Free Time

Originally when I started this blog my idea was that it would complement my training log. Anecdotes about workouts and things like that. But, as I mentioned earlier, balance is something I have a hard time maintaining in my life. If I only give one side of the story, is it really an accurate account? When I don't post for a while, am I not training? Am I feeling burned out? Or, is there something else going on that is taking my focus off of exercise. So, I'll start branching out more and talk about things that don't directly deal with training, but clearly have an impact on some level.

What follows was originally an email to the Fam.

---------------------------

Obviously I have a lot of free time given my work schedule. I'm not sure how well you guys know it, so let me explain it first.

I think of the world in 8-day weeks. The first two I work during the day, 7:30am-5:30pm. The third and fourth I work at night, 5:30pm-7:30am the following day. I come home on the morning of the fifth day, and have the rest of the time off. It's great.

So, anyway, I have all this free time. What's really interesting though is what happens to you when you have all this free-time and don't feel guilty about it. It's not like I'm neglecting anything, I'm working full-time, paying off my debts, life's pretty good. So it really is free-time, I can do with it as I please.

What I've ended up doing a lot of is playing around with programming computers. It's always been fun endeavor for me, you all know that. Anyway, I realised I was doing it lots and really enjoying it and (re)learning various techniques and technologies. How to learn more though? Take classes.

Soooo... In another example of me going all-or-nothing on something: I looked into getting a CompSci degree.

Fast forward a bit to today. I went to the bank and applied for a personal line of credit. I find out on Monday how that all went, but the bank lady seems to think it should be fine. I could almost do the whole thing without any loan, but it would require short-term huge charges to my credit card which isn't a smart move. The banker thought I was a bit strange:

"So, you're a Fire Fighter wanting a computer science degree? Isn't that kind of strange?"
"You'd think it's even stranger if you knew I already have a degree in Math"
"What? Why are you a Fire Fighter?"
"It's fun and I get to break things."

So anyway, on Monday everything should be set up so I can pretty much push a button and be a student. The whole thing will be through Athabasca University, which is entirely done online and via correspondence. The program is BSc in Computer & Information Systems. I'll get some credits for courses I did at Kenyon, but the whole thing will still take a few years.

Obviously the question that comes up is: So, will you quit being a Fire Fighter? I don't know, I honestly don't. I don't think I could go back to the 9-5 work style.

But that's really not the question that's important. I think the important question is whether I want to do it. And I do.

The entropy of my life will only ever increase. If I don't do this now things will come up and I might not have this freedom later on, and that would be a tragedy.