Behind

Please note that the title of this post is meant as an adjective, not a noun euphemism for, well, a part I'd use another euphemism for.

Now that I've begun a post with both a nonsensical sentence and one that ends in a participle...

I am behind. I hate it.

While I do have some tendencies toward procrastination, I also have a very finely tuned sense of how long it will really take me to accomplish certain things. In other words, even when I procrastinate, I still end up finished with a task earlier than needed. But lately, that has not been the case.

For the first time in three years, I need to do the homework for tomorrow morning's Bible study tonight - the night before, at the last minute. Generally I'm several weeks ahead, but this is the last lesson in the book (3 John) and I've been putting it off.

Work is a never-ending pile of stuff to do, made worse by the fact that every time I get a good run at it, someone shows up in my office with a weird question that they think I can answer, or something new they need done right this second or their heads will explode. Cleaning brain matter off the walls is not in Facility Services' job description, unfortunately, so I generally need to change my plan for the day to accommodate whoever seems to be in distress.

It's funny how people cannot differentiate between the truly important and the faux urgent.

This week begins a month of what are essentially six day work weeks. I'm taking a couple of continuing ed courses through our own College of Professional Studies, and the classes are both on Saturdays. Although, I've not yet been notified as to where exactly the classes will be held, and if, indeed, they have enough registrants to run the class. COPS has a habit of canceling classes at nearly the last minute if the revenue stream won't be positive. The finance professional in me is happy they are at least monitoring their profitability; the student in me is more than a little miffed that I can't assume class will go on as scheduled.

If I am in class for a month of Saturdays, it puts a serious crimp in the time I have available to prepare for the Revelation study. I'm currently one week ahead on teaching outlines, and an extra week ahead on just doing the basic study. In spite of the fact I keep reminding people that this is not meant to be an in-depth, verse by verse study, questions keep coming up on minutiae that aren't covered in either the study guide itself or the extra material I've pulled in. Ordinarily, I'd love to dig in to the research to find the answers; at the moment, I've not the time.

Most of the house is mercifully clean - living and dining rooms picked up, the bedroom almost neat, kitchen tidy. The office/sewing room, however, looks like the aftermath of a tornado. There is a tipping point, I've found, where a project slides into the category labeled "overwhelming - do not attempt". Cleaning the office is almost there. The solution is to thoroughly clean one surface - the desk, the sewing table or the pile on the floor - just enough that it doesn't take all day, but shows results and hope for the rest.

The busyness and the physical clutter creating mental clutter are a couple of the reasons for the light posting. If I can get the area around the computer cleared out, my focus will be a little better and the post quality will improve.

As long as I don't turn around and look at the rest of the office, that is.