Time to be constructive

When you're not working, it's hard not to feel like you're wasting time.
Plenty of people, of course, feel like they're wasting time at work. But at home, after the job sites are checked, e-mail followed on and coffee pot emptied, time ticks by pretty slowly.
One realizes a few things pretty fast:
1) Daytime TV really is horrible. There aren't as many soap operas as there used to be, but they've all been replaced by middle-aged women talk shows. If you were to play a drinking game with those shows where you sipped everytime either Brad Pitt or menopause was mentioned, you could qualify for a DUI on your couch.
2) As great as newspapers are, after about 1 p.m., it's hard not to feel like everything in them is about 20 hours old.
3) Job listings aren't updated very often. And if you send e-mails to the people you've already applied to, there's a 50/50 chance they won't respond until you are on Social Security.
4) I'm not saying they don't exist, but I have yet to find an at-home bartending school.
Blogging, I guess, is one way to take up some time. And upstairs lurks a PlayStation 2 with a passel of unplayed games (oh, for the days I was too busy to even cram in 5 minutes of gaming). Problem is, playing games quickly feels like an acknowledged retreat. It's one step away from a wardrobe of sweats and old t-shirts and a diet of Hot Pockets and Ovaltine (for vitamins). And who wants to go there?
But maybe there's a larger message I'm missing. If there's a time of year when maybe we should all slow down a little, take notice of every minute and maybe drop a little guilt for not getting the most out of it, the holidays seem to fit. It's definitely no fun being out of work right now -- thankfully, I don't have much Christmas shopping to do -- but I also won't be disappointing my mom this year by working on Christmas Eve and missing most of her family celebration.
Making your mom smile, not a bad use of time at all.