My Two-Cents: The Personal Day

The Personal Day is one of my personal favorites. What does it entail? That’s personal! Or maybe not since I’m going to share some ideas of what the personal day could entail. It’s like an upgraded version of playing hooky. Half of these are from my own experiences, some are anecdotal evidence I’ve gathered from other PD-proponents, and some are just pure speculation of stellar PD time-passing. The personal day isn’t just skipping all your responsibilities, though that is included in the fine print. It’s skipping your responsibilities in lieu of doing fun shit. Life is tiring. Take a break. Step one is calling in. (Or not calling in – it’s up to you.) Step two involves switching life to creative mode and indulging in one of the following. 

1. The Errand, Chicken Sandwich, and Craft Personal Day
1. My sophomore-year personal day was usually the result of a vehement hangover. But instead of rotting all day, I decided to turn my frown upside down. And make a Trader Joe’s trip. And then a Slim Chickens trip to get my all-time favorite chicken sandwich (Cayenne Ranch Chicken Sandwich). Because as Tom in Parks and Rec says, "treat yo-self." Tom and Donna also sported their own Personal Day called “National Treat Yourself Day” – which is October 13th in case you're wondering. Once I ran my errands, I usually picked some sort of craft and watched Parks and Rec for the remained of the day. My favorite craft was putting flowers in alcohol bottles. Which worked out great until my apartment smelled like something was rotting two weeks later. So maybe learn from my mistakes and pick a more biodegradable craft for your PD.
2. The Party Planning Personal Day
1. This involves planning parties that would otherwise not occur. For this PD, you can only plan parties for holidays that are not usually celebrated (to my own dismay) like Leap Year! As soon as I have a disposable income, I plan on throwing parties for all the minuscule forgotten holidays. Like Leap Year! Kate’s Quart-Annual Leap Year Banger. Rules are simple – everyone wears green. Everyone has to leapfrog hop to the bars. (You will save money on Ubers.) And everyone gets drunk off of green beer. Kind of like a precursor St-Patties Day party.
3. The South Park and Pong Personal Day
1. I stole this one from my aunt. She and her roommate used to skip class, put the South Park Movie on repeat, and play pong all day. Can you imagine a more magical day? I can’t. Side note, Team America: World Police is also an acceptable movie substitute. Bonus points if you can sing along to the parody movie soundtrack.
4. The Write Your Senator Personal Day
1. If you find yourself with a lot of things to bitch and moan about in your life, this is the one for you. Why not take a break from a day filled with your incessant nagging? (I can assure you your peers will not miss it.) Take all the things that have been driving you up a wall, and compile them all into a letter to your local senator. I promise this will be a cathartic experience for at least one party involved. 
5. The Discovering Ways to Leave Less Paper Trails Personal Day
1. We could all benefit from finding ways to leave less paper trails. Your future self will thank you for taking the time now, during your PD.
6. The IMDb Top 100 Personal Day
1. You know, you should probably carve some time out of your week to really hammer down that movie list. 
7. The Mahjong Personal Day
1. Someday you will be in a nursing home, and the lady across the hall will be ridiculously good at Mahjong. She will also have an atrocious ego, and terrorize your fellow residents with her Mahjong skills. It will be up to you to stop her. Start getting good at Majhong now so your future self can put her in her place (and pilferage the small amounts of money that is the dwindling inheritance she is throwing at the Majhong table).
8. The Figure Out Why the Sailors Say Brandy Personal Day
1. Why do the sailors say brandy? Is she a fine girl? Would she be a good wife? Does Brandy walk through the silent town when the bars go down? All I know is there’s a port on the western bay, and it serves a hundred ships a day. While you're figuring out who Brandy is, you could also decide – is Brandy a potential go-to-Karyoke song for you? These are all valid, time-consuming questions that beg the need for a PD.

If one of these options doesn’t scratch your Personal Day itch, the good thing is you can always come up with your own! Best of luck in your PD endeavors, my friends.