I am extremely talented at wasting my time. If there was an Olympics for time wasting, I’d be in contention for the goal every single time. Once gain, today, I had nothing dire or serious to do the entire day, save for a few errands around town. Walk the dog, feed myself, and keep myself entertained for the day was all that was on my agenda. While I managed those things admirably, I didn’t do much else. While I don’t have pressing things to do, I have plenty of other things I could be doing that I procrastinate about that I really should start to get going on.

Sometime this year, we are planning to go on a European vacation. That requires a budget, planning, and all sorts of time to work on things in advance. Other than buying a book that I’ve only given a cursory glance to, we haven’t started planning anything yet. Considering the travel book is something over a thousand pages, and we have to do things in two languages, the sooner I get on it, the better. Did I start planning the trip or even narrow down my choice of destinations yet? No.

I’ve got a pile of papers from work to grade every single week. I fought off the last pile in an epic, multi-day struggle that left my hand cramped, my eyes sore, and my spirit broken. I was even more downtrodden to discover another pile of papers waiting for me over my "vacation". It’s like a long drawn out poison that slowly kills your brain with dangling participles, misplaced punctuation, and all sorts of horrible grammar. Sisyphus had more of a sense of achievement. Did I start grading these papers on my vacation? No. But I’ve promised myself I’ll get them finished before I got in tomorrow.

The list goes on and on. It doesn’t matter how much free time I have, but I never manage to accomplish many of my goals. Did I study my Chinese characters? Did I study Korean? Did I work on my writing? Did I find a new band to listen to, website to read, or game to play? It’s always the last three, never the first three.

While I did walk my dog and get some small things accomplished, those things that I really should be doing never really seem to get done.I’ll at least have my mornings back to myself now that intensive classes are finished, so that I’ll at least have time to ponder my procrastination and work to improve it. The steps I took in the past, like creating lists, switching OSes (I totally lose more time while trying to work harder) or anything else just cost me more time.

I know what I should be doing, but without someone cracking the whip, I never get around to actually doing them. Throw in balancing a family life that needs some time, and a dog, and I’ll never get everything done. This is what keeps me going, but also what makes me wish my vacation and long days off were even longer. My next days off will be in the middle of February for Lunar New Year. I’m looking forward to it already.