I will not drive 80 with others in the car.

Putting the stereo volume to max so that you can hear it downstairs while you cook or over the sound of the shower in the next room. Going to bed at 2 am after watching Sex and the City, Letterman, Will & Grace, Seinfeld, E! News and sometimes Chelsea Lately. Waking up after 10am because you stayed up so late. Peeing with the door open. Not leaving the house at all in a day. Continually cleaning up dogshit and catvomit. Using high-ceiling lightbulbs, and leaving certain lights on all day for appearances. Wearing your pajamas until the afternoon, and watching hours-on-end of Law & Order (all variants) and also your new obsession, House. Buying your groceries from the gourmet store, and starting dinner at eight or nine. Lounging by the pool before noon on the days you get up before noon.

What's the unifying thread, giving all these things commonality? Having the house to yourself for two weeks, "rent-free." And in 15 minutes, if I leave one minute later, I'll be late to pick them up from the airport.

It's been a nice two week vacation. It's been nice to have space again. And starting tomorrow, I'll have a regular human-functioning schedule. Someone else will take majority turns cooking dinner. I will not have to pick up dog shit, or.. you get the idea. I will get restful sleep. I will continue to go to my new strip-mall gym, and I will continue to attempt design healthy-balance meals. I will not drive 80 with others in the car. I will be interrupted, but it'll be something to do.

....And there's the phone call. They're on the plane in Dallas. I'm in the house 45 minutes north of the airport. Kind of sounds like a race, actually. Like I said, it's been a nice vacation. But even normality can be nice after a holiday; everyone needs a break from something in order to look forward coming back to it.