Much rest for the weary

It really wasn’t my idea, but I sort of had no choice. After crying in public…twice…I finally had to admit that my back hurt and I was sick and tired of it.

And so for 6 days now, I have been resting. Really resting. Not the “I’ll watch a movie and do laundry and oh, look, squirrel!!” type of resting I usually claim to do. More the “I am BORED out of my mind!” type of resting that I hate. I hate it because it’s boring and unproductive and it doesn’t feel like a lot of life is being lived while lounging about in assorted pajamas for nearly a week, being responsible for nothing, sipping tea, and staring at my slippers.  I imagine that sounds quite relaxing. And I’m sure it would be if I had chosen to do it. But doing something cuz you have to and not because you want to takes all the fun out of it.

So what does one do for 6 days while trying to calm down an angry back and a broken spirit? Here’s my list:

• Waste time on Facebook, including stalking a gaggle of girls from grade school that freakishly showed up outta nowhere thanks to photo tags

• Take a dozen or so surveys from a consumer panel. I have now registered my opinions on: consumer electronics, soft drinks, outdoor gear (I was quickly disqualified), using the internet for shopping, casino gambling, questionable ways to manage one’s financial life (payday loans), garden chemicals, auto insurance, steakhouses, cell phone companies, and toilet paper (“Just to check, do you yourself use toilet paper?”)

• Eat three bowls of popcorn, plus one burned bowl taken out to the garage so that area can stink, too

• Serve as cat furniture

• Do a self-manicure (I long ago noted an inverse relationship between how my back feels and how my nails look)

• Sew a button on your husband’s favorite yard/work shirt that has long outlasted the department store from which it was purchased at least a decade ago

• Write a letter to a college pen pal…a real letter, with a stamp and everything

• Update Windows, Adobe, and Java software on your laptop to make those annoying pop-up reminders go away.

• Summarize your 2011 Medical Expenses spreadsheet in preparation for tackling your taxes soon. Increase the fun by running some geek numbers to discover that although your annual insurance premiums went down 6% from last year, your prescription costs were up 37%. Thanks, I think, Obamacare?

• Watch movies and praise the invention of instant Netflix streaming to a laptop. Now Playing this week:
• You Again -- a high school angst/ugly duckling/romantic comedy with Sigourney Weaver and Jamie Lee Curtis both looking hot enough to give hope to any woman in her 40s that the best years can indeed include Spanx and Oil of Olay products. 3 stars

• Fired! -- a documentary about being fired; lots of funny stories from famous and not famous people, including a revealing commentary from a former Human Resource manager. 3 stars

• The Pixar Story -- a documentary about the animation company, highly populated with Hawaiian shirts and razor scooters. 4 stars

• Little Black Book -- a romantic comedy without a happy ending and Holly Hunter proving she can rock skinny jeans. 3 stars

• Toy Story 2 -- a classic I hadn’t seen in awhile; nevertheless, Stinky Pete is still kinda creepy. 3 stars

• Happy Accidents -- a peculiar love story between Marisa Tomei and a guy from the year 2470 who distracted me the entire 115 minutes by reminding me of an angst-filled high school boyfriend. And yes, I just stalked him on Facebook. Eh. 2 stars (for both the movie and the boyfriend)

• The Life of Reilly -- a documentary about the Match Game comedian from the ‘70s, Charles Nelson Reilly...during which he didn’t talk about the game show at all. And yes, he’s dead (that’s very funny if you watch the movie). 3.5 stars if Netflix allowed decimals.

My view for the past 6 days.  Not all that bad, really.