Sanity is Perceptively Relative

When I got home tonight, a daughter asked me (paraphrasing), "You went to the gym after work, then you biked to [the north] Albertsons?" She then gave me the universal daughter-to-father look that translates to, "Are you f---ing crazy?"

The answer to the first question is, "yes," and "Dunno" to the second, and I don't feel defensive about it all. I've got plenty of idle time in my job because this is the first time in my professional existence where enthusiam and amibition are not welcome by the higher ups. We will stay in our assigned cube, we will do our assigned duties, and we will not and dare not to venture outside of that. After the Air Force and higher education where energy is cherished and encouraged, I feel like I'm working under a two-ton concrete block. The humongous upside to that is I'm not completely drained at the end of the workday and I don't think about work after 5:00 PM, more firsts in my professional life.

So why do I stay? Well, this is a recent development that may or may not end soon, depending on who stays and leaves the shop. I've been looking at other jobs but have slowly come to realize that I'm not defined by my 8-5 life, not matter how good or bad it is. It's how I spend the rest of my life. I like spending time with the relations. I like teaching and biking (though CC is starting to shrink) and writing. I like playing with web sites, the Internet, and reading. We will never, ever get ahead on our bills, so there's no use fighting and worrying that windmill.

So the daughter's question got me thinking. I spent about fiften minutes on upper body work at the gym, then biked up to the library via Roop and Stewart, but there was nothing there I wanted, so I headed up to the north Albertsons via Carson. Ran into the boss on her way home and we gossiped for a few minutes, then I went to Albertsons. Met Liz there and helped her put the groceries into the truck, then I biked home via Subway and Mountain. And I feeling a little buzz from all the leg and arm work, and I know I easily go another hour.

Yeah, in your eyes, I may be f---ing crazy, but if you have to ask why, you probably won't understand the answer.