Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Tuesday. February 26, 2013


I’m always curious about the way other people spend their time. Maybe I’m looking for ideas, who knows? But it’s interesting to get a glimpse of what functional people do, and why they do it. After reading about a day in Lindsay’s life last week it made me think that 1. She has an exhausting (but love-filled) schedule, and 2. I wondered what a day in my own life would look like on paper. Since I’m usually the one living my life, it would be a nice exercise to step back and look at it somewhat objectively by keeping track of my course of action throughout the day. So why not start immediately.

Before you step into my glamorous life, there's one thing I should point out. Joe has taken up temporary residence in the state of California. When he is gone (which he was for this post) my days are quite a bit different than when he’s here. Alone, I try to fill my time up as much as possible with events or household upgrades. I also listen to a ton of Chicago. When he’s home we talk a lot more throughout the day, and spend the after work hours doing things together (i.e., watching a show, listening to music, discussing the salient details of life). The basics stay the same: work, practice, eat, but the in between stuff is a lot different.

Enough of the preamble, let’s party.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013
6:40am--Wake up because Joe is calling me. He just arrived in Ventura, CA after his 1:00am departure from Las Vegas. I was worried he would fall asleep and crash (he wasn't worried, he’s a pro at sleep deprivation) so getting this call is a very good way to wake up.

7:00-7:50—Wrap up the conversation with Joe, then go out to the living room to practice, still in my PJs. I’m preparing a piece for a brand new ballet, and the music is surprisingly tricky. I say surprisingly because at first glance it appears pretty straight-forward, but weeks later it’s still eluding me. I have to stop playing because my finger starts to hurt, and anyway it’s time to get ready for work.

8:00-9:00—I spent a few minutes getting dressed and brushing my teeth, then turned on my work computer. We have a two bedroom place, so the spare room is my office. After checking my work email I spend the next hour merging lots of information into a Word doc. It doesn't require much concentration so I've got NPR streaming from my computer while I work. Also during this time I make and drink some vanilla tea.  Overall, the day is feeling pretty good. From the looks of it I’ll have plenty of work to keep me busy but nothing stressful or especially unpleasant to deal with.

9:00-11:00—Once the files had been merged I move on to a formatting project. This type of thing is incredibly slow paced but doesn’t need any type of mental contribution other than “this goes here, that goes there”, so I pull up a show on Hulu. Early on in this project I realize that it will take up most of my week, which is fine, just uneventful.

11:00-11:30-- My very favorite co-worker calls me. Since we all work in a virtual environment there's no opportunities for "break room" conversations. Usually we’re on group calls or talking with clients, so it’s always a really nice treat when someone calls me for a one-on-one conversation. In this case she just had a few work questions for me, then we chatted until she had to pick up her kids.

11:30-12:30—Back to work formatting these documents. At 12:00 I opened up a can of chickpeas and threw them in the oven to roast with some spices. I had a meeting coming up so I wouldn't be able to eat them for another hour, but at least by then they would be ready.

12:30-1:00—Standing internal meeting to go over what will be discussed during the next day’s meeting with a client. I took minutes. Right after the meeting I looked up the details of a concert  at UNLV and emailed them to Joe’s aunt and uncle who were visiting from out of town.
Chickpeas before entering the oven
1:00-1:30—More formatting. Also, at 1:00 I pulled out the chickpeas and ate them all. I’ve never eaten the whole can before because in the past when I’ve made these Joe has been here to share them. Not such a bad thing, eating an entire can of chickpeas, from now on I vow to do it more often.

1:30-2:00—Haven’t left the house all day and could use a break from formatting, so I walk down to Fresh & Easy. We get some of our produce delivered on Wednesdays from a local farm, so this trip is just to grab a few extras-- first and foremost, berries.

2:00-4:30—Finish up the workday with (wait for it…) more formatting. Around 4:00 I pulled out some farm fresh carrots and ate them with hummus for a little snack. So good. Also, throughout the day I had been making little notes in a spreadsheet to help me remember the details of what I did, specifically for this post.

4:30—I’ve decided to be done working for the day. Normally I’ll work until 5:00, but the sun isn’t going to stay up forever and there’s a brand new bike in our hallway calling my name. Before the bike ride I need to drain a blister, which I do by dipping a safety pin in alcohol and pricking the blister. This is a delicate process because if I prick on the wrong side it will peel off next time that finger plucks a string, exposing the raw skin beneath. Ouch. The blister drains with aplomb. Bicycle time!

What we've got here is a triple blister. I drained the very
base layer.
4:45-5:20—Ride along my normal route up into Anthem and back. A couple hills, lots of elevation gain, and a little dirt path for good measure, all in a crisp 9 miles.

5:20-6:30—While on my bike ride I missed a call from Joe’s uncle, so I call him back and we solidify plans for the concert. After that I make a quick pasta dinner with mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, and goat cheese. After I eat and do the dishes I remember some CDs I had checked out of the UNLV library that still need to get loaded into my computer. I work on that until it is time to leave. Then I quickly change clothes and head out.

Dinner in motion

6:30-7:00—Drive to UNLV and talk to little brother Kevin during the drive. He updates me on his band.

7:00-7:30—Meet up with Joe’s aunt and uncle in the parking lot, then go together into the concert hall. While we wait for the show to start we talk about fascinating things.

7:30-8:45—Enjoy a very unique new music concert, showcasing the minimalist composer Tom Johnson. This character wrote a piece of “music” wherein he stands as if at a podium in the middle of the stage and reads a “lecture”.  He repeats each line three times and invites the audience to shout out more! or enough! each time he finishes a sentence. This is a tremendous amount of fun for me, though despite constant arm nudges I can’t get Joe’s aunt and uncle to participate.

8:45-9:30—The concert finishes and we sit for a few minutes while people bustle out. Joe’s aunt liked the pieces that demonstrated math. Joe’s uncle doesn’t say much. We talk about their grandkids on our way to the parking lot then say our goodbyes. From there I drive home.

9:30-10:30—Once home I first unload the dishes and wipe down the counters. Joe calls but the connection is bad so we lose the call after a few minutes. While waiting for him to call back I pick up a little around the house. Eventually it occurs to me that he’s not going to call back so I check my email. Sure enough, no reception. I email him back about my day then try to practice a little more. My finger is still sore so I don’t push it. Instead I take a shower.

10:30-11:20—Get ready for bed, then go out to the living room and itemize all of our grocery purchases for the month of January. It’s always a little bit of a pain when I’m doing it, but well worth it to be able to see every single item of food we purchased.  Still, there’s really no reason to do this. I started it when I lived alone and was always looking for ways to cut my grocery bill, and it’s just a habit that has carried over.

11:20-12:00—Head to bed with my book, Europe Central. I read until a good stopping point, around mid-night. Then, asleep in no time.



3 comments:

Lindsay said...

I'm glad I inspired you to do this post, as it was interesting to take a peek into a day in your life! I think I'd love having produce delivered to my house each week so I wouldn't have to go to the store so often. Where do you sign up?

Brenda M said...

I'm so happy you are adding to your blog!

Brenda M said...

It's the end of April. I'm waiting for more updates. I love your blog!