I have rediscovered the joy of weekends. Rediscovered? Come to think of it, I don't remember when I last knew the joy of weekends. It was probably back in England, when I'd use my weekends to go Orienteering, camping, or help build and paint the sets for the Hospital panto that put me on the path which led me to here. After that, after moving to the States, weekends were taken up with jobs- washing dishes, making pizza, bussing tables. This kept on into University, working full time to pay for beer and rent. Then ships, where you don't get a weekend for months at a time, then have a whole month to do just about anything (without the cash to do it). I have to say that until recently I was a big fan of the whole month off at a time. I still think it's great, because it gives you enough time to go somewhere properly- two weeks in England, a week in Seattle, several skiing trips- but after having weekends missing for so long in my life I've just realised how great they are. They're not quite long enough for you to do everything you need to do, so you look forward to the next one. This builds a cycle of antici. . . .pation that, for me at least, actually helps me enjoy the week in between a bit more. It's wierd, I don't understand it, but each day is better because it's getting me closer to the next weekend, when I know I'm going to be pleasantly disappointed in not finishing everything I wanted to do, and this gives me something to look forward to for next weekend. I think right now my weekends are booked through until September or October. There's a dive in there somewhere at Catalina, and another boat trip on the Colorado. Movies with friends, drunken bowling, all you can eat sushi, and maybe putting brush to canvas again. Photos to be taken, words to be written, and that special part of the day when you've just woken up, don't have to start moving just yet, and you can lie in bed and just feel your soul fill your entire body, luxuriate in the feeling of being alive. Oh, so the reason I've discovered the joy of weekends is because of renting a boat with a couple of friends from work for the day and sailing up the Colorado River just south of the Hoover Dam. Just relaxing, sipping a beer (yes, I do know how to sip beer!), and enjoying the motion of the water under my feet again. And rescuing a lost Jetski that had floated away from a group upstream. Those things are bloody impossible to stand on when you're knackered from swimming against the current for five minutes. Anyway. rent a boat this weekend. Get out on the water, and take time out from life to actually be alive.