Sometimes I think that I work way too much. I’m sure I’m not alone; according to ABC News, “Americans work more than anyone in the industrialized world.” They also “take less vacation, work longer days, and retire later”. I believe it. People are often like “at least you have a job” and “at least you have a nice paycheck” and I’m all like, “yeahh. . .” Thats so old. I’m working 50-58 hours a week, often including a Saturday and that tallies up to a month of extra work over a year’s time – considering how rare it is to get an 8-hour day around here, I can assure that I’ve done that much. I need time to be active, to be (somewhat) social, to do stuff around the house, and to write, of course.

The wife and I were talking about this yesterday. The house ties us down. It keeps me enslaved to my employer. So why couldn’t we just sell the house one day and move into an RV? That sounds nice. We could tour the country and take our time finding a place to set down roots. Or, we could follow the farming season and I could be like those migrant farmhands that work in the south in the winter and the north in the summer. That would be alright. But that’s so far out of the ordinary – is it feasible? I thought a good way to do it would be to get our passports, sell everything, go to Nova Scotia, hop a boat to Scotland, and never come back. Worse things have been perpetrated by better people, I’m sure.

Americans Work More Than Anyone | ABC News

You know those times you’re in the middle of a conversation and you come up at a loss for words – maybe someone just threw a snarky dig at you or said something funny. Then you walk away before you think of the perfect response – you wish you could go back and say it. Or, you’re still conversing three subjects down the line, and now you can’t bring it up in context anymore.

I wish my memory worked better, because I know I’ve had some whoppers in my time – more than just “your mom”, “your face”, “that’s what she said”, or “bollocks!” Alas, due to the ravages of time on memory’s gossamer fabric, not to mention the way memory is formed in a narcoleptic brain, I can’t remember a single one, and I know I haven’t had one recently. I should probably write them down in my notebook, but you can’t go back and get the ones you forgot. I’m learning this as I go!

So what about you, does this happen to you often? Do you remember them, or is it silly to assume people remember them for fun?

This post was inspired by today’s Daily Post prompt.
Other bloggers said:

• Daily Prompt: Drawing a Blank | Flow of My Soul

The state of my year?
Not what I thought it would be –
Danger of drowning,
Washed out to sea.
Grasping my board,
What else can I do?
Keep riding until
The water becomes blue.

Image source: ASP @ G+ https://plus.google.com/photos/105899781254128778878/albums/posts/5883489988931905074?pid=5883489988931905074&oid=105899781254128778878

This post was inspired by today’s Daily Post prompt.

These bloggers say:

• Daily Prompt: State of Your Year | Flow of my Soul
• Daily Prompt – State of Your Year | Joe’s Musings

This is what happens when I get a day off:

Enjoy your weekend. 🙂

Well, last night Karisa and I figured out what we would like to do for our Summer trip next year. We are going to drive through Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Wyoming, and South Dakota on a loop that will take us through the Pacific Northwest. With any luck, I will have saved up two weeks’ worth of paid time off (PTO) and enough loot to pay for things like gas, food, and fun activities for ourselves and our one or more munchkins.

When I go a-travelin’, I like to see the sights – not just the landmarks, but the general environment. I like to go to the different specialized museums, shop in the different little stores, and eat the local foods (within reason). I actually like interacting with others outside of my familiar environment, too. We plan to see Glacier National Park and Lookout Pass; we’re going to shop at fruit stands in Walla Walla, Washington and in Seattle; we’re going to visit the, ocean and maybe I will even get to surf in Portland! If we can fit it in, it would be nice to see Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore as well.

What’s your favorite part of visiting new places? Do you have any sightseeing suggestions for our trip?

This post was inspired by today’s Daily Post prompt

What do other bloggers like about traveling?

• Stranger in a Strange Land: one of my all time, favorite novels | Khana’s Web
• Where Nobody Knows Me | Joseph Rathjen – Freelance Writing
• Getting to Know You | Life is Great