Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Vacation Time
Yesterday was sort of a weird day. I took the day off from work, which I hadn't done in a very long time. I sort of didn't know what to do with myself. I still got up at 7:15 and went to the gym. Then I came home and actually logged on to my office accounts for a while before realizing that that sort of defeated the purpose of having a day off. Eventually I went to get a massage. Getting rubbed by a stranger for two hours was kind of disorienting. Also my sinuses got really stopped up while I was lying on that weird circular face pillow and I almost suffocated. I did leave vaguely relaxed, although that sort of ended the minute I stepped out into the cold, disgusting rain. Such good times.
I also took an Amtrak train back to my parents' house last night. If you have not ever taken Amtrak before a major holiday, do not do so. I don't like to throw the phrase "mob scene" around, but this fit any sensible person's definition. The good people of Amtrak (a sassy black lady and a sassy white lady, so far as I could tell) apparently decided to close off their boarding lounges on one of the busiest travel days of the year. And so hundreds of people thronged in the lower level lobby of Union Station, asking each other whether they were on the same train and whether anyone knew what the hell was going on and, occasionally, pushing each other. I kept thinking back to the New Yorker article I read about people getting crushed in crowds on Black Friday. I've noticed it's never a good sign if something reminds me of the New Yorker, and not just because I have a restraining order against Malcom Gladwell.
Anyway, I made it back alive. And I have accomplished very little today. I think I could maybe get used to this whole "time off" thing.
Yesterday was sort of a weird day. I took the day off from work, which I hadn't done in a very long time. I sort of didn't know what to do with myself. I still got up at 7:15 and went to the gym. Then I came home and actually logged on to my office accounts for a while before realizing that that sort of defeated the purpose of having a day off. Eventually I went to get a massage. Getting rubbed by a stranger for two hours was kind of disorienting. Also my sinuses got really stopped up while I was lying on that weird circular face pillow and I almost suffocated. I did leave vaguely relaxed, although that sort of ended the minute I stepped out into the cold, disgusting rain. Such good times.
I also took an Amtrak train back to my parents' house last night. If you have not ever taken Amtrak before a major holiday, do not do so. I don't like to throw the phrase "mob scene" around, but this fit any sensible person's definition. The good people of Amtrak (a sassy black lady and a sassy white lady, so far as I could tell) apparently decided to close off their boarding lounges on one of the busiest travel days of the year. And so hundreds of people thronged in the lower level lobby of Union Station, asking each other whether they were on the same train and whether anyone knew what the hell was going on and, occasionally, pushing each other. I kept thinking back to the New Yorker article I read about people getting crushed in crowds on Black Friday. I've noticed it's never a good sign if something reminds me of the New Yorker, and not just because I have a restraining order against Malcom Gladwell.
Anyway, I made it back alive. And I have accomplished very little today. I think I could maybe get used to this whole "time off" thing.
