Time allocation and goals

So many damn cool things to do, and so little time.

My days have been broken down into time spent at two jobs, time getting ready for either job, and time online when I get home. Then I sleep, rinse and repeat. My weekends are the days that I don't work one of the 2 jobs. There isn't much time for Ag in my day, and I could use a winning lottery ticket to sort some things out. If you have one, feel free to send it my way. I'll send you a thank you note, I promise.

I met a very cool woman that came in to the retail store that I work at on Sunday night. By cool, I mean amazingly beautiful and insanely nice. She gave me hope about dating again, since it's kinda weird to be in a position in which I'll eventually be asking someone out which I haven't done in over 3 years. The marriage kind of slowed that down for me. I'm actually kind of kicking myself for not asking her out when I had the chance, but it's a lesson learned. Along with hope, meeting her gave me a little motivation to reprioritize my time allocation and set some goals for myself.

Since I'm still waiting for a house to sell before I can afford to move out of my parents, my focus has been to work as much as possible for a couple reasons. The main reason is to ensure that I'm home less. Seriously. I love my parents and appreciate all that they do for me, but 3 months is a bit much. Parents are much better in small doses. It doesn't help that I work for my step-dad either. The other reason that I'm working so much is to put money away so that I can afford to move out as soon as the house sells. The house selling also means the finalization of the divorce (I would think), so it's really an important issue.

My alarm goes off around 6 in the morning, I shower, cram a breakfast meal-replacement bar down my throat and head out about 7. Depending on here I'm going (my step-dad owns a painting business, residential interiors mostly), I'm at work by 7:30 or 8. I then leave and give myself 2 hours to go back home, shower again, eat a meal and head off to my second job. I'm normally done there between 9 or 10 at night. I'll then head home, read and send email, update my blog if I feel like a monolog, or hop onto WoW to catch some friends online. I'd hop onto XBL, but my parents are normally using the TV until I go to bed, or I get into playing WoW or chatting with someone. I normally head to bed between midnight and 1.

This schedule has been bareable for the past 4 weeks or so (as long as I have had the second job), but it's wearing a little thin. I don't mind the work, but I don't always want to have to work this much to get ahead. I'll make some changes to my schedule (i.e. quit painting) when the house sells and I'm able to move. I'll also want more time to get my social life a litte more offline. In the meantime, I need to reprioritize. The diet I started when MJ started his has gone all to hell, and I'm excited and jealous that he's doing so well. So, it's time to put the goals into print (or type at least) so I can see them daily and get on track to making some positive changes.

1. Exercise daily for 1 hour. Walking, biking, 12 oz. curls, er, not that last one... Really got to get serious about this. I'm tired of the condition I'm in, and I have to make time for it. My health is important, so an hour less email or WoW isn't going to kill me. Might do the opposite. ;) As it gets colder, this may require a gym membership, and that's something I need to price and consider.

2. Cut the fast food and soda. I did incredibly well for a while. I gave up soday for about 3 months (didn't really even miss it), and I took the fries out of my fast food. Not a complete success, but a good start. Time to get back to that, then I'll progress as needed.

3. Get a budget going. If I drop a job, I'll need to know what I need to live on. I need to check out rent in the area, internet costs, cell phone plans, etc. Gotta figure out how much moving out will cost me so I can be sure to be prepared. I also need to be looking ahead so that I can be setting myself up for success, not just trying to move because I'm miserable.


I guess that's about it. If you care to drop a line every once in a while to cheer me on or check on my progress, feel free. That's what a support system is for, to help make progress.