those lives don't fit neatly around a 9:00 to 5:30 schedule.

Vacation \Va*ca"tion\, n. 1. A Well-Deserved Break from Labor; (see Kate and Jason)

It's easy to take it for granted, but it's a real blessing to work in a system where paid vacation is a reality.  It's said that Americans, relative to other Western countries, take very few vacation days.  I can't say I understand why, and I'm happy to blow the curve on this one.  If I have vacation time, I use it.  Even if I don't travel, which happens since I get considerably more vacation time than Kate (seniority has its perks).  I think vacation is just as important as work.  I need the decompression.  I think we all do.

We're leaving for Florida this Thursday for a five day family visit.  I'm sure it will provide us with plenty of material for entries.  I just hope it provides the time to write them.  Like this one, I suspect they'll be a little shorter than normal.

But rest assured, the positivity will be turned to eleven.