Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

It's a sad state of things when I look forward to the weekend as a time when I can actually get some work done. I keep myself busy, to say the least.

Every day, there's exercising, writing my online entry for Musings, and then I often pick up some extra work assignments before my usual evening work schedule.

But I'm still better off than at my previous job, where I was salaried and where extra hours required sometimes on evenings and weekends were never compensated.

Not to mention, the salary was so low I could barely make my bills.

So yes, I'm doing much better, but I've also fallen into the trap common to those working out of their homes: working pretty much 24-7. What I really need is a 32-hour day. But I'm too smart to wish on a genie. There could be a twist. I could wind up with a 32-hour day, but it's in prison doing hard time.

I look forward to weekends as the time when, though I might pick up an extra assignment or two, I get more time to work on my own projects. Of course, this means no sleeping in. This isn't generally a problem for me, because most mornings I wake up at about 8 a.m. on the dot.

I joked to my family that I'm becoming my grandma and that next thing you know, I'm going to get up at 6 a.m. whenever they're visiting and start rattling dishes in the kitchen and serving grapefruit.

Weekends are my time for catching up on things like Wild Violet, the online literary magazine I edit. But between work and actually having a social life, of late, this has been more difficult.

There's not a single thing I'd cut out of my usual weekday routine. If I cut out the exercise, I'd have to say good-bye to all the progress I've been making in my weight loss. If I cut out the extra assignments, I'd have to go back to the kind of paycheck under which I was struggling with my previous job. If I put off Musings, it means I'd lose my creative outlet, and that leads to intellectual stagnation. If I leave out the daily dog walks, I'd end up with a depressed, unhealthy dog.

But on weekends, I do less exercise and take less work. It frees me up for catching up. That is, if I don't have other errands or social events planned. That's why, for example, I ran all my errands yesterday morning, including stopping at the neighborhood thrift store to get a jump start on a new fall wardrobe, and stopping at Payless for their "buy one pair, get a second half off" sale.

Any guy who doesn't understand why you need different shoes for different outfits probably thinks dressing up is just a matter of wearing a shirt with a collar on it. Or, in winter, a sweater and a pair of khakis.

But the more I ramble, the less I get done. So I'll leave it there.

Copyright 2003 by Alyce Wilson

Musings Index

What do you think? Share your thoughts
at Alyce's message board (left button):