I've just read an essay, The Busy Trap by Tim Kreider , published in the NYT some weeks ago. You've probably already seen it via Facebook or Twitter, if you haven't been too busy to read it... According to Kreider, Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day. Today I am having a rare day off, I say rare as now that I work in a school, my time off coincides with Elf's. He has been shipped off to daycamp today, along with 3 of his besties, so he can have a day of fun while I catch up with the housework no that's a lie, while I laze around reading! Which is exactly what I've done. (I did get up at 7.45 to get his lunch ready, but went back to bed until 11am to read my book). Bliss. I have friends who pack too much in, whether that...