Busy Is Good

I’m a workaholic who hates his job.
How’s that for an awkward situation?

I’m terrified of getting bored, so I constantly find things to do. And I’m also trying to improve myself at the same time. I used to go to the pub for lunch 3-4 times a week, and would sit at my desk surfing the internet for the times I didn’t pub (and yes it can be a verb). A year ago, I decided to start going to the gym during my lunch hours. Sitting at a desk all day and closing in on 40 wasn’t doing much for my physique. Add beer/burger lunches, and I was getting downright flabby. I can’t get up earlier to work out before work, and by the time I finish I’m too damned tired. So now I go to the gym mid-day 4 times a week, and pub once as a reward. I have now successfully booked up 5 lunch hours per week.

I finished three years of night school last April. Worried that I’d spend every evening in front of the TV or getting drunk and causing trouble, I took up sailing. Now I get drunk 2-3 nights per week, but with sailors at the club. Not at home in front of the TV. And I’ve awakened a huge passion in sailing.

I now live a 30-minute walk from work. I don’t have to squeeze into a jam-packed subway train every morning. This means I can leisurely stroll to the office with a coffee in my hand (there’s no room for a drink on the train). With coffee, my brain starts working faster. I had a great idea on what to do with my walks to/from work: learn Spanish. I’ve been trying to learn for a few years, and sometimes attain ‘Quasi-Linguistic’ status. Whenever I hit that point, something happens and I don’t have time to maintain my lessons. And having no Spanish-speaking friends, there’s nobody to practice with. However, my 30 minute Spanish-Lesson MP3s are just the right length for the walk to work. So that’s my plan.

My daily routine now includes an hour of language lessons, and an hour of exercise (not including the walking to and from work), and all that within my work life. And I can’t even eat my breakfast without needing something else to do, hence writing this post while eating a blueberry muffin and drinking my coffee.