Fried on Friday Night

I don’t know what it is – age, overwork, lack of imagination - but Friday nights are not as productive for me these days as they used to be. In the past I looked forward to Friday nights with great eagerness because I could cast off my work worries and everything else for that matter and just relax. I would spend a lot of time playing on my computer – writing, tiding up my blogs, visiting my favorite online reads, and generally just having fun. It was so relaxing. I could stay up until all hours goofing off in this manner. Of course, if my kids were around I would hang out with them (but at 17 and 20 you don’t usually see them sitting around the house with me on a Friday night much these days). I don’t take it personally. Usually, I am totally happy for some “me time”.

However, Friday nights have changed for me lately. I am still just as happy as always to see Friday evenings arrive but I can’t seem to squeeze as much out of those lovely Friday evenings nowadays. Last night for instance, I wanted to write a post or two, consider some new sidebar elements for my blogs, and catch up with every one of my online reads. Instead, I sat dazed and exhausted with not a drop of creative energy left in me or even the brain power to leave a comment in response to someone else’s efforts. I had my freedom from the workday demands – my Friday night – but my Friday night had lost its luster. The power of total exhaustion had claimed my evening.

By 9 PM I had turned the laptop off and found my way onto our nice soft sofa in the living room where I settled in to watch Court TV forensic shows and a special on women in prison somewhere in Tennessee. It’s serious entertainment… as they say on Court TV. It's also highly addictive to those settled on the sofa and a hard week of work just behind them. Besides, the new seasons of Monk and Psyched haven't started yet.

If this were a 3x5 index card I would write down my recipe for relaxation when in a state of exhaustion for you. It would boil down to this:

• One soft sofa
• The remote control all to myself
• Other household members otherwise engaged
• A blend of Court TV, the Food Network, and the Shopping channels
• A glass of wine
• Leftover Chinese food
• And after the TV is switched off – one good book to read in bed.

It’s not how I expected to spend my Friday night but it will do.

Comments

[boxx]

Friday nights DEFINITELY have a new theme to them then when I was 20, 30 or even 40! SHEESH! At 50 I'm just happy to see another Friday. hehehehehe

[Margaret]

I know exactly what you mean. It's hard to remember that I used to go out on Friday nights all the time when I was younger. It's incomprehensible to me now.

[Cosmic]

My Friday nights were spent dancing in my 30's. In my 40's they were spent on the computer playing games til 3:00am. Now at 53, Hubby will go to bed around 9:00 and ask if I am partying. If I say yes, it means one drink (maybe 2), playing pogo, and not going to bed until midnight. Woohoo! I am a wild woman! The good news is that in my 30's and 40's I would waste my weekend by sleeping in unti 10. Now I am wide awae by 7:00 and don't miss a bit of it. So there IS an upside.