I'm writing a story that takes place in the near future, but without specificity of time, so technology could be either identical to today's or slightly more advanced. It's important to what I'm about to say next. I'm writing the character of a female president, and I decided not to introduce her to the readers at a time in which she's in the oval office with her suit on, but as she's got some downtime. Now, there are two things presidents are famous of doing to blow off some steam: Golf and sex. So I want to stay away from those two. I could have her sitting around playing GTA on an X box. That would work, sure, but she's the president, she can do better than that. Maybe some virtual reality game. So I figured what all of you would do during your own passtime if you were the president. I'd probably play tons of GTA. I'd prefer that type of game to straight up shooter games like Doom and Half Life. After all, as commander in chief I'll feel a bit uncomfortable playing actually shooting people, as I send men and women into battle to experience the real deal. I wouldn't play strategy games, probably. I'll have too much of that in real life. I'd probably give up on chess completely.
Well, they do the same sorts of things that anyone might do. One advantage to being the President is that the whole family often gets private screenings of current movies, and can get tapes of the whole season of current shows that are on television. (I heard that the First Lady just got a set of the current season of Downton Abbey, which I think just started. I don't watch it, so I don't know for certain.) Many of them also read a lot. I would say, though, that your female president will probably still have sex occasionally, like most adults. If she has children, she'll interact with them, and their ages will determine the type of interaction. If she's married, she'll have interactions with her husband. She'll also have friends at the White House occasionally. Many presidents work out, so she might do that -- that's also a good time to have your character think - while running or on a cardio machine. I don't know whether your female president would play video games. I personally would not likely engage in that particular activity, but others might. It depends on her personality. If she was really into chess, I don't see why she would't play it, if she had a willing partner who was also available. Presidents also have special evenings out -- they can go to restaurants, see plays, etc. This involves a lot of advance planning, but they do it. They also go on vacations. But if it's just a few hours in an evening, on a relatively 'typical' day, I bet they're often very tired, and the way I see it, I'd probably sit on the couch or in bed with a stack of policy memos on one side of me, and a stack of books I want to read on the other, and the television remote nearby.
Why not stick with the virtual theme and give her a virtual vacation? She could be on a beach - sounds, sights and smells all inclusive.
Damian Lewis told a story on a British chat show that Obama told him that when no one was around he would put on Homeland (this was during season one) on in the Oval Office. So anything goes I guess
I'm in the camp that I'd highly doubt a female president would 'chill out' on an Xbox, especially traditonally male orientated games. Even if it were true it sounds ridiculous. She'd most likely be in her 40s or 50s. To relax or chill a female president would probably read, play tennis, maybe go sailing (not a yacht but small race craft), horseriding, shooting, watching TV (that sounds more reasonable), perhaps even archery.
I read each and every one of your comments. Thank you all. Btw, that character (who is one character in a very short story filled with relatively many characters) is a lesbian who has no partner. That means the first out of the closet president, and the first unmarried president since Buchanan (though technically I think that Cleveland and Wilson were also unmarried throughout parts of their presidencies). Her male cousin is actually her "first gentleman" just like Buchanan had his niece in that role. I could go more into her life and his life and how the press and the feminists and whoever look at this situation, but the story should remain short, and I've already got too much.
I think the best answer to finding out what she'd do during her down time would be to look at who she is as a person. What's her personality? Her likes and dislikes? Does she have anything she's really wanted to do? Is there something that she absolutely hates the idea of doing? I know in one of the RPs that my friend and I participated in, her character, the leader of an army, would turn on some music from the 50s and 60s, turn the lights down low and go soak in a nice hot bubble bath while drinking a martini (it was a female character) when they had some down time. Simple everyday things that we might take for granted could be the very thing your character looks forward to.
