Even my de-stressing is done with fervence and determination. That does not make me unable to relax, but marks my character as a driven individual. I hike with vigor on the weekends. When I go biking, I am often many miles along the path and often ponder relativity, relationships, and goals. Am I meeting them, am I remembering them all, is there room to improve? How am I treating my family? Friends? Co-workers?

When I am free to think ever-so-slightly less will be the day I have graduated with an engineering degree and am financially stable. Until then, my mind is a zoo of thought. One cannot associate a lack of thinking with relaxation. That said, I occassionally attempt to meditate but I often drift into thought even during those times.

I like to grab coffee or tea with a friend and go for a walk with our cups in hand. You truly get to know somebody face-to-face, not over the phone or on a computer screen. You get invited into someone's heart when you look at them and listen and let yourself relax, not thinking of your next statement or rebuttal. Talk is hugely relaxing for me.

And then there's the less prestigious form of relaxation, TV. Give me Numb3rs, Dollhouse, Lie to Me, CSI, NCIS, or 24 and I am in heaven. I only watch these shows once my work is done for the day (job, school, phone calls, consulting, working out). I watch TV when I feel that I've earned it.

People-watching! I travel a lot so I like to watch the world go by. People are fascinating. I hear accents and see different styles of clothing and I wonder where they came from. I like it when I sit next to somebody in the airport and we have a random conversation about who-knows-what.