Trading Time

One of the tricky things about getting all of this work done is the inevitable failure of trying to trade ahead for time. No matter how well you plan, how certain you are that you have gotten just a few hours ahead, something unexpected always zooms in to fill the gap.

For example, last night I did all of my work for today and, since I knew that my Property class reading would carry through Thursday (leaving me one less class to work for tonight) I started organizing my Contracts notes. This should have left me with only two subjects to cover tonight and enough time to either continue my Contracts review, get ahead for one of Friday's classes or meet Brandon and friends out for dinner.

What actually happened was that my Property professor had mistakenly allotted two days to the assignment that he finished in only one. Even though the schedule said that the next assignment would be covered in Friday's class, he finished the previous topic today, apologized and asked that we complete the next assignment for tomorrow (Thursday) instead. Great . . . so much for that extra time I had planned for.

I won't bore you with the other two or three little incidents that popped up to eat up 30 min here and there, but I can assure you that every minute counts. Today I had a total of 3.5 hours of class. I know that it doesn't sound like much, but it is a full day. Each of my classes had an extra long assignment tonight, so all-in-all I did 7.5 hours of homework. That's an 11 hour day already. You should also factor in that I get up an hour early each morning to work out so I don't develop a law student physique and that I tutor for an hour on Wednesdays. So, before you even factor in time to eat, shower, drive to and from school, or possibly talk to my husband for more than 5 consecutive minutes, I have already had a 13 hour day.

I'm not complaining. I knew it would be like this and I signed up for it anyway. I'm absolutely loving it. I just wanted to give a little perspective on how I manage my time right now, minute by minute. Most days aren't quite so intense. Today was an extra full day. And even today, I traded some of my time for more time tomorrow. I could have left some of my classwork to finish tomorrow between classes, but I did it all tonight, bargaining for a little extra time tomorrow night when I might start some review, get ahead, or just have time to eat dinner with my husband.