Time management

[grysar]

I'm starting to wonder if downtime is a bit of an illusion. A lot of solitary entertainment I tend to be a bit obsessive about (new blogs, books I'm really into, computer games). Although my standards are fairly high, so that sort of thing doesn't kick in too often and when it does it tends to wear itself out (or finish the material) within a few weeks. There's also a good chunk of social/girlfriend time that tends to go with being an extrovert.

However, when I don't have something like that, I tend to put a lot of effort into work/apartment/backlogs/GMing. I'm making progress on the GMing front, I like the way my table top game is going and my online game is on its final mission (probably four sessions left but if I'm deft it may be three). After the online game, I'm planning to finish my Starburst Crystal part. After that the backlog gets to be a bit harder but also has more connections with work. My apartment is actually steadily getting nicer. I had friend of Moti guests down from Montreal the past half-week and that went well. I also netted a tea-pot, which is cool and finally makes it easy for me to make loose-leaf tea. Once I figure out how to hang my giant banner, I think I can consider my apartment workable. However, by then, I'll probably be starting Chinese classes with kamalloy, so the net impact on my schedule there may not be huge.

So, with all that plus travel and the occassional impulse to make some extra money, I'm not setting myself up for much down time for the next few years. [Not that I don't keep myself entertained, I just don't have blocks of time where there's not an obvious answer to the question 'what to do now.' This is ultimately by choice, I could carve out more time without getting into any necessities. However, it seems like cutting a lot of the slack out of things is basically a rational response to my present stage of life and personality. Although I don't want to burn out, so I think I'll try to revisit this in a few months and see if I need to add some slack.

Comments

[korgmeister.livejournal.com]

We all have different downtime requirements. Admittedly, I have much greater downtime requirements than most. But being bored is stressful, too.

But as long as you're on top of things and willing to clear your schedule as radically as need be to keep the burnout faerie away, you should be fine.

[grysar.livejournal.com]

::nods:: Bored is one problem I haven't had to deal with in quite a while. I did a fair amount of schedule clearing while contracting and so long as I'm willing to deploy that elsewhere I should be fine.

[kagami.livejournal.com]

In regards to Chinese classes, good luck. I have trouble just pronouncing stuff in Chinese properly.

[grysar.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Fortunately the most important thing for me professionally in the near-term is being able to read it.

In the one class I took, I didn't have particular trouble with pronunciation (not that I was good or anything, I just don't recall taht being harder than other things). Remembering and properly hearing tones is a different matter though.