It seldom rains in August in Los Angeles.  But thanks to hurricane Hilary, last Saturday we were pummeled by an out-of-season storm, and for the first time in 84 years it rained in August.  And not just a trace of rain, but a downpour of more than two inches.

When I was a boy, I loved to play in the rain.  My enjoyment wasn’t even hampered by my mother’s insistence that I wear a rubber raincoat and galoshes.

But my love of rain diminished substantially in my mid-30’s.  At that time I managed more than 50 apartment buildings in the San Fernando Valley.  Each of them had a roof that might leak, and I lacked the cash to fix them.  So in those days, when I laid in bed Saturday morning, listening to the rain, I would play a “game” with myself, estimating the amount the rain would cost.  Was this a $30,000 rain, or a $40,000 rain?  As I’m sure you can understand, when rain became costly I enjoyed it a lot less.

But isn’t it always the case that your point of view depends upon the point of your view.  My business concerns trumped my previous pleasure of enjoying a good rain in Los Angeles.  It’s also true that, over time, my values and preferences have changed.  Today, I look forward to a nine pm bedtime.  When I was in my teens and twenties, the evening was yet young.

And that leads me to my favorite line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet (one I have often quoted). “There is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so.”  Is rain in August good or bad?  Well, I guess that depends on whether you are frolicking in it or trying to drive through a flooded intersection.

My oldest granddaughter is getting married in late October at an outdoor wedding.  Obviously, a rainstorm that day would not be good, even though I assume there’s an indoor back up plan.

But enough philosophy.  It’s now Monday morning, and I have work to do.

And a lunch date.

At an indoor restaurant.

Alan

Until last week I hadn’t thought much about how our lives are structured, even though most of us clearly follow a set routine.

We wake at a certain hour, eat our meals at about the same time each day, and our free time is scheduled around our obligations.  Ask anyone who keeps a calendar of their appointments.  But for the past three days I’ve had no appointments.  For me that’s a blessing.

Why do our lives have to be so scheduled?  I have sometimes asked myself why do I have to eat breakfast before nine am when I’m on vacation?  After all, I’m on VACATION.  I should be able to eat breakfast any time I like.  The answer, of course, is that the tour company is picking up our entire group at nine am, and if they wait for stragglers all of us could be sitting around until noon.

This sentiment was captured years ago when Mel Brooks made a film called, “If It’s Tuesday It Must Be Belgium.” The film was likely inspired by a cartoon in the New Yorker with that same caption that caricatured American tourists reading a tour schedule, oblivious to the surrounding charm of a quaint European village. Point taken.  Maybe we all need more unstructured time to truly enjoy our lives.

But, for me, it’s Monday and time to write my blog.  Though I would vastly prefer to have it entirely written by Sunday evening, I seem to do my best work only to meet deadlines – not to exceed them.  (Perhaps this is a carryover from my school days when I always thought, “If there’s no test, why study?”)

I will admit that we do have to create structure in order to organize a group or to accomplish certain goals.  For example, try driving a car where there is no structure established by roads, signs, and painted lines.  You won’t drive as far.

But even so, in considering my current appointment-free schedule, I’m appreciating that in many cases structure is unnecessary.  Sometimes it’s easier just to enjoy life without planning every minute.  Especially for kids.

So, I suggest that we consciously employ structure as a tool, but take a vacation from it as frequently as we reasonably can.

It’s a lot more relaxing.

Whew!  I’m finished.

Alan

Actually, just a small part of my summer vacation.  And to be even more specific – how I spent last weekend.

First, a little background.

Many years ago, I developed an addiction to playing mahjong on my office computer. Since it was impeding my ability to get my work done, I deleted the game from my computer.  Problem solved. Or so I thought.

The following Saturday I arrived at the office knowing I needed to work.  Unfortunately, I also knew that the mahjong game was still on Cathy’s computer, to which I had the password.

I thought that a few minutes of mahjong would be fine. So at 9:00 am I sat down for two games – ten minutes, maximum.  Then work.

As you might have predicted, I was still sitting in exactly the same position at Cathy’s computer at 4:00 pm.  No work.  No lunch.  Just mahjong for the entire day.  It was, I must admit, glorious.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, last week I came across a free mahjong game on my iPhone.  There went Saturday.  But I promised myself on a stack of hundred-dollar bills (see the photo with last week’s blog) that on Sunday I would not play mahjong.  Not even once.

You’re probably ahead of me.  Yes, I also spent last Sunday playing mahjong.  I skipped breakfast, though I did stop for lunch and dinner.  Perhaps I’m getting my addiction under control?

Now for the rationalizations:

1. It doesn’t really matter in the great scheme of things whether I play a computer game for a day (or two) instead of reading a book.
2. I didn’t really have to work on weekends anymore.
3. I can’t think of any activity that provides me more reliable fun for an extended period.  (I once played mahjong on what seemed like a 20-minute flight from Maui back to Los Angeles.)

Okay.  Enough blog writing.

My iPhone is calling to me.

Alan