A Normal Week
Last Saturday night I left 3-Legged Cowboy by midnight, and since I danced so much that night, I had to take a shower after I got home. It was 1 a.m. when I went to bed. I got up at 8:50 on Sunday morning, but still finished my food shopping before 10:30 a.m.
I probably shouldn’t have had a large latte around 5 p.m. on Sunday, because I didn’t sleep well on Sunday night and then lingered in bed until 7:37 a.m. on Monday morning. I missed the 8 a.m. train even after running several blocks. But since I normally leave myself half hour for breakfast, I still walked into office on time.
The rest of the week went well. From Tuesday to Friday, I woke up before the alarm, caught the 8 a.m. train, and felt comfortable for the rest of the day. Nowadays I usually start feeling sleepy by 10:30-ish, so I finish whatever I’m doing by 11-ish, and then soak my feet in hot water for 30 minutes (it’s a family tradition) while reading a book, and then go to bed before midnight. A good night of sleep and a light and relaxing breakfast really makes a lot of difference.
I did not take any days off this week. On Friday I was the only person in. It was a day without distraction, and I finished updating two large and very tedious Excel worksheets, plus some other misc. It occurred to me that I still need to complete at least 20 hours of continuing professional education before year-end, so I purchased five four-credit hour online courses from Gleim. All of them are personal tax courses. I printed the 80 pages of course outline to use on the weekend, and then left work at 4 p.m.
Like most years, I didn’t do any shopping for Christmas. Actually I haven’t been in a mall in the past 18 months and I don’t miss it at all. I did give my friend Alan a present at his Christmas party tonight, because I happened to spot something interesting when I walked through the neighborhood CVS one day last month. I wrapped it up last night using some gift paper my landlord left in the attic.
My housemate was out of town and I’m feeding his cat. The cat only comes out eating while I’m not around. I have a quiet house all for myself. I finished one of the tax courses last night. It was basically a 40-multiple choice online quiz with open book, since I’ve printed the outline. This morning I got up at 8:15 a.m. I’ve stopped using alarm on weekends, since by now I’ve gotten used to not staying in bed for too long after I wake up. I finished another course this morning, walked to Starbucks for a latte. It was cold and cloudy but not windy, so I enjoyed a refreshing walk outside while sipping my latte. I finished another course around noon, ate a light lunch, read a few pages of a Chinese novel, and then went to Alan’s annual Christmas party.
Most of the regular attendees are square dancers. The number is a little low - about 30 people, probably because of the weather. The meal is usually much lighter than the one on Thanksgiving. I had a bowl of chili, a slice of bread, a little bit of banana pudding and some ham. My strategy for eating ham is that I let everyone else get their slices first, and then I trim the little pieces of leftovers near the center bone. Those are the reddest, most tender and juiciest parts. People also left earlier because they were worrying about the snow. Yes it’s snowing outside! Although the snow “drops” is melting almost as soon as they hit the ground, I think there are enough to be called “measurable”, so this is the first time Atlanta had a Christmas with measurable snow in 153 years!
So it’s been a quiet and relaxing week. I’m not tired, stressed or stuffed, and I’m ready to go out dancing at 3LC at this moment. Merry Christmas to you all!