Back in May, I completed my first year in a Ph.D. program and have had the summer off. Since by next year I will likely have research projects and/or teaching duties next year, this summer will likely be my last ever summer vacation. For this reason, I specifically made sure not to get a job and kept all my obligations to an absolute minimum. I want to enjoy this summer as much as humanly possible. Personally, I have been using this summer to get around to doing all the things everyone always wants to do but never gets around to doing. I have a long list of classic movies, classic novels, and music that have been occupying my time. I've also been taking lots of weekend trips to nearby cities like Baltimore, DC, Boston, and Philly. It is a blast and I will be incredibly sad once mid-August rolls around and I have to start preparing for the start of the semester. FOCUS: When was the last time you had a substantial amount of time off with little to no obligations? What did you do to occupy your time? ALT FOCUS: When is the next time you will have a substantial amount of time off? What will you use the time for?
The last time I had significant time off was about 5 weeks after finishing my PhD. I mostly spent it sleeping until I woke up, running all the errands and doing things around the house that I never got a chance to while I was busy, beating Saints Row and playing through half of Oblivion on Xbox 360, and going to visit my girlfriend at the time who was working and could not take (read: did not feel like taking) time off. In retrospect, I should have told her that I would see her in a couple weeks and taken off on a solo road trip. The next time I will have significant time off, I will be either 1) in between jobs; 2) retired; or 3) dead. In the former cases I will be heading to Lake Winnipesaukee; in the latter, I will be decomposing.
For me it the summer/Christmas break of 1991, which was right before my senior year of high school. At the end of senior year, I got a full time job almost straight away and I have not taken any substantial time off since then. Even my overseas trips have incorporated work into them, or been in the order of less than a week. And I have zero plans to do otherwise. Plus, at this rate, I'll still be hard at it well past my dying day.
After I got my BFA, I took a year off before going for my MAT. I kept my between semesters job. But I also wrote a novel, read, watched every movie Paul Newman ever made (even the first one that he hated.), traveled to New York City, Pittsburgh, Philly, and all over the Jersey Shore, and built myself a bookshelf. I obviously have very supportive parents.
I'm a married father of 3 and small biz owner...probably death? Then I can entertain all the worms I want. (which will be some sort of karmic justice for skewering all their relatives in my youth on #6 hooks)
Right now I'm planning on taking a week off in September, and then I'll have to figure out something after that too since I'll have accumulated 4 weeks worth of time off by the end of the year, which I'm going to have to spend before March 1st of the next year. I'm planning on using that time off to do some projects around my house and yard, but I'll probably just be lazy like my other vacations and work the first day, maybe two, before laying around and doing fuck-all for the rest of my vacation.
A few years ago I was able to get 3 months off of work, and backpack through Europe. I would love to do that again, although with more of a climbing focus. My next planned trip is to VT for less than a week in September for a friends wedding. Also climbing.
After I graduated from college in December of '07, I was without full-time employment until June. It started out alright--I had high hopes for job placement within a short period of time and liked that I could still sleep in. That wore off quick, though, and I soon realized that until I did get a job, life was going to be shit. During that time, I applied to more jobs than I can remember, went on few interviews, learned how to drink a bottle of wine and a six pack to my face nearly every night and still function, and generally began wasting away into utter uselessness. College taught me to enjoy drinking--unemployment taught me how dangerous it can be. It was, by far, the worst 7 months of my life.
Word. Until last year, I hadn't had more than a week off at a time since high school ended in 1985. All through college I carried 15-18 credits and worked between 30 and 40 hours a week. During summers and holiday breaks i simply picked up more hours at work, and often took summer or winter courses. I had a full time (career-type) job almost immediately upon graduation, and have never taken a break between jobs, ending a current job on Friday and starting anew job the following Monday. Vacations never lasted more than a week, with a few 3 day weekends thrown in during the year for good measure. Some might say I was industrious, hard-working and motivated. I would say I was an idiot. DO NOT DO WHAT I DID. I have been working relentlessly since age 13. I am in my mid-forties, and I am burned the fuck out. I dread going to work every day. I drink way too much. I was never the type of person who needed anyone to tell me what needed doing, I just did it. Now I'm sliding into a parody of a husband who does shit around the house, barring the important and immediate stuff, without the wife bugging me. I'm not suggesting that taking a two week vacation would magically change my current situation, but I don't find myself any happier for having worked my ass off for most of my life.
Focus: Summer 1985. Took driver's ed. Our instructor fell asleep while I was driving on I-465 in Indianapolis. I'm still an excellent driver.
This summer. My doctorate program starts in about a month, and it's going to be 8-5, Monday through Friday. Luckily, my job is part-time and the money is so good that I can take this summer to relax and have fun. I wanted to have one last fling of little responsibility. I've had a blast with my time off. I've spent it reading, going to movies, going on vacation, going on mini-trips to visit friends nearby, going to the pool (when it isn't 100+ outside), decorating my new place, and working out. This summer I actually went out during the week, (nothing too crazy, just out to eat and have a few drinks) which is something I definitely don't have time to do during school. It's seriously been one of the best summers of my life. The next time off will be 4 weeks during Christmas vacation.
