Monday 1 August 2005

Pic of the day: Enjoy summer to the fullest? Picture from the anime Bottle Fairy, episode 5, where our heroine is crawling out from under a giant soccer ball. (Well, giant compared to her ... she is a bottle fairy after all.)

Still no vacation

The weekend is over, and I'm back to work. I don't take summer vacation. I don't think I ever have. I have taken some days of vacation for other reasons through the years, but often I just use them instead of sick days when there is no other reason to see a doctor than to get a sick leave. It's not like the doctors are just lazing around waiting for work, not here in Norway, and it's not like I have anything exciting to use my vacation for. Nor is work magically being done by bottle fairies while we are away.

Most people still have vacation in the summer, which makes sense since most people still have kids. In general it is a good thing that parents spend time with their kids. But I think sometimes it can be a bit much all at once when they almost don't see them the rest of the year. Also it is kinda disturbing that the parents are often drunk when they are not at work. It gives kids a kinda weird representation of their parents. Or perhaps that is the true representation, and the person they are when they are sober is not the person they want to be. Sometimes I wonder about people.

Why shouldn't I wonder about people? They are weird. They mewl about not having enough money, but when they have some weeks off they travel abroad spending heaps of money in the progress. I don't whine about money and I don't brag about how much I love this country but I stay here. It's the same with other things: They buy new cars, new furniture, bigger houses, then whine about not having enough money. Dude, if you used less you would have more. Likewise, they drive out of state to buy slightly cheaper diapers, then they dine out and spend as much on a bottle of wine as they saved on all that week's super rebates.

But the nice thing is that as long as we have freedom, they can do what they think will make them happy, and I can do what I think will make me happy. Right now, I'm enjoying summer to the fullest behind drawn curtains, playing Civilization III. Because that's just the kind of guy I am. ^^