What Constitutes ‘Work’

Dearest Rachel –

I’m not sure when he started doing this – I want to say it was while I was abroad, which would explain my uncertainty as to the specific timing – but it was within the past year that Logan switched up his work schedule. Originally, when he first moved in, he used to actually go into an office and put in a nine-to-five shift there, but he switched to teleworking at some point along the way. And while for a time, he worked those same nine-to-five hours from his room, at some point, he decided (and presumably got approval from his superiors) to change it to a seven-to-five shift for four days, giving him a three-day weekend. Not a bad deal, if you can hack it (and with no commute, it’s easier than ever to do; would that this was available when I was in the work farce! Then again, I still don’t think I’d have it in me to work as diligently from home as at the office, with the distractions of home life surrounding me – which is part of why I still go across town to ‘work’).

In any event, this meant that I would often run into him in the mornings, usually once returning from the gym, when he would be on his first break of the day preparing breakfast for himself (they have breaks? And they’re how long?) It meant that the house wasn’t quite so deathly silent in the morning, thereby forcing me to be alone with my thoughts. Not that we said much to each other, necessarily, but there was (and is) a companionable silence between us; there’s just something comfortable about the place not being completely empty first (or second) thing in the morning.

But today is Friday, and that three-day weekend has begun. He and Daniel stayed up late watching… whatever anime they’re into these days – I don’t begrudge it, but I’m not going to insert myself into their time together – and as a result, when I wake up, the place is (and needs to stay, for their sakes) quiet.

You might point out that, if I’m heading out to the gym, that’s only reasonable; he shouldn’t be up until I get back, in any event. Yes… well… the thing is, I’m getting up later and later as the days pass. I’d blame the sun for putting me off any motivation, but that would be silly. I will say that, between the cold and the dark, it doesn’t do much for motivation – and as you know, I’ve been having difficulty with that for some time. In any event, I’m just getting up at about the time that Logan would otherwise be at the very least awake and preparing for the work day to start – except that, being Friday, he isn’t.

And for some reason, that throws me off, in turn.

***

Even if I kept to my schedule, and put in the hour-plus that I feel I need, there’s a cascade effect on my schedule when I’m starting at six-thirty or so instead of, say, five a.m. Once I get home, shower, get dressed and head off to ‘work,’ it’s often after ten, and too often close to eleven. Now, it’s not as if I report to anyone (and on Fridays, even less so, since the church office is closed – this is the staff’s weekend, since Sunday certainly can’t be part of it), but I would like to start my ‘work’ day at around nine or so, and I’m not remotely close to that. Back in the day, I would be at the office before eight, and usually closer to seven-thirty – what’s happened to me, honey? I don’t like that this ethic seems to have slackened off.

Now, you would probably say that I’m redirecting that ethic into other forms of work – and in a very literal, Newtonian sense, that may well be. In fact, as far as being credited with ‘putting in the time,’ more people can confirm that I’m doing as much at the gym than at the ‘office.’ Still, I’m so conditioned by what I consider to be work – which basically sees me in front of a computer, crunching numbers and writing… stuff – such that anything else feels like extraneous, recreational activity. Never mind that all of what I do basically falls under that category these days, as none of it is part of a paying job; ‘work,’ to me, involves either a computer or numbers, and usually both – and it has to be away from the house. Anything else, or anything at home, and I’m just slacking around.

So I need to get started today, but, not feeling like working out – yet – I’ve decided to head off to ‘work.’ If nothing else, I’ve made something of a habit of leaving the ‘office’ early; maybe I can hit the gym on my way home, and get my reps in then. It would certainly be nicer than hanging out in the basement during most of the few hours of daylight we get here, and I could still get everything done in a given day, if not in the order that I might be used to. As long as it gets done, what does the order matter? I’ll still get cleaned up in sufficient time for us guys to get together with the girls (well, the ones that can make it) tonight; all that has to be done at this point is to decide where to meet and what to do.

And with that in mind, honey, please keep an eye on us, and wish us luck. We’re probably going to need it.