One Week of Freedom

I came back to Honolulu knowing I would have a few days off before returning to classes, grading, and studying. I like school, don’t get me wrong, but it can be a lot of work sometimes too. And when it’s not a lot of work, I get stressed out too. I want to contribute to things, but not drive myself crazy. Oh Ryan, you’re so high maintenance.

So, I kicked back with Jake and Solomon on Friday or Saturday night, smoked a bit, and relaxed and we got to talking.

“Did you get your books yet?” I asked.

“Plenty of time yet,” Jake said.

“Classes start next week, though.”

“No way, man. We have one more week off!” he said with a smile.

Whoa! A whole week free. I felt bad about messing up the dates and coming home from Baltimore so soon, but it also felt great to know that I would have some R&R time. So far, I’ve truly taken that to heart. I’ve been playing games, smoking, going to bed early, gardening, and hiking. On Sunday, I hiked all the way up to Olympus by myself!

It looked like there would be a break in the vacation for a moment, though, because Slava spotted me in the hall and later messaged me to say we needed help on Timecube. Yet when I attended the lab meeting no one could find anything for me to do. ???

So confused. Sometimes I don’t know what to do with this group or if they really know what to do with me. Maybe I should talk to Browder about helping his team out? Hmmm…