(Warning: This blog post is terribly boring and pointless and whiny. It’s better than watching The Bachelor with the girlfriend, but not by much. There will be no refunds if you decide to continue reading.)
A friend pointed out on Twitter that today is considered “Blue Monday,” the saddest day of the year. Of course, there’s no real science behind it, and this was just another gimmick thought up by a business to drum up sales, but it still struck me… I’ve not been myself the last week or two and it shows no signs of improvement. Is it the weather? Aftereffects of the multiple times I’ve caught a bug over the past five weeks? Perhaps it’s simply a self-fulfilling prophecy from spending too much time watching the clouds and counting the days until spring.
Either way, life is what you make of it and I’m going to try to pull through. It’s frustrating to know that I haven’t been to the gym in a week (coincidentally, also the last time I blogged) and that the weekend flew by without anything resembling an activity on my part. Beyond hitting the bar, of course.
Somehow I feel as if all this is a combination of getting older and getting over the idea of wasting my time with alcohol. It has been fun, but I’m starting to wake up on Monday mornings with regret that I didn’t do something, anything with my two days off. I’m typically sleeping in and, sometimes, dealing with the hangovers that never used to find me. I’m not one for allowing myself to be portrayed as “old” by any means, but it does seem that this is one area where I’m falling behind, and maybe it’s for the best.
Next weekend, Kristin and I will be taking Friday and Saturday nights off from the usual schedule of Maple Inn, Two Bucks, Lucky’s, McCrann’s, and Buffalo Wild Wings. This time around, I’m going to plan out a weekend where we leave the house, but not in pursuit of intoxication, but rather in pursuit of whatever it is that adventurous and educated adults do on the weekends. (Note: If there are any adventurous and educated adults reading this, please help me out with some ideas in the comments section. I’m west of Cleveland, Ohio if that helps.)
Beyond that, though, there are things beyond my control. The weather, for example, has really been terrible. Not terrible like what they’re seeing out in Minneapolis right now, but terrible nonetheless. I typically use a combination of grilling and music on the deck to keep my evenings rolling and it’s a bit difficult to accomplish during this time of year in this particular geographic region. With all these foreclosures in Florida selling for “pennies on the dollar,” it’s tempting to just buy a second home, then I look at my paycheck and realize that the closest I’m going to come is the vacation I’ll be taking in April. The second home stays firmly in “I wish” territory.
This is all cathartic for me, but probably one of the least interesting blog posts ever. A bit whiny, even. You’d think I could eke out a good post about the later work of MLK, Jr. considering it is his day. Alas, I can’t quite bring myself to put together a whole post about anything other than wallowing in my own self-pity tonight and wondering when I’ll be able to climb out.
My goal for tomorrow is a productive day of work followed by a trip to the gym and capped off with a good “Rage” post and starting a new book. Two weeks ago, this was what I was capable of every single day, so I’m not exactly setting the bar high. Maybe that’s the answer. If I can get back to the baseline, I can work my way up to where I really want to be, and that’ll carry me through to the spring weather I so desperately need.
On that note, I’m going to take care of boring stuff like filling out the paperwork to get my sleep study and creating a to-do list for the rest of the week. Maybe it’ll be as simple as feeling accomplished from crossing off the tasks. Or maybe I just need to play some Jimmy Buffett and dream of the beach. Less than ten weeks until vacation, after all.