Wednesday, January 1, 2020

idiosyncratic vacations, stuck aa's and broken teeth

I am now running behind again. It seems I've unconsciously switched to a bimonthly rather than a weekly schedule.

I kind of don't like 'vacations' in the traditional sense, where you go somewhere nice, sightsee, eat out at expensive restaurants, for a week or two.
Why:

a) it get's me off my normal routine, which is probably good for me every now and then, but I like my routine. I get up early and do all the things I want to do right in the morning, and it makes the rest of my day way better. Not doing that is clearly less enjoyable. I get less sleep and lower quality, I get less exercise, and I get less done, even if I'm trying to get stuff done

b) that reminds me, I also don't like getting nothing done. I enjoy creating things, I enjoy checking things of my todo list, the sense of accomplishment. My ideal state of being isn't super lethargic, it's high intensity focused work, that meets me right at the level where it's challenging, but energizing, rather than draining (which likely has a lot to do with the kind of work and the feelings surrounding the work, beyond just the quantity). There is definitely a 'too much work' and I've been there for a while, but there's also a 'too little work' and that's just as bad. Though when I'm in my sweet spot, there are also moments or days of pause and rest, because it is a fairly high level of activity.

c) most "vacation" activities don't appeal to me. Eating expensive food until you can barely move feels awful. Most of the really expensive restaurants are serving meat based things anyways. I hate most tourist-trap type activities. I don't like being in crowded places. My idea of a break is a spiritual retreat or a class where I'm learning something interesting or relevant. I like being in nature, but there's not a lot of money to be made in that, it's fairly DIY, so you don't get too much of that in touristy, vacation-y spots. You might go on a tour bus of somewhere natural, but someone is talking to you and you have to keep up with the group etc. I do like hiking or camping, or just chilling, in nature, but I can only spend so much time doing that, if there's nothing else to go along with it, like learning about wild edibles or practicing awareness exercises or meditations.

there are certainly things I do like doing, during "vacation" time, but they don't look like most traditional vacations. Or if they are, it's a greatly abbreviated time frame for that kind of stuff, which would make it unfeasible. You're not going to fly all the way to disney land for one day there.


In any case, I din't haave a normal vacaation, I did my practice teaching, and it was excellent. I think I've raved about the teacher enough, but I never cease to be amazed. She does basically everything I want to do, as a teacher, and does it really well. And runs two schools. And volunteers as a national (international?) teacher and coordinator for an awesome positive values based education program. And she doesn't seem stressed out of her mind, she seems relaxed and energetic. I want some of that! :D

I had a day to explore Austin with my girlfriend, and then got back home, and proceeded to get back to work, a bit at a reduced pace. I managed to finish my... what was it... 40 or so item checklist of the homework assignment that's due at the start of summer classes, but there are a bunch more little things that also need to get done. However, I've got some basic maintenance stuff that I'm going to have to take care of first.

aa) my keyboard is on the fritz. the a and t keys are acting up. apparently this is a known issue with certain recent MacBooks so much that I can send it in to be fixed for free. I worry they won't be able to reproduce the issue though, since it doesn't happen all the time, just once I really get going, aand then only some of the time.

b) aan old filling came out! Or rather, broke, apparently, since fillings don't just "come out." according to my dentist. I'm far away from my beloved dentist though, so I'm having to try someone new. He actually helped me look (he's a super amazing dentist, I want to do a post just on him some day) for aa dentist near me that looked promising, and I'm about to head off to them... right now!

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