Tagged: sleep

Things To Do While My Boyfriend’s Away

Commander Shepard with Marina's head, and one of her skirts Photoshopped on

So my amazing boyfriend is going to be stuck at work pretty much every waking for the next month, and I’m pretty bummed about that. He’s already been working a lot of overtime and coming home really late for the last month, but it’s about to get worse. At least I’ll get conjugal visits on the weekends.

So, to cheer myself up, I decided to make a list of things I could do while he’s a work to keep myself occupied and my mind out of the sad sack.

  • Go to the movies
    Being a former film student, Ben hates the movies. He’ll tell you he doesn’t, but he never wants to go, unless it’s a super hero movie. As a former English student, I reserve all my hatred for novels and totally love the movies. So while he’s working, I can go to the movies by myself, which is something I’ve always really liked to do.
  • Clean the house
    He’s slaving away at work, I might as well be a little bit productive over here on my end, right?
  • Practice my ukulele
    My hipstrument has been sorely neglected. I like playing simple chords and singing familiar songs, especially when there’s no one around to be disturbed by the terrible racket of me trying to play and sing at the same time.
  • Get back on top of the blog
    I like to have at least 5 blog posts in the can and ready to auto-publish on any given day. Currently, I have one (this one.) I’d like to rectify that
  • Get back into regular exercise
    It seems like this year has just been a string of reasons to not go for my jogs, or do any regular exercise beyond a simple walk around the block at work. Foremost of which are sickness and stress. Lately when I get home from work I’m just too tired to imagine doing anything. I finally went back to the gym Friday and Monday, only to get an epic sore throat that lasted all day Tuesday and Wednesday, and is only starting to feel less unendingly terrible as I type this on Wednesday night.
  • Get back on a regular sleep schedule
    Since Ben’s been getting home late, I’ve been waiting up for him to get home at around 10 p.m., having dinner with him at around 11 p.m. and getting to bed at around midnight, after which I tend to have insomnia the entire night while he snores away peacefully at my side. If he won’t be getting home till even later than that, I won’t be able to wait up for him and I can set a more reasonable bed time and hopefully sleep through the night. Although getting to sleep without him and also not waking up when he does come home are both pretty tall orders.
  • Eat boatloads of raw fruits and veggies
    Ben cooks all our food because I am a culinary disaster zone. One of the things I can do is cut up fruit, veggies, and cheese. So when he’s not making the food, that’ll be my diet, which I quite like. Although I’ll have to go buy something if I want meat, since that requires heat.
  • Play Hip Hop and Hardcore Over the Speakers
    What can I say, my boyfriend’s a Weezer fan.
  • Finish playing Mass Effect 3 with my two other Shepards
    The only Shep I’ve played through all the way is my first Shep, who I call Black Shep because she’s black. White Shep and Gay Shep (also obvious reasons) are still at various stages in ME2 and 3. At first, I was going SPOILER: use each one of the Sheps for each one of the three endings, but now that I have subscribed to Indoctrination Theory, I’ll be destroying all synthetics and winning the game right. I can see that the spoiler highlight didn’t really do anything to hide what I just wrote. Sorry, I don’t know how to fix that.
  • Take a class (this is a link, click on it)
    Actually, the classes going on right now are not interesting to me at all, and the classes I did sign up for both start after he’s back on a regular schedule, but I thought this was really cool, so I wanted to include it in case you guys were interested in free ivy league classes.

What other by-myself stuff can I do? What do you do when your SO is gone for a period of time?

Adulthood Tips and Tricks: Things I’ve Learned So Far

two seniors streching before a hike
“I love being a grown-up.” “Me fucking too!”

I’m only 27, and a lot of people would still consider me very much a young one. But I’ve picked up some tricks in the last 9 years of legal adulthood that I think might benefit the average reader. Feel free to add your own tips and tricks in the comments, as I am sure I missed quite a few.

  • Speak English (or whatever language you speak):
    The ability to articulate ourselves is one of the most amazing and underused human talents. Chances are you speak the same language as whomever you’re dealing with. Take advantage of that! Want something done or not done, say so! Like somebody? Tell them! It’s not that hard, just open your mouth and talk in a respectful manner at a reasonable volume. Other people have a right to speak in plain English as well, so don’t be freaked out when they have things they want or don’t want or have to say.
  • Dress the Part:
    It took me a long time to realize that people couldn’t tell who I was just by looking at me and talking to me for a few minutes. I had to give them some hints. If you want people to think you’re competent, dress like a competent person would dress. Showing up at an office job in a shitty outfit broadcasts to people that you don’t care, and that is the opposite of what you want to do if you actually care about your job. If you actually don’t care, stay as you are.
  • Be Polite, Even to Assholes:
    When talking to someone I dislike, I try to imagine someone who’s opinion I value walking into the room mid-conversation. If the newcomer wouldn’t be able to tell who the jerk is, than I need to tone it down. It doesn’t always work, I have a legendary number of foot to mouth situations in my lifetime, but the image of someone else viewing my conversation from the outside often keeps me on the straight and narrow. Where I still get into trouble today is trying to be polite but also speak in plain English. It’s very hard for me to tell someone I’m upset in a calm manner and draw boundaries when I’m upset. Which makes it fortunate that English is a 24 hour language. So I can tell them later, when I’m better.
  • Sleep, Food, Exercise and Fun are Essential:
    Without these things in quality (not necessarily quantity, although that’s usually a good bet as well) life ceases to have meaning.

What are your Adulthood Tips and Tricks?