January 3rd, 2008
The lazy olympiad
Unexpected days off are one of the best things ever created.
You don’t know when they’ll turn up – perhaps it’ll snow, maybe there will be a strike – but when they do it’s the closest thing to making me believe in a benevolent creator.
But then there’s the sinister to yang to the unexpected day off yin – the unexpected day on. It might arrive as an urgent phone call or maybe you misread your calendar, either way you won’t be able to get out of it and will probably spend the rest of your day mourning the loss of some time well mis-spent.
Philip J Schadenfreude on 
I love misreading my calender, I’m actually happy for that little bit then later I suffer
Sometimes it’s worth it x]
I’m not even supposed to be here today!
Then where are you supposed to be, Joe?
I looked for you in San Francisco. I looked for you in Paris.
I looked for you in Miami. If you weren’t there, you must
have been someplace else. But, if you were somepleace
else, you couldn’t have been here…
Well he sneaks around the world from Kiev to Carolina,
He’s a blogger comic artist from Berlin down to Belize,
He’ll take you for a ride on a slow boat to China,
Tell me where in the world is The Great Joe Bivins?
So true. Almost as bad are the days you simply dread. For example, I’m flying back to Russia (which I like) on Saturday and I have no internet connection at home there (which I hate).
Keep the good stuff comin’.
I need a day off, period.
I forget what they feel like.
I had the worst ying/yang experience with this.
I had this new gf, and I just wanted to laze the day away in bed with her, so I called a sicky and said that I had sore eyes (I wear contacts, so it is a reasonable excuse).
The next day, I went to put my contacts in, and I was in the most pain I have ever been in.
Turns out I had some scratches on my eyes, over the pupil and the contacts had ripped the scabs/healing tissue off the scratches.
This took a full three weeks to heal, during which I got conjunctivitus and almost went properly blind.
I love irony
i say, that must be the most ironic thing i’ve ever heard in my whole life.
I’ll second that.
Ben, why do all of your humorous anecdotes involve really unpleasant sounding injuries to yourself? I bet you could compile them into a book, and people would buy it: The Ways I’ve Hurt Myself by Ben Fromaustralia.
Roo, I think my secret lies in that I enjoy black humor, even it involves me. I also enjoy activities that involve an element of risk, so I oft partake in such activities.
I appreciate the irony that often ensues from these occurences.
Feel free to compile a book about me and my mishaps. Tho I am trying to not make any new entries for you.
Try all you like… I bet they happen anyways. Mwah ha ha ha ha!
Thanks. Thank you, your well wishes are sweet and touching.
Take a midol.
A period day off isn’t fun.
I totally agree. Just saying ’screw the world’ for a day spontaneously is an amazing feeling.
Ben: that’s an amazing story… sadly that seems to be how things turn out. Usually when I take a “sick” day, I end up actually sick the next week and unable to take off.
As a teacher you don’t get any unexpected extra days of work. You don’t get many unexpected days off work either. At least not down here. It snowed once at school. The kids ran outside for a bit and got muddy.
Actually… I think I’ve only had two days off in my seven year career… both funerals.
If you enjoy your work though, it doesn’t really matter, eh?
Cheers.
I’ve gotten a few snow days off here in Korea. Usually if we get anything more than five millimeters of snow, the entire city is forced to shut down for two days. I sometimes get surprise days off work from not paying attention to the calendar and coming in on a national holiday.
It’s the main holiday in Golfwidowism: Cavort Day. If anyone asks me to do anything I don’t want to, I say it’s against my religion.
Also, I eat cupcakes. Preferably for breakfast.
mmmmm, send me the monthly news letter, I am interested in joining.
Are there any initiation ceremonies that I need to go thru?????
Is it like a cult, are there blood sacrifices of virgins, goats, virgin goats?
Unfortunately, Golfwidowism is a religion of one. It’s not that I don’t have room for you in my church (aka the Universe), just that I don’t have enough power hunger to want to lead anyone.
However, if you are the sort of person who takes what he wants from organized religion, adds his own sense of morality, and discards the rest, you are a Bennist and that’s just as good. Go you.