God. I didn't even get to the housework this weekend -- I have to do that in the evenings this week. I'm a busy girl.

Are you busy? Do you have too much to do and not enough time to do it?

(I think I like being overextended, for what it's worth. I hate boredom more than anything.)

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

Answers

Yes and no. I never seem to have a normal week (whatever "normal" means). Some weeks i'm so far from overextended that the apartment looks like Martha Stewart moved in, because if i get bored i have a tendency to go on a four-hour cleaning binge.

Other weeks or weekends, i can barely breathe without scheduling it in.

This weekend was like that - I had shopping to do on Friday night, housecleaning to do on Saturday afternoon, Girls' Night Out (oh thank god, some estrogen in my life...) on Saturday night, and then it was the St-Pat's celebration on Sunday. All i wanted to do was sleep in and that just didn't really happen. I wanted to read, and i only managed to squeeze in five chapters of Anna Karenin. I wanted to make some food that would freeze well to use for lunches this week and i only managed to turn the stove on long enough to fry a couple of eggs for lunch on Saturday.

I think i have a full one coming up next weekend too. It's ridiculous.

Then i think of my job being terminated at the end of this month, and the fact that school doesn't start until May 23rd. I think i'll be so bored what with being broke and stuck at home that i'll gladly welcome any over-extended days that i can get.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

Hell, yes, I'm overextended. First, there's work... work is insane, we (people in my group) could possibly, reasonably, do 2 projects at a time well. We are all assigned to 3, 4 or more. This is my hell month where I have 3 2-day meetings on 3 different projects within 3 weeks (and one is in California).

And, we're getting married (yay), so i'm trying to plan a rather non- traditional VERY SMALL wedding for September; time's getting tight for that and we still haven't nailed down a location. *sigh*

And I haven't done any substantial housework in quite some time... organizing the loft has been on my todo list for months, but we can barely keep the newspapers from piling up before taking them to the recycle bin.

To top off all that, one of our cars broke down this weekend and it looks like it might not be worth fixing it, so we have to decide we can deal with one car that only one of us (me) can drive, because it's a stick, or if we should trade both in for a new one that both of us can drive OR if we really do need two cars. Car buying was not in my plan for this year. Bleh.

And besides all that I still haven't finished my dissertation and that seems less and likely.

And I never get to the gym anymore so I'm a total lard-ass and I'm supposed to fit into some kind of wedding dress without looking like complete shit. sigh. bleh.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

I'd like to say that I am but that would be an inflated lie. I can have my moments or days but generally I am not overextended. My job can get quite busy and when it does I cut back on leisure activities (reading, exercise, TV and friends - in that order) to compensate. I'm not one to sit around and do nothing but I make a conscious decision to not get involved in more than I can handle. I know my limits. I do not have children so I am only responsible for me. I pick up some slack for my husband. I think it helps that I am an organized freak.

I used to be overextended. It has a negative effect on me. It made me bitchy all the time and totally miserable with everything in my life.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

I'm feeling overextended, but it's my fault entirely and I'm liking it a lot. I'm learning three new pieces of software for a job I'm going for, plus travelling or having company just about every weekend and working out three nights a week. I like it. It's a good amount of activity and socializing, plus I still have some me time.

Sometimes I'd like a free weekend, but if it's feast or famine, I prefer feast.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

No, I'm not, and very thankful for it. There's stuff I'd like to be doing, like gardening, but if I don't do it it's not a big deal. I thank god every weekend that we don't have kids we have to drive to soccer practice and the like. Things you can't get out of: that's my idea of being overextended.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

Completely overextended, and I don't know what I'd do with my time or myself if I were any less busy.

Currently on my plate: -a drawing class -personal fitness training sessions -looking into grad schools (again) -cross stitching projects -financial projects (like balancing/budgeting the hell out of my life) -weight loss/weight watchers organization -Harry Potter Books (I'm on #2 now, and at the rate I'm currently progressing, the twentieth book will be out before I'm halfway finished with the second) -planning a trip for this summer -oh yes, and I also work between 40 and 60 hours a week, depending on the week and season.

