In my office hangs a sign that asks, How can there be such a difference between a day off and an off day?

I'm sure that posting hasn't scored any points for me with the leadership team (that's what the vps call themselves--the boneheads), but like I care. They know that I am not one of them. It's pretty clear that they look at me as if I were a wild bird trapped in the boardroom flapping madly about the ceiling--they look at each other dumbly and say, how did that get in here?

Yesterday, I stayed home. I had slept about 2 hours the night before and I'm not sure if it was going out for drinks and dinner with my friend Ally and it was all the wine and conversation that kept me up. Or, maybe the waitress had given me real coffee instead of decaf at 10 o'clock at night (though, that's never kept me up before). No, I know it's nothing environmental. I'm just stressed out. Big time.

So, I took the day. And, the moment I made the decision I wasn't going in, the day stretched out before me like a shiny, pink path of ribbon candy. I took the dogs for a gorgeous walk-- (I AM going to get some photos going to post here since T is now home and the digital camera is back in the house). Came home. Had a coffee. Took a nap. Worked on the book. Walked the dogs again. Took another nap. T came home. Had dinner. Watched Kathy Griffin's stand-up on Bravo (I LOVE stand-up comedy), but was pretty disappointed. She called herself the D-list and I have to say, though I like her, the show was only mildly amusing.

But. What a rejevenating day! Ahh. I do feel better. I was totally stretched out and getting into the fragile place where I think I'm going to collapse. So I am so glad I know enough not to push through that. At work I am in serious crunch mode with heavy pressures and deadlines on me. At home, I also have this book to finish asap. I don't worry about the book, but work takes so much energy from me, it feels like I'm getting the book done in little piddles. Sigh.

Anyway, off I go. At least tonight I have the pleasure of flicking on the BBC tonight and watching The Office. If you haven't caught this yet, it's so good I added those channels to our cable bill just so I could watch this show once a week. That's crazy--I never spend money on tv-- but this show is some good crack. Of course, I can just imagine some idiots out in L.A right now trying to come out with an American ripped-off version that will suck and not capture anything of this original. They always do that. So off to the mines for me--but I'll be coming home with dirt in my pockets (a la Shawshank Redemption)-- I've started my tunnel to freedom and I'm digging every day.

got 2 cents?