Scheduling

A while ago, I got a question from John-Eric in one of those interview memes that asked me something along the lines of how I manage to keep such a full and active schedule and not go insane. At the time, I answered that it was the fact that I did not have as many social obligations as he did. After all, he lives in a social hub, and the nature of such is that anyone, whenever they happen to feel social, are far more likely to drop by the Embassy looking for people to do stuff with than anywhere else. With that comes peer pressure, obvious or no, and an inability to plan ahead for more than a few days. I’m not saying this is wrong, or bad. It’s just different, and I think the public perception that I have my life and schedule well in hand (it’s not) is a result of this. When one becomes used to a constantly changing environment, one ceases to plan ahead because it’s really a futile effort. Something else will come up, and in the end ones free time will be filled with things that spontaneously arise. To me, being able to schedule in advance is a luxury. Too often I’ve told myself: “I want to do X”, just to have plans scuttled by the above interruptions. Yes, contingency plans are always good, but they should be the exception, not the norm. Why? Because there are many activities that require long-term preparation. For instance, I want to spend a week in the Minnesota Boundary waters, and I want to spend another week somewhere tropical. Now, I know in advance that my sister’s getting married in a year, so there’s a week of vacation time shot right there, and I only get two. Add to that the plane flight, making reservations that won’t break the bank, saving up money, and all the other elements and you realize that it is not something you can just pick up and do… well, not in my financial situation at least. As a result of the pursuit of this luxury, I have tried to (unconsciously, I think) treat everything like it requires preparation. The end result is that I might have given up spontaneity, but the value of that seems… almost minimal when compared with the memories I create when I plan ahead and do something really special. The fact that I do this more often than others is the only real difference. But has the spontaneity been lost? I’ve been wondering that, given how rigid my daily routines are. And I find that it’s not the case. Not only do I leave blank spots in my schedule (Usually reserved for personal project time, depending on which fancy strikes me at the moment), and when presented with an opportunity to hang out with someone I will almost always scuttle my plans in favor of social interaction. There are some exceptions- if I have already paid for something (Salsa Lessons and Classes come to mind) I will usually bow out. Hobbies take precedence (This is a pro and a con- give me the opportunity to cook or dance, and I’ll bend over backwards to attend). And I am always, always open to other people joining me. It’s a question of temporal perception. Do you remember as a kid, when having a whole dollar seemed like you owned the world? Now, you lose a dollar in your pants and don’t think twice, but when a $20 goes missing you notice. It’s the same with time- seconds, minutes, hours used to matter, but as one ages that perception expands to the next larger scope. I suspect that one of the reasons I’m drifting off on a social tangent to everyone else is that there’s a split there. Of course, this is a chicken-and-egg question (Did I start drifting first, or did my perceptions change first), but I find that these days I think in terms of months, with weeks perceived as a subdivision thereof. Day-to-day activities still happen, yes, but when I schedule things, I plan out almost a month in advance (recently, it’s moved up to ‘seasons’, which is mildly disturbing). To contrast, I quote Sameer when asked what the Embassy is doing next weekend: “Dunno, ask me on Friday”.

Classes

This semester I’m taking Finance and Decision Tech (Which really is just simulation modeling using simplex and other methods). They’re on Tuesday/Thursday night, which is good because it leaves me monday/wendesday to do any studying that I didn’t get done sunday afternoon. But the ease with which I am stepping into some of this content is making me wonder about what I need to learn. See, as a developer I have no problem at all handling the equations that the professor writes on the board. At several points I was even ahead of the professor, to the point of trying to take a stab at the homework during class (without much luck- he didn’t cover N variables for N larger than 2). Add to that the fact that I do pretty well in ‘fluffy’ classes. Classes like HR and OB, where one tries to define such transient things as human behavior and make sense of them (This isn’t psych- we don’t care about the why, we only care about the what). Even there, where the defenitions are blurred and we are weaned on the statement “It Depends”, I have no problem pursuing the paths of contingency and the myriad web of cause-effect possibilities. It’s… intuitive, really. It makes sense. So where’s the problem? The intersection. I don’t know whether I simply have two distinctive methods of thinking, split by task, but when it comes to bridging the fluffy and not-so-fluffy I start to struggle. Marketing, for instance, attempts to not only evaluate buyer behavior based on such vacuous things as whether they feel happy that day, but tries to put numbers to that inherent uncertainty in an effort to derive projections. I should probably point out that I work for a marketing firm right now. By this time, I should have chosen a focus in my studies. I haven’t yet. I could easily go MIS if I wanted to, but then I already know all that stuff. Operations would be lovely, especially on the higher levels, and I really am interested in things like Negotiations. Fact is, there won’t be a focus printed on my degree (Which is sad), and there are no elective restrictions so I can claim to be MIS and take OB courses, but I’d like to be able to talk shop when someone asks me about it. I’ll have to look at the electives available next semester. I have at least until then to decide anyway… …but there’s another question. I realized that the amount of money I’m pouring into this degree via loans is really going to shoot me in the foot. I then realized that I can complete the degree in 4 semesters rather than three by taking 4.5 credits rather than 6, have it be out-of-pocket affordable, still qualify for undergraduate deferment, and thus save 20K in loans. Once again, a question I don’t have to answer until November, and it’s likely to loosen up my schedule a bit and give me a bit more free time. The decision really comes down to whether I’m willing to give up the $750/month cash flow for 16 months now for the extra $300/month cash flow for 60 periods down the line. A finance guy would look at this and tell you it’s a no brainer. Me, I factor in perceived benefits as well, so it takes a bit more consideration.

