blakspring

One of my favorite perks of working in a school is the fact that I get to end my work day relatively early. On the days that I drive in (which lately is everyday because I’m lazy and also because 30 extra minutes of sleep is priceless when you start work at 7:30 a.m.), I can be home by 3:30 on a good day. In August, when I knew that I was getting the job, I started making mental lists of all the amazing things that I would do with all the extra time that I would have: finally learn to play that damn bass, blog more regularly, go to the gym after work before all the 9-to-5 people pack in, and read more. Out of this (rather unexciting) list, I’ve managed only the last item with some satisfaction. The bass has been completely neglected for months, eating chocolate on the couch has taken precedence over running on a treadmill, and I don’t even have to tell you guys about the blogging bit.

Sometimes it almost feels like I actually had more time when I got home from work at 6:00 or 7:00 or even 9:00 p.m.. Maybe it’s because I knew that I had less time so I made more of an effort to do things. I feel like I even see D less these days. We used to watch two or three DVDs every week and now it’s an accomplishment if we can watch one movie in that time. I guess a big part of this is because the flip side of starting work early and getting out early is having to go to bed early. D doesn’t have any set hours but he’s often most busy in the evenings. He’s also going to MMA classes twice a week (usually Tuesday and Thursday) while I’ve got my Monday night volleyball. It feels like we are constantly missing each other; one walking in the door while the other is about to walk out. Which is why right now I’m on the couch with my laptop wondering when I will see the final showdown between Beowulf and Grendel’s mother, or Grendelina as D so wittily dubbed her.

We finally had some time earlier today, and popped in the movie while enjoying a lazy pizza dinner. But then D had to go see a client and by the time he gets back I will most likely be asleep. He also got roped into driving upstate and back tomorrow as a family favor, and Thursday he has to go see a client on the far side of Long Island. And I realize that Beowulf the movie is not exactly a cinematic miracle, and I probably wouldn’t have even rented it if it wasn’t for the fact that Angelina is in it (or at least her voice and digital rendering), but doesn’t it just suck to have to stop a movie halfway and not know when you’ll watch the rest?

And maybe this all makes me sound like a whiny brat because most people have a lot less time and actual responsibilities like kids or ailing parents but that’s precisely why I’m annoyed. I don’t have any of these things but the time disappears. At least if I had a child or even a dog it would make sense and I’d accept it. I don’t even have a single fish, though after several years break I feel ready to get another beta. Then I will have the satisfaction of knowing that for the 10 seconds each day that it will take me to feed it, I will be a responsible person losing that time in an honorable and decent way. Until then I seem to have no excuse for writing one of the most boring posts in blogging history.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 10:32 pm and is filed under Odds and Ends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.