I like being busy. I also like being a complete loaf and have sexy cabana boys feed me frozen grapes (especially if those cabana boys look like Matt Lauer and sing like Ricky Martin).

I suppose I can't have it all. That saddens me.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

I'm not exactly overextended, but I have time enough to do exactly three things, and that's all: work, play with the kids occasionally, and sleep. More than anything I want some time to straighten up the mess of small piles of paper that is my home, and even time to read the weekend paper. Sigh.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

Usually I am. (Though the quarter just ended for me, so now I'm not for two weeks. Hooray!) Between half time at work and full time school, and a bunch of design classes that have a ton of homework that takes forever to do, I don't do things like chores, or have a social life. I've been mucking out my room so I can walk through it and pile up the art projects after all this time.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

Oh yeah. So overextended I've had to limit my forum-reading to every third day, or I'd just never catch up! Working full-time, gone back to school full-time (two 6-credit classes per term), two (as of Saturday...yay!) dogs, one cat, one husband, and one very neglected house. Let's not even talk about the phone calls that need to be returned, letters to write, emails to answer....

Oh, and it's playoff time, too. I should be able to get my head above water again come May, but to be honest, I like being just a little too busy. It's the waaay to busy - where I think I need to stay up until 2am and get up at 6am to keep from getting further behind - that is going to kill me.

Hint: Once you hit 30, four hours of sleep is. not. enough.

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2001

Oh boy. Good time to ask this question. I'd have to say that I'm VERY busy right now. End of the quarter in high school, midterms at college, working almost full time, and managing workplaces every changing website, plus trying to plan for my graduation has been keeping me very very busy. Then if you add in the things like reading journals, books, and e-mail in there to procrastinate, I don't see how I find time to sleep! (Yeah, I woulnd't recommend taking college classes during high school if you have a demanding job, my words of wisdom for the day)

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2001

Fucking a'.

I've got a fairly ambitous goal of travelling Europe this upcoming winter, which means that I need to pay off my credit cards, set aside 5K in "return money" and still save up to travel. THat's a big ball of stress.

Especially since I make about half of what the average web developer makes (I work for a university) and the job market for my industry is shit.

I'm also trying to build up a portfolio of freelance work so I can maybe try to go that route after I travel. So I work 40 hours a week at my job then another 30-40 on other projects. Then there is my journal and such.

On top of that I can't stand living with my roommate anymore, or any roommate for that matter, so I want to find a new apartment as well as a new job (that will allow me to meet my financial goals).

Throw the ACORN strike in there, which has become my #1 priority, and the fact that I got sucked into being the editor of the Industrial Union Bulletin, and basically I have a life that consists of getting up in the morning, taking five minutes or less go get ready and head to the bus stop, working all day, walking home, sitting in front of a computer all night or going to meetings all night. One night a week now is all I can spare for watching movies or playing video games with friends. Otherwise I am literally working from when I get up at 7 am until I go to bed at 1am.

Ugh.

I keep trying to tell myself that it will all be worth it when I am hanging out in Barcelona.

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2001

No, I'm not overextended. I do my job 8:30 - 5. When I leave, I leave the job there. When I'm home, I entertain myself, but don't feel like I HAVE to do the things that I want to do. I spend a lot of time uncluttering my life. I'm not one to feel obligated easily. If, for example, I want to join a club or something, and then three weeks into the club I decide not to go, I would simply not go. I wouldn't feel bad or guilty about it, because I was giving my free time to go in the first place.

Then again, I like being busy. I feel sluggish when I'm not, so maybe when I'm busy I feel satisfied instead of stressed. Who knows?

IG.

-- Anonymous, March 26, 2001

"I am so far behind, I can never die." I read that somewhere, and boy , it fits. I don't recall where I read it though.

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001