On leave!
I've been feeling a little burned out at work lately. About a year ago, as my fifth anniversary on the job impended, I decided it was time to take some time off, just some downtime to recharge and relax and refocus.
But then a particularly interesting project presented itself, and it turned out I couldn't afford to take unpaid leave while paying two mortgages (even when one was partially offset by rent). So I put the plans on hold 'til I could sell the condo.
But now the condo is sold. I didn't complete the project at work, but it was time to set it aside, at least for now.
Spent most of today doing assorted administrative stuff to tidy things up before I left. Also finished up my involvement on another (much smaller) project.
Took some time out in the evening to write for SWAPA and have dinner, and did a little poking around on the Net, which I've been mostly avoiding doing this week so I could focus on work.
Then got back on my work computer and finished my to-do list for work stuff (of course, a lot of items just got postponed 'til my return), and I am now officially on leave!
I have two months. I'll be in NY for Susan's wedding, then in Melbourne for WorldCon; a couple days in Sydney; then about five blissful weeks at home with nothing much to do. (Except read, and watch movies, and play DDR, and furnish my house, and maybe write, and do magazine stuff, and look into sailing lessons and hang gliding, and try to see Wicked before it closes in the Bay Area, and probably a multitude of other tasks that will come up. It's not like I won't actually have enough to do.) I'll probably try to take a brief trip to LA and another to Seattle, to see family and friends in both places, but I'm going to try really hard to avoid spending my whole leave time traveling.
But I am hoping to spend roughly the second half of October in Boston, visiting friends there.
And then it's back to work at the start of November.
More immediately, I think Kam and I are gonna try to get to the Exploratorium this weekend, to see the Geometry Playground exhibit, which I think a friend of ours put together.
And more immediately than that, I need to decide whether to watch a little TV or just go to sleep. (I'm tempted to start trying to get onto Melbourne time, except that that would really mess me up when I go to NY next week.)
