A boring time of year

 I have really enjoyed being back at work. I can replenish the funds that have declined over the course of the last two years (thanks COVID, but also thanks grad school), and I'm glad that I am making money from something I actually enjoy. 

But when I get home, I have to spend an hour and a half working on my portfolio. Which means that my weekdays are pretty uninteresting.

When I worked downtown before, I enjoyed eating lunch in City Creek at restaurants with seasonal items. But I'm not comfortable eating in restaurants right now, though I have been buying Valentine's candy from City Creek stores. I feel fairly safe going there since it's mostly outside. I also feel safe at work because a lot of people have been working from home, so there's not a lot of people there, and it's easy to social distance. (No one has yet given me the green light to work remotely.)

Reggie the cat is slowly warming up to us. When I go to his hiding spots, he will often come out to be petted. He purrs and rubs against us, so he clearly likes being petted. Occasionally I will lie on the floor and pick him up and put him on my chest, and he will stay with me for a bit, purring and kneading. But he doesn't yet volunteer to spend time with us like Jimmy did. If I want to be with him, I have to set aside the time to do so.

Sometimes I can't believe that this gorgeous cat belongs to me!

It's the Valentine's Day season, and though I'm not anti-Valentine's, it's my least favorite of my nine canonized holidays. It's just not that interesting. I have fewer songs for Valentine's Day than for any other holiday. And since it's still January, not all the local bakeries and such have their seasonal flavors out. I have been watching Valentine shows as part of my New Year's resolution (a COVID-safe way to observe the holidays), but it might become more difficult to find things to watch. Not sure what my point was in this paragraph, except to say it's a boring time of year. 

However, even though I'm busy every day, I am happy to say that my days off once again feel like actual days off. I spend an hour and a half working on my portfolio on Saturdays (and MLK Day), but I feel like that's enough. I don't have other projects looming over me all the time (though I probably will at the end of the semester, but hopefully my portfolio will be close to finished by then). So I actually get some free time. Of course I go running, in large part to remain in shape for trail season. But it feels so foreign to me to be able to do anything I want. But of course it shouldn't feel foreign, since I had days off last summer. But it just feels different.

Yeah. I don't really have anything interesting to say this week. But I have never missed a Sunday yet, and I don't want to start now.