Not Working

This is my first half week of not working. I am not counting the week I came back or the week between Christmas and New Year's, nor am I counting the week we were in Florida because that was vacation. Now, we are back in Detroit, Marty is back doing office things, and I am still not working.

It feels weird, but one thing I have to say is that the time does seem to pass quickly. I have no trouble finding things to do---I shoveled the walk and the driveway this morning after a snowfall, and am really enjoying getting back to my yoga class. We voted in the Michigan primary, and the only people there at the hour we went were senior citizens. When people call me to do things, I can pretty much say "anytime" instead of having to make it on evenings or weekends. I spent two hours at Sara's apartment today with a helper from the agency that works with her, and I started to get a bit antsy after a while, but then I had to stop and think, "why?" There was really nothing so urgent that I had to do. I am unpacking a lot of boxes from the storage we had. I still haven't found my favorite roasting pan. This keeps me working at the storage.

I still don't have any interest in watching T.V., but Marty does and occasionally I catch part of a program here and there. American Idol is on right now and I have to say--it is incredibly bad; I don't know how Marty stands it. I am grossly offended and upset by the number of drug ads on T.V. and in print publications here--it is no wonder that prescriptions are so ridiculously expensive in the U.S. I guess this was true three years ago before I left but I notice it a lot more now. I have been checking out buying our prescriptions in Canada. I am really, really enjoying reading The New York Times every morning. I am enjoying NOT having a 3 hour commute every day.

We went shopping over the weekend and I have become as big a fan of Costco as Marty. It is incredibly a lot cheaper to buy things there, even if the volume is sometimes more than you think you need. We bought some cereal, for example. A large box of two 28 oz bags of our favorite brand cost a little more than $8. We had a 16 oz box at home that we had paid $4.79 for. I also like Costco's policies. They are a lot more socially responsible than Wal-Mart. They seem to have a good reputation with both employees and suppliers.

I am tired of traveling. Though I will be heading up to Canada for Vipassana next week, that's a short journey and not too onerous. After a while, I had had too much of Disney and the vacation experience, and I think it was just the build up from all the travel I did while in India. It is nice to settle in and just be. I am sure I will get wanderlust after a while, but right now I am just glad to be here and in our place in Keene. We are having friends over for dinners and I enjoy the time to prepare and just have conversation.

I see my dad pretty much every day. Today I took him some favorite songs on my iPod. He enjoyed that. It is tough to see him though. I find that I can spend 10 or 15 minutes and then I want to leave. He is not able to have a conversation. The last few TIAs (mini-strokes) have affected his speech and he cannot articulate even if he wants to say something. But still, I am glad that I am only 5 minutes away from him instead of halfway around the world.

I have discovered "LinkedIn" a business networking site. I figure it will be useful when I start getting back into the job market. I will think about that next month.