tangobaby: Casablanca

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Free Fridays

Tomorrow is my first Free Friday. I had to make up a name for it, and Free Friday sounds a lot better than "Pay Cut Friday" or "Be Glad You Have a Job Four Days a Week Friday."

(Due to my unavoidable penchant/habit of free association, in my mind the words Free Friday cannot help but take a tiny detour and become Free French and then I also have to hum "La Marseillaise.")

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Of course, I'm not comparing my new day off to the brave French Resistance and I'm not even trying to make any sort of political or military observations here. But I am thinking about what I might do with some of these Free Fridays to make a valuable impact on my life and perhaps the lives of others.

There's something symbolic in not being at work on a traditional workday, to me at least. I'm sure I'll get over it in time, as I get used to the idea or as my economic circumstances change. However, I'm not one to let something go by without making a symbolic statement to myself, for the time being.

Take the word free, for example. At the moment I am looking at it as 1. free to do as I please, 2. free from the ordinary, and also 3. freedom to not spend money. And then I wonder, why is it taking this mental exercise when I can have this any day I wish, if it's important to me? I guess I go with the flow more than I'd like to.

I am making a list of things I can do that are free, but that will also be rewarding and interesting. Of course the standbys are photography and writing. But what about volunteering? Mentoring? An apprenticeship? Exploration? More time for friends and family? I'm even trying to envision a free tango scenario, like the dances in the park we used to have.

Not a lot of specifics yet, but I'll narrow the field soon. In the meantime, I'll just keep singing to myself.