• This was my last work week of the month. I’m taking four weeks off for burnout reduction. I currently have a mixture of excitement, anxiety, and guilt around this. Excitement because this will be the first time I’ve had this much time off while keeping my health insurance in two decades. I’m anxious because I’m not sure if this will actually reduce my burn out in a noticeable way (though I’m hoping for the best). I feel quite a bit guilty as I know this isn’t an option that everyone has. Time will tell if I come back feeling renewed or if I need to come up with another approach to work.
• Nika has been essentially home-schooled for the past 1.5 years and this week was the first week she’s been back in the school building since the pandemic started. We’ve been really fortunate in that almost everyone in her class is masked, even though TSC has decided that masks are optional. sigh
• Liz and I have finally been watching The Good Place and I’m a huge fan. We’re currently halfway through season two.
• Speaking of huge fans, Ted Lasso continues to delight. I’m not aware of another show that is so reliably optimistic and good. Both shows have been helping hold off my growing cynicism.
• Nika is watching Loki for the first time and is enthralled. I’m enjoying seeing all of the little things I missed the last time we watched it. I cannot wait for season two.
• I’ve intentionally held off on any personal projects this week as a way of staving off burnout. Hopefully next week I’ll be able to approach my computer without my heart rate jumping.
• Nika’s wanted to play more video games and I’m running out of couch co-op games. She’s not yet to the point where we’d play versus so I may be on the lookout for more co-op games. This week we’ve been playing Overcooked and Cuphead (with varying levels of success).