Vacations and Other Musings
I survived three days of "vacation", and finally decided that I needed to go to a nice tropical beach somewhere. I booked a flight and a plush hotel on a nice little secluded, "off the beaten path" Caribbean island. The sand is white and the water is crystal clear and the most beautiful color of blue. Zac Brown's "Toes" is playing in my head as another Corona is delivered, with an umbrella, of course (those are so cool). The tropical sun is bearing down, but not so intense as to torch my pasty pale skin. The sound of the waves is mesmerizing. I can feel the mortgage business knots in my back melt away with each gust of tropical breeze....until....I woke up...still....in....Oklahoma.
I sit here on day four, laptop in it's designated spot...on...um...my lap. I've been engrossed in deep thought and pondering such things as: why dogs have tails, the cost/benefit of eliminating toe jam, ways to avoid being doused with a bucket of ice-water, what dust bunnies do all day, why daytime TV wants so badly for me to have a pre-lubed catheter, Sasquatch...or is it merely JR sightings?, why people still drive slow in the fast lane, wondering if Hello Kitty is really a cat, turn signals and why they go unused, wondering how many items I can place around my chair so I don't have to get up from it until 5pm, the cost/benefit of a catheter (see previous statement), more coffee...excuse me, I'll be right back. As you can see, I've been quite busy.
It's been an interesting...um...vacation, for lack of a better word. Some have suggested it may be a staycation, but even that sounds more glamorous than this week has actually been. You see, through my job I have roughly 3 weeks of paid time off (PTO) annually. If I don't use it, I'll lose all but 80 hours on my October 27 anniversary date. This year, on said anniversary date, I'll accrue an additional week throughout the next year. I'm rarely sick, I don't have a ton of personal needs that require me to take random PTO days. In fact, due to the nature of my department at work, it's difficult on those remaining when one or more of is us gone for a time. So...being the freakin genius that I am...I feel guilty taking time off. So, I typically don't excuse myself from the job.
Another reason for piling up PTO days is that I really can't afford to go on a legitimate vacation. You know, like actually going somewhere. I'm not looking for sympathy or anything like that, I'm simply laying it out there. I have less than a handful of years to pay off some old business debt...the price for trying to be a *gasp* responsible adult. Three years from now, when I'm finished being a responsible adult...I mean, I mean, when the cash starts flowing properly again, I'm outta here! Until then, it seems easier just to plug along at my stand-up desk in my trusty cube farm and review appraisals knowing I cannot yet afford travel to a vacation getaway in some exotic place. That is, until I feel like my co-workers get tired of hearing me mutter under my breath....again...about that so-and-so doofus loan officer (if you wonder if it's you, it probably is), the stupid appraiser who thinks that 280% gross adjustments is ok, or another realtor that thinks that 6 miles distance in an urban setting constitutes a legitimate comp. I think my compadres are probably glad I finally took some time off.
And so I scheduled this week to lap up some of that accrued time. It's really not been as bad as the dude on Facebook has made it seem. Although there have been some fabulous (and some not so) ideas batted around, I have a very difficult time being a total slug when I have time off. It takes a while for me to merely feel like I'm doing something wrong...you know...as if I simply didn't call in sick and decided to stay home. I have good intentions of practicing said sluggery, but it never seems to end well. I can't sleep in (damn you 54). Although it still takes me a couple of hours to warm up to the idea of people each morning (which is the reason for rising early in relative solitude and quiet), I can't maintain inactivity for long stretches of time without driving myself or anyone else within a 5 mile radius absolutely insane.
As strange as it may sound, after standing/sitting at my desk 9 hours a day, 5 days a week for 52 weeks, it's relaxing....nay, therapeutic for me to do physical work. Crazy as it sounds, it's true. As much as I cussed it some days growing up on the farm, I rather enjoy getting out, getting sweaty and dirty actually doing physical labor for a change. I mowed mom's yard (yeah I do that anyway), but I've also been helping out a friend doing some mowing, trimming....hold on, the massage chair just clicked off....oh yeah, one more round....and other tasks that have actually been good for my pasty self. I've always liked to push myself physically...like climbing a mountain, skydiving, backpacking, working way too long in the August sun, and other things that aren't always that smart. Nothing unwinds me, relaxes me (ironically), and rejuvenates me quite like knuckle busting work. Yes, I'm still resting, but I still have a list of other things I'd like to get accomplished in the last few days of my little respite.
