Overwhelmed by Time Management

Epic story adventures, I feel, are a tad notorious to have large moments of time pass in a very short amount of text. This summer I read The Hobbit to my boys and it was hard to believe how much time went by in the "short" story. But, in life it is quite the same. You start moving and living in the fast pace of time and once you sit back and track the time, you can be quite amazed how much has gone by. That is exactly where I have been for the last 10 or so months.

Epic story into real quick version: I found myself a full time job and jumped feet first into a whirlwind of adventure as I tried to become career mom. It has taken me around 9 months to actually settle in to all my roles, but I think I am getting there. So, back to blogging!

What Boss Levels have I been faced with lately in RPG of life? Time Management. Wish I had some really cool tool to link you to that would be the Magic Genie of Time Management and be your 3 click guide to making life super easy! I would love an app for that. Unfortunately, even the coolest of apps that I do use have not been able to do what I need. Turns out, self discipline is something you just have to learn and practice. You cannot just technology it into perfection. What can you do, then?

Well, I have learned that Coffee is pretty much the answer to everything. It has been the magic elixir to my insane life. It gives me an energy boost and restores my overwhelmed being. Whether I hit up the local coffee shop (the Target Starbucks in Keizer Station is the best coffee in the area) or I remember to brew at home, taking those few minutes to relax and remember the simple things in life has been a good refocus moment for me. I cannot balance everything I want or need to do, but I can make sure to keep going and do the things I have to do. I have to go to work, and I have to be there for my family. All those other great adventures, they sometimes just have to wait. But, this Level Up in life is beginning to be a little more clear and is becoming easier and easier. Next time I may have even gained some XP.

Staying in the Game

There have been a lack of Blogs from me for a little too long. Here's the deal: My stats were pathetic...

After starting the game of Middle Class we found ourselves beating every beginning level thrown our way. Like. a. Boss. XP went through the roof! Ever done that? Almost every game I play I find myself leveling up super fast. It's the best. Each level beat, you are refilled on your HP! and SP! (health and stamina) That's exactly how I came at Middle Class.

Boom, kids in Dance Class.

Boom, buy a car.

Boom, buy a house.

Boom, etc, etc.

This family went from level 1 to 10 practically overnight! Through the roof!!

Well, like all awesome games we love, the levels start getting harder. Perseverance is the key, so they say. We continued in our quest. Tobias started kindergarten.

We went the route of Charter School. All of us love it. A wonderful group of students, staff and parents. I joined the PTC and found myself with 100 Parent XP and I am volunteering at least once a week, let's go with another 100 Parent XP. I rock. That attitude that just was shared there definitely seeps through me a little too much and I'm pretty sure I drive his teacher bonkers. She works with my mother at her other school and has made comments about "Tobias" that I am pretty sure are guided straight to me. "I don't want him to think he's smarter than everyone else". Yeah, that's a low blow to me. I'm the one who knows he's smarter than everyone else. It's a pride issue.

I wish that being an awesome, involved mom was all it took to keep me leveling up through the land of Middle Class. Yet, social and economical classes are indeed both social AND economical. That's what has kept me from blogging and what has changed my voice on here, as well. After a pretty packed and fun summer, I came back to work and had our salaries cut just about in half. "Kicked out of the game". I knew that was what just happened. It drained all my energy. My life meter was instantly emptied. The screen went black and the large letters "GAME OVER" haunted my husband and I. Bowser's deep haunting laugh as his reptile skull and cross bones echoed in our mind's eye taunted me. We were beat.

So, the quest to 1UP at just the right time to have the XP we needed to stay in the game has started. I found myself back working at Dairy Queen, which has always been a Godsend to keep my family surviving. The work is not my favorite, the pay doesn't keep us passing levels at extreme rates, but it has definitely been the saving grace to keep us from going completely under. Also, the hours are perfect to allow me to still be in working with those Kinders! I just need to not take every opportunity at work to slip out early that presents itself!

The economical side has presented it's struggles. Nothing we can't overcome, just a huge headache. I mean, we are in a very stagnate level of the game, but I have been out looking for job "raids". I present all that I can carry in my pockets and hope that I have the right combination of supplies to be chosen. That journey will continue...

While I wait in the Marketplace, once again, I decided to focus on some of the "social" XP needed in Middle Class. Boom, read a book. This Christmas I asked for a grownup book. (I am limited, in my mind, to Young Adult Fiction when exploring the library.) I have not read a lot of adult literature, other than a few Biographies here and there. But, when it comes to reading, my favorite books are the Harry Potter series, so I stick to those and others in that genre, meaning Children's Fantasies. Love them. But, J.K.Rowling did branch out to write for an older audience, so I took the dare and asked for her new book The Casual Vacancy.

It took me a couple weeks to read it. Long book+no time=2 weeks of reading. Monday night I finished the last pages and... sigh. So. Depressing. Here's a quick review from a Level 1 Grownup Reading Reviewer: The Casual Vacancy is a very British book. If you have not grown up on BritComs, I feel the book would come across very dull and disconnected at times. Yet, each page I read, I was taken to many of BBC shows and movies I have watched since a young age. There was a strange sense of comfort in the familiarity that it brought to me. But, then Rowling would use word choices that also made me go "Hmm, this is very British". I'm sure it was "necessary" to the story line, but the foul language was a bit much, and the detailed encounters made me uneasy and embarrassed. I tended to skip a few pages to fast forward to the parts that were not so crude. Beyond the crudeness, there was a story that broke my heart and made me want to read on to find the justice that must be lurking at the end. Unfortunately, no said justice waited for me, and I came away saddened and fearing the lack of humanity being shown through the pages. 

When it all comes down it, I think there are parts of Middle Class that I won't try to emulate in my own life. I am going to stick with Young Adult Fiction, specifically fantasy or happy endings. I got the XP to maybe boost my stats a little in the book club circles, but that's not the skills I will be sharpening up. Right now our journey is going to be focused on the Economical Skills we need to help us get back in the game. I just hope we have enough Extra Lives to keep us afloat until we have the strength to push on.