Not Working Has its Advantages

     I have been "out of work" since the beginning of the month and I have to tell you that not having to go to work for as long as I have definitely has it's advantages. I have spent so much time at home, that it even feels weird to be talking about work right now. As most of you know, I am going to shore duty and that it will not involve going out to sea or getting a sea bag packed with all of my stuff or even having to worry about standing 12 hours of watch in a single day on very little sleep. In fact, I have been getting so much sleep that I have had trouble getting out of bed in the morning. It is most noticeable by my wife who is always saying something about me getting to sleep in and not getting up at seven o'clock in the morning. I do have to say that I am spoiled more than my own children because of this and it should bother me. It does to a certain point. I don't see it as a big deal, like my wife does, but it does make me less cranky later in the day. In fact, I have gone from yelling at the kids for every little thing to just merely talking and not raising my voice. So much easier, by the way. I actually enjoy not having the stress of yelling at them and making the choice to calmly talk to them and make sure that they understand that what they did was wrong. I have gone four days now without yelling and screaming at children and I have only had to swat a butt for a wrong doing only once. I used to think that I was going to become this disgusting tyrant and yell at my kids all the time, but seeing the stress lines that it put into my wife's face every time she had to sit there and listen to me yell at children made me sit back and think about what exactly it was that I was doing. Not working has also helped this tremendously because I am not as stressed out as I used to be. 
     Another advantage to not working for so long is the fact that I get to be a "stay-at-home" dad and spend loads of time with all four of my boys. Things will change in 11 days, but that's because I actually have to go back to work then. We have pretty much done nothing except sitting on the couch and watching movies and kid's shows and enjoying each other's company while the days go by. The boys have had fun having me around to tickle them and play with them, even after I have yelled at them, and generally just being able to have my undivided attention when I'm not on the computer doing random things. I will admit that I have spent way too much time on the computer playing on the Facebook and League of Legends when I should be spending that time helping out around the house like I had promised, but spending the time at home instead of immediately going back to work once we got our stuff was way more important. I have even picked up a new Saturday night habit of listening in on +Chuck Bisbee's weekly podcast of live music. In fact, it is currently playing in the background right now. It has made the Saturday night much more enjoyable. I feel bad because it took me so long to finally get off my ass and listen in. I should have supported him sooner by listening in, but I know that something this simple is easy for him to forgive and now that I am constantly looking forward to Saturday to listen, I am sure that he is much happier knowing that my ears are listening and my butt is dancing in the chair. Sorry, got distracted for a minute with about five conversations going on at the same time while trying to chair dance and type this up. 
     I wish I knew as much about music as my uncle does. Such a variety of different music pumping through my ears. So without further ado, I shall leave you to your own variety of chair dancing with the music of b2kradio.com and have you anxiously hanging on the edge of your seats with antici..........................pation for the next edition of wickid's arena!

Later Daze

Wickid