I'm done for a while.

I've said before that no good deed goes unpunished because I'm like the walking poster child for this slogan. I'll probably continue saying that until the day I die. Hey, it's not often we find a universal truth and can demonstrate it on demand.

I told a friend of mine tonight that I get a daily dosage of bullshit from my job and life that more than adequately meets my Recommended Daily Allowance for tolerating the crap that goes on. I do not turn to my hobbies and the things that I do for "fun" just so I can get another faceful straight from somebody's leaky asshole^[1]. Given what my job has been like and the other things that are going down in my life^[2], my free time should be spent doing things that I find fun and enjoyable. What has transpired lately is neither "fun" nor "enjoyable." It's been hellacious and unpleasant. I've had my fill for a while and now I'm quite fed up so I'm going to stop for a bit. To that end: I'm gonna take a month or two break from the various MU* I deal with to go focus on other things that don't push my blood pressure into the high 100s. Once I've had a chance to reset I'll come back and pick up where I left off.

The irony of all this is? It comes hot on the heels of an entry from hakeber wherein she points and laughs at people that are foolish enough to put themselves through torture. There's wisdom in her words, gang.

Do you know how long it's been since I've turned off all the lights and sat in a tub full of hot water while Neil Young played in the background? Neither do I, because I stopped counting after five years. I'm going to start with that tonight. Tomorrow I'm going to read a book while some music plays on the stereo. Unlike anything I've read in the last three years, this will be a book that doesn't have the phrases "value-added," "RFP," "Layer 3," "MPLS" or "routing metric" in it^[3]. I don't think I've actually read something for enjoyment in the last 16 months.

This concept of enjoying oneself is crazy, I know -- but I plan to give it a shot anyway.

I'll be on IM, so I'm still quite reachable without being so near the things that make my blood boil.

What does it take to get a drink in this place?

[1] This defeats the idea of a hobby and does not meet my definition of "fun." YMMV.
[2] A lot of my friends have had extraordinarily shitty runs of luck lately, as well. I am by no means saying I have it worse than them.
[3] Suggestions are welcome. I like Stephen King and crackjackal has had some success in turning me on to Clive Barker.