Almost every Sunday since mid-May 2020 with a few exceptions, I have been taking my own personal Sabbath, where I tune out of the news and social media and turn off my ringer and all notifications on my phone. Throughout the day and/or sometimes the next day, I share what I am reading, listening to, or watching during my Sabbath.

This weekend my wife is joining me for My Own Personal Sabbath. As she is off Saturday and Sunday, we’ve extended the phone Sabbath from Friday night, last night, to late Sunday night, tomorrow night, when she goes back to work. We are literally putting our phones away in a drawer for the weekend so we can focus on reading, journaling, listening to music on Spotify through our TV and watching a little bit of TV and maybe a movie or two.

The only thing we had planned so far to watch was the last three episodes of Our Flag Means Death on HBO Max, which we did last night. As for reading, I have Nuclear Jellyfish, the 10th in the Serge Storms series, by Tim Dorsey on tap as well as sipping a little bit of Is This Anything?, a collection of his bits over 45 years, by Jerry Seinfeld. I’ve been slowly making my way through it and enjoying it.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll be picking up my phone Saturday night, tonight, to talk to a friend for a previously scheduled phone call. We were neighbors years ago and talk to each other about once a month.

I’ll also be resting my back once again. Two Tuesdays ago, I hurt my back at work (long story short, not covered by workers’ compensation) and yesterday, after missing two Thursdays of work, I finally went to a doctor and he told me that most likely I strained my trapezius muscle. He prescribed me prescription strength Ibuprofen and Baclofen, a muscle relaxer. I started taking them last night and I am feeling a little better. I also am using a combination of heat (a massage cushion) and ice, as I already had started doing this past week. He also gave me some exercises to try after five days. Beyond that, if it doesn’t heal by next week, then I’ll return and go from there.

We also are in the middle of a snowstorm, with anywhere from six inches to a foot expected, depending on which weather provider you look at, plus winds gusts as high as 45 miles per hour. It is 6:30 a.m. as I continue this draft started Thursday while I was off and it’s snowing now. We’re not going anywhere, so as Doris Day sings:

What are you up to this weekend? Reading, watching, and/or listening to anything good? Feel free to share in the comments.