Unlurking, Rd II: Hitting reset

[Vanilla]

Quick vent:

I used to love the weekends. Look forward to the respite and chance to reboot from work. I now hate the weekends and use work to get a pma so I can not react to any negativity I encounter from my w.

But really, the weekends are lonely. I run errands, fix broken things mainly by myself. And I spend some time with the kids and maybe some time with my w in the room.

But I miss having a connection, sharing myself with someone who shared back to me. Instead, my wife goes to bed and I fumble around on guitar while I watch bad tv. Bleh, I want more.

I'll try to steel myself to lay beside my wife in bed in a little bit. Might take a side trip into a pint of ice cream first, though....

Self pity session over. Time to remind myself of what I am thankful for. My health. My loving, adorabletc, children. The sun warming my face. A job I love with a boss that respects me. A roof over my head. Two cars without problems. The ability to think for myself. Skills that make me independent. Friends across the country that will support me in my hour of darkness. For the strength to persevere, no strive, when others fail or give up. For the mental toughness to not lose my cool when provoked. For a friendly nature that let's me talk to strangers. For ex-bosses that care about me, that want me to succeed.

OK I'm crying now but feeling much better. Night all, and I'm going to make a point of rereading that list when I wake up

Time to GAL. Good honest adult related GAL, a sport, a hobby, an interest outside of everything else. A band for you guitar, or lessons given or taken, church choir group?

Something that occupies you for part of the weekend.

V

[gonegrl]

Vanilla, where can I get some crocodiles? I need to stock my pit before next weekend.
You make me laugh.

Try the new York sewer, that's where MIL does research?

V

Vanilla, you have no idea how much I wish I could really tell you, your jokes are so right on target and I can only tell you 10% of what is really going on.

I am grateful for YOU. Who needs crocodiles when they have a friend like V?

[SciDad]

Pho, sorry for not posting yesterday.

In some ways it's good - W didn't escape the house to spend time with OM and I didn't have enough privacy. I'm not going to read to much into it, though. She could (and probably is) still texting him and for all I know he was out of town. Or maybe he got scared when he saw me working out :p

And Pho, the weather was very similar to yours. Without divulging too much I'm pretty close to your old stomping grounds in NJ. Just a bit closer to the 95 corridor. The warmer weather certainly helped lighten my mood and inspired me to get my boys to help put some Christmas decorations outside.

[SciDad]

V,

Yes, as Christmas/holidays approach I have neglected my GAL activities and it is hurting me emotionally. I was starting to go to the gym again, but seeing the OM there kinda made that less interesting. I'll still go, but it will be with a warrior's perspective rather than a stress relief. Also looking into another gym so I don't have to worry about seeing him.

As for guitar, I'm a complete novice. I know about 6 chords and struggle to string them together coherently to make a song. So I think lessons would be the way to go

[SciDad]

I have a raging debate going on in my head right now about what kind of GAL activity I want/need in the new year. Money/time is short so I'm assuming I can really only do one of these activities

Basically, I'm torn between either a job-related certificate (that may or may not help me get a more permanent position, costs $400) or guitar lessons (not sure how much - $50 online, more for private) to help kick-start my new hobby.

I'm leaning toward guitar, because 1) it sounds fun, 2) it might be fun, and 3) it sounds fun. OK, couldn't resist, but let me try that again....

1) I don't really have the $$ for the certificate
2) It's not totally clear it will help my job search
3) I need some fun. Fun would be nice.

What do you guys/gals think? Am I being to juvenile to not care about the job thing? I'm sorry I can't go into to many specifics, but I don't want to give too much info out.

[beckyb]

Guitar for sure. Certificate is work not GAL, even though it might be necessary at some point. Have some fun!

[gonegrl]

Guitar! I am taking an online certification course and I will tell you its so boring its almost worse than pining away over H.

[Vanilla]

Anything can be GAL and fun.

Question is can you do both?

Is there a guitar teacher with a basement to renovate?

V

[gonegrl]

SciDad, I want to learn guitar too. To go along with my singing lessons. Actually to drown out my singing. If I find a good free (or cheap) online guitar course I will let you know. Right now my latest coping mechanism is to sing along to Pandora radio while drinking wine when H walks in the door. They have a station called "breakup songs" that is satisfying.

[SciDad]

Looks like the answer is guitar


Pho, I came across a Groupon for $10 for a treat of online guitar lessons. Seems too good to be true, but I'll look into it. I've also used YouTube videos and have a particular teacher I like (I'm nit posing his name so it doesn't seem like an advertisement)

I sing in the car, either to the radio or to cdo "mixtapes" I've made. Very satisfying and it had the added benefit of being relatively easy to drown out my amature crooning with increased volume.

V, thank you for looking at cherry's thread.