Yesterday, M left for an out-of-the-country business trip. She'll be gone for a whole week -- the longest we've been apart in a while, possibly ever. (That was nice and precise, wasn't it? I must be exactitudinally challenged.)

The original plan had been for us to travel together, but with my new work assignment, taking more vacation leave (especially so close to my previous leave) seemed irresponsible. And flying out for a weekend visit didn't seem like a wise idea (time-wise or money-wise).

That means I'm on my own for a week, free to do whatever I want and you know what that means...

Party!

Which is what I would want if I were the complete opposite of me.

Road trip!

Okay, that's something I want, but that would be irresponsible, too.

The more grown-up thing to do would be to stay home, work around the house, and make the most of my time alone. (I could actually hear the tiny voice in my head groaning as I wrote that sentence.)

Besides the usual household chores, I still have to finish organizing the garage -- a project I've been putting off for too long. To help me get it done before M's return, I intend to apply for an Enthusiasm Advance¹. Four months should be sufficient to get me close to a Ty Pennington (plus bullhorn) level of enthusiasm. As an added incentive (and to control expectations), I'm renaming the project Moderate Makeover: Garage Edition.

Once I get that knocked off the list of Things I'm Dreading To Do, I can focus on my list of Things I'd Rather Be Doing, which includes:

• watching the new G.I. Joe movie. I'm curious to see if this film will be as diligent as the Transformers series was at ruining the fond memories I have of my childhood toys. I can tell you they're already at a severe disadvantage since Sienna Miller (Keen Eddie) and Brendan Fraser (everything he has ever been in!) are part of the cast and Shia LeBeouf is not³.
• conducting my own The Lord of the Rings movie marathon. Nine continuous hours of J.R.R. Tolkien/Peter Jackson goodness. I may have mentioned it before, but it's worth repeating: LotR is the best thru-hiking story ever told.
• reading the Twilight series M recently bought. I have a feeling I may express too much amusement while reading them and it's better if she wasn't around to witness my gleeful reaction. Then again, I might develop a severe crush on Edward and Bella and sigh dreamily at their every mention, which is also something better done without an audience.

¹ We start each day with a certain allotment of enthusiasm. That allotment is dependent on several factors: day of the week, where we are, who we're with, what we have planned, etc. It's a little known fact that one can get an advance on one's enthusiasm. The upside is an immediate excitement boost. With a large enough advance, one's enthusiasm could reach the level of a Billy Mays. (As far as I know, there isn't an advance large enough to achieve the level of a Mary Murphy.) The downside is excessive sighing and prolonged apathy about even the most exciting events².

² Winning the lottery, meeting the cast of Firefly, or witnessing the Giants clinch the World Series, for example, would all be met with a shrug and a "meh".

³ If he were, he would play the annoying dual role of the Crimson Twins, Tomax and Xamot.