Life moves pretty fast. If you don't slow down and look around, you might miss it.

[David Terrenoire]

That line is from Ferris Bueller, of course, and is the topic for today. The sentiment, not the movie, although that's pretty good, too.

Regular readers know that things have been a little rough at the Home Planet lately, so when I had a chance to play music all night Saturday, I jumped at it. I've been told I had a great time.

I play music with friends. That's what I do when I want to forget all the crap of the day - the deadlines, the family drama, the work-related mindfuck, the guy in the SUV on the cell phone who believes his mind is so powerful that all he has to do is telepathically signal that he's changing lanes and you'll get out of his way.

If I can't play music, I like to nap and nothing beats an old movie on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

But I wonder what you do. Do you fish, go dancing, shoplift things you don't need, work in your marijuana garden, pose your Hummell figurines in suggestive tableaux, or go hunting for the best clam chowder in the Northeast? (Hint: It's in Gloucester.)

That's right. There's no sturm und drang today. No political cheap shots. I'm giving it all a rest. Yeah, I'm still at work, but my head is somewhere else entirely.

So tell me, if you could do anything today, anything at all, what would that be?

Talk to me.

Cross-posted from A Dark Planet

[Jack Getze]

I love to sit under an umbrella on a tropical beach, read, and smoke Cuban cigars, occassionally getting hot enough to swim.

[norby]

I've taken the last year off of school because I knew that once I started nursing school that would no longer be an option. So really for me, every day is pretty much hanging out, watching tv, doing whatever needs done that day. But if I could do anything right now, I would leave today for my trip to Ireland. Yeah, I'm leaving in a week and a half, but that really seems a long time from now. It's my second trip to Ireland and I simply cannot wait to be there.

And yeah, I know I'm spoiled.

[Merrill Young]

This is the first official non-working day of my summer hiatus.
Everybody else in my house is at school or work.Where would I LIKE to be?
Here's the itinary-
Breakfast-Coffee and croissants at a sidewalk cafe on the left bank, followed by hat shopping.
Lunch-Dim Sum in 'Frisco's Chinatown, eyes peeled for mysterious strangers.
Afternoon- beach, book, umbrella drink
Dinner-BBq and Crawfish on the Bayou followed by two stepping the night away.
As Dorothy Parker said-"I don't know much about being a millionaire, but I'll bet I'd be a darling at it.”

[Christa Faust]

Tie a pretty girl to the railroad tracks.

[Patti McCoy Jacob]

At first, I thought this question was too hard to answer. Succinctly, anyway. There are just too many things that come to mind that help me forget about any possible "crap" I may have encountered during the day. But which activity fits the bill depends on my mood at the end of that particular day.

Except for one. There is one thing that, regardless of my mood, regardless of time constraints, has the almost miraculous ability to bring me up. Or mellow me out. Whatever I need at that moment.

That would be the piano. I can get lost in it, and quite often do. As fastidious as I am about schedules, I lose all track of time when I sit down to play. I always have to wait until around 9PM after the younger ones are asleep, and then the next thing I know, a good two hours have blown by. No exaggeration. It is my "television," which is why I am so grossly ignorant when it comes to any of the latest and greatest TV series.

God, I need T-Voe.

(See, I don't even know if I spelled that right?)

There's just nothing like playing the piano to help you forget all the crap. Or any instrument, for that matter. My oldest son plays classical and electric guitar and gets completely lost in it as well.

There's just nothing like it.

[Donna Moore]

Things which take my mind off the crap...buying shoes, dancing the merengue, playing the drums

[Olen Steinhauer]

Man, with this cross-posting I don't know where to answer this, but since I'm here it'll be here.

First, I ran across your troubles via the Planet too late, and didn't get a chance to offer my best wishes before, so consider it done now.

But this other thing, about cutting off and just "being" in some absently pleasurable way, is something I am truly disconnected with, and want, like you, to hear suggestions about.

I have serious trouble stopping work. To the point that my girlfriend would like to hover behind me with a mallet to remind me when to turn off. When non-work anxieties enter my life, my natural inclination is to dwell in them, or go write. When life turns to real shit, my tendency is to move back to the anxieties, or, on a good day, go to the computer and write. Otherwise, I watch pirated shows or movies on TV. During all of these situations I drink and smoke.

As a result, I get a lot of writing done--at least, I get through a lot of writing-hours--but I start to wonder if maybe I'm losing touch with some basic part of "living". No, I'm not going crazy, just wondering if those great physical things--fishing, playing music (I own a guitar I haven't yet learned to play), dancing, swimming, eating lobsters, etc. (And before any jokes come, I do occasionally make time for lovemaking.)--will help bring me back to the land of the living, a place I too often feel separated from...?

[Toni McGee Causey]

Painting. (Oils, preferably, but acrylic is good, too.)

[David Terrenoire]

Damn, that sounds like a great day.

[Christa M. Miller]

You're only giving us a day? I need more like a month to get all my crap done. :P