Out of curiosity

[magid]

If you had a month off work, what would you do with it?

Comments

[jaq.livejournal.com]

Finish some of the coding and/or model-making projects I started. Though actually I'd probably just start more.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize you do coding at home, too.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

If it's just me who's off - I'd take more Pakua classes and I'd write. And sleep late.

If it's my husband and me - go some place nice and cool with a pool and maybe an ocean for a couple of weeks. And then, well. Take more Pakua classes and write. And sleep late.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Since it's a theoretical question, of course your husband would also have the time off :-).

Sleeping late... that sounds so nice. I wish I could.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Start each day by posting "Another day off work. Whatever shall I do?" just to tormet my working friends. ;) All kidding aside - head out to Oregon for a week. Perhaps some other places. Keep whatever hours I felt like. Hit the beach, go for hikes. Of course, if I'm really being honest with myself, I'll admit that mostly, I'd just slack off at home and not do anything :)

[magid.livejournal.com]

I noticed you posting that a lot ;-).

I wonder if I'd manage to do all sorts of interesting things, or just end up lying around the house under a fan, reading the days away.

[majes.livejournal.com]

Do you have any idea how much porn you could download off the internet if you had a month? Well, its a whole lot, I'll betcha.

Hrmmm... I guess it would depend on my fiscal situation really. If I had a month off right now, of example, I wouldn't be able to afford to do all that much. If I had a month off a year from now, and I could plan for it, then I'd like to travel - maybe take a cross country trip, visiting all sorts of places along the way. That'd be awesome.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Well, with dial-up, it comes to about... *pulls out a calculator* Yup, still a whole lot.

I like traveling, but I've never done a long road trip. I don't know if I would enjoy all the time in the car, but the flexibility to see whatever strikes your fancy is great. All sorts of places you could bring your evilness to :-).

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Awwww yeah. I have all kinds of things I would do.

Travel:
(1) Go visit my dad (I'm already taking a week off work in August to do this)... but probably take an additional week to drive around Indiana/Chicago and see additional people.
(1a) OR road-trip to New Orleans.

Assuming it's summertime:
(2) Go to the beach. As much as possible. Probably Rockport.
(3) And the garden center.

Creative pursuits:
(4) Writing. There are a couple of pieces I've been kicking around in my head for, oh, years, and haven't sat down to really make a go of.
(5) Artwork: ditto for some calligraphy projects and jewelry-making.

Home pursuits:
(6) Cook. Have people over for dinner, even.
(7) Put all my photos from the past few years into albums. Believe it or not, this is the #1 ongoing hang-over-my-head organizational task that I only get to during major downtime, like, weeks off between jobs.

Mind, this is just off the top of my head. :-)

[magid.livejournal.com]

(1a) Ooh, I've never been to New Orleans.

(2) It's whenever you want. I love how the seasons comply so nicely in theoretical questions :-).
I've never been to the Rockport beach. Is it particularly wonderful?
(3) Which one?

Creative pursuits: definitely.

Your list has a lot of similarities to mine, and then I think I couldn't possibly fit all of that into just one month...

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Rockport: It's not so much that the beach itself is particularly wonderful, but I love the town and the area.

Garden center: I generally go to Mahoney's on Mem Drive/Western Ave since I can walk there and back.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Note to self: check out Rockport.

I sometimes go to Mahoney's, but I have yet to leave with purchases I could easily carry!

[queue.livejournal.com]

My natural inclination would probably be to spend the first week (maybe two) just screwing around at home, maybe trying to borrow more DVDs from people. And then maybe I'd actually have enough time to get myself motivated to do a particular writing project that I've been thinking about for a little bit now. And, in between writing sessions, I'd probably get the house in really good shape, including at least some planning for decorating the second bedroom.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I hope you find motivation; I'm always interested to read what you write.

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

Assuming you're talking vacation days here...

I would spend a couple of weeks visiting people - friends and a few relatives - and seeing sights; and a couple of weeks of whatever I wanted. I like having time to call completely my own.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Vacation, short sabbatical, whatever. Time away from work that isn't stressed by having to find other work.

I tend to think if I don't have some ideas of what I want to do with time out of the office (be it Jewish holidays, or a wedding, or a bar mitzvah, or an actual vacation), I'll end up doing nothing I'll get long term satisfaction from, and feeling frustrated with myself for that.

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

Off the top of my head:

(1) Catch up on sleep.

(2) Read a lot.

(3) Watch more movies than usual, either in theaters or at home.

(4) Catch up on some of my projects, such as winemaking or web design.

(5) Travel, maybe to Panamá, but maybe I'd like to see a little more of the world as well: Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Egypt), Australia (Great Barrier Reef, Sydney), New Zealand, Asia (India, Thailand, Japan, China, Turkey), South America (Argentine, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Peru), Europe (Spain, the British Isles, France, Italy, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary)....

(6) Spend more time singing.

[magid.livejournal.com]

See, for me, 1-3 would be some of what I'd do, but if I did that too much, I'd just feel like a sloth, if I didn't have a whole lot of 4 (well, my projects, which aren't winemaking or web design :-).

