Sprung !

I got caught a few weeks ago.
My parents were coming to visit for the weekend.
They had told my wife and I that they would be arriving Saturday afternoon.
Wife goes to work Saturday morning with instructions for me to mow lawn, wash dishes, vacuum floors, clean shower, etc.
I start on those jobs and by 10am there is a 20 knots SE breeze annoying me.
I figure there's time to get to Burrum, sail for one hour, come home and finish job.
The perfect crime.

And here's where things go pair shaped.

Parents leave Brisbane early, arrive at 11am.
Parents find no-one home so go to wifes workplace.
P: Where's knotboard?
W: He should be at home cleaning?
P: He's knot home and his van is gone

Parents arrange to visit friends and return home at 2pm when wife finishes work.
Knot board gets home at 1pm and finishes cleaning at warp speed oblivious to happenings.

Wife and Parents return home at same time and mention how clean the house looks.
'yes', I say 'Thank you it took me all morning'

BUSTED

nice one knotboard.
very familiar story to me.

Exactly!
All the fun things in life are what's important. The rest is just packing to fill in the gaps. Sort of like that polystyrene foam you get in a box packed around something really good.
When you're unpacking the box, you don't sit there saying, "Ooooo what lovely packing! " You just throw the crap away and go for the good bits.
So housecleaning, lawnmowing, grocery shopping, etc etc are all just things you do when the conditions aren't right to do the stuff you like.

When you're to old or bashed up to be doing it anymore, do you really think you will be sitting around thinking of all the great times you had,... mowing the lawn?.... wiping down the bathroom?.... Vacuuming the carpet??... (oooo I just loved the hum that the vacuum cleaner made as it sucked up all the dust.) I DON"T THINK SO!
You will think back to the time when you skipped off to go windsurfing when you should have been vacuuming. And that's what will make you happy.

And after all, that's what life should be all about, being happy yourself and making other people happy but without infringing on your right to be happy.

Well I better get back to the vacuuming now.

Sadly, 99.95 % of my life appears to be packaging

I like this well known philosophy story...

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, rocks about 2" in diameter.
He then asked the students if the jar was full? They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He then asked once more if the jar was full. This time the students were sure and they responded with a unanimous "YES!"

The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and proceeded to pour their entire contents into the jar -- effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things - your family, your partner, your health, your children, things that, if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car".

The sand is everything else. The small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued "there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you".

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out dancing. Do something for the community. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.

"Take care of the rocks first - the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers."

yeah, yeah, yeah,
live the for moment
Blah, blah, blah,
Life's too short.

I thought this thread was about getting busted windsurfing when you supposed to be doing something else?

And for the record,
unless you have a million dollars in the bank, work is important.
unless you like living in squalour, cleaning is important.
unless you like your balls on a plate, your wife is important.

Windsurfing is fun, it's not everything.

I notice maverick that you are on your computer @ 10.00 am in the morning so I guess not @ work. Eye syill sore? Better go to the estuary and bathe it some salt water again 2day. But park behind the toilet block this time!

after all these years i didn't realise my workmates knew...
last week I had 2 days off with an injury, next day all show concern...
"We knew you must really be sick because it wasn't windy"

When I was a first year apprentice I use to live behind the "Blue House" in Scarborough.
I could hear the surf crashing on the beach all night and couldnt sleep a wink. At first light I ran over the hill and was greeted with thumping banks with spitting shacks. I called in sick and surfed all morning. As I was walking through the carpark in front of Ob Rise, still in my wettie with board under arm, my boss drove past in his car with his surfboard!
SPRUNG!

I had my step sisters wedding at 12.00 and went for a quick 9am sail at wello. At 10.00 it was good, at 11.00 it was great, by 12.00 it was going off! apparently so was the evil step mother[}:)], I sailed all afternoon.
The way I see it, the less rocks I have, the more sand and stones will fit in the jar.