Summer of Becca
[George reads a letter]
George: Severance package…The Yankees are giving me three months full pay for doing nothing.
Jerry: They did it for three years. What’s another few months?
George: I’m really going to do something with these three months.
Jerry: Like what?
George: I’m gonna read a book. From beginning to end. In that order.
Jerry: I’ve always wanted to do that…
George: I’m gonna play frolf.
Jerry: You mean golf?
George: Frolf, frisbee golf, Jerry. Golf with a frisbee. This is gonna be my time. Time to taste the fruits and let the juices drip down my chin. I proclaim this: The Summer of George!
Hey, it’s the first full day of Summer! And the longest day of the year. Which gives me even more time to do not much of anything. Are you one of those people who wish there were more hours in the day and you dream about what you might do with extra time if only you had some? So was I! Then it happened. I lost my student job and am only taking one class for the first third of the summer. So you can only imagine the novels I’m reading (and writing!), the museums I’m visiting, the leisurely walks in the park.
George: Hey, ‘The White Shadow’ is on…
Jerry: Boy, you’re really packing it all in.
George: Jerry, my vacation just started. I need a day or two to decompress. Besides, I did plenty today.
Jerry: Like what?
George: I bought a new recliner with a fridge built right into it.
But like George Costanza, my actual Summer of Me has mostly involved sitting around wearing clothes you would not be seen outside in and watching a lot of TV. I’ve traded in his block of cheese, though, for Internet surfing.
George: All right, that’s enough. I gotta go home and take a nap.
Jerry: It’s 10:30 in the morning.
George: I tell you, I’m wiped.
Jerry: So, has the Summer of George already started or are you still decomposing?
George: Decompressing.
This has sort of happened to me too. If you’ve been reading this blog a long time and have a good memory (both of you) then you know that in periods of non-9to5, my sleep schedule edges slowly towards the nocturnal, with me finally ending up going to sleep at 4am and waking up at 2pm. But, you know, I never had a chance to see how far it could really go. Because my one class happens to be online and so I don’t really have to ever get up in the daytime barring the odd doctor’s appointment. Lately, I have begun to go to sleep at 9am and sleep all day. At first I tried to adjust this but then thought, eh, what’s the point?
This week I do have a few daytime appointments, though, plus Wimbledon is on from about 7am, so I need to be up through the early part of the day. Oh, and in July I have actual, physical, in person classes which begin at noon, so I’ll need to be awake at some sort of decent hour (for me). But it is hard to get back on track. I’ve tried alcohol and supplements and drugs of the legal variety. But my body is stubborn. So today, NO George naps in the middle of the day. Because I have found that if you are sleepy and there is no risk of your boss coming in and saying, “is that report finished? Wait, are you sleeping?” then you just tend to drift off for as long as you want.
Now, I realize that I am incredibly lucky to have this time in my life (even if the Yankees aren’t paying for it) and that while I was, in fact, chained to a desk, I was jealous of people strolling down the street with no particular place to go. It’s a temporary respite from life and I am insanely thankful to have it. Eventually, I will have a 9 to 5 and it will probably even be 7-4 which will be torture. And, let’s be frank, I’d love an income even more than I love sitting on my ass watching the fan spin because I can’t afford to turn the air conditioner on. But for now, I’m going to get up whenever I want, watch a lot of tennis, and taste the fruits. The cheaper fruits.