After a hard day's work how do you wind down

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

after a hard days work repairing Macs, and talking on the phone with “technically challenged” people who shouldn’t be left unsupervised using a toaster much less a sophisticated electronic device, i tend to be rather…grumpy

the half hour drive home where i invariably get stuck behind some moron who can’t find the sodding gas pedal doesn’t help either…

so, how do i blow off all my pent up rage and agression?

usually playing a couple of hyperviolent video games does the trick…

i boot up the PS2, load Burnout 3; Takedown, and enter the “Road Rage” mode, i then proceed to ram all the other cars off the road, into oncoming traffic, into concrete pillars, etc… until my car falls apart, it’s such a satisfying game :wink:

i then play around in Vice City with the sniper rifle and the minigun ;), i carjack the tour bus (busjack?) and drive it around on the beach, running over sunbathers, i grab a motorcycle and just go cruising around, popping wheelies and driving on the sidewalks, i get bored and then run someone over with the bike (typically some annoying prat in a suit, i hate suits :wink: ) and then i park the rear wheel of the bike on their face and proceed to do a burnout…

ahh, i feel much better :wink:
(scared yet?)

the thing is, i feel it’s better to get my anger out in a virtual world where no one gets hurt, video games aren’t reality, it’s just fun to be able to do things in a game that i’d NEVER do in real life

so, how do you blow off steam after a hard days work?

2

I like to murder large numbers of innocent pixcels on my PS2 as well. I do find that if you can try not to let the dirving home bother you that is good too. Failing that alcohol and food helps. I susspect serious monkey sex might help as well, but can’t remember the last time I had any :frowning:

3

Reading and posting to the SDMB usually does it for me. :slight_smile:

4

Beer.

5

Obsessive web-surfing, while listening to “Un Bel Di Vedremo” over and over again.

Well, maybe not the last part. (Not all the time, anyway.)

6

I like to banter with people, either face-to-face, on the phone, or on the internet. Reading is my favorite way to wind down. I curl up with a nice book and read my day away.

7

After a hard day of napping on the couch, channel surfing, and the occasional chore, I like to come home and listen to music* while posting to livejournal, the SDMB, and chatting in mIRC.

I also like petting my kitten.

*Go buy the Garden State soundtrack. Even if you haven’t seen the movie. Thank me later.

8

Depending on what day it is, I either exercise or crack open a cold pop and read a book. Or murder pixels (usually Diablo 2). Really, I have no set ritual.

After really, really bad days, I go get some fast food, board up the windows, lock the door and watch a movie.

9

And lots of.
A scotch on the rocks or a glass of whiskey helps, cause when I’m done with work I still have to go home to three little ones(under the age of five) and a frustrated and strung out wife. Sometimes I’ll fire up half-life and replay one of the saved games where there are lots of guys trying to kill me. I have it on God mode, and full ammo. That brings the tension down a little. By then the whiskey has kicked in.

10

Actually, I find the drive home to be relaxing in some ways. I get to crank my tunes, yell at other drivers, and depending on conditions, drive 80+ MPH. I find that to be a good wind down.

When I get home, I play with the dogs, then I exercise or cook, both of which I find to be good wind downs.

11

That’s a beautiful song, but if I listened to it every day, over and over again, I would probably have commited seppuku by now. :smiley: I like to wind down with a beer, while ironing my shirts and listening to “Signore, ascolta!” from Turandot or “O mio babbino caro” from Gianni Schicci (or even the phone book, as long as Maria Callas sings it) over and over again.

12

I usually go rowing after work; that helps.

After rowing, I listen to TV (I don’t really watch it, it’s just on in the background) while I read Japanese manga or study Japanese.

If I’m really lazy, I read fan fiction on the net between games of Freecell.

13

exercise followed by a long hot steam, followed by a bracing cold shower, followed by a long hot sauna, followed by another shower, followed by a good, stiff drink

14

I’m unbelievably overqualified for my job, and I spend the first four hours doing my work, reading the boards, emailing with my friends, and looking busy. Then I go to lunch, come back, and spend the rest of the afternoon reading the boards, emailing, and looking busy, because I did all the work I had to do before my morning break. (It’s really quite monotonous.)

One would think that you don’t really need to “wind down” from a job like this, but it’s surprisingly hard to “look busy” and look like you’re actually working when you sit directly in front of the boss’ office and all she has to do to see you is raise her head from her desk. It’s actually quite stressful. :slight_smile:

Anyhow, by the time 5:30 rolls around, I’m usually just so happy to be out, the drive home itself is the necessary wind-down. Crank the radio, sing my heart out, and think about what I’m having for dinner, what chores I need to do, whether or not my cats wrecked my house while I was at work.

When I get home, I promptly forget about dinner and my chores, pet my cats (if they didn’t destroy anything), and usually curl up on the couch with a book or a movie until my stomach reminds me that I meant to have dinner.

Hm. I wish sometimes that I were a little more interesting. :slight_smile:

15

Head home, immediately change into other-than-work clothes, then settle in for half an hour or so catching up on the day’s webcomics, and making one last pass at the SDMB. Then dinner. After that, it depends on what day it is… City of Heroes, reading, movies, RPG-time…

16

Your job/life sounds eeriely similar to mine. Except for the part about cats :slight_smile:

I don’t cook dinner, usually I go food hunting, searching for nice, affordable restaurants. Other than that, its the same.

17

Woah, me too. Except I do have a cat.

18

If office hours are long, with many students coming in whining or bantering about this or that, I’ll make a Kettle One and Cran in a pint glass. If the day is normal and I am out by 5:30 or so, and the students are behaving like good little undergraduates then I’ll usually have a Kettle One and Cran, play with the siamese attack kittens, kiss my wife and tell her how wonderful she is, take a walk down to the beach and then settle in for supper. After dinner, prepare lecture for the next day - if I hadn’t already done it - grade if need be, answer emails…hit the hay…

19

Well last night it took two cigarettes, four glasses of red wine, half a valium, watching part one of my favorite miniseries on DVD, and sex complete with mind-blowing orgasm. But it was a very stressful day. :slight_smile:

Normally it only takes one beer (or glass of wine) and one cigarette.

20

I uhh…Kinda like those kind of days…I dunno, call me one who like eclectic romanticism.