Turn everything off, and go enjoy your weekend this week.
(Be revolutionary: skip sportsball too. You won't miss anything, and you're not getting a ring no matter who wins.)
Go be a tourist in your hometown, or get away and visit someplace new.
Tell me how it felt on Monday.
You will miss ABCNNBCBS about as much as you would miss blisters on your private parts.
Or shock the hell out of yourself, and meet with someone local, Local, LOCAL, about how to deal with potentially spicier times coming, anywhere on the spectrum from from losing a job to losing your country. Break some bread with them. Talk a little treason. It's as American as...America.
Dollars to donuts you'll be smarter, happier, better rested, and better adjusted than if you sit staring at a tube.
And everything will still be there when you get back.
...or read a good book or three.
ReplyDeleteNemo
Strange advice from someone who runs a blog.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying it's bad advice, per se. That would depend upon the neighborhood each recipient of the advice lived in. It also assumes that those people aren't already taking such actions and have been for some time now...none of which could possibly be known by the advice giver.
It's sort of like Joe Biden telling people not to vote for him. How does that result in more people voting for him? Reverse psychology?
Or have I completely misunderstood the objective of running a blog? Isn't the main purpose to get your opinion out in the public eye to be discussed and examined for merit? I've read a LOT of blogs. and all of them had dissenting comments to one degree or another.
Perhaps I've gone off the rails with this train of thought.
Suffice it to say that this post simply rubbed me the wrong way.
If old Uncle Remus wants some time off, he just comes out and says so. He neither feels shame over the decision, nor has it imputed to him. We all understand that tilting at windmills can be an exhausting endeavor.
Or have I completely misunderstood the objective of running a blog? Isn't the main purpose to get your opinion out in the public eye to be discussed and examined for merit?
ReplyDeleteNeither writing one, nor reading them, ought to be to the exclusion of enjoying one's life, to include unplugging from the web and enjoying the real world.
I don't want "time off". I get neither pay nor any other revenue from this blog. I post (or not) whenever the hell I feel like it. Anyone not drawing a paycheck for their efforts ought to adopt the same sensible outlook.
But I think it'd be healthy for everyone to remember to smell actual roses, or whatever else turns their crank, more frequently. Hence the suggestion.
The only hobgoblin that isn’t imaginary is the masses themselves. I’ve said the Cononavirus is minimally threatening to us, but the reactions of the stupid people en masse... That’s different.
ReplyDeleteThe way people never cover their mouths when they cough or sneeze (or never think to bring a tissue or napkin with them when they go out), one's liable to contract Coronavirus simply from using the computers at the public library or from riding public transit.
ReplyDeleteBut, you're right---just continue on with life, have a Corona (beer) and try not to think too hard about Corona(virus)
@ Aesop,
ReplyDeleteYeah. I get all that. What you might not get is that all of us don't actually have that luxury.
I can't even tell you how many hobbies and interests I've abandoned, by choice or necessity, over the years.
What's the saying?
"I slept and dreamed that life was beauty. I woke and found that life was duty."
My duties do not allow for days off. I'm not complaining. I'm just stating a fact of life. My version of a "vacation" is heading to the woods for a few hours with a chainsaw and a 6 pack or mowing a 2.5 acre lawn twice a week. That's as good as it gets for me. I haven't had so much as one 24 hour break from my routine in over 20 years.
I understand that your circumstance is different from mine...and I'm happy for you.
But what works for you doesn't necessarily work for everyone...and I guess that's the point I'm making. That these discussions ARE my "down time". Pretty fuckin' sad, huh? That's only because you can't see the rest of my life...just the small slice of it you see here.
I work a second job a few evenings a week tending bar at a high end resort. Being proactive, we implemented a solution to the potential threat from the Corona virus. We switched to Dos Equis.
ReplyDeleteWell said! Accurate and applicable to all, regardless of what Charles thinks.
ReplyDeleteWell, tomorrow, I'm going to my in-laws for the day with family.
ReplyDeleteThen on Sunday, it's my time which will involve a 4-wheel drive, my dog, a cooler with a picnic lunch, and some firearms and a collection tin cans and clay targets.
Television and anything on the internet just doesn't seem to have a place on my schedule this weekend.
We do that every Saturday night. :-)
ReplyDeleteHmm. Xi Jinping has just appointed Premier Li Keqiang to run China's response to the epidemic. Li has frequently been described as a "rival" and Xi's consolidation of power was in part at Li's expense.
ReplyDeleteYep. Tomorrow it's breakfast with an old friend in town from Canada, then coffee with a couple who asked me to marry them, then at noon, the first big meeting to organize to make our Ohio county a 2A sanctuary. Then on Sunday, well... OpSec and all that my bro-man.
ReplyDeleteHaven't watched foosball for years-the knee BS was it for me-don't even know who is in this year and if my good friend, Potato Chip Vender Gal hadn't told me it's her busiest weekend, I don't believe I'd even know this was SB weekend .
ReplyDeleteHowever, the one sport I do follow(and play) is tennis and tomorrow is the Aussie men's final. We have Novak going for his 8th!(I was there to see him win his 1st) and a newcomer with a great game, Thiem, who will probably get crushed.
Taking a few hours off in the middle of the night to enjoy this baby is time well spent and far more entertaining then watching Waddle-Boy and Bug Eyed perform.
I never watch sports on TV. I do sports. Backpacking, cycling, shooting, horseshoes, weight-lifting, and running. And what some people call "work" is recreational to me...tilling horse shit into the vegetable patches, painting the fence, pulling weeds, cutting branches off trees.
ReplyDeleteTV is what's miserable and boring. The longer I live, the less I watch.
"I never watch sports on TV. I do sports."
DeleteBingo! If only the average American was a lifelong participant in sports and not a mere spectator. A worthwhile sport is one that you can do for a lifetime. Everyone needs to choose at least one and do it regularly simply for the love of doing it.
@ George True 8:44
ReplyDeleteI think you have the right of it, George. I might not have the time to fish, hunt, or gold prospect these days, but at any time, should the opportunity presents itself, I'm still willing and able to pick those pursuits back up without so much as a hiccup.
You drill it into your soul and you never forget your love of it. Am I right?
The skills never leave you once you've claimed them for your own.
@ Rul
ReplyDeleteTake what I said in context and you'll see wisdom. I didn't disagree with the concept. I pointed out that we all don't have the same opportunities. I sure as hell don't. That's my problem, not yours, but a little understanding can go a long way.
Hey, I am still waiting for my 32,870,000 USD that Barrister Oshodi is sending. Could you hit the caps lock again and check on my monies?
ReplyDelete