"happy thanksgiving all" b/w "no escape from the self"

I woke up around 4:30, and didn't feel like lying in bed much longer. Knowing that I didn't have to work today, I decided to get up and poke around online briefly. It's my whole life I tell you, this poking around online. Blake brought it up again while I was visiting him on Monday - what did bored slackers do at their desk jobs pre-Internet? Did they just sit in stare into space? I had talked to him about this previously in the context of a couple of guys we work with (well, worked with in my case) who have, to all appearances, gone years now without doing any actual work - they just sit and download audio and video files, chat in AIM and IRC, and web surf endlessly, all day long. What, I asked, did such a person do prior to this golden age of the goldbrick? Did they just have to break down and work? My theories as to their pursuits included listening to talk radio, gabbing with coworkers, napping, hiding, and drinking coffee. Someone else suggested reading books. Books or magazines maybe. Hmmm.

I have to admit at my very first job out of college, which was something of a comical non-job that I quit after a few months, I very often had nothing to do. One of my chief duties seemed to be being available to have lunch with my overbearing boss. Really. It was a desk job, and I did have my own PC workstation, but no Internet access. I would write things for myself endlessly - letters, short stories, lists, journal-type entries, whatever. Honestly, when there was work to do I would do it. When my boss wasn't around I would read books. Once or twice I even took a nap on the floor of my office. It remains a fairly shameful if sort of amusing episode of my magical life and times.

So, I dunno. If there was no LiveJournal say, what would one do with the time?

( a different topic, maybe more than one, whiney ramblings really )

I am full

I had a quiet but fairly OK Thanksgiving. Definitely have a cold here, but not so bad as some others I have read about recently. I slept in, then after getting up rode Chopper for 10 miles while watching some Futurama. I like that show. Then after a shower I splurged and picked up some Chicken Tikka Masala from Passage to India. It was good; seemed a little spicier than normal but I liked it. Gorged myself and then took a nap after awhile.

Sanjiv called me tonight. We were planning to do some work tomorrow but he said he is going to be busy with his brother and cousin instead. So, I will go by the office to do a couple things on Friday then maybe go for a walk or something. Definitely need to ride Chopper again. We might work for a few hours on Sunday. I have to admit despite realizing I need to get some stuff done at the job, and having a few days off around last weekend for Shawn's wedding, I wouldn't mind clocking a little ass-time tomorrow. So, I will work a little tomorrow then probably a little on Sunday.

I did make my list of things I am thankful for today. Turns out I am thankful for the friends I have been lucky enough to make, relative health (and the apparent opportunity to still address any health concerns), and the job opportunities that I have had (and which I seem to feel like shirking tomorrow...). I also, lame as it may seem, feel grateful for some of the cool stuff I have been able to read, see and hear, especially of late.... Really the funny thing to me is I seem so often to get what I think I want in life (like moving certain places or getting certain jobs or becoming friends with certain people) then I often seem to screw things up, be lazy or weird and not make anything of them. So I figure I just need to correct that screwing-it-up part and everything will be just swell. Yeah....

Oh I am also grateful I live in a relatively free country... forgot that on the list I made earlier in fact... things could be better I am sure but clearly they could be much worse as well. It is nice to be left alone for the most part when it comes to things like religion and self expression, and I am glad that people are by and large treated pretty decently here - we at least have the stated ideal of equality that we try to live up to.

Now I am sitting here feeling really full, as I may have mentioned, sucking down a little Diet Coke and chatting with Blake. Need to talk to my friend Mike P. in Colorado this weekend, he tried calling me a couple times last weekend but I missed it because of the wedding.