So as much as it may have sounded like I've been bored out of my mind, I really haven't been. I've been enjoying my little...um...whatever it's been. It's given me some much needed mind clearing, muscle stretching, renewal time so I can ponder the important things in life...like, why you immediately have to pee when you drink a bottle of water after having your morning pot of coffee?? ...pardon me...gotta go! FG
I sit here on day four, laptop in it's designated spot...on...um...my lap. I've been engrossed in deep thought and pondering such things as: why dogs have tails, the cost/benefit of eliminating toe jam, ways to avoid being doused with a bucket of ice-water, what dust bunnies do all day, why daytime TV wants so badly for me to have a pre-lubed catheter, Sasquatch...or is it merely JR sightings?, why people still drive slow in the fast lane, wondering if Hello Kitty is really a cat, turn signals and why they go unused, wondering how many items I can place around my chair so I don't have to get up from it until 5pm, the cost/benefit of a catheter (see previous statement), more coffee...excuse me, I'll be right back. As you can see, I've been quite busy.
It's been an interesting...um...vacation, for lack of a better word. Some have suggested it may be a staycation, but even that sounds more glamorous than this week has actually been. You see, through my job I have roughly 3 weeks of paid time off (PTO) annually. If I don't use it, I'll lose all but 80 hours on my October 27 anniversary date. This year, on said anniversary date, I'll accrue an additional week throughout the next year. I'm rarely sick, I don't have a ton of personal needs that require me to take random PTO days. In fact, due to the nature of my department at work, it's difficult on those remaining when one or more of is us gone for a time. So...being the freakin genius that I am...I feel guilty taking time off. So, I typically don't excuse myself from the job.
Another reason for piling up PTO days is that I really can't afford to go on a legitimate vacation. You know, like actually going somewhere. I'm not looking for sympathy or anything like that, I'm simply laying it out there. I have less than a handful of years to pay off some old business debt...the price for trying to be a *gasp* responsible adult. Three years from now, when I'm finished being a responsible adult...I mean, I mean, when the cash starts flowing properly again, I'm outta here! Until then, it seems easier just to plug along at my stand-up desk in my trusty cube farm and review appraisals knowing I cannot yet afford travel to a vacation getaway in some exotic place. That is, until I feel like my co-workers get tired of hearing me mutter under my breath....again...about that so-and-so doofus loan officer (if you wonder if it's you, it probably is), the stupid appraiser who thinks that 280% gross adjustments is ok, or another realtor that thinks that 6 miles distance in an urban setting constitutes a legitimate comp. I think my compadres are probably glad I finally took some time off.
And so I scheduled this week to lap up some of that accrued time. It's really not been as bad as the dude on Facebook has made it seem. Although there have been some fabulous (and some not so) ideas batted around, I have a very difficult time being a total slug when I have time off. It takes a while for me to merely feel like I'm doing something wrong...you know...as if I simply didn't call in sick and decided to stay home. I have good intentions of practicing said sluggery, but it never seems to end well. I can't sleep in (damn you 54). Although it still takes me a couple of hours to warm up to the idea of people each morning (which is the reason for rising early in relative solitude and quiet), I can't maintain inactivity for long stretches of time without driving myself or anyone else within a 5 mile radius absolutely insane.
As strange as it may sound, after standing/sitting at my desk 9 hours a day, 5 days a week for 52 weeks, it's relaxing....nay, therapeutic for me to do physical work. Crazy as it sounds, it's true. As much as I cussed it some days growing up on the farm, I rather enjoy getting out, getting sweaty and dirty actually doing physical labor for a change. I mowed mom's yard (yeah I do that anyway), but I've also been helping out a friend doing some mowing, trimming....hold on, the massage chair just clicked off....oh yeah, one more round....and other tasks that have actually been good for my pasty self. I've always liked to push myself physically...like climbing a mountain, skydiving, backpacking, working way too long in the August sun, and other things that aren't always that smart. Nothing unwinds me, relaxes me (ironically), and rejuvenates me quite like knuckle busting work. Yes, I'm still resting, but I still have a list of other things I'd like to get accomplished in the last few days of my little respite.
So as much as it may have sounded like I've been bored out of my mind, I really haven't been. I've been enjoying my little...um...whatever it's been. It's given me some much needed mind clearing, muscle stretching, renewal time so I can ponder the important things in life...like, why you immediately have to pee when you drink a bottle of water after having your morning pot of coffee?? ...pardon me...gotta go! FG
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