Dodgergirl
Feb 29, 2008, 01:08 PM
After reading this, i wondered what y'all would do if today were a 'bonus' day....???
Valley residents reveal how they would use a free day if they could spend it any way they wanted.
By Diana Marcum / The Fresno Bee
02/28/08 23:14:02
More information
"A day to call your own"
Let's face it: The idea that a leap year brings an extra day is bogus.
It's actually a renumbered day. In the grand scheme of your life, it may not matter that this is Feb. 29 instead of March 1. (unless you get paid on the first.)
The cinematic equivalent would be the scene in the mockumentary "This is Spinal Tap," when rock guitarist Nigel Tufnel shows off his amplifiers that go to 11 instead of 10.
But, what if?
What if there really was an "extra" day. No work. No school. A day out of time, off the chart. One day to spend any way you wanted.
"Wow," says 21-year-old Moses Solano, at the very thought of that. "Wow."
Solano works six days a week at a fruit cart on Fulton Mall in Fresno's downtown, volunteers with his church, cares for his mother and tries to make enough time for his children.
His first thoughts are that he would go someplace. Take his whole family to Lake Tahoe or Yosemite. They would eat and swim. But the more he talks, the more he narrows his focus. His mother is getting older. There is this one wildflower she likes to look at. He doesn't remember the name. But if only he had an extra day, he would spend much of it looking at that particular flower with his mother.
Sam Xiong, co-owner of the Golden Bowl, a busy Asian market on North First Street, can't even imagine a free day.
"I work seven days a week, 7 [a.m.] to 9 [p.m.]; this is not something in my mind. I cannot even think like this. Every day we are running around ... day to night, day to night."
But what if?
"Watch TV. Stay with the family. That is all," he says. "That is all."
Berdie Hall, 57, has two jobs. Weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., she works as a program analyst for the state of California. From 5:30 to 9 p.m. or later, she prepares taxes. In between jobs, she only has enough time to check her mail and grab something to eat. Weekends, she works days at her tax job.
"I get home and I'm too wired to go to bed. It's midnight before I can relax. Then it's get up at 5:45 the next morning and do the whole thing over."
If she had a free day, she'd go somewhere, anywhere, just go! She'd shop, she'd drink a perfect cup of coffee without people constantly interrupting her, but most importantly, she says, she'd have some time to herself to just think.
A friend and co-worker, Mary Peres Chica, who balances a full-time job with being a mother and grandmother, would head to the beach by herself, just walk and think and "be."
"There's just something about the ocean," she says.
Autumn Magee, 27, a paralegal, and Mary Paggett, 27, an administrative assistant with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Fresno, are both mothers of young children. They chorus together what they would do with a free day.
"Sleep!"
"It's all just so constant. I'm going, going, going. I'm so tired," says Magee.
"I could go to sleep right now," says Paggett, seemingly eyeing her lunch sandwich at a downtown Quiznos as a possible pillow.
"It might sound boring. But that would be my magic day: sleep," she says.
Chong Moua, 36, has given some thought to how busy he is selling cell phones and taking care of other business. He doesn't have the time he wants to spend with his family.
"Some relatives live out of town. When we visit, it's always for something. It's always 'hi, bye,' not enough time to really talk."
He says he doesn't remember spending a lot of time with his parents as a child and hopes it will be different for his children. If he had an extra day, he would use it to "make memories."
He'd take his family to the park, or maybe play in the snow.
"Get some lunch," he says with a faraway look.
Over at Fig Garden Village, a group of women past retirement age ("Say we are toujours cinquante -- always 50," says Roxie Jizmejian) is indulging in the kind of leisurely lunch with friends that so many others said they only dream about.
Barbara Wade, a retired English teacher who still substitute-teaches because she enjoys it, says they are a circle of friends who have been through losses and illnesses and sad times, but they always get together to laugh over lunch.
If she had an extra day, she'd spend it just like this.
Jizmejian recalls when it was harder for them to spend time together.
"We were all working so much, some raised children. There were lots of responsibilities and obligations. But we never neglected our friendships. It was like a separate layer over everything else."
A dear friend of theirs, Don Ferrer, a retired English department head at McLane High School, died last year. Whenever they get together, they still drink a toast to him.
"As you get older, friends die. You treasure friendships more. You treasure time more," Jizmejian says.
"If I could give some words of wisdom they would be: Even if you don't have an extra day, you have to somehow, some way, make time for the joy in life. Get your friends around the table. They're all bonus days."
