There’s nothing better than watching sunlight filter through leaves onto a hardwood floor. Sipping your beverage of choice while wind whispers through the windows. Sitting with people you love.
This is what every day is like at my partner’s house.
And it’s what my favorite days at home with my partner consist of.
No rushing to be anywhere, letting the day unfold at your own pace.
Seeing where the world will take you.
This is happiness.
I want retire because my life is working (workdays) and recovering from working (weeknights and weekends). There is no room in that cycle for the life I want. And perhaps it is my fault for choosing a career where I interact with people all day that completely drains my introverted core – and at rare times invigorates me with creativity. But it’s also what I’m good at. It’s well paid work that doesn’t involve extra schooling or skills.
I was recently on vacation for Thanksgiving. I took a whopping two days off and tacked it onto the long weekend we were given for the holiday. Usually it takes me about a week to decompress from work – even not particularly stressful work (or as not particularly stressful as Ad Agencies can be anyway). In that time I have to remember how to relax and what I enjoy and by the time I do the vacation is over.
My cell phone plan increased to $90. Through many sneaky tricks of AT&T my phone bill somehow doubled as a result of me upgrading to the latest iPhone (mistake – I know). As a result I was looking for alternatives. I knew I wanted to switch to
I’ve always been addicted to Sims. Since Sims 1 came out when I was in middle school it’s been my favorite game. That was 15 years ago. There is just something so fascinating about building (and at times ruining) virtual lives. It was the ultimate sandbox game before Minecraft, and in my opinion is still a worthy competitor despite its focus being different.
My mother taught me another important lesson from her work experience: Promotions have nothing to do with actual work. They have nothing to do with accomplishing tasks and little to do with how effective or pleasant your peers think you are. Promotions are the biggest lie in corporate america and possible in history (yes I’m being a little dramatic). 
I went on a bit of an information binge the other way. We were stuck inside during what was supposed to be a previously unseen snowstorm that caused our Governor to order the transit system to close. I was working from home, but becoming a little starved for new information. So I started watching a few of the documentaries that I had in my Netflix queue. First I watched Food Inc, then Forks Over Knives and then Vegucated. I had unknowingly picked an almost perfect sequence of documentaries.