It’s tough to get around the metropolis because of the massive traffic brought about by the Christmas rush.
Just going through the daily grind of getting to work on time is a struggle. And when you add to the equation the time spent just to get home in one piece, the idea of getting some downtime during the Christmas season is really appealing.
So, what can we do for some rest and recreation when we know Christmas traffic can be hell on earth?
For me, I have a personal answer. Watch the Star Wars saga, then Star Trek.
That’s a strange answer coming from a certified Star Trek geek. Star Wars first? Why?
As a Trekkie, I believe in the Vulcan IDIC, which means Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.
And that means there’s room for Star Wars in my life. Do I sense raised eyebrows? It’s an easy explanation. Because I consider the Star Wars saga as part of that diversity.
The point is that I’ve decided to avoid the hassle of driving, crawling through traffic, finding a place to park, getting stuck in a crowd, then reversing the process to get home.
For me, it’s staycation time this holiday season. And the focus would be binge watching the Star Wars saga.
Of course, to properly do that, I have to watch the latest installment in the continuing story of the Skywalker family and their relationship with the Force. And I intend to watch the movie Star Wars: The Last Jedi in the theater comfortably.
You see, I have a plan. I already bought a movie ticket for the opening day on my way to work. That means I avoid the long lines at the ticket counter.
And I will be watching it close to midnight. That means a smaller crowd and a shorter line at the snack counter. Plus, there’s a lesser likelihood of encountering heavy traffic going home.
That’s the plan. And after that, comes watching the Star Wars saga for my rest and recreation this Christmas vacation.
That means watching eight roughly two-hour movies. Including the necessary breaks, that will take up roughly 16 hours of relaxation by immersing on Star Wars.
In order, the Star Wars movies consist of Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, Episode 2: The Attack of the Clones, Episode 3: The Revenge of the Sith, the stand-alone movie Rogue One, then Episode 4: A New Hope, Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back, Episode 6: The Return of the Jedi, and Episode 7: The Force Awakens.
That’s just sitting at home without worrying about the traffic. I think of that as bliss.
Eight movies… that might seem a lot. For a Trekkie, not really.
Why? Because in terms of movies, Star Trek has 12 movies. And future films in the works. Plus, there are the different Star Trek TV series. These would be more than enough to fill up my holiday staycation time.
And I only intend to watch the movies for this vacation. And there’s a definite reason for that.
There are seven series in Star Trek TV history, namely The Original Series from the 1960’s, the Animated Series from the 70’s, the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise and then the latest, Discovery.
That’s already about 31 seasons of Star Trek TV series with at least 741 episodes.
One can watch one Star Trek episode a night and it will take more than two years to finish watching all the episodes from all the Star Trek TV series.
So, yes, that’s my entire Christmas vacation plan. No traffic. No hassles. Just stay at home and watch Star Wars and Star Trek movies.
Of course, sometimes even the best plans are subject to change. One can always hope it won’t. After all, Christmas is the season for hope.
