MILES to GO || before I sleep

I've been addicted to this song for a while, and I blame it on Subway, where it's always playing whenever I go there for lunch. :P Plus it happens to make a pretty good theme for Téa in WDKY. :D Isn't it odd that this song seems so much more of a hit than Glamourous and Fergalicious, when those are the two major songs people raved about when Fergie first debuted solo? (Furthermore, I heard some idiot DJ say "Fer-jee" on the radio the other day, instead of "Fer-gee," which is what it's supposed to be.)

I'm exhausted. Yesterday after getting home from work, I played FFX-2 for hours longer than I intended (but I managed to oversoul a BUNCH more monsters, including the ass-wipe Concherer... the Miracle Drink SAVES MY HIDE), but for a good chunk of the time, I was actually just sitting in the rec room talking to Mom about various things-- my wanting to fix my bike, my wondering if I should invest $44 in the MyPoliSciLab for POLS 355 (because the teacher's lectures SUCK), me trying to come up with ideas for my Investigative Reporting class, and me juggling everything else-- the Sundial, NSCS, NSLS, work, "me" time, and time for my grandparents, above almost ell else.

It's really hard prioritizing and organizing. It's like I can do a brief burst for a while, but then I get too caught up in everything else. Then, when I want to take "me" time or a breather, it ends up doing me more harm than good, because I end up staying up too late just "relaxing," forgetting homework or other assignments and then berating myself for things left undone.

For example, my current story on the Metro Orange Line. I blame it on how most of the sources I've called (Pam O'Connor, Santa Monica city councilwoman and chair of the Metro Board of Directors; someone from CSUN's Transportation Services) have yet to get back to me. Okay, so I can talk to the Media Relations guy, but I wanted to avoid that primarily because journalists are told to never just take whatever PR gives them. And PR has many names and faces... I need time to hang out by the local Orange Line bus stop and talk to some students, time to possibly go to the terminal in North Hollywood with Kaori, the photographer for the story, and see who else I might be able to get ahold of. I've never been much of a phone person, but I've got to become one-- and an incessant one, at that, because for this class, three live sources per story are required, with a minimum of 20 stories throughout the semester. I was doing well initially, but now it feels like I'm getting lost in the tide. Thankfully, I'm not the only one, but that doesn't improve my habits, work ethic, or grade any.

I got another story regarding the resignation of the school's director of public relations and strategic communications, but I don't think it'll turn out to be much, based on what I've found out already. At least it's local (CSUN community), like I requested of the city editor. To be honest, I don't even want to do hard news like this, but I know it's important-- for the paper and the community, and also my own portfolio. But I'd rather be doing A&E, features, opinion... SOMETHING closer to what I want to do with my real life after this. Though technically, I want to be an editor, not a reporter/writer anymore...

The one bright spot is that after talking to mom last night, I might have a good idea for my first proposal for my Investigative Journalism class. It was partially based off something Melina mentioned on the NSCS retreat, and furthered by what Manley said today in the Sundial class. Hopefully I can actually pull it off, because it'll definitely require digging. Good thing I've never cared much about getting my hands dirty.

So now, the interactive part of this post:
(1) How do you juggle your time? How do you successfully (if at all) balance work, fun for yourself, romance (if any), family, and school?

The Sundial is more like a job than a class, though. I asked the city editor what she does-- she works 30 hours a week and has 8 units (less than full time), but she said she did have full-time status when she was a reporter like I am.

So I'm wondering, if this is another example of early-semester stress getting to me, what should I do to nip this in the bud? Limit my hours at work? That'll mean making less money, though. It's true I don't need to worry about rent or car payments like other people, but I *DO* have bills to pay (like credit cards...) Of course, I can always limit my shopping-- it's not like I really go crazy that often (maybe once a month or so). Or is there another solution? I can't drop classes.

(2) How do you prioritize? I always have a to-do list, and I can pretty easily recognize the things I can put off, but then when the things I can't/shouldn't put off start to pile up, that's when the stress mounts. I'm never sure how to be productive and "smart" with my time so that I can do as much as I can and feel satisfied about it. I don't want to be the type that only gets 3-5 hours of sleep a night (if that)-- I don't think I physically can! Getting up this early for my classes this semester has been enough of a biological change-- I'm not about to start drinking coffee or energy drinks, shortening my sleeping schedule (my personal minimum is 6-8, with a preference toward 10 for feeling well-rested).

I feel bad about using work-time to do homework or make calls for the Sundial. I also hate being late to work because I was running around campus-- getting things at the bookstore, walking to the health center, etc. What to do?

