What's your dirty 'unwind' secret?

[Flying Grype]

Dirty unwind secrets... lemme see...

1) Really good ice cream. Seriously, it can mellow me out so fast. My current favourites are Ben & Jerry's Tortoise Soup and Haagen-Dazs Caramel Cone Explosion.

2) Japanese porn comics. Yaoi is my miracle drug.

[Evil Queen]

I'm depressed by how many people drug it up to unwind. I'm sorry to sound like an after-school special, but that's not cool.

I unwind by getting a massage, doing my nails, basically girling it up. I'm a Tom Boy so it's a practice that's very unlike me. If I can't get my girling up done, I hit up the gym for another run. I usually feel better after an hour.

[JoitheArtist]

extravagant baths. Bubbles, bath bombs, fancy soaps, scented oils, candles, the whole shebang. Sometimes I'll even put on my headphones and listen to a really wonderful recording of Eliot's "Four Quartets" (my favorite poem) during the bath--takes at least an hour.

I'll usually take a couple of bubble baths per week, just to help me unwind in the evenings, but I only go all-out every other month or so.

If I simply cannot physically relax any other way, and am over-exhausted, I will make a really strong hot chocolate with rum in order to get some sleep. I don't really like doing that, though, as I don't like using alcohol as medicine. Much better to use it as entertainment!

[ApolloSZ]

When I've been in a particularly fowl mood. Al will either drag me away from the rest (Cos I get rather cold and brutal - Not nice when your using swords) of the group and make me spill the story, or he'll hand me the re-cycled shinai (we break them, and re-taped the shortened ones) and let me wail on him (And only him, the smart ass ) until I burn off the angrynessness. This is one of the reasons I consider him a brother.

Other one is yeah, violent video games, and the most brutal things I can do in them

[Lindsey]

My biggest vice is sleep. Most of the time I'm so tired that there's nothing that looks better than my bed and a soft pillow. I can sleep 14 hours no sweat when there's nowhere I need to be.

Baths can be nice too.. bubbles and hot water and a long book. I can stay in the bathroom for 2 hours or so before I'm ready to get out and do something productive.

Hearing an entire Billy Joel album start to finish. Turnstiles or 52nd Street work the best; The Stranger is pretty good too. I love putting an album on and grabbing a cup of hot tea, and finding something fairly mindless to do in the meantime, like sketch or do easy chores.

Haven't really touched the magic oregano since I was 15ish, but sometimes I feel like it'd be a good idea to give it another chance to work its oregano magic.

I should go try some of that sleep soon.

[Jester]

Beer. Beer. And more beer. And then....some beer.

It's so dad. And perhaps a reflection on my age and deteriorating mental state. But I don't remember this thread. I so didn't remember it, that I was reading through it thinking of comments to make. And saw this one, and was ready to virtually high-five the author....and then realized that *I* had been the author.

So sad. So very, very sad.


Anyway, I should probably mention some other things I do to unwind. Often after work I'll sit down by the Mega Touch video game, aka "video crack," and play a bunch of games as I enjoy a few cold ones. My latest unwind technique is another form of video crack, an obnoxiously cute game I downloaded last week called "Airport Mania." It is just very soothing to me for some reason. Anyone who's played it should understand.

I do enjoy losing myself in a good book, though I have not done much reading in recent months....and to be fair, my version of what a "good book" is is somewhat different from most people's. After all, I enjoy reading a lot of non-fiction, including (but not limited to) books on serial killers.

Again, not something I have done much of lately, but I do love getting out on my bicycle and just spinning my wheels, literally and figuratively, and getting any frustrations I have out on the road and the bike.

And then there's sports. I love watching football, basketball, and all kinds of other sports, especially when one of my teams or my college is playing. Of course, some people might say that this gets me more tense than unwound, but getting out a lot of aggression while watching these, through vociferous cheering (translation: shouting my fool lungs out at the tv screen) certainly helps me relax. Especially when my team wins!

I don't drink. I don't smoke. Gods know that even if I had friends who could help me score me some magic oregano i'd be too fucking paranoid to take a hit.. Lately, I've gone out of my way to be a good human being and attempted to let my vices lay undisturbed...

Perhaps it is time to disturb your vices and have some freakin' fun. Sounds kind of like you are a bit wound up, and stressing too much about being a "good human being." Sometimes it's not only fun to be bad, it's downright healthy!

Magic oregano...I like that. May I use this phrase?

I hate to rain on anyone's phrase parade, but that is hardly a new one. I remember hearing that as far back as high school or so. And I graduated back in the dark ages of 1988.

So I'm the only one who turns to sex with multiple strangers to unwind?

I would, if I could get more cooperation.

I am just a drinker. That being said, this is the greatest smiley.....EVER!

I once slept with 3 people from Craigslist's M4M section in 12 hours, so no... you're not. (also that's a dirty dark secret) I did feel pretty dirty for awhile afterwards...

I am sure you felt dirty....with a huge freakin' grin on your face the whole while.

Actually I used to believe that too... you just have to find the right thing for you... Try an Amaretto Sour (Which is actually not sour at all), Rum Runner, or (assuming the bar makes it right) a Grateful Dead.

And what would a Grateful Dead "made right" be? I only ask, since I've never even heard of it. Being a bartender, such information could be very, very useful!

[Dave1982]

I am just a drinker. That being said, this is the greatest smiley.....EVER!

I know. Not the first time you've said that, either.

[Chrismor]

For me... Softball.

(Yes, I know, an Irishman, in Ireland, who plays softball. Damn someone introducing me to it)

There is no better tonic then going out into a field on a Monday evening and using a great big metal bat to pound a ball back at the team who just threw it at you... (Well, not directly at. I tend to aim for gaps, or hit it the opposite way... Leftys FTW)

And as I like to say... Softball players have bigger balls. Even the girls.

C.

[Jester]

I know. Not the first time you've said that, either.

Have I not mentioned my horrible memory before? Hell, did I not mention it in this very thread?

[Dave1982]

Have I not mentioned my horrible memory before? Hell, did I not mention it in this very thread?

You did. I just saw an opportunity to rub it in a little.

[Jester]

Thank you, but I prefer to get it rubbed in by hot Spring Break chicks in bikinis, thank you very much.