The very good point has been raised that “Unless you’re getting laid, Tommy, you have no excuse for not blogging.”
So I guess it’s time for me to start again.
Blogging, that is.
The excuse I’m going to give for not having blogged for several weeks now is the intense hospital rotation I’ve had on the South Side of Chicago. That means the Metra, the CTA, commuting for 2 hours every morning to get to the place before rounds start at 7. And I’ve realized commuting is the worst thing ever. I lose 4 hours of my day, 20 hours of my week, 15% of my month. Is anything worth that? It’s bad for productivity because I can’t do certain things on the train. It’s bad for my body that I’m stuck stationary for four hours a day. I’m pretty sure it’s bad for my soul because it makes it harder to be nice to people.
I just have this vision in my head of me a few years from now, standing on the train platform in business casual with a newspaper under my arm and one of those half-juice/half-energy drink monstrosities from the Coca-Cola company in my hand. I’ll drop my paper and drink, clutch my head and scream, “Oh, god, who am I?” And I’ll tear off my tie and throw it down on top of the paper and drink on the train platform and run into the nearest library and read Harry Potter all day.
I’ve decided I never want to live more than a 30 45 minute commute from where I work. Hopefully I can find work that’s not in the middle of nowhere so I don’t have to live in the middle of nowhere.
Two hours does sound pretty long. I’ve found that the method of commute matters too, though: given the choice, I’ll take an hour-long [mostly] Metra ride over a 45-minute car ride where I can’t do anything productive. I just have projects I can work on while on the train, and do that.