Time Management
Managing time was always been a weakness of mine. If you all didn't know my middle name was Beth, I'd tell you it was Procrastination. I'd like for things to be different, but I guess by the time you're 25, you're pretty much set in the way that you are. Sure, by great determination, I suppose I could make strides to becoming a better time manager. I just don't see it happening any time soon.
College was probably the worst time management experience I've ever had. You see, college, by nature, is so crazy. A phone call at midnight from a friend to go across the street to Blockbuster or Burger King really isn't out of the ordinary. (Late night phone calls took some getting used to. The first week of freshman year, I signed up for information on Student Government and was shocked to get a phone call at 11 pm! I told the person on the other line that I was already in bed and it was too late to discuss my joining Student Government. Yes, I know, terribly dorky. College life took some getting used to.) So, late night phone calls eventually became a welcome part of the college experience; last minute phone calls were too. It wasn't strange for a friend to call at 6:55 pm to say, "Hey, you wanna go to the cafeteria for dinner at 7?" If I didn't make myself get used to, and even look forward to, late night and last minute phone calls, then I would have missed some precious moments at UM. So, both of those things make planning and managing time difficult because what if I had a paper due the very next day and my friend called at midnight and said, "Let's go rent a movie!"? I would forget about the paper and spend time with my friend. I always thought about the consquences later...and dealt with them then.
Another factor that made college a hard place to effectively manage my time was the possibility for nonstop conversation, especially if you had a roommate (and especially if you had a roommate who you semi-liked). Freshman year I was fortunate, from the studious standpoint, not to absolutely LOVE my roommate or anyone else on my floor for that matter (except, if given the chance, I probably would have gotten to be friends with Bob Dylan Boy -- a boy who lived on my floor and played Dylan music loudly enough for someone passing by to hear). First semester I was able to stay in my room, study, do homework, and not get distracted by people too much (unless I ventured out of my room). First semester is the only semester I got straight A's by the way (well, I made straight A's in England too, but I was super student then!). Well, by second semester, I started making friends (who all lived in different dorms). I'd hang out with them all the time, which made time management hard. If a friend would pop in for an unexpected visit and I was in the middle of studying for a History of Christianity exam (which is what I was always studying for because Dr. Kling kicked my butt!), I'd totally forget about the exam and just talk for hours. (When I moved to the Wesley Foundation...forget about it! My goodness, I loved my roommates and all the people who lived there too...so it was possible to go ALL DAY without doing any school work and instead fill it with all sorts of conversations.)
Now, the above makes it sound like time management was hard because of not wanting to miss special moments with friends. While that is true, another HUGE factor is my tendency to lean heavily torwards procrastination. I knew well in advance when certain books had to be read, papers had to be written, and exmas had to be studied for. And I waited until the last minute possible. During senior year, if anything was due on a Thursday, shoooooot, I was out of luck. Sharon and I enjoyed walking to McDonald's to get Happy Meals on Wednesdays (I collected all the Spy Kids toys) and then we'd watch Dawson's Creek and Felicity together (sometimes Palumbo would join us, who happened to be one of the funniest guys...EVER -- quite possibly the funniest guy at UM, but not in the world...for he isn't funny all the time). Also, during senior year Dr. Kling enjoyed kicking my butt again when I took his awesome class, Religion in American Life. (When you love a teacher, you work your butt off to do well. That is exactly what I did...as I begin to brag on myself, sorry...and so I LOVED when we took an exam and then the next class he read from the BEST essays, always reading mine!) I remember one time, the pressure was on to get the best grade in the class on the next test, and who comes to town for a quick visit but Karen Jane! Man, she's like my best friend, so of course I was thrilled to see her! We hung out all evening and night and I just said, "To heck with Dr. Kling...I love Karen more!" No studying was done that night. And you know what? I don't even remember what my score was on Dr. Kling's exam. I do remember the great time Karen and I shared together though.
So, this whole post was actually brought on by another visit with Karen (and Philip and Marnie). Thursday, they came to Palm Bay High and I got to show off my phat classroom. We went to Atlanta Bread to eat lunch and then I had to go and sit at an uncomforable table for 3 freaking hours assigning lockers to kids. Well, yesterday (Friday), after 11 am there was no planned meetings or events for the teachers (we were just trusted to go ahead and plan until 4 pm, making sure to get everything in order for the first day next Tuesday). My room was a wreck. Books are everywhere (so many books you would DIE if you saw how many), but I picked up my phone at 11 am and called Karen. I was ready to play and worry about all the work I had to do later.
