I put my life on hold the past few weeks for a freelance project, but am now more or less back to normal, the project hanging on at 99% complete. I now have a new appreciation for sloth, for relaxation, for spending more time than I planned at the gym, for being done with my daily responsibilities by the time Letterman comes on. Just like it’s good to plan extra expenses into your budget, I think it’s good to plan extra time into your life.

With payment for the work about to come in, I’ve been feeling particularly wealthy. I reveled in it last night, making a post-gym dinner of organic mesclun salad, tofu, pecans, & olives, with farfalle, pesto, and artichoke hearts. If that’s not living it up, I don’t know what is… :-)

I took a day off from my work to play in a volleyball tournament with Jeanhee two Sundays ago. It was one of the rare dry weekend days we’ve had this spring. Very, very frustrating to have gorgeous volleyball days mid-week and then have rain come on tournament days. This particular Sunday was dry and chilly, though, and it was the JSVBA‘s first tournament of the season. Our off-season practice paid off, and we kicked ass, going undefeated in our pool and taking first place after a playoffs where we had to come back from a one-game deficit in the semis. Matt and Zak won Men’s A the same day, and came over during that tough semifinal match to give us some cheering. It was perfect timing.

In sibling news, Jessica graduated from Wesleyan, overcoming an apparent genetic predisposition towards dropping out of higher education. I’m very proud of her. Monica turned 13. Daniele’s soccer team made the playoffs. Willie and Isabella undoubtedly have recent accomplishments as well, but I’ll need their help listing them…

I’ve been listening to Original Pirate Material, an album by The Streets. I’m a little late to the party, I think, but I like it a lot. Heard some tracks on Village Voice Radio at 1 AM one night, bought the album off the Apple Music Store the next morning and was listening on my iPod as I walked to work that morning. This is how digital music should work.

I’m not religious, so I’ll have to depend on luck to bring decent weather our way this weekend. But if you pray, help me out and ask for some sunshine!