Friday, September 19, 2008

Deadlines make my brain hurt

Or maybe it's the ungodly hours I'm keeping. Saying "I'm not a morning person" doesn't begin to describe things. It's true, I'm not a morning person at all. Get me up before 7 am, and I'm likely to grunt and squint for a good hour before I can produce intelligible human speech. But I'm also one of those people who needs sleep. A lot of sleep. Eight hours is livable, nine is preferable, ten is optimum. With the start of the school year, I'm lucky if I get seven. Since Boy is now in high school, we have to get up at 6 am because the bus comes at 6:30. (Thank goodness he's not a high-maintenance girl requiring an hour of prep time.) With September comes band practice every Thursday, and I don't get home until after 9:30. On Tuesdays I have flute choir, and I don't get home until after 10. Every other Wednesday I have critique group, and I can be out until 10. So by the time I get home, put my stuff away, deal with any mail or school handouts, have something to drink, check the weather, feed the cats, and scoop the catbox, it's close to 11. The math just isn't working for me.

Okay, sometimes I cheat and go back to bed after seeing Boy off to school. This will get rid of any headaches I wake up with (and morning headaches happen more often when I get less sleep), but try not to do it more than once a week because it eats up my days. I don't work at the computer all day every day. Monday and Wednesday mornings I have TKD class. Thursdays or Fridays I volunteer at the animal shelter. At least once a week I spend the half the morning doing grocery shopping and other errands. My goodness, no wonder I feel like I don't get any work done!

So while I'm adjusting to the fall schedule, I'm feeling a little squeezed by deadlines. My mom entered us in a quilt show, so I was working to complete a quilt by this weekend. (And today I finished the last step, the binding, hooray!) I've got an assignment due at the end of next week; it's under control, but I don't have any wiggle room. If I don't finish early, I'll be under the gun to get something ready for my critique group to read next month. Then there's another assignment coming in, more chapters to write, concerts to practice for, seminars to attend .... erk. I guess I'll just keep on with my usual life management style: "selective procrastination." Earliest deadlines first, then I'll worry about the rest.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a nap.

1 comment:

  1. I need my sleep too...Which is hard with a baby going through a growth-spurt that requires sustenance in the middle of the night, and clinicals where I have to *be* at the hospital before 7. So I generally do not get up to see Bela off on her early-morning bus the days I can sleep in. If she misses it, she'll let me know...:-)

    A nap sounds lovely, but it's only 8 am, so probably too early to take one!?

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