This Round of Vacation Time

I was hoping to make the beginning of next few days off something more eventful and less dutiful and tedious than dusting, cleaning floors, reorganizing cabinets and closets, and scrubbing porcelain and tiles, but that's all it has been mostly so far. Vacationing is about doing what you can to bring about some peace of mind and a sense of satisfaction. Clearing and cleaning my space, and seeing things put into order satisfies me and brings more peace of mind: therefore it wasn't wasted time. I felt it had to be done first before I could move on with anything else. I correlate a clean and well-ordered home as a reflection of, or a least an attempt to allow for, a more focused mind.

The other meaningful thing I did was daring myself to seek company outside my regular social sphere. I used Meetup.com to find groups in my area with common interests. I wish I could find the right words to use to express my elation and satisfaction about finally finding and interacting with an actual group of people in this town who:

1. have many similar interests and values as I do
2. have higher ideals about well-being, and life-balance
3. actually deploy reason and common sense
4. understand what I'm saying
5. are people with whom I can speak to without having to dumb myself down 
6. actually read contemporary literature
7. aren't constantly stewing in/spewing out negativity and drama
8. aren't deluded and sanctimonious idiots, who act as if their shit doesn't stink
9. take ownership of their problems, and share successes and failures about dealing with them
10. who are actually supportive, cooperative and encouraging in another person's attempt at betterment

It's remarkably rare these days for me to meet an average person who can exhibit all of these qualities. My only regrets are: not finding these people sooner, and knowing that once I go back to my regular work schedule, my chances for meeting up with them will be rare.

I had my cable TV service re-installed a couple days ago. My HD receiver/PVR was upgraded; although there's now super-sized interface, with some features and options that add a bit more razzle-dazzle to viewing/recording, I still find that the channel selection is still limited and uninteresting. It made me seek refuge in the bookstores and library. I shouldn't be re-visiting such places, because I constantly overwhelm myself. I already have a personal mega-super-syllabus of reading materials of interest to me that I want to absorb, which I would already need several lifetimes to do. When I explore those bookshelves, I add to the inventory exponentially. I really need to have a more effective method of speed-reading.

Reading, napping, cycling, running, healthy cooking/eating, strength training, playing Jeopardy; watching PBS, TED, movies; drinking coffee/tea/beer, solving puzzles, meditating, language acquisition, painting, CAD and web designing, programming spreadsheets, list making, testing mnemonics, math problems, blogging, and avoiding the bullshit of the EX pretty much summarizes the remaining hours of leisure time I'll use for my next few days off.