Passing Time

I have recently been asked what I do with all my spare time. I only work part-time and am free of even part-time study. O the joy of never having to meet assignment due dates! I can understand them wondering. It can be difficult to give a quick and convenient answer to this. Now if it was a matter of accounting for my evenings that that is simplicity itself:

Sundays - Spent at home relaxing and preparing for work days (except for those few occasions in which friends decide on impromptu gatherings to play games or whatever and they convince me it is worth giving into temptation).

Mondays - Also spent at home and relaxing (sometimes getting takeaway food with housemates).

Tuesdays - Monash Uni Choral Society (MonUCS) rehearsals (sometimes followed by chatting at a pub). Tiring but fun.

Wednesdays - One night a month it is a meeting of the South Eastern Science Fiction Club (SESFC). Other nights it may be swimming or another night at home.

Thursdays - This is the crazy night of the week. Once a month it is a meeting of the Australian Democrats Bruce-Chisholm Branch. Once a month it is a meeting of Nuclear Free Australia (NFA). And any spare night I have the opportunity to pop into a lovely weekly craft night for some sketching and chatting.

Fridays - I deliberately keep this free because it is frequently a night in which someone wants to do something fun whether a dinner or video night or whatever.

Saturdays - I also keep this free because it tends to be party night and there is usually something on and sometimes even clashes.

But this is all one big digression because nobody much cares what one does at night. But during non-working days how does one spend time? If only I were sitting at home in my PJs watching Jerry Springer - everyone understands this as a time-honoured way of spending the day. But I barely see TV at all. There are plenty of other ways to kill time.

To start with I sleep more on free days. Then I refuse to use public transport within my own suburb so walking to and from local things takes a bit extra time. Then I use PT to get to things further away so that takes yet more time. I will semi-weekly shopping. Possibly some window shopping. Possibly run some errands using banks or post offices (I know the Internet saves time but if I am at the local shops anyway then I may as well do it in person). Checking the Internet at a local library. Taking a walk in local parkland. Visiting student friends in a cafe on Campus. Visiting one or the other parent. Seeing a movie (which can still be fun alone).

At home there might be chores. There is recreational writing or reading. And finally I am constructing a working orbital satellite from used iced coffee bottles (okay that last one is a boldfaced lie).

So yes I do have a lot of spare time. In the past I filled it with things like study or political voluntary work. Now however I have pared back on all that almost as if I am preparing for something to replace it but as yet lack any plan for what that is. I do think I can do more with my spare time and that includes ways of converting it into something that is recognized by others as useful rather than spare time. This I will do in my own way and in my own... um... time.

Update - I have written an updated version of this entry here. Some stuff has changed...