Monday, November 3, 2008

A Schedule that Could Rival an Air-Traffic Controller's and Millenial Musings

Okay, so I'm eating lunch in relative peace and quiet at my desk; NO ONE is in the office; aaah. So, I decide I'll catch up on my blogging as I did a week and a half ago and after blogging for ONE HOUR, I went to post, forgot my password and lost it all :( So, I'm back on.

Okay, so my title, right? A Schedule that Could Rival an Air-Traffic Controller's; what's that all about you ask; well, it is what it is :) I have been saying lately, that this is how I describe my schedule this year. Basically, is that its this intricate network of comings and goings and soccer/gymnastics/dance/scouts/whatevering it up for Kevin and I. So, my oldest, Autumn, made competitive soccer this year. We've been practicing once a week for the past month; enter the start of the winter season this month, AND enter an additional practice AND a game each week. So, what this means is that every other week from now until God knows when..June I think...Autumn has dance on Monday evenings, Soccer practice Tuesday evenings, Soccer Practice Wednesday evenings, Girl Scouts (of which I'm co-leader, which you see means some responsibility and prep work) Thursday evenings, Soccer games Saturday mornings, along with Abbie's (my youngest) entrance into extra-curricular life with gymnastics practice also on Saturday mornings. That's quite a recipe you say, or schedule of comings and goings. Well, then, add a dose of Kevin's religion classes on Tuesday/Wednesday or Thursday nights this year depending on the month, Autumn's religion class on Sunday mornings and my crazy non-traditional hours res life job and there you have it; a schedule that could rival an air-traffic controller's! I think its particularly noticeable right now because Autumn also is like, NEVER in school in the month of November! I though we were bad here at BU with no school in September, but its crazy; every year, 4 half days, veteran's day off and then Thanksgiving break. So then, in addition to juggling the crazy schedules are juggling work schedules and who is going to take off when to be with which child where...Phew; that was a mouthful! So I need to get used to these varied flight patterns and departures and take offs and then BAM; I need to acquire a couple of re-surging airlines for some additional scheduling; like maybe working out again and seeing if I can still run after 2 months off? maybe seeing friends once in a while , going to crafting, etc. Let me tell you how amazing it was on Saturday to go with just Autumn and spend TWO HOURS, that's right I said TWO HOURS at the Endicott Teachers Association Craft Fair; it was Heaven! I remember going to tons of church fairs and stuff with my Mom and Nanny on the weekends and I loved it even as a kid, never mind as an adult indulgence of which I don't get to partake too often. So, here's my challenge to all my female adult friends in the field with crazy schedules of their own; Can we do it? Can we find a time to be stereotypical women and spend a few hours one weekend day paruseing church and other fairs? We shall see.
Then of course there's holiday shopping AND making some semblance of normal healthy meals for my family. I know, I know, all the super mom books will tell you "its okay" to do take out, micro meals, etc. and I really don't want to play into being a manic Super Mom (though I admit I'm not too successful at evading this), but having once in a while healthy meals and sitting down together as a family is something I've prided myself on up until now. Maybe my balance will be, one week of quicky meals and then a week of healthy ones given my every other week manic schedule. We shall see, we shall see, we shall see. This however is why I have an air traffic controller's schedule; which is also what brings me to my millennial musings.

I recently posted on my facebook status that sometimes I want to have a millennial attitude. Its so true. Now, I know the millennial characteristics don't apply at all times, or even to all millennials (case in point, my fellow Res Life Mom who I'm pretty sure is a GenXer trapped in a millennial body); anywho, this is my musing so it is what it is :) Okay, so when I posted that status, this is what I meant; I want to be able to assert myself with whomever, and challenge others even when they're "authority" without fear of negative reprecussions. Seriously. This connects to the entire schedule thing; I promise. So, often my GenX counterparts and myself kvetch a bit about our millennial staff, students, family, etc. We don't hate; my staff, students, family, etc. who fit the millennial bill; I love you, I really do; but honestly, at times you drive me INSANE! One of the key issues is the strict parameters that millennials establish around their work and personal lives. We as genxers supervisors are like; seriously? Just do you freakin' job in the spirit in which it was intended (by this I usually refer to a live-in position). But this is my main musing about this prime issue with millennials; we're jealous and resentful. I guess we could attribute it to our GenX cynicism, but really, I think the issue is partly, yes, give it your all and do the damn job, but partly, we wish we could bring ourselves to do the same thing. Even when we can, we don't; Even when people tell me I can leave early, come late, skip something, I feel intense guilt about it; that's if I even do it. So this is my life; I've mentioned this before; constant guilt at work and home.

Even my colleagues and friends who are not moms, but have other important priorities in their lives experience this. A couple millennial friends/staff/etc last week made comments that brought this to light for me more than usual, BUT it was my day off on Thursday that really hit it home. So, I had this grandiose plan to come into work, leave for a few hours, come back on Thursday and Friday at different times to meet different needs with the air traffic controller schedule. Then, on Thursday morning, I realized our signals had crossed (we know what happens when that happens in air-traffic controlling; DISASTERS) and Kevin had an obligation for work when Abbie had her first school Halloween parade and party. In addition, I felt run down, crampy (yes, I also had PMS; WHAT OF IT??!!!) and generally like CRAP. So, I bit the bullet, called my boss (interestingly enough, ALSO a Genxr, so I worry about her response/thoughts) and took the entire day off. It was HEAVEN! When two of my friends posted on my facebook status, indicating my joy, about their jealousy, I commented to one of them something to the effect of : Did you know there are people out there who don't live their jobs? One of my faculty colleagues summed it up last week; he said, sometimes, I wonder, what would it be like to be a truck driver, or a job that when your shift was done; you left it behind at work and went home and focused on home. How true; I mean I get the salaried versus hourly and "other duties as assigned concept", though while its maintained our union prevents this from being in our contract, lets be honest, its in our contract :) But my day on Thursday was wonderful, relaxing and revitalizing. I slept in a wee bit, went to Abbie's preschool for her Halloween party, which was AWESOME :) then went home, took Autumn to lunch, dropped her off at home, went to her Parent Teacher conference, then went home and had a nice dinner and hung out with the family. It was great, great, great and I need to focus on WW(a)MD? What Would a Millennial Do? I think sometimes when I just need to be a person, or a mom or a wife or whatever and if I have the time, TAKE IT. So what if I have to reschedule something, missing one day of work, one meeting, etc. isn't going to make or break my success as a professional. In fact, because I come back so positive, it may just make me a better professional, and it DEFINITELY makes me a better mom and wife!

2 comments:

Angie said...

Hear Hear!!!!!

Quite A Lot said...

you make it sound like your busy or something ;) i love how you compare your schedule to the air traffic controller! i think i feel a sick day coming