Make a habit, break a habit, keep me occupied!

December 1, 2008 8:39 AM

I am about to leave on a 2-month trip for work, where I'll be working the 3-11PM shift, 7 days a week. Help keep me occupied!

Last time I did a trip this long, I only worked the evening shift for one week, and I was terribly homesick during that week because there was no one to hang out with when I was not working! On the plus side, it's a great time for making/breaking habits and learning new skills, because of the extreme routine and because I'm away from my usual distractions. Last time I was on extended travel, I established a near-daily gym habit, which was fantastic.

Things I have access to:
decent gym
lap pool
sand volleyball court (decent player)
tennis court (very beginning player)
rock gym (very good climber)
very out-of tune piano (good player)
personal laptop and high-speed internet

I plan to bring along Pimsleur's Japanese I, some art supplies, and a nice DSLR. My main worry is that without a plan and some goals, even with the stuff that's available to do, I'll just spend a lot of time moping (call me type A+). So, mefi, how should I fill ~8 hours per day, alone but not lonely? Solo vball/tennis drills? Meditation habit? Learn to juggle? Knit a sweater?

posted by lemonade to sports, hobbies, & recreation (8 comments total)

On the plus side, you have a significant portion of your day free. Do stuff in the area: hike, see the sites, go to museums, eat at neat restaurants, take advantage of having your day. I worked from Europe for a while once on the same schedule you'll be working, and loved it. Your dinner time may be your colleagues lunch time, so you can go out during that time as well sometimes. Where are you working from?

If I had my days free, I would think about taking up photography.
posted by xammerboy at 9:04 AM on December 1, 2008

Are you going to Japan? If so - there will be almost no shortage of interesting things to see... I think you may be in for the time of your life!
posted by xammerboy at 9:05 AM on December 1, 2008

I'm not sure where you are going - but my sociologist self says go out and establish as many weak connections as possible. This generally includes, but not limited to, people you can interact with on a casual level, but not necessary feel emotionally linked with. Store owners, waiters, venders, business people, bartenders, cops, security guards ... anyone likely to be fixture in the area that you can run into daily (ie become a regular).

I'm not real clear the situation though, so this might not be helpful.
posted by mrgreyisyelling at 9:09 AM on December 1, 2008

Oh, sorry, to clarify! Not going all that far, just to Arizona, but the nearest small town is 30 minutes away. Maybe I'm overestimating the annoyance of getting to town every day, I hadn't really considered that an option, but I do like the idea of trying out every single restaurant and becoming a temporary regular!
posted by lemonade at 9:27 AM on December 1, 2008

I would bring a camera, and map out a bunch of nearby places to hike. Type "Arizona" into Google maps and click on some of the Flickr photos available. Plan on doing a couple of these trips and you'll turn this experience into a once in a lifetime opportunity to see some natural marvels. Personally, I've never been to the Grand Canyon, but... I hear it's quite a view :-)
posted by xammerboy at 11:04 AM on December 1, 2008

You should post the town you will be in... You never know, some MeFites may have some insider knowledge about the place, no matter how remote.
posted by xammerboy at 11:05 AM on December 1, 2008

Learning to juggle isn't a bad idea, but I'd be very surprised if it takes you the full 2 months. Learn to unicycle instead; that takes longer.

Climbing- I don't know about Arizona's outside climbing, much less for the season you'll be there, but you could get a bouldering book or two and hit every place in it that's seasonably doable.

Is there a set of books/movies that you've always meant to read or see but never have? You could read every Hugo or Nebula award winner, for example, or see every Best Picture movie.

Or maybe you should just learn to tune pianos. Seems like it might be useful.
posted by nat at 12:02 PM on December 1, 2008

For the gym/climbing/pool, how about picking a distance/elevation of somewhere you love or somewhere you'd like to go, and tracking that? I've been planning on tracking my own swimming distances across the Irish Sea, by adding up my cumulative pool laps and plotting them on a map over several months, in part to ward off any future sense of pointless and to avoid my exercise being tied up with body image. It's a bit of an abstract achievement but it might be fun, too.
posted by carbide at 1:25 PM on December 1, 2008