....I hate being called a grrl, but it does make for a snappy title!

...uh, take the "i" in girl out ("i" as in "independence" because independence is something that comes with free time) and add an extra "r" for "reallybusy" (too busy to type a space, even!). I'm sure the only reason I'm a workaholic is because my mom is. One of those genetic things. Recently, I happily learned that the workaholism gene is linked to the goes-to-Target-for-just-one- little-thing-but-leaves-with-a-carload" gene. Comforting. I thought it was me, but it's just genetics!

It's also comforting knowing that being a workaholic works incredibly well in this day and age. And since it is becoming a respectable trait, I'm sure the term workaholism will soon be replaced with something less psychotic-sounding: effective time management perhaps.

Or maybe this is just a phase I'll grow out of, like the vegetarianism - I could very easily have simply fallen into yet another habit I haven't had the energy/courage/motivation to quit yet. Friends and relatives prefer this explanation, of course, but I think it's a way of life - and an exciting way of life. Effective time management is an art of sorts - you can't just decide you want to be an effective time manager and be successful at it over night! There are many many sacrifices to make, corners to cut, habits to form and habits to break.

I think a very big part of effective time management is having patterns. I guess everyone works in patterns to a certain extent - wake up at such and such an hour, get dressed, make breakfast, read paper, wake kids, feed cats...stuff like that (yeah, not my pattern, obviously), but to be a full-blown time conserver you need to rely on your patterns so much so that if something throws you out of your pattern all hell will break loose. It's the beauty of toeing that line that makes it all worth it, my friends.

I think I've become a pretty effective time manager and every time a relative says, "you're too busy...slow down" it only makes me grin. Of course that just makes them worry a little more, but eventually they'll either accept it or disown me and I've done stupider things than this and I'm still a member of my clan (no no no - not Klan...I don't think anyone is amazing enough to have the time management skills to balance a face-paced modern life with being sheet-swaddled idiot).

The first hour of my day demonstrates just how much can be crammed into a short period of time. Don't think of it as one hour; think of it as 1/24 of a day you'll never get to repeat! My work day begins at 5:30/6:00ish. I don't have to start that early, but I should and to be completely honest, I prefer it that way because there is no traffic on the way to work and I get the best parking spot in the lot! That must shave a good five minutes off my morning. But to be a true efficient energy saver, one must multi-task. I listen to Howard Stern on the way to work so I get my dose of popular scum. It is very important to balance stimulating entertainment with work, whether or not it be mindless work, so as my computer starts up and I'm racing to the water cooler to get my morning glass of water and waste a couple precious seconds to gaze longingly at the coffee maker wishing I didn't have to wait two and a half hours for someone to come in and be my caffeine champion (sadly, one of the sacrifices I made in becoming an efficient time manager was being completely raped of my coffee-making skills).

By the time I get to my desk my Netscape has started up, displaying the best thing about my morning. So maybe I loose out of about 2 minutes work time total some mornings when I'm too busy laughing to concentrate on work, but it's my necessary evil. And I've been completely distraught on the few mornings Real Audio has been uncooperative and I haven't been able to listen to Mike & Daria. So I open my Netscape mail and read the news while my slow, inferior work mail program is starting up. I guess news reading was a little more efficient when it came directly to my pager, but the replacement pager (I lost the first one - another casualty of my fast-paced existence) doesn't seem to put out. If the news is quick and my work mail is slow in booting up, I'll get my dose of suck at this time, too. Usually that has to wait for a stolen moment later in the day, though.

So then work begins, until the newspaper comes at 6:30. So I run outside to grab it and speedily retrieve the Currents & Arts section to update the movie listings with and I tear the crosswords from the classifieds to do during my weekend ride to Santa Barbara. As I walk back to my desk I squeeze the last bit of worth out of the paper by turning over the Currents and reading Dilbert without wasting any time. Only a few times have I been so moved by Dilbert that I had to expend a few more seconds to clip the comic and tape it up by my desk.

OK, so I won't bore you with anymore of my daily routine, but if you think you've got what it takes to be an effective time manager, join the team! Of course, there's no time to really have a team or anything, but to quote a popular and necessary quip, "It's the thought that counts!"

10/14/97