Friday, May 5, 2000

5 May 2000

You'd think I'd know better by now. If I take a nap from 5:30 to 7:30, then I am not going to be able to fall asleep when I go to bed at 10. Oh, well, at least I'm not completely dragging.

Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll come up with an idea for my game today. The game itself is tomorrow, you see, and I am completely unprepared. Not unprepared as in, "I haven't looked up the stats or worked out the numbers for the opponent yet," or unprepared as in, "I haven't worked out the tie-in yet" but unprepared as in, "I don't have the slightest idea what to do."

I feel really shitty about it, too. I feel like I'm letting everyone down if I show up without something prepared. I talked about not being very creative a while back, so I won't rehash it. Suffice to say I'm feeling more than a little dull this morning.


Of course, while I was writing that, I had an idea. It's either sortof clever, or really lame. I won't know until I flesh it out a little, and I won't know for sure until I actually run it. But at least I won't have to tell them that the game is cancelled.


My Palm has an application called "To-Do" which, sensibly enough, is a to-do list. You enter items that need doing, give them a rank of importance and (if desired) a due-date.

I find that I have better luck, however, if I add most of my to-do items to the appointment book and set an alarm. For instance, I've needed for about a week now to call the only local store that carries the shoes I'll need for my brother's wedding and arrange to try them on and find out my size. (My shoe size ranges from an 8 to a 10 depending on the make of the shoe, so trying them on before I buy is very important.)

It's been on my To-Do list since Sam sent me the phone number of the store. A couple of days ago, I put it in the appointment book: 3:30pm - 4:00pm Call Shoe Store. The alarm went off, I looked at the message that popped up, and thought, "Oh, yeah. Well, I'd better do it now while the thought is fresh." Of course, it didn't take me a whole half hour to call the store, but I didn't want to put an appointment in the book for only ten minutes. The alarm is the important thing.

Did earlier this week, too - we were in the grocery store and Matt thought to ask me a question about something my parents had done a couple of years ago. I didn't know the answer, but I set up the appointment book to sound an alarm the next day while I would be at work. And the next day, when the alarm went off, I called my dad and asked him.

Poor To-Do List. Without an alarm, or at least the intelligence to pop up without my permission when an item is nearing its due date - without some way to impose itself on my consciousness, I don't think it'll ever get much use.


Word of the Day: druthers - free choice, preference; usually used in the phrase "if one had one's druthers"

If I had my druthers, I'd be...
  • sleeping
  • reading
  • baking cookies
  • making ice cream
  • watching a movie
  • petting the cat
  • hanging out with friends
  • having sex
  • doing almost anything
...instead of sitting here at work.

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