2.04.2011

we like lists: list # 8: downtime pleasures

This week I handed in two assignments, due on consecutive days, one being the worst assignment for the worst class of my entire degree. I am feeling a huge sense of relief at having that behind me! Now I have no deadlines until March. Brilliant.

I am in sore need of some serious downtime, to veg out (as we used to say), to be a mush-brain, a couch potato. Truth be told, during the school term I am a couch potato four nights a week, but it feels so much better with these papers behind me!

What's your preferred method of recharging? This is total downtime, when your brain needs a rest and you need an escape. These are the pursuits sometimes called "guilty pleasures," but I think we should never feel guilty about pleasure.

My number one downtime pleasure, no contest, is baseball. Nothing takes me out of myself - there is nothing I find both so completely relaxing and absorbing - than watching baseball. In times of great stress, baseball is a mental balm.

Another of my prime downtime pleasures is a bit embarrassing, and not something I do very often. If you've been reading this blog long enough, you know about my obsession with "Dallas", the cheesy 1980s nighttime soap. "Dallas" may be my favourite, but it's only a symptom of a larger disorder: I have the potential to be addicted to soap operas.

I prefer the nighttime variety, and although I have watched very few of those shows (since I watch very little TV), it wouldn't take much to get me involved in any of them. Then a few years ago I started watching "Coronation Street" once a week, while folding laundry. It wasn't long before I'd look at the clock and think, can I get in an episode of Corrie in before the game starts...? And now I am addicted to Corrie.

The wonderful thing about this particular downtime pleasure is that it's so readily available, a mental mini-vacation almost every day.

Where do you get your R&R? Let's do five of these.

1. Watching baseball

2. Watching certain soap operas

3. Walking, especially in the woods

4. Sitting in our backyard, watching our dog(s) play, watching birds flit around

5. Watching movies or favourite comedy series

You?

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