I forgot what to do in my free time

By Todd Stadler · Friday, August 31, 2007 5:06pm

I find that the time after a long vacation is an interesting, if confusing one.

See, after I get back from vacation, I'm not quite sure what to do. I've just spent several weeks doing the kinds of things I never do in my daily routine — going places, eating things, and sometimes speaking languages I was previously unfamiliar with.

And even my "normal life" before vacations isn't terribly normal. I spend a few weeks scanning the relevant Lonely Planet like I'm cramming for a test, and making or going over final travel plans.

So it is that when I get back from vacation, it's been an awful long time since I had free time in the normal style.

In a way, this is great, because I pretty much get to reinvent my free time. Perhaps I was heavy into photography before I started planning my vacation. Well, now I can start doing the crossword regularly!

Of course, free rein in one's free time can also be frustrating, even depressing. Too many choices! No constancy! Oh, to be stuck in a rut ... for a bit, at least.

Regardless, the decision was made for me after we got back from Australia, since the seventh Harry Potter book came out shortly after our return.

I don't normally feel compelled to read new books anytime close to their release date, but J. K. Rowling's books are different. Namely, hearing about them is unavoidable — every media outlet in the world is discussing the book, sometimes including spoilers.

So it was that I was desperate to finish Deathly Hallows as quickly as possible, since the more time went on, the more likely I would accidentally read about its important plot points outside of the book itself.

The problem was that, for full effect, I wanted to reread the previous six books before diving into the seventh. But this only increased my time spent among a population of people who'd finished the book and might divulge its secrets at any second.

I lived in fear of all information. Every time I opened a Web page that contained any mention of "Harry Potter", I instinctively closed it. And my recent dabblings with Facebook were problematic — everyone who'd finished the book felt compelled to start a new group and talk about it.

And even while I was compelled to read the book in spare moments on the bus or in other public areas, I was constantly on the lookout for well-meaning people eager to talk about the series and young adults who might accidentally blab about the book's details while on the phone (As Mad-Eye Moody would have said, "Constant vigilance!"). I even had to lay down ground rules for Julia while I was in the middle of the book — she couldn't really tell me her opinions until I was done, although she could ask me to discuss my conjectures and reactions. Basically, I was enforcing an unsigned non-disclosure agreement with the world.

Anyhow, I'm done with Deathly Hallows now. It's a great book, and I was able to be surprised by every plot point, thankfully.

But now, I don't know what to do again. In my post-vacation stillness, I reinvented myself as a voracious Harry Potter reader. But now, weeks later, that's all over. And I face a glut of unrutted free time again.

I guess I could upload all the photos I've taken since April, or finish one of the dozen Web projects at various states of gestation.