My Random Day Off

I have too much vacation.

I’ll wait a moment while you sympathize with me…… That should do it! Now, back to business!

Basically, I didn’t take a lot of vacation early this year because I was busy at work on a project. Now, as the year draws to a close, I have found that I have a relatively large amount of days left that I have to take off. It may seem like I’m saying this just to rub in my good fortune, and while that’s true, what’s interesting is that I don’t have specific plans for all of these vacation days.

So I took Friday off and it was probably the first day I’ve ever taken that didn’t involve me leaving Wisconsin for less cheesy pastures. So, you may be asking, what happens on a random day off for me?

First, I wake up very early to go out picture taking in the rain. The premise here is that if everybody is at work they couldn’t possibly be bumbling around in the parks and annoying me while I take pictures of raindrops:

It was pretty windy and I had high hopes of catching a flurry of leaves in mid flight after they had detached themselves from their respective trees. However, the best I could do was this one lonely, leaf:

It turns out that I’m rather fond of that leaf. He was the only one that went along with my plan. From here on out I’ll refer to him as Lief. (Sorry. I couldn’t resist.)

After that I tried to amuse myself by watching Transformers 2. It was truly horrible. After I watched for a half-hour I realized that there was still about seventeen hours left. At this point I found out that I could watch the movie at 2 or 4 times the regular speed and still follow what was happening. (Robots were pounding on each other like crazy.) Then I moved on to skipping scenes until I got to the climatic finale, where the robots pounded on each other like crazy. Finally the movie ended and, feeling dumber than when I had started, I decided to read instead.

Eventually the day began to draw to a close. I headed out again for more pictures. (I’m desperately trying to enjoy Fall as much as possible before the snow flies.)

Once the sunset had faded I relaxed on the bank for a while, listened to the wind, smelled the leaves, and generally let my mind wander wherever it wanted to. It was very relaxing. I really need to do that more.

Then I went home and the power went out.

Surviving Thirty

So I’m pushing thirty.

Wow, that was kind of hard to write. Thirty means you’re old. It also means you should be wise. It means you should have a mortgage, discuss politics on a regular basis, disdain all popular forms of music, act in a serious manner, and know just what to do in almost any situation.

At least that’s how I’ve always pictured it. Obviously I’m going to miss the mark on several, if not most, of these points.

However, I’ve found solace in one thing: everybody I know who is about my age is also in the process of turning thirty. Now, that may sound quite obvious, but it is actually very important. You see, everything is made easier when you go through it with others. Turning thirty, or any age for that matter, is no different. The fact that a lot of my good friends who I’ve known since high school or earlier are also starting to age rapidly makes me feel happy. Basically, if I have to suffer, so should they! I know that sounds somewhat cruel, but I guess the phrase ‘misery loves company’ comes into play here.

As a result of this, when I’m thirty I can make jokes to these people about being old. I can ask them if they spend their summer sitting by the fire with a blanket over their knees, or if they count the number of snaps, crackles, and pops their body produces when they get out of bed in the morning. On the flip side, since I’m going through the same thing, I expect to receive as many taunts as I give out.

I think this is why old men sit together and discuss their medical problems. I used to think that was kind of weird, and somewhat gross, but now I understand it. Getting old isn’t fun, but if you can share the experience with others and compare your scars, you can at least get some enjoyment out of it:

Old Man 1: Did I ever tell you about the time I had to have that triple bypass? I’ll bet none of you have even had a double!”

Old Man 2: That’s nothing! Remember when my heart stopped altogether? Heck, if it weren’t for them defibrillator thingies I’d be pushing up daisies right now!”

Old Man 3: I remember when – wait, I don’t remember it anymore. Dang!

Old Man 1 and Old Man 2: Har!

Old Man 2: Uh-oh. I think I just broke a hip.

So it’s key to make sure you have friends your age. I do have friends who are younger than me, and that’s fine. However, if they were the only friends I had I would probably get quite depressed. (It’s never fun being the only guy who has to stretch for twenty minutes before engaging in any sort of strenuous activity, such as walking to your car.) I don’t even mind when the youngsters call me Old Timer or mention my age in reference to dirt. I can live with that, because I know that I’m not the only one.

And if the youngsters don’t watch out, us old timers will gang up and beat them with our canes.

Fall Colors (Or The Lack Thereof)

Fall has always been my favorite season of the year. There's the crisp bite of the air, the smell of the leaves, and of course the change of the colors. Plus, there's always football. (Although as a Lions fan, that argument really doesn't hold much water.)

However, the fall colors haven't seemed to be very impressive the last few years. As opposed to an explosion of bright reds and oranges, I've only really seen the dull, runny yellows. The trees haven't synchronized, either, as by the time some of them finally turn, others will have already lost all of their foliage.

Perhaps I haven't made it out enough and have just missed them. Each year I tell myself I'm going to make sure I take the time to enjoy the season. Then, before I know it, it's already November and I've only been out exploring a couple of times. I really should just take October off some year. The heck with making a living.

Thoughts On Blogging

A blog. How completely unoriginal of me. But here I am anyway.

Actually, I had thought about blogging before, but something always stopped me. For a while I thought it was because I wasn't interesting enough to warrent my own blog. Then I saw some of the other blogs out there. Next I thought it was because there were other, more important things I could be doing instead, like watching Matlock. Still, that wasn't it, either. I'd still have plenty of time for Matlock.

Finally, after much thought, it hit me: I couldn't come up with a name for a blog that I liked.

My first instinct was to use a name that I found completely hilarious, such as Curly's Corner Of Compelling Concerns And Clever Chronicles. However, that didn't feel quite right. What if I wanted to write about something serious? You just can't be taken seriously with a name like that.

So I finally settled on 'From The Desk Of Curly'. I'll admit that it's not very original, but it gives me the necessary leeway to write about whatever comes to my mind. Plus, I got to take a picture of my desk, which was actually kinda fun.