Tuesday Talk

Another hobby
I think I have at least one free spot in my schedule. I hope to fill it with a creative or money-making activity, though I haven't decided what it will be. I'm thinking about violin lessons, dramatic arts (acting, attending, or ushering), book clubbing, bartending, language or philosophy classes, yoga instructor certification or catering. I hope to make a decision by the end of the month.

Weekend
I had a solid weekend. The highlights included Organica's barbeque, the Green Festival film fest and the GLOG happy hour. I also enjoyed finishing two new chick lit books and editing a few pages of my novel.

Week ahead
Work should be busy again this week. I hope to spend my evenings destressing via exercising. I also hope to get my writing ready for critique at the end of the month. So far, I have attempted to polish the first chapter/section of my novel but I recognize that I still have a long way to go.

Trains
I plan on going home for Christmas and New Year's this year. Of course, the airplane tickets are already shockingly high—over $300 roundtrip. Perhaps, $300 RT isn't that much to pay for DCA-ATL but I remember paying under $150 RT back in college.

So, I'm thinking about taking Amtrak home for the holidays and again for my mother and aunt's 60th birthday in February. I've always wanted to take the train down South and I think my schedule is flexible enough for it. Plus, I'll save about $100. It will take 13 hours to get home but I think that I'll be able to sleep on the train or just spend those hours reading books and magazines and writing more pages for my book. My reasoning is a) I LOVE trains, b) trains were the way to go back in the day, and c) I support Amtrak. I've only been on a train two times in my life: once when going between Los Angeles and San Diego (which took forever!!) and the other time from NYC to DC (that trip is a bit hazy). But I think that it will be fun and very interesting.