So What would you do?
Valley residents reveal how they would use a free day if they could spend it any way they wanted.
By Diana Marcum / The Fresno Bee
02/28/08 23:14:02
More information
"A day to call your own"
Let's face it: The idea that a leap year brings an extra day is bogus.
It's actually a renumbered day. In the grand scheme of your life, it may not matter that this is Feb. 29 instead of March 1. (unless you get paid on the first.)
The cinematic equivalent would be the scene in the mockumentary "This is Spinal Tap," when rock guitarist Nigel Tufnel shows off his amplifiers that go to 11 instead of 10.
But, what if?
What if there really was an "extra" day. No work. No school. A day out of time, off the chart. One day to spend any way you wanted.
"Wow," says 21-year-old Moses Solano, at the very thought of that. "Wow."
Solano works six days a week at a fruit cart on Fulton Mall in Fresno's downtown, volunteers with his church, cares for his mother and tries to make enough time for his children.
His first thoughts are that he would go someplace. Take his whole family to Lake Tahoe or Yosemite. They would eat and swim. But the more he talks, the more he narrows his focus. His mother is getting older. There is this one wildflower she likes to look at. He doesn't remember the name. But if only he had an extra day, he would spend much of it looking at that particular flower with his mother.
Sam Xiong, co-owner of the Golden Bowl, a busy Asian market on North First Street, can't even imagine a free day.
"I work seven days a week, 7 [a.m.] to 9 [p.m.]; this is not something in my mind. I cannot even think like this. Every day we are running around ... day to night, day to night."
But what if?
"Watch TV. Stay with the family. That is all," he says. "That is all."
Berdie Hall, 57, has two jobs. Weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., she works as a program analyst for the state of California. From 5:30 to 9 p.m. or later, she prepares taxes. In between jobs, she only has enough time to check her mail and grab something to eat. Weekends, she works days at her tax job.
"I get home and I'm too wired to go to bed. It's midnight before I can relax. Then it's get up at 5:45 the next morning and do the whole thing over."
If she had a free day, she'd go somewhere, anywhere, just go! She'd shop, she'd drink a perfect cup of coffee without people constantly interrupting her, but most importantly, she says, she'd have some time to herself to just think.
A friend and co-worker, Mary Peres Chica, who balances a full-time job with being a mother and grandmother, would head to the beach by herself, just walk and think and "be."
"There's just something about the ocean," she says.
Autumn Magee, 27, a paralegal, and Mary Paggett, 27, an administrative assistant with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Fresno, are both mothers of young children. They chorus together what they would do with a free day.
"Sleep!"
"It's all just so constant. I'm going, going, going. I'm so tired," says Magee.
"I could go to sleep right now," says Paggett, seemingly eyeing her lunch sandwich at a downtown Quiznos as a possible pillow.
"It might sound boring. But that would be my magic day: sleep," she says.
Chong Moua, 36, has given some thought to how busy he is selling cell phones and taking care of other business. He doesn't have the time he wants to spend with his family.
"Some relatives live out of town. When we visit, it's always for something. It's always 'hi, bye,' not enough time to really talk."
He says he doesn't remember spending a lot of time with his parents as a child and hopes it will be different for his children. If he had an extra day, he would use it to "make memories."
He'd take his family to the park, or maybe play in the snow.
"Get some lunch," he says with a faraway look.
Over at Fig Garden Village, a group of women past retirement age ("Say we are toujours cinquante -- always 50," says Roxie Jizmejian) is indulging in the kind of leisurely lunch with friends that so many others said they only dream about.
Barbara Wade, a retired English teacher who still substitute-teaches because she enjoys it, says they are a circle of friends who have been through losses and illnesses and sad times, but they always get together to laugh over lunch.
If she had an extra day, she'd spend it just like this.
Jizmejian recalls when it was harder for them to spend time together.
"We were all working so much, some raised children. There were lots of responsibilities and obligations. But we never neglected our friendships. It was like a separate layer over everything else."
A dear friend of theirs, Don Ferrer, a retired English department head at McLane High School, died last year. Whenever they get together, they still drink a toast to him.
"As you get older, friends die. You treasure friendships more. You treasure time more," Jizmejian says.
"If I could give some words of wisdom they would be: Even if you don't have an extra day, you have to somehow, some way, make time for the joy in life. Get your friends around the table. They're all bonus days."
So What would you do?