I'd love to travel, but it's so hard to choose, especially when the places I most want to go to are (a) expensive to reach (Australia), (b) dangerous to go to (at least for a woman traveling alone)(Kashmir, Morrocco, other parts of Africa), or (c) have health risks I'm leery about taking (Africa again (bilharzia, anyone?), and almost anywhere where water treatment systems are not what I'm used to...).

What most teachers do....

[powerfrau.livejournal.com]

Work another job

Re: What most teachers do....

[magid.livejournal.com]

If you didn't feel a money crunch requiring another job, would you still do it anyway?

[bitty.livejournal.com]

Come to the Cape with us :)


Seriously, I'd say certainly plan for some time at home just to putter, relax, and get Niggling Things accomplished. I'd also be sure to schedule some travel time, because how often do you get to travel with a flexible schedule? Also, find all those day-time things we all never get to do because we're working. Some sort of week-long class or whatnot, or volunteer somewhere.

Money of course is important. If I had a month off and money wasn't an issue, I'd go to Australia.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I'd like to go to the Cape with you again :-).

I'd like to travel, and of course the money part of it is a factor. Also the food side of it is non-trivial, depending on where I go. (I wonder if I mentally play the two off each other in my head to keep me rather local much of the time...).

And if I leave myself too much putter time, I worry I won't ever get around to accomplishing any of the Niggling Things, and that would be annoying.

[mayica.livejournal.com]

Well, over the summer (our son still has preschool over the summer), I plan to read, relax, garden, weave/quilt, exercise more than I normally get a chance to, and generally be as mellow as possible. Plus get house stuff done -- build the deck, rearrange (and maybe paint) a couple of rooms, that sort of thing. Sounds pretty boring, doesn't it? If I were childless, I'd probably try to do a lot of hiking, and some day / overnight trips in the area, as well.

I was just talking with a friend who's never had any time off, and kept asking me what I'm going to do with myself while I'm not teaching. He simply had no idea what he would do with his time, if he didn't have a job (or classes, or whatever.)

Good luck with the job!

[magid.livejournal.com]

It doesn't sound boring at all (and it sounds like the deck has already been a bit more excitement than it should've been; I hope you're feeling better). I've always thought weaving and quilting very creative activities, and satisfying, having the works of your hands right there to use.

I can't imagine never having had any time off... how horrible, not to have the chance to structure his own time, make his own schedule. Not that I'm good at it, but still.

And thanks.

[cellio]

I'd spend at least some of it goofing off -- sleeping late, catching up on reading and TV/DVD-watching, some writing projects, some experimental cooking, etc. Depending on time of year and finances, I'd love to spend some of it getting Dani to take me to Israel and show me around the place. (Either that, or I'd go on a congregational trip with my rabbi, if Dani's not interested and the time off lines up with such a trip.)

[magid.livejournal.com]

I have the fear that if I start with the goofing off, I'll never get around to the rest of it.

And as long as it's a theoretical, Dani is off work, too; you should definitely get in a trip to Israel!
(Though I can't quite imagine going for only a week or two. How to choose what to see/do?)

[cellio]

(Though I can't quite imagine going for only a week or two. How to choose what to see/do?)

My rabbi leads a two-week trip approximately once every year and a half. There is of course a practical concern -- even that is too long for some people to score the vacation time -- but I also think it would be hard for me to spend a whole month in a place that isn't "home". In addition to missing some of the usual comforts of home (my own bed, my cats, my own kitchen, etc), if you travel with a group (or even just a partner) you get much less "alone" time than I'm used to on a day-to-day basis, and letting that accumulate for a month could be bad. (But I don't like travelling alone -- I want there to be friendly people around, but not every minute of every day.)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Thinking about it, I realize I haven't gone on a group trip since high school, except for family travel. I tend to go places where friends live, but that tends to leave me enough time for myself that it's balanced out pretty well. I don't know how I'd do absolutely alone; I've never had that happen. Also, I tend to like to stay in one place for a while when traveling, to get a feel for the different rhythms of a place, not just all the traditional tourist attractions. Which takes longer than most package tours would offer, anyway.

[bitty.livejournal.com]

You should hang out at my place watching Muppet show eps all day :)

[magid.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a pretty fun day right there.
(Though maybe a couple of eps of something else could be tossed in the mix, too. Ooh, and a break to walk through the cemetery!)

[bitty.livejournal.com]

We should introduce you to Coupling. Oh, and you can meet my love monkey at some point.

[magid.livejournal.com]

When Queue had your DVD, he showed me a couple of eps of Coupling.

And haven't I met BubbleBabble? ;-)

[bitty.livejournal.com]

You haven't met my love monkey (http://www.nbc.com/The_West_Wing/bios/C.J._Cregg.html) yet, AFAIK.

[magid.livejournal.com]

True.

[gingicat]

Providing I also had the money to do so, I'd travel. England, Pacific Northwest, and places where I have friends and family are near the top of Places to Go.

If I was spending the time at home, I'd reorganize and thoroughly clean the house (everyone else would have to be at work, for this to happen), revamp my web page, do assorted projects I keep ignoring.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I wish I had your focus.

Maybe travel and reorganizing, in equal parts?