Time On/Time Off

I remember some years back, at work, end of the day, asking a last-minute question of a co-worker. Nothing earth-shattering, but still something I needed clarification on. He was heading out the door, and, not to be interrupted, responded to me simply by pointing at the clock, which was reading five o'clock straight up.

'Nuff said. This co-worker, who is actually himself a bit of a workaholic, was a bit embarrassed later by his terse response , but I thought it was a good and fair answer. Some things can just be handled on the next business day. 5 o'clock is(at least for the most part)5 o'clock.


Indeed, I try to draw as sharp a line as possible myself between worktime and playtime. Leave the office at the office and leave home at home. Things bleed through at both locations, but that's the basic plan.


This has been a week of vacation. As it turns out, a very well- placed week of vacation. It followed a crazy week at work, and precedes what will probably be another crazy week back at work, so not without its therapeutic value, sandwiched in as it is between two nutty workweeks. . Normally the bread goes on the outside of one's "shit sandwich", but still an aid to digestion wherever placed.


So, yeah, due to return to the world of work on Monday morning. Not looking forward to it but not dreading it either. There'll be people I haven't seen in a week--minus one(see earlier blog Week from Work for more on this situation), and Girl Scout cookies waiting for me on my chair(I hope they're still there!), so my return should be a pleasant one.


And from there the clock starts again, as far as moving toward the weekend, toward my next time-off period and then eventually to the next week off, which'll be sometime in June.. I've pretty much got my time on/time off regulated. Every 3 months I take five days off. Earning 12.5 vacation hours a month at this point gives me 37.5 every three months, or a 5-day week. I'm outa here. See ya!

It is a good thing that I've been gainfully employed all this time, but also a chilling thought that it's been over 22 years since I've had any more than two weeks off from work. I could of course take longer vacations, three weeks or even a month(well, if they'd let me!)but I'd have to wait longer to earn the time off, to have it in the books to use.. As wonderful as a 4-week vacation would be, you'd have to wait 11 months every year to take it. No, the best diet for me is the smaller but more frequent meals, the weeks off every 3 months. Retirement will be my longass vacation..

At this point, there are five years and change remaining before this cowboy can hang up his spurs. Pardner, that's a lot of weekends and a daunting amount of these little quarterly week vacations, but I trust they'll keep me going. Until such time when, at the ripe old age of 60 I can finally leave behind my dualistic time-on/time-off existence for a holistically slothful one.

And if anyone should ask me anything work-related on my way out, I'll just point to the calendar. Unless there's a deal between now and then, it'll read 2014.