We had lunch with Karen's mom and her coworkers at the best pizza place EVER, The Pizza Gallery (where food becomes art). Philip thought my all time favorite pizza EVER sounded like CRAP. What do you think: The Rembrandt, a white pizza with pasta and shrimp. Yummmm. After lunch it was time for my 4th viewing of Napoleon Dynamite. Neither Karen nor Philip said they'd see it in the theater 4 times, but they did both enjoy it. (I thought it was so coincidental that Kelly also saw it yesterday, but I have her beat. It was only her 3rd time!) I already told Kelly the moral of the movie (that just came to me one day), but I'll tell you all here in case you're dying to know. The moral of Napoleon Dynamtie (well, maybe it's not the moral, but definitely a theme): In the game of tetherball, everyone is just looking for someone to play him/her (and of course, tetherball is a beautiful metaphor for life...don't let tetherball beat you up and knock your glasses off, get up and fight back). After the movie, we just hung out a bit and I knew that my afternoon spent with the Tallons was worth WAY more than whatever work I might have done back in K-207.
This morning I went into school for about 2 and a half hours. It was so very quiet. I didn't see anyone save for a custodian who was painting the handrails to the stairs in K wing. I got so much work done in just those 2 hours than I would have in the 5 hours that I skipped yesterday. It all worked out!! I did bring my teacher editions of my textbooks home thinking that I'd work all afternoon. Do you know what I did instead?! I listened to "Ice Ice Baby" (I'm in the process of committing all those extreme lyrics to memory, something Philip has already done...he's too cool for me) on repeat until I could take it no more. Then I slept. I don't know for how long, but until 4 pm. It was a great nap. The sky was grey, my room was dark, and Vanilla was sounding smooth (just kidding about Vanilla, I was listening to DC4C).
Tomorrow I will not work much, if at all. I will be embarking on a great adventure: jet skiing. This is something I've never done, and to tell you the truth, I'm pretty nervous about it! But, it's Philip's birthday and it will afford some more Tallon time, so what's that? Correct, it will be WAY WORTH IT. Because pretty soon they'll be 3000 miles away with Nessie and shortbread and kilts and whiskey and without me. So, I best make the most of the time we have!
College was probably the worst time management experience I've ever had. You see, college, by nature, is so crazy. A phone call at midnight from a friend to go across the street to Blockbuster or Burger King really isn't out of the ordinary. (Late night phone calls took some getting used to. The first week of freshman year, I signed up for information on Student Government and was shocked to get a phone call at 11 pm! I told the person on the other line that I was already in bed and it was too late to discuss my joining Student Government. Yes, I know, terribly dorky. College life took some getting used to.) So, late night phone calls eventually became a welcome part of the college experience; last minute phone calls were too. It wasn't strange for a friend to call at 6:55 pm to say, "Hey, you wanna go to the cafeteria for dinner at 7?" If I didn't make myself get used to, and even look forward to, late night and last minute phone calls, then I would have missed some precious moments at UM. So, both of those things make planning and managing time difficult because what if I had a paper due the very next day and my friend called at midnight and said, "Let's go rent a movie!"? I would forget about the paper and spend time with my friend. I always thought about the consquences later...and dealt with them then.
Another factor that made college a hard place to effectively manage my time was the possibility for nonstop conversation, especially if you had a roommate (and especially if you had a roommate who you semi-liked). Freshman year I was fortunate, from the studious standpoint, not to absolutely LOVE my roommate or anyone else on my floor for that matter (except, if given the chance, I probably would have gotten to be friends with Bob Dylan Boy -- a boy who lived on my floor and played Dylan music loudly enough for someone passing by to hear). First semester I was able to stay in my room, study, do homework, and not get distracted by people too much (unless I ventured out of my room). First semester is the only semester I got straight A's by the way (well, I made straight A's in England too, but I was super student then!). Well, by second semester, I started making friends (who all lived in different dorms). I'd hang out with them all the time, which made time management hard. If a friend would pop in for an unexpected visit and I was in the middle of studying for a History of Christianity exam (which is what I was always studying for because Dr. Kling kicked my butt!), I'd totally forget about the exam and just talk for hours. (When I moved to the Wesley Foundation...forget about it! My goodness, I loved my roommates and all the people who lived there too...so it was possible to go ALL DAY without doing any school work and instead fill it with all sorts of conversations.)
