Every Sunday, when I sit down to write my weekly blog post, I open Google Calendar to look for something to write about. It’s a recap of everything I did during the week (plus some things I thought about but chose not to do). It also serves as a diary of sorts. In the future, I can look back to see how busy I was at a certain point, or when I did a certain thing, like when the last time was that I went to the dentist.
I love being in control of my time and knowing what’s going on. Google Calendar keeps all the things organized. In the mornings, I check it on my phone to see what I have lined up for the day. Classes are green, work is light purple, and most other random things are yellow or orange. (Covid test timeslots are gray.) The Jewish student life calendar is blue, and the crew team calendar is purple.
My family has used Google Calendar for as long as I can remember. If there was a conflict with something my brother or I wanted to do, my mom would ask, “Was it on the calendar?” (Sometimes the answer was yes, to which my mom would offer an “oops.”) The phrase “put it on the calendar” is as familiar to me as “have a nice day” or “see you later.”
When I find out about a lecture or event that looks interesting, I put it on my calendar. In the end I might choose not to go, but if it’s not on my calendar, I will forget. Meeting a professor for office hours? On the calendar. Going for a bike ride with a friend? On the calendar.
Speaking of which, I went for another bike ride today. Last week was summer again, but today was certainly fall. We layered up in workout clothes and hit the road / rail trail / local crepe café.
Time is a construct, yes, but GCal is real.
#notsponsored
(In other news, on Friday, I celebrated 365 days of taking 10,000+ steps a day! Over the past year, I’ve covered 2,487 miles on foot. That’s as far as from here to Seattle as the crow flies!)
A circle with a radius of 2,487 miles from Wellesley
Today’s bike selfie (I’m on the right)