Rant #2,457: I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself

As promised, today I am going to veer off the "I am out of work" theme just a wee bit and talk about something else.

No, I won't veer off very far, because everything now that I write, say, do or experience has to do with the fact that after nearly a quarter century of continuous employment, I am out on my butt.

But after send out all the resumes for the day, fill out all the forms for the day, and really, have reached the finished line for the day as far as looking for a job, what do I do to fill up the remaining hours, in particular during what used to be my work day?

One thing that I have been consciously doing is staying away from plopping down and watching an inordinate amount of television. I love TV, and I could probably find something to watch on the tube if I wanted to at all hours of the day, but once you get into that habit, I really feel that you are sunk.

It kind of makes you lazy, and I really try to hold off watching TV until at least 3 p.m. in the afternoon. Yesterday, I put on the TV after 4 p.m., as I was busy filling out some forms to apply to some freelance sites.

But there comes a time each day when I am really and truly done with my searching. I mean, if I wanted to make myself completely crazy, I could probably search the job boards from dawn until dusk and then some, but I have found that that type of search is a fruitless one, making me search and apply for jobs almost just to say that I did it, not because I am really interested in doing this.

So yes, there does come a point where I am truly done for the day. And when that happens, I do remain on the computer, checking back now and again to see if anything new has been posted.

But what am I doing on the computer to fill up the time when I have done all I can do for the day?

I am digitizing my vinyl records.

I find that a relaxing exercise, something that I really never had that much time to do when I was working--except on the weekend--and that I personally find very relaxing.

Doing so is not only fun--putting these great records into MP3 format allows me to gather them up, put them on a thumb drive, and listen to them in the car--but it has also given me some ideas about my writing, and where that may take me in the future if this situation goes on for a pronounced period.

So many people told me that I should take advantage of this time away from the rat race, that I should do things that I never had the time to do, so I figured that there was no harm in doing this during down time, of which I hope I have a dwindling amount as this thing goes on.

Today, a week after the axe fell, is a particularly dead day, or looks to be one at least. I don't have to take my son to work--my father and I are switching off each day in doing so, as well as picking my son up--so today is an off day for me.

I don't have to make dinner. because my wife goes into work early today, and will be home in plenty of time to do this for us.

I don't have any supreme obligations during the day--my parents have asked me to do a few favors for them since I have been off, which I have done--and I always spend at least 45 minutes to an hour reading the newspaper, now reading some in the morning and the rest while I east lunch,

The only obligation I have today is to take my son to his therapist tonight, around 6:30 p.m., and I won't have a problem doing that.

So today is not going to be a very busy day for me, although I hope it is, but if it isn't, I will be sitting at the computer and digitizing my records for an hour, maybe two hours or more today, depending on if other things come up.

And what am I digitizing? Right now, I am focusing on some of my 45s, and directly focusing on the over 30 singles released in the U.S. by my favorite British Invasion band, the Dave Clark Five.

I have almost all their singles in my collection--they released a total of 36 singles in the U.S. from 1963 to 1972, or about four a year during that period, really an incredible output--and I think that I am just missing about eight of them.

So I am digitizing them, listening to them as a convert them to MP3 format, and believe it or not, getting some ideas on some possible future writing endeavors, which I won't get into just yet.

It serves as my own personal reward for doing what I should be doing--looking for a job--so when I reach this point, I know that I have completed my main "job" for the day, even though I will pick it up again if I see something that I should apply to as I go into my email periodically, which is why I was working on the computer through 4 p.m. yesterday.

I mean, I am out of work, but why should I torture myself?

Next week, I will be busy as a bee. Not only do I have to tell New York State that yes, I am still out of work and to start sending my checks, but I have two job fairs to go to, two work-related classes to go to, and yes, the usual hubbub that goes into looking for a job, so I probably won't have as down time next week as I have today and probably tomorrow.

It looks like my only obligation on Friday is taking my son to his basketball league at night, so Friday appears to be sort of a repeat of Thursday, other than the fact that I will be taking my son to work and bringing him back on the last day of the work week.

So that is how I am spending my work "vacation."

Digitize, baby, digitize!