12/25/12 - 6:42 p.m.

I haven't kept track of the days or the time. A five-day break from work, and a holiday. Plus, Thursday -- my last day at work before the five-day vacation -- had been stressful. The commute home had also been stressful, and I got a little overwhelmed, and had trouble making contact with the stress.

So on Day One of the five-day vacation, I just decided to let go and stagger around and not anticipate the other four days or make any plans. I had a dentist's appointment, which was nice -- they were nice to me, and very sympathetic -- and then I wandered around the old neighborhood where I used to live (which was also nice). I bought fancy lip balm, and ate a healthy meal at a Chinese restaurant (in anticipation of all the "less healthy" holiday treats to come). But when I finally came home, I was still exhausted, and just flopped on the floor and surfed the web on my tablet.

Thing is, I pretty much did the same thing on Saturday morning, too. And by Saturday afternoon, it was time to start doing errands for the party that was coming up on Sunday. So, grocery shopping, listening to holiday music, marveling at the Christmas lights on all the houses. Day Two sprawled out into lots of holiday errands -- but I still felt luxuriously free.

But Sunday was dedicated to our party -- to preparing for it, and to having it. Little things -- doing dishes, picking up laundry, and (at one point) re-arranging an entire room. So, more chores for the to-do list, and then a lot of people to talk to. Which was good, and probably healthy -- but then, there went Day Three.

I was disappointed that we didn't get what we wanted when we went out for our shopping excursion on Day Four. And then we both got exhausted (me and my girlfriend) and came back home to flop around some more. The best part of the day -- maybe the best part of the whole five-day weekend -- was when my girlfriend and I talked on Monday night. She was a little blue, so was just talked -- talked about our lives, talked about the years gone by, just talk talked. We connected. I felt very cared for and understood and respected and connected.

I kind of regret that we decided to watch a whole movie on Monday night. Because we thought it'd be celebratory and entertaining, but it really just took up more than two hours of our night. And I also regret that we went to a Christmas party on Tuesday. Because it lasted five hours, we didn't know anybody, it was hard to get a conversation going, and the long party game really wasn't any fun. That's where Day Five went, and now the five-day weekend is gone. Maybe I need to light a candle in honor of the five glorious days of recreation.

Ironically, I learned absolutely nothing. Because there's a four-day weekend coming up after Friday. (I don't think any one is going to work in my office next Monday.) And yet I'm also not making any plans -- while also tucking things into the days as they need to be done. (I need to work out, I need to do more shopping, I need to update my blog, I need to finish that letter...) So while I'd like to have four whole days of free time for relaxing and just sprawling around, I don't think I'm going to get it next weekend -- any more than I got it this weekend.