I am a co-dependant relaxer

I just spent a (long) weekend doing absolutely no work. Normally, this would be exceedingly hard for a driven person such as myself, but I was aided in my efforts to slack off by Biku, who visited for the weekend. I really won't let myself take time off normally -- I must always be doing something productive such as cooking or doing homework or reading or having enlightening conversations or spending quality time with friends. But within that last notion is my salvation, for it means that I can happily excuse sleeping in until 10:30, reading for an hour, making pancakes, watching tv, and then playing card games and taking a walk all afternoon as long as there is a friend over to justify it.

I remember when I was younger and very involved in high school activities, my mum used to get worried about me and how much work I was doing. She once tried to say that my near-weekly visits to Biku's house (or her to me) should be curtailed because they meant I sometimes struggled to fit in my clarinet practice and homework and job. But really (while she meant well) she had it all backwards. While my work always expanded to fill the time, it was only with Biku that I could really relax. This was (and still is) partly because seeing her was enough of a special occasion that I could throw all my schedules out the window, and partly because she (with her fabulous sense of knowing when to just laze about) reminded me that there's more to life than work and efficiency.

That said, my life as an efficiency fiend isn't all that bad. I do enjoy keeping busy, and get a great deal of satisfaction from looking at my list at the end of the day and knowing I've done everything on it. That said, it's good to know that I have a foolproof way to relax.

Or perhaps I should say, co-relax?