January Blues

While I generally like the idea of having a big holiday season with lots of giving and visiting and being nice to the people you rarely see, it's not something I get to actually experience much since most of my family is so far away and no romance I've had had happened to be going on December. But the college bowl games and New Year's regional bridge tournament in Charleston or Myrtle Beach keeps me happy. But then January hits and there's not really anything to look forward to for awhile.

 

Last year, thanks to db, the January blues didn't hit until March but there weren't any lifestyle changes between 2009 and 2010. This year, there are definitely some changes taking place with the coming of the new year, and I'm hoping/expecting these changes will lead to a more active social life in middle GA and/or more of a sense of purpose at work. If not, I'll jest be getting the January blues late again this year. The days of residing at Northrop Grumman with next to no official responsibilities on a project are over and I am back on base full time, supposedly awaiting work on a new project.

 

One exciting part of January is that we have to submit leave plans for the year. For the first time, I have available to me about as much annual leave as I want, so I just submitted my plan for the 23 vacation days I intend to use in 2011. This includes taking a Friday off for 7 bridge tournaments - Louisville, Gatlinburg, Greenville, Atlanta, Charlotte, Seattle, and Myrtle Beach - 8 work days off for the summer nationals in Toronto (with a side visit to Montreal), and a week for a trip to Europe in May. Of course, it's all subject to change, but I am looking forward to a year of more excitement at work, a return to a more regular local social life, and about the same amount of bridge as last year.