I hate Fridays. Why? Because I hate when people say "Happy Friday" to me. It makes my skin crawl. It feels sugar coated and gross and I hate that it is what is said Friday morning instead of "Good morning." Don't pop into my office and say "Happy Friday!" like it's my birthday. It's not. It's Friday. It comes every week. It is the end of working and start of two days off. Congrats. We work in the machine most Americans work in. I am not very good at being a cog in that machine.I am not used to office culture yet. For the majority of my working life, I have never had weekends off. I worked in a movie theater in high school and college so I definitely worked weekends. In the city, I worked on Broadway and in restaurants, two things that thrive on the weekends. We restaurant/Broadway people didn't say "Happy Friday". If anything, it would be "Happy Monday" because that was usually our day off. We didn't live for the weekend, we waited for it to make money. I used to have to schedule my days off by requesting them. I didn't just automatically get two days off in a row. What am I, royalty?As an actor, I never have weekends off. Just like most entertainment, it exists on nights and weekends. If I was an actor on Broadway and you said "Happy Friday" to me, I'd probably slap you. Fridays for actors usually mean a show that night and two shows Saturday followed by one, sometimes two, on Sunday. To me as an actor, the week is just a week. It is seven days long. I find it near impossible to break it down into five days of torture and two days of fun, even now having a 8-5 job. I haven't adjusted to this new language and I don't think I want to.Don't ask me if I plans on the weekend please. I don't. My husband still works in a restaurant and I never think ahead to weekends because I never had them available and now I don't know what to do with them and the given person I would be doing things with is working. Usually, I do what I do on any day off which is either nothing or everything. I take the days to run errands and clean OR I just sit around in sweatpants and think about going to the gym. I find myself still making plans on weeknights because I forget I have Friday and Saturday night free to go out. Also, have you guys gone out on a weekend? It's like everyone at the same time leaves their home to go and fill up every restaurant, bar, and street. I know that's obvious but for real, it is the worst and who wants to wait 45 minutes for a table at a place that might be only okay? In New York on weekend night, I have wandered the street searching for shelter like Mary looking for a manger except it's not to give birth, it is to drink and perhaps have a snack but I can't fit into the building because of the bridge and tunnel crowd that is multiplying like rabbits and every bar is out of fries. In those moments, I find myself thinking "Man, the money I'd be raking in if I worked in this bar."Why are there so many "Happy Friday" memes and gifs? Why? Is it really that exciting? Am I just the worst in hating on the joy of Fridays? These incessant cartoons and adorable animals singing about Friday flood my social media at the end of the week. It just feels so plastic.It feels like The Matrix. Maybe I just try to live my life to the fullest every day, guys! Maybe I am better than everyone else!That's not true. I don't think I have the energy most days to live life to the fullest and also, a job answering phones and emails can only be so exciting for nine hours a day. Not really what I consider 'the fullest'. So, I get it. I get the joy of knowing the work will end and you have freedom from the office chains for two whole days. To me however, it's just two days off and I don't think Friday needs its own parade. Call me bitter. Or call me the worst office playmate ever. I haven't drunk the Kool Aid and probably never will considering I have a career in the arts and will have to work weekends for the rest of my life in one way or another. Weekends for me right now are for filming or performing improv. Which, taking that in, does deserve its own parade because I am always stoked when I have a project coming up on a Saturday or Friday night. I spend last Friday night in the freezing rain filming. While not ideal filming conditions, I fucking loved it. And then went home and had cheesy bread. I guess maybe I can relate a little more than I thought.Happy Friday to those who make movies on the weekends with their friends.