Another Monday update

[mrissa]

markgritter left for California at oh-dark-thirty this morning (actually it was oh-dark-fifteen, but one doesn't like to sound hyperbolic), and he's safely there. My mom came to help me out with stuff around here and take me and the dog to the dog's vet appointment. Ista had impacted and infected scent glands, so they cleaned those out and gave her an antibiotic, and now we will have to stop calling her "baboon." Mom took Ista home with her, and we'll see how the doctor's appointment tomorrow goes. She's a good pup, and we love her, but I am really not in any state to be dealing with puppy-care tonight, even on the level of getting her fed and watered, and timprov is not feeling enough better reliably enough that we could just have him do those parts of the tasks. And she enjoys her grandmonkeys, and they her, so nobody is really hurt by this arrangement.

Today I've finished reading this week's New Scientist and Bright Orange for the Shroud, and I'm still poking at a couple of long pieces of nonfiction, and at my own fiction, and I've started reading Sharon Kay Penman's Prince of Darkness (which I suspect refers to John Lackland rather than Satan, but we'll see). I have read a lot this week.

I was thinking of doing the "ask me a question, all comments screened" thing after a couple of people on my friendslist did it, but that's not really what I want -- I have plenty of topics I could write on at length, if I was writing at length upright. What I really want is to ask you questions so you can answer them so I have interesting things to read in my upright periods. Y'know, like I've been doing. Only I'm coming up short. Umm. Good time to send me interesting e-mails, though, and thanks to those of you who have; I'm getting to them, truly.

Oh, I know: someone gives you the day off from your usual activities tomorrow (school, work at home or elsewhere, whatever) and makes you take it. What do you do? If they provided an allowance for the day -- say $500 US -- would the answer change? (Assume that if you have a cold or something today, it will disappear for the duration of your day's holiday.)

Comments

[songwind.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what to say I would do. It would really depend on my mood and who else was around.

The $500 would definitely make a difference, because there are things I like to do that I cannot afford to do (or cannot afford to do with others) very often.

[howl-at-the-sun.livejournal.com]

I would write. I would write the wretched, obnoxious, perverse story that has been haunting me for all of finals week.

And I would probably eat fresh-baked Italian bread and sip tea all day long while doing it.

[redbird]

With that allowance, I'd see what on Broadway had tickets left for tomorrow night, buy a pair for myself and cattitude, and splurge on a really nice dinner out beforehand. And take what's left from that budget and go record shopping, I think. (CDs take up less space in a crowded apartment than books.)

[mkille.livejournal.com]

The $500 would definitely make a difference. Without a cash allowance, I would stick around home. Take the bus to Amherst, poke around the bookstores and galleries and record stores and library, pop in a few of the churches. With a cash allowance, I would go down to New York and make my friend David take a long drinking lunch with me--and then poke around the bookstores and galleries and record stores and libraries, and pop in a few of the churches.

[ladysea.livejournal.com]

If I had a day off tomorrow I would spend a good portion of it at the pottery studio.

If I had a $500 budget, I would go buy a pottery wheel and set it up in the garage and throw from home. =P


Other than that, I think I would try a day at the spa. I have never been and everyone says I should try it soon. =)

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I would be able to buy, guilt-free, lots of new music, then come back here and play it and write without interruption.

[columbina.livejournal.com]

Day off, no money: Although I could just stay inside and fart around and play computer games or something, in the exact situation you describe I would probably take it as an omen, and make an effort to go out and do something. Maybe I would go take a nice long walk and do some activities I rarely have enough of an unbroken block of time to do, like just wander around the Museum of Fine Arts all afternoon. Maybe I would go sit somewhere and have iced tea. Maybe I would do nothing, but I would do nothing in a different way from the way I normally do nothing.

If I had the cash: I would call my wife and say, "We're going out for a very expensive dinner of very good food and wine." And we would go to L'Espalier, where one pays about $150 a head but is not in the least bit swindled in terms of value received. And then, with the extra, we might go see a movie or something.

