So in the last week, I’ve been struggling to keep up with reading in class while meeting obligations for the Enrollment Growth DTF. Since Sunday (and after going home for the weekend), I’ve had to give a presentation on American artist John Singer Sargent, write a paper, post fliers for the upcoming student focus group for the DTF, read 42 proposals for the DTF meeting on Wednesday, and read through the first thirteen chapters of Portrait of a Lady by Henry James.
The paper hasn’t been written and I’m only two or three chapters into James. All the flyers are up after some running around, but I’ve only read the first 11 proposals or so. Thus, to put it succinctly, I’m behind in every major endeavor I’m embarking upon this quarter. Thankfully, the minor ones don’t really count. naturalaxis is basically at a standstill until further notice (or until I get an actual client request, whichever comes first), and I’m only working in the Writing Center three hours a week, but I’m still getting slammed. As I said in a previous post, I asked for it, but I seem to have misjudged (and continue to badly misjudge) the amount of time needed for each segment of my work. I don’t think this is an issue of taking on too much (at least, not intentionally) — I was on the DTF long before I knew I was taking this class, and long before I knew how hard this class would be.
I desperately need to refine my tactics for time management if I am to survive the rest of the quarter with sanity intact.
So what’s left for the rest of the week? Tomorrow I have class from 10-12:30, a meeting to plan the student focus group from 1-2 (location indeterminate), a Grammar Rodeo workshop to attend from 2-3 as part of my brush-up on grammar for my tutoring work, and a DTF meeting from 3-5. To top all that off, I then get to come home, write a paper which is woefully late, catch up on reading I’m woefullly behind on (or try to), then collapse in a useless, top-heavy, brainless stupor while attempting to get some sleep so I can get up Thursday and go to class.
Ironically, I’m writing all this because I can’t sleep after a very full and overwhelming day. Yet, despite all this, I love my life, and I can write that with complete certainty and honesty.
Let’s ignore for now the possibility that I will eat those last words later.