the jag & the staggers

fabulous chat with a.raw yesterday about podcast possibilities, made even more fabulous by sitting at Kalendar, lazily sipping a concoction dreamt up by one of their bartenders called, "the Jag." The main ingredients were chartreuse and a mysterious entity known as "lemon myrtle," which the interner tells me is a herb indigenous to australia, and which i predict will be the new lemon grass. We're going to see this thing everywhere- tea, essential oils, soaps, shampoos, soups and salads. But trendspotting aside, this drink knocks the mojito out of the park for summer drinking pleasure. and as i meandered my way home with a pleasant, heady buzz, I reflected, for about the gazillionth time this summer, how much I miss life during the year, all the little incidental pleasures. Having a second drink when I go out (IF i go out) during the year is a calculated affair: "do I have work to do when I get home?" "do I have an early morning meeting?" etc. A third drink is a pricey transgression. But it's not just having the freedom to kil a few brain cells now and then. Even my weekly day off during the year is parcelled out and portioned off, and planned to get the most out of it.

It's been amazing to me how much time doing nothing takes. Since coming back from skooled, aside from the cottage adventure, I haven't done much. And yet my days have been full. I can go to every reading/music show I want to see, and then sleep in the next day should I need to. I can actually read the book I buy at the reading- not just shelve it for some mythical day when I have time. I can read every post on every blog should i want to. I can reply to every e-mail. I can visit with friends. I can wash the floor. I can get things fixed. I can cook a great meal AND do the dishes afterwards. I can take a walk. I can read the paper. and that's a day. I haven't even had time to play video games.

is this just the cost of any professional life? or is it particular to teaching and other jobs that follow you home when you leave the office? i just about bit the head off a taxi driver yesterday who told me that I had THREE months off in the summer. This is the most relaxed I've been in years, and yet I still had a teacher dream last week. And I know august will bring more, and I'll start my planning then. (though I have extended my self-imposed ban on planning to include the 1st week of august.)

I *have* scaled down my commitments for next year. There is a pressure towards martyrdom in the profession that's easy to fall victim to, if you're not careful. Maybe I'll be able to live in a less frenetic way.