[rosefox]

In theory, I'd write. In reality, I'd slack. *)

[dendrophilous.livejournal.com]

I'd write. I'd also try to catch up on stuff around the apartment. My life just isn't that exciting. Dunno what to do with the $500, assuming I have to spend it or lose it. Fancy coffee at the cafe and dinner out, I guess. (Unless I can buy stuff to use later. Then I'd go shopping for an ipod and books.)

[von-krag.livejournal.com]

I'd rent a Caddy STS and drive down to KC for some Gates and Bryant's BBQ then go catch a Royals game. Heck fire then drive back and eat watermelon in the moonlight over by Minnihaha falls to finish the day out.

[miz-hatbox.livejournal.com]

No allowance: Sit and drink coffee for a while, windowshop, go for a long swim.

Allowance: Swim first! Then--since this is a magical enough world where people give me $500 and the day off to spend it, this is also a magical enough world where I could get this sort of treatment at a nice spa on no notice whatsoever: fancy-dancy spa lunch, massage, manicure, pedicure, facial. Then go out and spend time and money are left to shop for nifty clothes (that look fabulous on me and are easy to find...because this is a magical world.)

[alecaustin.livejournal.com]

A day off from work? Work on my white paper.

A day off from work and school obligations? I'd probably head down to the promenade, buy silly iced coffee drinks, and get myself a Nintendo DS & games for said game system. Maybe I'd even write something. I'd certainly think about partially completed stories and poke them with sticks to see if any of them are alive.

A day off from work and school obligations and money to spend? I'd totally buy the DS, and probably a pile of completely unnecessary Magic cards as well (they relate to my thesis, but the purchasing and the coveting are totally not schoolwork, no matter how I justify it).

Perhaps I'd do something more exciting if I was somewhere else and had access to different people, but right now, just sitting around with nerd crap would be a nice vacation.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

Tomorrow? The actual Tuesday tomorrow? I'd sleep 20 hours. And do laundry. And maybe eat some of the brownies I made yesterday.

[aet.livejournal.com]

With no additional money I would try to read or to write or to pick up some ideas that have be floating around with no energy or concentration power to make them happen. May be I would sort out old clothes and make a memory trap quilting project (because the quilt I lost to mold made me understand that the power a piece of textile from a housecoat ones mother had when one was toddler can be awesome. I generally tend to remember textiles, like I wrote in this entry: http://aet.livejournal.com/48003.html) or may-be I would try to draw something ...

With 500 dollars I would fly to Norway to visit a friend - there are billboards all over the town about cheap flights to Oslo, so I will have enough left over for gifts to bring ...

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Without the cash? - stay at home and get caught up on the various things that came thumping onto my desk with deadlines while I was away. With the cash, luxurious day in spa, I think.

[talimena.livejournal.com]

Do some research for my presentation and try to sort through some of my old clothes and fabric. With the allowance, I think I'd go to Montreal and look for decent new clothes and have a lovely meal somewhere and just wander around.

Good luck with the appointment.

[greykev.livejournal.com]

Free day off? work on the patio. Day off with Cash? get a dishwasher and have it installed, then gleefully wash all my dishes, because I could. Possibly even buy more dishes, and wash them too.

[scottjames.livejournal.com]

Free day off: I'd go to the gym, and then paint something. It (the "something") would probably suck and not physically survive the day, but that would be completely not-the-point. Or maybe I'd re-finish a door and re-hang it.

$500 day off: I'd go to the gym, and then buy closet organization. If there were any money left over, I might buy a nice trashcan for the new kitchen. And maybe some good wood for new footers for the bedroom. Or some other similarly-house-related item.

[carbonel]

Without the cash, I'd probably just sleep in, read in bed for a while, then catch up on LJ and Usenet, and watch TV while cross-stitching.

With cash, I'd probably do much the same thing, and invite friends to dinner at a nice restaurant.

Or else I'd head out to the skydiving place and jump out of a perfectly good airplane a few times.