*snore* It sucks that I'm this tired already, so early in the day, when my afternoon class (which usually exhausts me by 3-4pm) hasn't even begun yet. I'm also more than halfway through a bottle of my usual "awakening elixir," Brisk iced tea, and it doesn't seem to be doing much. I'm not doing much more than holding my head up so it doesn't crash onto the keyboard.

...I often contemplate just not going to school/work/whatever when I'm this sleepy, but I have a loud conscience that wouldn't permit such a flimsy excuse. Mentally, I feel like I'm using up time or hours or something, and then if and when something important/big really did happen-- whether it was me genuinely sick with something BAD or something else, I'd "need" to go into work/school. I fought the urge today and I'm here now, but part of me wants to say "screw it!" to my next class and just go home. But why, when it's a GREAT class, only 3 or so hours long (with a 15-30 minute break)? It would seem pointless, especially how it takes me 30 minutes to walk home, and I usually never do what I say I'll do (sleep) when I get home. I get distracted so easily...

(3) Would you invest $44 in a textbook supplement if the teacher's lectures sucked, but you really wanted to learn? I've never been a straight read-to-learn person. I need discussion, activity, and interaction for things to really stick with me. The MyPoliSciLab thing sounds interesting, but I'm still not sure... Baba says "eh," Grandpa says "Hell no," and Mom is as indecisive as ever. What do you think? So far, I haven't spent more than $250 or so on textbooks (I've spent as much as $521 in previous semesters, so I consider this semester a bit of a bargain, especially since I'll likely be keeping at least a few of the textbooks for personal reasons). So it's not like it's adding hugely on top of my other textbook prices. Besides, this is an academic purchase, vs. say, a bunch of makeup or manga. :P

Baba says I'm supposed to have a "five-check day" (meaning the best day the horoscope doles out) today, and be inspired. The school horoscope told me to watch my finances and consider more education. The horoscope.com horoscope told me that I'll get a romantic proposition that I just can turn down.

I think I'm placing too much stock in horoscopes. I love them to death, but yeesh! Is it bad when I wake up in the morning feeling like I'm going to be busy, stressed, and generally batty, and my horoscopes are BETTER than what I'm expecting?

( Also, a rant. )

The whole FFX universe still confuses me. When I first joined fanthropology, I posted what I thought was the history of the FFX universe. It didn't really belong there, but Fanthropology is a mixed-bag sort of fan community. In any case, no one really corrected me on much, and now I find out new things all the time. new_spira was advertising today, and I went to their journal and the Wikipedia entry on Yevon, and I was like... wha? I think I need to replay FFX (well, actually, BEAT it. I never did, even though I know what happens at the end) and finish FFX-2 again.

I feel kind of stupid for thinking that Yevon was affiliated with Bevelle originally, not Zanarkand. But I'm pretty sure I'm right in that Bevelle and Zanarkand didn't have their final standoff in the Calm Lands; that was Sin and the Summoners.

Other stuff. Why is it that I can feel tired, tell myself "I'll go to bed soon" and then five minutes turn into two hours, and I'm still awake at 2am? It's bad, bad, bad I say! I never did watch my new purchase (the Indiana Jones trilogy) yesterday; I spent most of the night finishing up my translations of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles new songs, "IT'S" by Kinya, and "Kazemachi Jet" by Maaya Sakamoto. I transliterated AND translated the lyrics, listened to the songs OVER AND OVER to pull the kanji pronunciations from the lyrics... and I finally got it done. They're up for review at AnimeLyrics.com, and will hopefully be used by #yugioh! for their subs of the series.

People are visiting-- actually Dan (uncle) visited yesterday, and my aunt Joyce is here with her husband today; hopefully they're going to settle the ongoing dispute with their insurance company re: the San Diego fires that destroyed their home a few years back. I don't mind Joyce and her husband so much; I don't even mind the annoyance that is their dog, Mokie. But Dan kind of got on my nerves when he insisted that Grandpa didn't need a laptop, that he WOULDN'T carry it around from room to room, and that
a) laptops break more often (not true)
b) they're more expensive (true)
c) there isn't really a necessity for it (not true... necessarily)

Regardless of what, I'm planning on getting a laptop before I leave for Japan. Grandpa can get the computer I'm on refurbished with a new monitor or whatever, or he can get a new computer altogether. Whatever he wants. All I know is, I need enough time to clear my stuff off, because I refuse to be away from my email/fanfics/websites for 6 months. :P

Ooh, and guess what? I came up with a new name for my multi-fandom archive. I can start working on it tomorrow (or tonight, if we miraculously get out early and I don't haul myself to bed early like I should). The name... pure irony, right there.

Epiphany. Hee!