This post is part of my 2022 Word Project. You can read what that’s about here.
Friday, November 17, 2023
7:40pm
Since I am in no real hurry to do anything and it’s doubtful I will actually move out of my crater tonight, I decided to simply sit here and bask in the wonderfulness that is Friday.
Friday is the best day of the week, closely followed by Friday Jr., aka Thursday. In a fist fight, Thursday would win because Friday would be too tired to get out of the way, which is exactly why Friday is the best.
Even though it is a work day, Friday is really weekend lite. You can sleep a little later and breathe a sigh of relief that you managed another week.
The diets get a little slack and if you want there can be a cocktail at the end of it. Not that there can’t be a cocktail every other day but it’s sort of like… maybe then you can have two cocktails. Because you don’t have to get up in the morning tomorrow so why not have three cocktails?
And unless something catches fire it is unlikely that anyone will want anything or need anything or expect anything.
Friday is good because the weekend hasn’t actually started so you know you have the whole thing in front of you to not answer emails and to possibly eat pancakes and have four cocktails.
Friday is when you do pizza or burgers for dinner because you’re done. Done thinking, prepping, planning, cooking, washing, dropping forks.
Case in point. I made burgers tonight, and really outdid myself with Brussels sprouts but I had a craving for those and all you really have to do is throw them in a cast iron pan on the stove and char them a little with some maple syrup.
Friday isn’t Monday, which earns it point. It isn’t Tuesday, which may even be worse than Monday because at that point you’re mired in the week and it is crushing you from both sides.
Friday means I did what I had to do, I showed up, I accomplished, I crossed off list items. And now it’s over. Doesn’t matter what you do for the next two days because nobody’s looking and nobody’s asking.
Friday means I can spend all night blogging or maybe just write about nothing at all and go drink five cocktails.
It’s when someone can email you about a thing they need and you can say “I’ll have that to you next week” because there’s no way you’re starting a new project on a Friday, and certainly not after lunch on a Friday.
Speaking of lunch, Friday is an excellent day to have a six cocktail lunch.
And then call it a night.
For me it is also Cork & Cow night, if I want it to be. Eight cocktails and a big, round loaf of bread and butter, quite possibly a burger and some mac and cheese, because there are no calories in mac and cheese on Friday. Besides, you have the whole weekend to spend on the Peloton if you really wanted to.
Friday means no homework. Some things just stick in your head no matter how old you get. And even though there’s nothing you have to do on Friday, you feel like you can do anything. Because why not just finish that thing you’ve been working on? Or why not start that other thing you didn’t have time to do while the week was cramping your style?
Tonight I opened up the Lego my brother gave me last Christmas and it looks like it is going to require thinking so I won’t start it now but… Friday is for not doing things but thinking about the things you’re going to do with your whole weekend ahead.
I’m thinking I will plan my Thanksgiving menu. I can sit here for the next four hours and browse recipes if I want to and there won’t be a single nagging feeling that I need to be doing anything else or worrying that maybe I should get to bed because I have a million things to do tomorrow.
No requirements apply to Friday.
It’s purely mental, I know, but isn’t that most of the battle? If the mere tick of the clock into Friday is enough to loosen the knots, I’ll take it.
This Friday is particularly excellent because I spent the week doing all of next week’s work so I can have a nine day weekend. Technically that means I will probably be cleaning and organizing and finishing that last client thing that someone emailed to me at 3pm today, but the most important thing is I will plan my Thanksgiving menu and run around like a lunatic shopping and preparing and not mind one bit.
So here’s to the brain break that comes once a week, and the feeling that maybe you can do this “life” thing after all. I have a cocktail to make and a crater to fill, and I plan to enjoy every second of it.
Photo: I’ll take nine.