Thursday June 24th, 2010

The exercise:

Today we shall write about: vacations.

Packing/throwing stuff out continues on pace. The sun continues to shine. Loading up the truck tomorrow afternoon/evening and then heading to Osoyoos Saturday morning.

Two more sleeps!

Mine:

My thoughts are a little slow,
There's nowhere for me to go -
At least I don't think there is...
Let's hope there isn't a quiz!

Did you see where I put it?
You know, the thing with the bit?
Yes, of course I meant my hat!
Hey, don't look at me like that!

Alright, that's all I can take,
I just really need a break -
There's far too much frustration
On this mental vacation.

4 comments:

Heather said...

Marc- Cute poem. It's kind of how I am feeling today.

In self-disclosure:
------
Many people think that everyday is a vacation for me. Most of the time, they are right! After all, I have complete freedom of what I do, when I do it, and how it is done. If I want to go to a movie in the middle of the day, I can. If I want to watch TV, there is no one to tell me I can't or that it is an inappropriate use of my time. I go to the water park on a whim and can spend the day in my pajamas if I chose. There are relatively few rules and the ones that exist are driven by primal needs such as hunger. And its rewarding! I've never had better fringe benefits or more flexibility.

Sounds great doesn't it! There are only two cons. I work long days. Very long days. The pay? Non-existent. So sure.... its not the perfect job, but I couldn't imagine doing anything else at this point in my life.

Tell me then, why was my first thought, "Yes, please!" when I read the prompt?

Greg said...

@Heather: I liked your thoughts on vacation, and I like the idea of being able to go to the cinema in the middle of the day if you feel like it. That sounds very free! I think we're all conditioned to think that a vacation is a desirable thing though.

@Marc: Hah, I can so sympathize with your second verse. I'm forever losing things....
And it looks like either tomorrow's prompt or Saturday's will be "moving"!

Vacations

"Green seems unusual today," said Dr. Septopus as he rummaged amongst the tools on his bench. He selected a small rubber mallet.
"Unusually what?" Sylvestra was leaning in the doorway to his lab, her silky, filamented dress floating out around her in a static electricty field.
"No, just unusual." Dr. Septopus selected a spot on a machine the size of a coffee grinder and started percussive maintainance. Over the banging, he yelled, "Not quite himself. Almost... normal!"
"He's on vacation," said Sylvestra, levitating slightly up from the floor. Her shadow took on an inkier shade.
"No, he's in the next room!" The machine coughed abruptly and Dr. Septopus stopped hitting it with the mallet. "There, there, do you feel better now?" he said, clucking softly and stroking the machine.
"His body's in the next room," said Sylvestra. "But Green's on vacation. He has some kind of timeshare arrangement with a monkey in the Maldives, only he's too cheap to fly there so they swap bodies instead. For about two weeks, I think."
"So... what you're telling me, is that there's a monkey in the next room?" Dr. Septopus sounded thoughtful and the machine squeaked in a startlingly human manner and tried to edge away.

Marc said...

Heather - movies in the middle of the day are the best part of not working. Okay, one of the best parts.

Greg - I like that Green seems more normal once replaced with a monkey :)

Anonymous said...

from my blog, write-bite.blogspot.com
Holidays 

They sound like ping pong balls, bouncing up and down in rapid succession as if played by an Olympic master - the eggs danced in heated fury as they boiled on the stove. 
It made me laugh, they sounded so cute.
Dinner time can be a simple affair when one has had a big lunch with one's beloved. Tonight it will be egg sandwiches, perhaps with a touch of pickles, which I shall forgo. They're not to my taste but being on holidays makes one do and eat things out of the ordinary, like watching a movie right in the middle of the day, or going on three walks in one day taking three different routes to the beach, all of which lead to the same view - waves in endless succession beating the shore, an island in the distance, a ship cutting its way between as it approaches the harbour too far away for us to see.
I picked up a bargain today. One has time for bargains when one is idly window shopping. It's a nice lacy top I found in a half price sale. It's already earned praise from two separate women, envious, perhaps, of how it falls slightly off my slender frame. Yes, I'm modest, too. Not. Life's too short not to recognise praise when praise is due, methinks. 
I swam before lunch in my new bathing suit. It's a throwback to the 'fifties when fashion meant something, when it graced the female form instead of trashing it. I love the new suit, and it didn't cost me the earth, either. I shall wear it again. It's been a while since I swam. It felt good, though the water was still a bit cold. I enjoyed its refreshment. It put me in the moment - oh, a moment of survival, no doubt; I swam hard at first to warm up but then - bliss, as I floated and then sunned myself off in the warming springtime light. 
Tonight we'll have drinks with friends, then the eggs, then a movie and a long, long sleep, listening to the sound of the ocean which is honestly better than cars, but that's what holdays are for, aren't they? To escape the everyday, to approeciate the gift of the new, fresh moments you actually have time to experience in their full because you're not stressing out over timetables and bad habits. 
Holidays are a vacation from yourself. I don't know if I made that up or if that's a quote I read somewhere once. Perhaps the latter; either way, it seems true enough.