Now, the above makes it sound like time management was hard because of not wanting to miss special moments with friends. While that is true, another HUGE factor is my tendency to lean heavily torwards procrastination. I knew well in advance when certain books had to be read, papers had to be written, and exmas had to be studied for. And I waited until the last minute possible. During senior year, if anything was due on a Thursday, shoooooot, I was out of luck. Sharon and I enjoyed walking to McDonald's to get Happy Meals on Wednesdays (I collected all the Spy Kids toys) and then we'd watch Dawson's Creek and Felicity together (sometimes Palumbo would join us, who happened to be one of the funniest guys...EVER -- quite possibly the funniest guy at UM, but not in the world...for he isn't funny all the time). Also, during senior year Dr. Kling enjoyed kicking my butt again when I took his awesome class, Religion in American Life. (When you love a teacher, you work your butt off to do well. That is exactly what I did...as I begin to brag on myself, sorry...and so I LOVED when we took an exam and then the next class he read from the BEST essays, always reading mine!) I remember one time, the pressure was on to get the best grade in the class on the next test, and who comes to town for a quick visit but Karen Jane! Man, she's like my best friend, so of course I was thrilled to see her! We hung out all evening and night and I just said, "To heck with Dr. Kling...I love Karen more!" No studying was done that night. And you know what? I don't even remember what my score was on Dr. Kling's exam. I do remember the great time Karen and I shared together though.
So, this whole post was actually brought on by another visit with Karen (and Philip and Marnie). Thursday, they came to Palm Bay High and I got to show off my phat classroom. We went to Atlanta Bread to eat lunch and then I had to go and sit at an uncomforable table for 3 freaking hours assigning lockers to kids. Well, yesterday (Friday), after 11 am there was no planned meetings or events for the teachers (we were just trusted to go ahead and plan until 4 pm, making sure to get everything in order for the first day next Tuesday). My room was a wreck. Books are everywhere (so many books you would DIE if you saw how many), but I picked up my phone at 11 am and called Karen. I was ready to play and worry about all the work I had to do later.
We had lunch with Karen's mom and her coworkers at the best pizza place EVER, The Pizza Gallery (where food becomes art). Philip thought my all time favorite pizza EVER sounded like CRAP. What do you think: The Rembrandt, a white pizza with pasta and shrimp. Yummmm. After lunch it was time for my 4th viewing of Napoleon Dynamite. Neither Karen nor Philip said they'd see it in the theater 4 times, but they did both enjoy it. (I thought it was so coincidental that Kelly also saw it yesterday, but I have her beat. It was only her 3rd time!) I already told Kelly the moral of the movie (that just came to me one day), but I'll tell you all here in case you're dying to know. The moral of Napoleon Dynamtie (well, maybe it's not the moral, but definitely a theme): In the game of tetherball, everyone is just looking for someone to play him/her (and of course, tetherball is a beautiful metaphor for life...don't let tetherball beat you up and knock your glasses off, get up and fight back). After the movie, we just hung out a bit and I knew that my afternoon spent with the Tallons was worth WAY more than whatever work I might have done back in K-207.
This morning I went into school for about 2 and a half hours. It was so very quiet. I didn't see anyone save for a custodian who was painting the handrails to the stairs in K wing. I got so much work done in just those 2 hours than I would have in the 5 hours that I skipped yesterday. It all worked out!! I did bring my teacher editions of my textbooks home thinking that I'd work all afternoon. Do you know what I did instead?! I listened to "Ice Ice Baby" (I'm in the process of committing all those extreme lyrics to memory, something Philip has already done...he's too cool for me) on repeat until I could take it no more. Then I slept. I don't know for how long, but until 4 pm. It was a great nap. The sky was grey, my room was dark, and Vanilla was sounding smooth (just kidding about Vanilla, I was listening to DC4C).
Tomorrow I will not work much, if at all. I will be embarking on a great adventure: jet skiing. This is something I've never done, and to tell you the truth, I'm pretty nervous about it! But, it's Philip's birthday and it will afford some more Tallon time, so what's that? Correct, it will be WAY WORTH IT. Because pretty soon they'll be 3000 miles away with Nessie and shortbread and kilts and whiskey and without me. So, I best make the most of the time we have!
posted by alisa beth at 4:17 PM
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