"It's called SELF CARE, MOM!"

          There's an old joke that goes something like "I just flew into Sydney, and boy are my arms tired!"

          It's not a great joke, admittedly, but I still laugh most times I hear it (which should probably be a red flag regarding my sense of humor, but oh well. Such is the way of the universe). I was reminded of this knee-slapper last weekend though, when, on Friday, we hiked 7-ish miles from Spit to Manly across muddy and rugged terrain, followed by a trip to Taronga Zoo the next day that required walking up and down hills from exhibit to exhibit for a full day (we didn't leave until they kicked us out at closing. Eat your heart out, Neil Druckmann). Both of these days were incredible, to be sure; the Spit walk gave us some incredible views of the ocean and wildlife, and the zoo, among other things, allowed me to make alienating jokes about Neil Druckmann and figure out that tigers communicate in weird ways. However, every amazing experience over those days equated to a pervasive exhaustion that I carried in my bones like some kind of... bone carrier. 

          What I'm trying to say is that I was tired. Like, real tired, man. Just call me the Michelin Man, cause boy was I tired.

          So the next day, when people suggested going to the beach or traversing to a wallaby reserve, I balked at the idea (like any normal human being would). I'm all about trying to utilize my time here effectively and see all there is to see, but even I, the guy who would often drink entire 2 liters of Code Red Mountain Dew in one sitting in high school, have my limits. With all that in mind, I elected to stay in and take a personal day. 

          On the scale of great decision making, I'd put that one somewhere between two-way ketchup packets and teaching dogs how to drive cars. It was amazing! As much as I love doing cool stuff at the beach and feeding wild animals chips, I really needed that time to catch up on The Good Place (you should watch The Good Place), work on some side projects (have you started The Good Place?), and make some reading progress in IT (also, why aren't you watching The Good Place?).

         Overall, it was just a really good day and a great opportunity to catch up on some well-deserved "me time." When you get bustled around a place like we've been bustled around Sydney, it can sometimes feel like we're just extended tourists; sitting at home by myself, however, I really felt like I lived here, and that was an great feeling.