When we were still living in NJ and hadn't had kids yet, I was laid off from my job with an ad agency in NY when they decided to outsource my whole department. We knew we would be relocating to New England in about a year's time, so I didn't bother to find another job in the city. I received a 6 month severance package (that included company-match contributions to my 401k) and was eligible for unemployment. I got a parttime job bartending twice a week at the bar where I hung out that paid $25/shift under the table. With tips, I typically made anywhere from $100-$200 per shift. Easy money that more than covered my bar tabs which were small thanks to "professional courtesy" . I belonged to an upland birdhunting club, so I did a lot of pheasant hunting those first few months, as well as deep sea fishing a couple of times a month. I got into a really good exercise routine, walking, cycling and weightlifting in the mornings and lost a lot of weight, but the Mrs. was getting her MBA at night, so I was spending a lot more time at the bar most nights. This was probably the year I tripped the addiction switch but still, it was an awesome year. I don't anticipate any extended time off. I'll be 49 when I reenter the full time workforce in my new career next spring, and I hope to keep a limited part time private practice in retirement, but we'll see. That's a ways off and a lot of things can happen.
From January 12th 2009 through April 29th 2009 I was unemployed. Laid off from my old job at the depth of the recession, and applying to anything and everything I could find for 3.5 glorious months. I watched TV and movies online, I smoked a lot of pot and drank a lot of beer. I had broken up with my longtime girlfriend in December, ended up getting back together with her in March while I was unemployed. Now we're engaged and getting married next year. Needless to say, being unemployed was fucking awesome, and the best 3.5 months of my life. But I was living with my uncle, not paying rent, and the government more than covered my bills. Now if I were to lose my job I'd be fucked.
Right after I got out of the Navy in April '08, I had a (mostly) unintentional 7 months off. I'd been working since I was 14, and never really had "free" summers. So I figured I would take two months, live off the large severance I'd gotten from the Navy, and just relax. I started sending out resumes toward the end of that first month. I ended up sending out probably 250-300 over the next few months, resulting in four interviews, three of which barely had anything to do with my job field. During that time though, I slept late, I mastered Rock Band, I read my ass off (mostly at the pool in my apartment complex, so I got deep dark mexican brown), I watched movies, and I drank a lot with friends. Luckily, I got a job offer about a month before my money ran out, and when I got to my new apartment on the other side of the country, I had just enough left to pay first and last month's rent, hook up utilities and buy groceries for the week. Left me with about $250 until the first paycheck. I don't believe in God, but that worked out nicely. Next time I have that much time off will probably be involuntary, as defense contracting isn't the most secure of jobs.
As I've been pissing and moaning about in the Rant and Rave thread, I might be unemployed in the next three months, which terrifies me in the "can't make car payments and have no savings" sense. In light of this at least I can look at the good times, between December 5th 2009 and January 27th 2010 where I waited for my job to start by trying different kinds of scotch and wasting away in front of my computer.
My job doesn't start for another three weeks, so I have plenty of time to sleep in and have the time to finally complete some projects. The only time I haven't been employed since I was 15 was my freshman year of college so I'll enjoy the time I have right now.
My last significant time off was back in the spring of '06 when I was pushed out of my university job. Thankfully I had a part time bartending gig which brought in enough for me to live a basic life until I was able to land my next job a painstaking six months later. However, since I now had a schedule pretty much opposite of everyone I knew I didn't really get to just hang out with friends unless they visited me at work. But being free all during the day with nobody to hang out with ended up being one of the best things to happen to me for one unintended reason; I quickly grew bored of daytime crap tv and started watching the food network religiously. Every day I would see something be made and try to recreate it at home. My then roommate loved it since he always had dinner waiting when he got home and it really taught me how much better and cheaper it really was to make your own food at home. Because of this I'm in the works of starting my own small catering business once I can get the major details worked out and finally found something that I am truly passionate about. As far as when I'll have free time again? Well with a daughter on the way and the hopeful dreams of starting my own business, I'm projecting sometime shortly after China finally takes over.
The last time I didn' have a full time job was in 2000, for three months, which was spent mostly perpetually recovering from the morning after because I was getting shitfaced a minimum of 6 nights a week. It was a helluva bender (giving me my nickname, "Bender") involving much draft beer and whatever bar happened to have a line outside it on any given night. if we didn't drink in town we'd throw a dart at a map of Southwestern Ontario than road trip to whatever town with more the 30,000 people that the dart was closest to (since it was near the middle, it ended up being Kitchener/Tri-City a LOT). We had a "three strike" rule in which if the town sucked on three seperate visits, we'd never return. Hamilton, "The Pittsburgh of Canada" was the only taker of three strikes. What a shitty city.
From the age of 14 I've always had at least one job. Cue seven years of school (two degrees), and when I finally graduated I kept the PT job and added a full time job to my days. I estimate in those seven years I was either working, schooling, or driving in between an average of 12 hours/day, seven days a week. Time off for something - say, Christmas - just opened up my schedule at the other job to work more. I quit everything in December of 2007. Did not work (at a "real" job) until September 2009. It was the. Best. Time. Ever. Travelled round the world, renovated a house top to bottom, adopted two dogs as puppies and trained them, you name it. Jesus Christ, I would love to go back to that life. Anyone who says they would keep working after they won the lottery has their head up their ass. I would love every second of unemployment. And I'd be busy every day.