It's the Small Things

I know, two days in a row!  (Well not quite, only on the technicality that it's after midnight Monday night, but who's counting?)

So for days - WEEKS, probably - I've been talking about how I need to do laundry, but I never seem to get around to it.  I run out of jeans and sweaters and end up in dress pants and hoodies!  I know, it sounds like someone should call the fashion police... but you just don't know the blessing until you've tried it   Anyway, a friend has been consistently telling me to get some laundry done (which I've consistently ignored, obviously).  Everytime she walks into my room, she notices the rather large area I've set aside for dirty laundry, and how it gets just a little larger every day (it makes sense, right?  I mean, the more clothes I wear, the larger the load is)... and how I never seem to do some laundry to make the pile disappear.  Today, though, I decided it'd be a good day to do a load of laundry - I was down to my last pair of dress pants, you see - so I put some in the washer this morning, and threw it into the dryer this afternoon (in those precious few moments I have between class/work/homework).  I took the articles I don't put in the dryer and put them on my drying rack in my room (yes, I actually own one and use it appropriately - not as a coat rack, scarf rack, place I throw both clean and dirty clothes, etc).  My friend came into my room tonight, noticed that there were clothes on the drying rack, and exlaimed - with much surprise and excitement - "Katie!  You did LAUNDRY!!!  I'm SSOOOO proud of you!!!!"  Yup, that's right... she was proud of her 21-year-old friend for accomplishing the HUGE task of laundry   It's kind of like that one grand cleaning day each year when my mom comes into my room and exlaims "Katie!!!  My 4.0 daughter!!  You've FINALLY vaccuumed in here!!!  I'm SSOOO proud of you!!"  OR when I turn a paper in in the beginning of class, instead of turning it in a minute before midnight (so it's not technically late according to her, praise God) like I usually do.  OR when I show up to my 7:30am class 5 minutes early instead of 5 minutes late.  See??  It's the small victories in life that matter

And I just remembered a chart that I haven't done.... oops.... I guess I better do that.  This professor won't accept the midnight hand-in

Deadlines

The funny thing about deadlines is even if you miss them, you're not actually dead!  Perhaps you're out of a job, out of a scholarship, out of a class, out of graduation (and even those are extreme cases); most of the time, though, you're out of favor with a boss, a professor, a coworker until you turn the assignment in to the respective person.  So really... deadlines are laughable!  I might call them half-dead dates, because even in the worst of circumstances, you're only half-dead until you complete the assignment or focus on another assignment to turn in late.  Or maybe, I'll call them half-grade dates, because you get half the grade that you would deserve if you had turned in the assignment on time.

Deadlines... yeah, I love deadlines!  I love the "whoosh"-ing sound they make as they pass by

You know, I actually love the impending doom of a deadline.  It's so exciting!  Will I make it?  Will I not?  How much Vault will I have to drink this time?  Should I buy a Monster just in case the Vault doesn't cover it?  Will I sleep at all?  Should I take the 1/2 hour of sleep and skip Chapel the next day to finish it?  When I don't sleep, will I fall asleep at my desk the next day at work?  Will the boss fire me for falling asleep?  Should I invest in TWO Monsters, instead of the typical one?  Do I have enough coffee?  Speaking of, maybe the boss would appreciate some coffee herself.  Maybe if I bring her coffee, she won't fire me   Will the professor accept the assignment late, if it comes to that?  How late is too late?  Will he accept it at all?  Is it better to skip class and e-mail the assignment around what would normally be halfway through the class?  Would he be suspicious?  Would he still grade it?  Will he have low expectations of me the rest of the semester?  Hmm... perhaps that would work out to my advantage!  If he has low expectations of my work because I handed in one assignment late, then perhaps I will actually get better grades because he won't know how well I can do!  Is it worth it to start the assignment a few days in advance and lose more sleep now rather than later in the week, thereby getting 4 hours of sleep EVERY night, instead of 5 hours 2 nights and no hours the other two nights?  Would it help if I do the assignment in front of House?  He IS very inspiring and smart.  Maybe if I do, his brilliance will make its way to my brain cells!!!

See... deadlines just start to absorb your life after awhile, and if you don't know how to deal with them, you're toast!  I, fortunately, have found the light in the middle of this tunnel, so I'm a few steps ahead of this bad boy!

Well seeing as how in the last post I was "considering" doing a few things, I figured I'd update on the move from what I considered to what has happened.

I was considering job-hunting... I did, and found one.  I've been working at a clothing store over break, and it's been fantastic!  They want me back in the summer- I will gladly oblige   And work stories... oh my word.  They go from the over-dramatic (it happens with the exceeding amounts of estrogen in the store) to the overly awkward - and it's only been 3 weeks!!  I can't wait for summer stories hahahahaha

I was considering writing more to my short story... I eventually finished it - all 10 pages of it - though the grade has not yet come  back to me.  I was told by a few peers that I need to turn it into a novel sometime, and perhaps I will.  I've fallen in love with the characters... it'd be so much fun to develop them further

I was considering going on a short-term missions trip this coming summer... I've decided, for various reasons, not to do so - at least not the one I was considering.  Maybe not this coming summer at all, I don't know.

As of now... I'm considering going to bed, because I need to get my little brother to school and then get myself to work over the next several hours.

I'm also discovering the ever-thinning line between when to have faith and when to use wisdom.  Sometimes it's very grey.  Do I endeavor to do (insert action here) lacking finances, but having faith?  Or do I hold off on the endeavor because that's the monetarily wise thing to do, even if I do have the faith that the financial resources could present themselves?  And is it lacking in faith to take the latter?  Do I take (insert name here) to the doctor because it's the wise thing to do?  Or do I simply have faith that (insert name here) will get better with more prayer and more faith?  And is it lacking in faith to act on the former?  As I said, I'm discovering the line... it's the crossing back and forth over the line that is the issue.

In the meantime, here's the political joke of the day: Tomorrow is the Iowa Caucus.  Caucus, of course, is the Greek word for "The only day anyone pays any attention to Iowa."