Seriously?

9-22-10

First of all, I'm an education major. I am planning to be a high school teacher. (Brave soul, I hear some of you saying while others mutter, Idiot.) I also spent a year attempting to teach high school while I was a student missionary in the Marshall Islands.

Those glimpses into the life of a teacher still do not make me ineligible to be frustrated and/or annoyed by the fact that four of the six teachers I have on Monday all have important things scheduled for that day. The list is as follows: German chapter 2 test, chemistry chapter 3 quiz (read: mini-test), first draft of Essay #2 due, and working bibliography for history research paper.

First of all, thank you for assuming that I have all day Sunday to do your project. I happen to work for five hours each Sunday so I can pay for my education (you know, that part of my bill that the federal government hasn't covered in outrageous loans). Second, thank you for assuming that I want no life other than doing your project. I certainly do not want to spend time with friends nor exercise.

Yes, I know I picked my course load. Yes, I know that I've previously handled eighteen hour loads and a fifteen hour work week. Yet somehow this semester is different, and I am not entirely sure why. Perhaps it's due to the fact that I'm taking two upper division classes, a language class, honors seminar, a religion class, a general science course, and being part of the Wind Symphony--and striving to do my best in those classes? (That's what I get for being an overachiever. Silly me, wanting to do well.)

I'm not a person for all-nighters. I physically can't deal with that, since I need a minimum of six hours of sleep to actually function during the day. I have to spend at least a tiny bit of time with friends, or I'll go insane. (I'm not joking. Two weeks ago, I saw my friends on Sunday and didn't see them again until the Thursday of that week. Argh. I'm an extroverted introvert. I like my alone time, but I need people, too.)

So what's my solution to my self-chosen overload?

I'm doing homework a day ahead, which I've never had to do before. What I mean is that it's Wednesday evening and I just finished up most of Friday's work; I just have to do my lab manual for German, which requires listening to a CD and I don't want to bother my roommate with that tonight. (I'll do it tomorrow before chemistry recitation.) Tomorrow night and Friday afternoon I'll work on Monday's projects and Wednesday's reading for History of England because a classmate and I are leading the class discussion that day.

And I haven't even gotten started on the stuff I try to get done that doesn't have anything to do with classes or work, like my writing or my work with the Student Missions club or reading for pleasure and fun or exercise or being with friends.

I am trying to figure out how to balance it all, and this week has been better than last week, but I am seriously stumped as to how my teachers all assigned something important for the same day next week. I'm trying to live in the present, but not at the expense of the future (as Obi-Wan tried to point out to Qui-Gon). *sigh* This year is going to be difficult.

Seriously.