Thread: Time to unwind.

Maybe it's just the threads I've been reading, but it seems like we've had a lot more "heated conversations" lately. (myself included)

With summer starting, and this weekend being a national holiday in the US, I thought it might be fun to talk about our favorite activity to unwind.

Could be anything. Bike riding, bbq, watching a game, smoking a stoggie, etc. Just whatever folks like to do to unwind from a week in the office, a stressful visit from relatives, or just spending too much time debating politics and antibiotic ointments.

The only exception is that you can't say, "shaving."


For me, when I'm one blown fuse short of a full meltdown, I love to take a pointless road trip.

The best example was about 6 months after my divorce. It was the most beautiful August day I'd seen in years, and I'd over slept for work. I could have still made it in, but it would have been a rush. I looked out the window, looked at the clock, looked back out the window; and promptly called my boss to tell him I would be taking an absence, and I'd see him tomorrow.

I got in my car, and just started driving.

After 4 hours, I pulled off the freeway onto a rural road, followed it for miles, and then took a smaller road until I found myself in the middle of nowhere. I found myself driving past a beautiful cliff over some old train tracks, so i found a place to pull off the road after a couple miles, got out of the car, and hiked the 2 or 3 miles back up the tracks to the cliff, where I took some photographs, hiked back to the car, and drove home.

One of the nicest days I've ever spent without company.

It depends on what strikes me at the time.
Sometimes I enjoy riding my bike as hard as possible until I can't do anything else except to focus on the road in front of me.
Other times a cigar is nice but seldom does it relax me.
However, my favorite is going to a local store in the hills and grabbing a cherry cider and chillin' on the picnic table listening to the babbling creek.

Sounds good!

I like working in my small piece of garden behind the house.
As small as it is, I consider it a luxury to have in a big city.
So I just cut the lilac back and pulled a couple of weeds.

I think they key aspect to all the things that relax me are being alone, or at least with limited company. Having an empty house, a few beers and a film on or getting out on the bike and just riding, reading with some music.

Anything that takes me out of the system for a while suits me.

Originally Posted by gregs656

Anything that takes me out of the system for a while suits me.

That's what I love about a pointless road trip. If it's a weekday and you live a long way from major cities you can drive on the freeway like you own it. If you do live close to major cities, you can stick to blue highways and do just the same.

yep, I did the same thing for a week last year. I'm a student so I get a long holiday in the summer, last year I jumped on the bike, went up to some relatives I have in wales and basically treated it like a b&b, I just used to go out all day on the bike and either ride around or find a spot and chat to people. It was great.

I think I enjoy the no compromise thing of being alone, it is very easy to get into a rut around the people you know. I find that my persona at work, college and home are quite different - it's nice to just cut it all loose.

Drinking coffee and taking naps. Not as mutually exclusive as it might seem, really.

Also reading something I don't "have" to read.

Going to the gunrange.....

When I wish to unwind I start politically charged threads, open a nice Belgian ale and read what everyone thinks!

I start these thread with 2 basic motives.
1) to see if everyone can remain civil no matter their disagreements (This is always my hope)
2) because I truly enjoy seeing how others think about things and why they think what they think.
The only thing I like better is face to face conversations as you can learn so much more about human nature.

When I am unwinding,

I like to read,
play go,
get a bag of cheetos, log in to SRP, read Mark's latest charged threads and watch the replies as they roll in