Down time

Thursday night was my first night alone in a couple of weeks. My girlfriend and I were on vacation for 9 days and she didn't have to go right back to work. I love my girlfriend so much that I don't subject her to my video game addiction. As a kid, I would go over to my friend's house and he'd play one player games and I would sit there often bored as fuck. It's pretty astounding to me that kids nowadays will watch guys like Pewdiepie play video games. Armed with a sixer of the King of Beers, I entered HJK (a Finnish team) in the Russian Premier League and stomped a mudhole in my Russian competition. Pounders of Bud go quickly, so I was at that part of the night where I usually go to bed but I had a pretty decent buzz going. Laissez le bon temps rouler, as they say in New Orleans. I was down to my last brew, what was a boy to do?

Time management is a virtue. I needed to be up in the morning to work out and head to work. I specifically choose Budweiser for its lower ABV. I decided to do cardio at the gym so I wouldn't feel bad about having a six pack supper. I could count on one hand how many times I've played FIFA sober. Drinking and playing FIFA is like peanut butter and jelly. My day was planned methodically while I mindlessly sip beers. Friday came around and I was fresh as a daisy. Having a few pops at lunch, I didn't want to go full throttle with the booze but I did stop at a whiskey bar just to get my creative juices flowing. I also needed a table to pen the first draft of this piece. My apartment doesn't have room for a table and I usually use pen and paper to flesh out pieces before typing them. I could have easily gone to a coffee shop, but liquor creativity is unparalleled.

While at work, I'm able to listen to podcasts. On my playlist was the Joe Rogan Experience, the one with Burt Kreischer.  They were talking about their trips to Italy and having a more relaxed work-life balance. Joe explained how he takes 2 weeks out of the month to work and then is left to pursue his other interests. I let that sink in. I was considering picking up a season job at Amazon. I have done so in the past under the guise of getting out of debt, but I ended up burning myself out with nominal fiscal gains.  My energy was zapped, I spent money on fast food and I didn't have time to work on things that would help my career in the long term.

While on my trip to Banff, I met an insurance adjuster who was drawing. We became embroiled in a conversation about creativity and owning your day with time management. For the longest time, life was controlling me, whether I knew it or not. Starting with my morning commute, 8 hours of being belittled by faceless customers and the equally soul-crushing commute home, it would take me at least a half hour of tirades about the banality and injustices of the world before I was at rest. If I decided to imbibe, I would be further worn down and taking lazy shortcuts. Projects remained unfinished, sending me into a mild shame spiral. Now that I'm aware of my tendencies, I can take more steps to fill my downtime with fulfilling activities as well as some time to mindlessly sip beers and play a little FIFA.