I like to write what I have to do on the back of my hand. It's convenient because my hand is always there and I almost always have a pen, and it's practical because how often does one lose a hand randomly in the middle of the day walking from one class to the next? It's easy to get ink pens which don't wash away easily though it is harder to find such pens which don't bleed and run into all those little cracks and crannies in my skin. Whenever people pick on me for writing on myself, I point out the obvious advantages and then refer to my palette de peau as my "Palm Pilot." I get a few laughs, and the people questioning me just go on thinking I'm crazy, which is normal.
You would think that last semester would have made organizers and planners and a wall calendar ten times more necessary since I had three jobs and was taking four classes, but no, not really. I think it was because last semester was so busy that I didn't need it; everything must fall into certain time slots because those were the only times available. This semester I have one job which includes teaching, and I'm taking only two classes. I am also tutoring one of the linguistics teachers in French two nights a week, and I am still playing Dungeons and Dragons Saturdays and Tuesdays, but that's about it when it comes to what I have to write down in my planner. That part is pretty easy to remember, so half the time I don't even write it down.
It's the rest of it which needs to be written down on Post-it notes which litter my glass-top desk, or needs to be written on the wall calendar, or needs to be scratched on the back of my hand as I walk from work to class or class to work or lunch to class or wherever. This semester seems full of little things to do that don't lend themselves well to being filled in a slot on a planner to be done at a specific time. While most require being done by a certain time, there's no real starting point which I can pin down. It's new to me to have to make phone calls randomly throughout the day. It's bizarre to have to check five different e-mails because one is for friends, one for co-workers and friends, one for students, one for co-workers, and one for the random other things that I do like EQ2 and auto insurance quotes. It's strange to know that even though I might be doing homework at 2:37 in the afternoon, that might have to be put up if a student calls or comes in or I get assigned to edit something for the department. Everything's up in the air, and at a moment's notice, I might have to switch between two very different things.
When I was tutoring, my schedule was easier because it had a certain duality: I am here at a certain time and I either have a student scheduled then or I don't, and then if I have a student scheduled, they either show up or they don't. In either case, I'm either doing homework or I'm tutoring. The duality is gone, and it has been replaced with the multi-faceted brouhaha which is why office life can be so hectic even though it seems easy to sit at a desk all day in front of a computer. It's forcing me to have to re-evaluate the way I plan my days, and I think it's going to take me a while to do so because I have to learn the rhythm for this side of the building rather than the other side where tutoring takes place. It's a strange feeling. I'm sure I'll get used to it though. If there's one thing I've learned about myself, it's that I'm incredibly malleable and capable of adaptation. That being said, I should try and grade some more papers before my class at 9:30 because after that I'll be running to the bank and after that it's lunch at the French Table after which I have another class before I come back to work for two hours whereupon I'm meeting with Tony before heading home to eat and get ready to go tutor Dr. Phillips at seven so that when I get home Ian and I can go grocery shopping. <Pant pant pant> Crazy!
Posted: January 27, 2005 at nine in the crazy morning.