Part-Timer

This is the first week of the summer where I really feel like I am working part-time, even though I've been nominally working part-time since, well, since I moved to New York three years ago, I guess. There have been phases, especially during the summer, when that seems like an accurate description of my schedule, but most of the time it just feels like what it is - that I have four part-time jobs. This summer I'm down to two, though, and it looks like I'll actually get to reap the benefits.

However, there seems to be a inversely proportional relationship between my schedule and ZPJ's. The less I'm working, the longer hours he has to spend at the office. He's been rolling home at about 10:30pm and working all weekend the last couple weeks, and it looks like its going to stay that way for awhile.

So, basically, I have all this free time to myself. What will I be doing with it?

Here are some ideas, but please give me some of yours as well:

• Using my membership card to its fullest extent and becoming a daily regular at The Brooklyn Botanical Garden
• Being one of those smug, freelancing hipsters at the Tea Lounge on Union Streeet sipping cappuccinos and typing furiously on their laptops (although I don't have a mac, so there is a limit to which this is achievable)
• Spending at least one afternoon a week down on the beach at Coney Island
• Writing a novel
• Writing a play
• Kicking my creative life up a notch - getting some work done on all those projects which have been gathering dust
• Going to museums (especially on days when I need the air conditioning)
• Learning to love cooking
• Visiting family members who are near but not in the metro area

What I will probably spend all my time doing (if history teaches us anything):

• Watching marathons of "What Not To Wear" and eating grilled cheese sandwiches in my pjs
• Having very long and in depth conversations with my cat
• Spending an unreasonable amount of time shopping online for things I don't need
• Complaining about the heat
• Wishing more of my friends also worked part-time
• Bombarding ZPJ with fevered monologues when he gets home at night because he's the only person (besides the cat) that I've talked to all day

Can I buck the trend? I hope so. This could be a beautiful summer if only I would just put some underwear on and leave the apartment.