The Time! The Time! Who's Got the Time?

It turns out that I'm not that good at scheduling.

I used to be alright at it, but then I stopped caring so much about details as a way to let go of some of my own anxiety.  The move has greatly eased my general state of mind, but it's made me a lot less conscientious.  Thus, I am now regularly late.  Which continues to surprise me.  I can only imagine it's like when people get old and find themselves surprised when they can't stand up as fast as they used to be able to.

It's worst when I have a long time that I wasn't banking on, like if friends want to go out at 9 and it's 7:30 when they text.  I'll think: I can shower in 20 minutes and get ready in 10, so I should get into the shower by 8:30 if I want to be ready by 9.  Except that I'm supposed to be somewhere at 9, and that fact doesn't usually hit me until I've watched one too many episodes on Netflix and it's already 8:40.

This afternoon was more of the same.  I planned on leaving work around 4, but then I decided to stay and get some work done, and then it was 5 o'clock.  At which point I realized that my dad might have been banking on me going to the Saints game for 7:30.  Two and a half hours? Plenty of time, I thought to myself.  I'll stop by the pharmacy and the library, swing by my house, and I'll be ready to go!

Halfway through the drive home, I realized that I have people staying at my house tomorrow and the place is nowhere near ready.  Oh my god!  I have so much cleaning to do!  So I pull to the side of the road and text my dad: "I don't know what you decided about who's going with you, but I can't go to the game.  AirBNB tomorrow!  Aghh!"

The pharmacy took longer than I thought it would to drop off a prescription.  I didn't even bother browsing the library; I dropped off the books I could find and renewed the rest online.  Even with that abbreviated errand schedule, I still didn't get home until 5:30.

I immediately went into the bathroom to find the vacuum cleaner, where I remembered that I still needed to fold the laundry that was lying across my shelves and wash everything in the hamper.  So I washed the dirty clothes and threw everything into a laundry hamper in my room.

I finally stopped cleaning at 6:45 and started driving to my parents' house.  Halfway there, I remembered that I needed to pick up the prescription I'd dropped off earlier.  So I U-turned, picked up the prescription, and finally made it to my parents' house by 7:25.  Only an hour after I thought I'd get there.

Luckily, the game had just started when I walked in, and I've been able to sit in the living room with my mom and brother, watching the Saints play better than I thought they would.  I mean, I'm not saying we're any good.  Or that we'll even win tonight.  But it feels good to hate on the Falcons, be disappointed in Brees, and still be winning.

(I might not be good at scheduling, but I'm plenty good at being pessimistic about the Saints this year.)

Who dat?