It was somewhere around 4pm yesterday that I remembered the photo I had snapped the day before.
If you’ve ever been aboard Metro’s red line between Gallery Place and Metro Center, you’ve noticed that the inner walls of the tunnels feature fragmented, flip-book-like advertisements. There’s a series of still-shot posters that appear as moving images when you pass them at high speeds.
The picture above is what happens when your speed comes to a halt. We were just sitting in the tunnel, frozen, mid-commute, waiting for something magical to happen.
It was kind of like a scene from The Incredibles. Mr. Incredible, Bob, returns home one day. The day before, he had done so and his frustration from work got the best of him, led to him dead-lifting his car above his head and shocking a little boy on a tricycle who just happened to be pedaling past the Incredibles’ driveway. Bob’s super-identity was supposed to be a secret. He wasn’t wearing his super-suit. He was wearing his work clothes: a short-sleeved button-down and slacks. Overwhelmed, he broke character.
When he returns home the next day, though, he’s too distraught to exert. And so this exchange happens:
On Wednesday, I was doing the same thing from my office at work: waiting on something amazing. I realized the concept of the workday was quickly redefining itself as just “the day.” I realized I was going to have to break an after-work promise to three very cool people¹ because, well, there wasn’t going to be an after-work phase of the day.
As the clock ticked forward, pages of the calendar flipped backward. I struggle with telling people “no” or “I can’t” when I’m the only one who’d be inconvenienced. So changing the plans of others leads to a huge sense of disappointment for me. But once I hit send on an email I didn’t want to send and canceled dinner, what was really bothering me was just how accustomed I’d become to being overpowered by the day.
I haven’t been on a vacation in almost ever, it seems. I’m sitting there, trying to think of when during my adult life I’ve had a week somewhere and I’m drawing a blank. I’ve just never let it happen. Or maybe it’s that I’ve never wanted it badly enough. I was the high school kid putting in 96-hour weeks as of age 13. College didn’t change that. Law school exploited that. Work embraces that.
I’ve had a small handful of scattered three or four-day getaways. But I haven’t packed to disappear for at least 7 days since before the new millennium. Today, I’m declaring this era is officially over. I’m on the verge of burnout and aside from all that means in real life, it also makes for boring posts.
So, to come full circle, we all know what my happy place is: it starts with a “Dis” and ends with a “ney.” So, I registered for “the most magical birthday present of all:” free admission to Disneyland on my birthday.
I’ve been coaxed by Miss Bianca to do this for months now. But can I really take a week in early November? What if this; what if that? Well, I’m punching “this” in the throat and telling “that” to simmer down because I’m going. And I’m not going with the safer, closer-to-home pick of Disney World, a place I’ve been a bunch of times, but Disneyland, out in California which just so happens to be near my best friend I’ve seen way too infrequently over the last decade.
In addition to not taking “no” for an answer, I’m not letting Disney’s corporate peoples stop my shine. I noted this small print on the bottom of the page:
That last line reads: “Disney does not condone the release of balloons into the environment.” Well, Disney and environment, I love you both dearly, but I will be flatly ignoring your concerns. I will let loose a fleet of balloons unlike any one person should be able to acquire. And I will do it while wearing Mickey ears.
_____
¹You know who you are. I owe you.
Sounds well deserved, but make sure to kick Goofy in the nuts for me. Thanks!
I will do no such thing. Unless he “yuck, yucks” at me. Then maybe.
Have fun! The work will still be here when you get back but your head will be in a much better place. I recommend vacationing early and vacationing often. It’s good for the soul.
Agreed. Disney won’t be the first trip of the year, but definitely the most anticipated.
I’m glad you’re finally on board with this plan, cause we need to make it happen. I think the magic of Disney will make everything right in your world.
“Up where they walk, up where they run, up where they play all day in the sun…”
Actually, I guess it’s more of a lateral move for me; but you get the point.
This will be very awesome. Perhaps you could make it a world Disney tour?
That, is an even better idea.
Have fun! I love Disneyland! Plus, in my opinion, California > Florida, just in general.
Oh! And I expect to see a picture of you in the Mickey ears. (Please.)
A picture of me? But I look so goofy in pictures. Goofy. Get i- I’m awful.
Good for you. I’m at that point myself too. Though by no means have it been as long as you since I took a long vacation but after the way the last 10 months have been, it felt like years.
I’m thinking going to the UK in June. I rather not go alone, but I might. I haven’t been to Europe in 3 years. I want an adventure. I need an adventure. I want to be inspired by the adventure.
I’ve just been letting time slip away. I need some adventure, too. Disneyland isn’t really at all adventure. But hopefully I will have already found the adventure by November and Disneyland can just be some childish release.
We all need vacations- make sure you take some time for yourself!
I am horrible at doing that. Horrible. Must, learn, how.
Good on you! If you puke on a ride will you please blog about it? Could you also give that dolled up princess chick a wedgie for me?
There’s always TMI Thursday. And I’ll admit: not a big fan of Cinderella at the park. It seems a little uppity, having that castle all to her self in the middle of Magic Kingdom.
You should start a Disney balloon fund. I’d contribute.
I’m exactly the same way about vacations. I’ve never been on a real one as an adult and only once as a kid. They’ve always been getaways for a few days here and there. In a little over three weeks The Mister and I are going to Jamaica to an all inclusive place and I’m pretty much at the point where if I don’t get a real vacation like that I’m going to keel over and die. Slowly, but die nonetheless.
Balloon fund? Yes. We’ll show them.
I was the high school kid putting in 96-hour weeks as of age 13. College didn’t change that. Law school exploited that. Work embraces that.
This really got to me. No one should have to work so hard.
As a person who is constantly stuck in wanderlust mode, I can’t imagine not taking a vacation. It sounds like you really deserve one. I hope it’s everything you wanted and more. By the way, when were you born? I’m a November baby too!
High school, especially, was crazy. 12 hours at school Monday through Thursday. Traveling for tournaments Friday through Sunday. Never-stopped for four years. Even my summers were spent at institutes.
And I’m November 8. You?
Ten days later: November 18.
I’m almost embarrassed to say that I didn’t work nearly that hard in high school. Maybe that’s why I’m in publishing and not law?
Publishing? I am so much more interested in publishing than law. But you should definitely not be embarrassed. I was embarrassed to admit just how out of touch with reality I’d been in high school. I didn’t forge the right kinds of relationships, enjoy being a teenager, go to prom… Nothing admirable about ignoring life that way.
You and I have the same archetype. Don’t let yourself burn out bro, its a wicked cologne. I should know, I have been wearing it’s stink for about a month now.
If you do go to O-town Disney, hit me up. I will steer you in the right direction on hook-up land. (freebies rock)
Orlando Disney is still classic. Will do.
On the “waiting for something amazing to happen” thing… I used to have a bumper sticker on my car that said “Something wonderful is about to happen”. My brother-in-law laughed out loud at it and me.
On vacations: OH YEAH!!!! Make it happen. You won’t regret it. Of course, next year, you’ll take two weeks off instead of one and you will reach a whole new level of Zen.
On balloons: I used to love releasing balloons, too, but I hear that they don’t do it any more because birds try to digest the balloon remains and it kills them. I know: Total buzz kill, that’s what I am. Maybe it’s an urban legend but that’s my understanding. That may be why Disney has that policy.
Birds. Naturally. Of course. They have been all over my life as of late. Is their like a queen bird, or someone who has her ear, so that I can get a reprieve from all the influence birds have been having on me lately?
Good Web site! I wondered if I might be able to website couple of items for a term paper.