1 Mental Health Day is Good, 2 is Better (...86 days)

Paris lunch, April 2010

Today I worked out, bought a printer (a requirement for this layoff period), Spring cleaned my condo (part, not all), looked for deals on an iphone attachment I need, and ate lunch with a jolly, dashingly handsome Irishman, my friend Alan. 

Alan and I had lunch at Petit Robert, a French cafe in the South End, alfresco style.  It was a gorgeous April afternoon!  We gladly sat outside reminiscing about our three week vacation in Paris last year where we sipped cappuccinos and gawked at impressively stylish Parisians.  We didn't mean to take a 3 week vacation (it sounds so luxurious doesn't it!).  We planned for 1 week but got "ashed-in" along with some other friends when Iceland's Volcano erupted.  Those weeks were similar to how I'm feeling right now, in layoff land:  I'm uncertain of how long I'll be stuck here and of how much I can relax and enjoy my myself.

Luckily, when I'm out with a friend enjoying a meal, it's hard not to pretend my new gig is being "a lady who lunches."  I get out from under my laptop, put on some nice duds, and head out to a restaurant.  Gratefully, I've had invitations from good friends to meet for lunch during their work day...to break up my "work" day.  When I'm on my way to meet a friend, I kinda feel like one of those women about town that I see all dressed up but with seemingly no obligations.  Where do they work? What do they do?  How do they have time to enjoy the weather, strolling down Newbury street?  I don't really want to do that with my free time, but I do think about what their lives might be like being able to choose their work, unconcerned about income.

I'd love to have more free time than I did with my job, as I think everybody does.  But, want I want most is to find a job that I can sink my teeth into and for which I have enduring energy.  I have that with all my personal projects:  I'm diligent, undistracted, and prolific.  Challenges are compelling, not burdensome.  And the only reward I need is my own satisfaction.  Of course, I'm not a "lady who lunches" and all that it implies.  I need to earn money to make personal projects possible. However, this blog is the Ruskin Project, to find work that I can put my heart into.  So, I need to find work that combines my interests and an income.  And that's what I plan to do.