…and this is a 
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Category: Personal
Posted on: March 6, 2006 12:54 PM, by PZ Myers
This Spring Break thing is overrated, I think. My usual day is so cleanly circumscribed and planned that I have a feeling of liberty: my PDA goes off to tell me I have a class or meeting, my little to-do list warns me of impending deadlines, and when I'm in between tasks, I at least have the illusion that it is my time.
Right now, my PDA says it is Spring Break, and will be Spring Break for several days to come, with nothing else in there. It is blank and unstructured. I am lost.
So today I polished up and submitted an in-house grant proposal, and then went to town on some substantial university paperwork I've been postponing (PDAs are also good for telling you that there is an immediate, high-priority thing you must do, making it easy to justify putting off the big nebulous jobs). 15 pages of bureaucratese, 12 copies, in the mail. I got about a centimeter of the evil box done. Since I'm home alone, I did the few dishes in the sink and am thinking about hitting up the grocery store and fixing a respectable dinner.
I don't feel very relaxed.
Is it true that we're supposed to take it easy on vacations?
Comments
You'll have the routine worked out by Sunday.
Posted by: pablo | March 6, 2006 1:02 PM
No relaxing! You should be spending every free minute updating Pharyngula with interesting, enlightening witticisms and commentary to keep your public informed! More squid now!
Posted by: J Daley | March 6, 2006 1:19 PM
You're supposed to do all of the above with your favorite cold beverage.
Posted by: Joe | March 6, 2006 1:22 PM
Spring break is overrated like weekends are overrated. Those of us who don't get one have no sympathy.
Posted by: Frumious B. | March 6, 2006 1:22 PM
Incidentally, if you haven't seen it yet, two parts of Dawkins' "Root of All Evil?" are at
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nwR0HhQe-ds&search=dawkins
Sorry for not figuring out protocol for posting links.
Posted by: J Daley | March 6, 2006 1:23 PM
I suspect you aren't shouting the right things.
Posted by: Sean Foley | March 6, 2006 1:26 PM
I know the feeling. I'm a student on break, but here I am, doing economics reading on a Monday. Teachers and students alike, we ought to be sleeping and relaxing, not working.
Posted by: Christopher | March 6, 2006 1:29 PM
I think it's important to take it easy and relax during vacations. If you can just forget about paperwork, students and deadlines for a while, it'll revitalize you and improve your concentration for when you have to go back. If not, you risk becoming stressed out later on.
Posted by: Steve Sutton | March 6, 2006 1:59 PM
Is it true that we're supposed to take it easy on vacations?
Not at all - on my spring break, I spent many hours on my senior thesis.
Posted by: Alon Levy | March 6, 2006 2:08 PM
Feh. I got laid off from my technical writing job and I'm not very relaxed at all. But somehow..., I feel in a very dreamlike-sense nevertheless.
...oooh.
Posted by: Darryl Pearce | March 6, 2006 2:13 PM
did you already shovel the driveway?
Posted by: GrrlScientist | March 6, 2006 2:16 PM
I usually go visit my parents on my vactions, since they live several states away. I always end up doing some kind of computer work for them - creating or tweaking a database, showing them how to use some feature, general cleanup/archiving of stuff on the drives.
Not so bad now, but a couple of times it took up the bulk of the visit!
Posted by: chemparrot | March 6, 2006 6:28 PM
Without deadlines I have nothing to Avoid. I can't relax on holidays, which is why I never take any.
Posted by: John Wilkins | March 6, 2006 7:31 PM
PZ, just run down to your local, start dancing, doing jello body shots and lifting up your shirt a lot. That'll get you in the spirit...or beaten and ejected.
Posted by: Abel Pharmboy | March 8, 2006 5:36 AM