Cooking

I will no longer be posting Adventures in Cooking posts here. I know, I know, it’s something I love to do, and some of you really enjoy them, so I’d be an idiot to delete them permanently. Don’t worry, I’m not. I’m simply in the process of moving them to a new and far more digestible format (Digest. Get it? Bwa ha haa….). It will still be available in your Livejournal via RSS feed, too, so you don’t even have to change your habits. See? Convenience! I make it easy for you to convert! Join the Dark Side! Anyway, something else I’ve noticed is that I really never, ever actually do meals. So I’m going to take a page from the extraordinarily talented and organized Liz and start cooking meals-for-the-week on Sundays, because I have this nasty habit of eating everything I cook at once… and most recipes come in portions of 4 or 5 . This, of course, will be fighting for Sunday time with Football @ Chuck’s, Salsa, and Homework, so I have to figure out how to pull that off.

Friends

I love you guys. I really do. If you’re reading this, it includes you. Pardon my mood swings, we know I’ll get over them. The only thing I ask is for occasional social contact, ’cause the last thing I want to do is for things to atrophy. That can be an email, coming along to one of my myriad salsa outings, inviting me to this/that/the other (Thank you KT, I did get your invite last night, but it was 10:30 when I did), telling me to drag my ass over for Beer & Pretzels or else, or forcefully beating me over the head with a boardgame and dragging me to some dark and dank corner of the world, stale with the smells of paper, plastic, ground up snack foods and caffiene-laden nights of gaming. I’m currently working on a bit of a side project that’ll blow your socks off. It’s for each and every one of you, and it’s a way I hope to give back everything you’ve given to me (Well, the positive things at least). For this, I need volunteers, people willing to provide me with a 150x200pixel or larger photo of themselves that puts you in the best light possible (No, Jameel, the picture of you with your shirt off doesn’t count), willing to proofread something for me, and willing to wait while I get around to writing it in the first place. I would give specific invitations here, but I really don’t want people to feel like this is some kind of special admission club.

Gaming

It should come as no surprise, to those of you who have been paying attention, that gaming is taking a smaller and smaller role in my life. Nevertheless, I have recently joined an email Aberrant campaign, which so far I’m enjoying quite a bit- See, the premise is the ever-so-popular “Yourself as a Superhero” Genre, with the caveat that I never get to see or define my charactersheet save an initial statement of ‘paradigm’. My paradigm? Well, there are two possibilities:

1. First the statement of “I don’t want to be a Superhero in any world made by WhiteWolf”. This is because the Aberrant campaign setting, like so much of White Wolf, comes embedded with a timebomb. Sooner or later, there’s this dark/creepy/dangers/corruptive/volatile element in yourself that guarantees your demise. Not only that, but usually it’s a violently destructive element, and quite frankly I don’t see the point of taking on powers if I end up destroying any good I might have done with them. You are Guaranteed To Lose. Why, pray tell, would anyone play a game where they are guaranteed to lose?
2. Second is the idea of the subconcious. I know there’s papers and papers on this subject, but I’m taking the metaphysical and romantic (And somewhat pop culture) approach that there really is untapped potential somewhere in the back of my brain, and combined with some of the global conciousness theories that are floating out there I’m really big on unconsciously diving into the deepest recesses of the human mind and making it do what I want it to. Imagine a Nova unaware of his own skills, subtly but constantly imprinting his desires on the global subconcious .

In the world of the Camarilla I’m starting to attend fewer games, but then that’s just me having a busy life. When airplane tickets to Phoenix dropped below $200 this last week (buy now, people. Seriously) I bit the bullet and made ICC reservations, so I’ll be in on thursday around 7 and out sunday around 3ish. I plan on playing the Drunk Venue for most of the convention, possibly crossvenuing to the Pool Venue, the Sunshine Venue, the Senslessly Flirty Venue and, given opportunity, the I Ownz Y00 On TheD@ncefl00r Venue. I have a room with two Queen beds, but I really want a single King, so if anyone wants to trade, feel free to drop me a line. No, you’re not allowed to crash with me.