I doodle on my tablet during certain classes. I'm listening, I just need something to keep my hands busy.
I never have enough of it, it seems, and yet, I still manage to carve a little out for myself. Last night the First Reader and I did something together we'd never done before: we watched a movie. It was nice, relaxing at home with the Avengers and dinner. I really need to make times like that happen more often.
It's the peripherals that are losing out right now. The garden I plan, my art, homelife… I prioritze and put work and school first (and this blog counts to me as work, because it's marketing Cedar-the-Author). I know that my schedule won't always be this tight, but for a while, it has to be.
However, one thing I have learned, in budgeting time as well as money, is never to cut out all of the luxuries. I've found ways to justify some time expeditures, like reviewing books for this blog, as a way to keep reading for pleasure. Others, like a movie with my sweetheart, are purely for me, to keep my mind functioning at peak by giving it a break.
I know I keep talking about time management, but that is because it's on my mind a lot. I set a schedule, but have to tweak it constantly to keep on track. Blindly following it all week would have… interesting results.
That, and I'm a bit brain dead this morning. Fairly sure you aren't interested in the study correlating drinking with breast cancer recurrence I was reading for Epidemiology. Or the research I need to do on Venezuela for a presentation in Spanish. Or even the graphs I need to create for Spectrophotometry to hand in tomorrow at Chem Lab.
But tomorrow I review the book I've been reading this week, fitting in the nooks and crannies of schedule, and enjoying very much. I think you will like that, if you like well-done milSF. I know I do. Speaking of which, check this out: Training for War, by Tom Kratman. One of my favorite authors, this nonfiction essay is free. or for a free fiction piece, look at Soft Casualty by Michael Williamson. Enjoy the reading while I head off to school.
Until then!