The more time I have to get ready in the morning, the longer I will take. It’s the same thing with schoolwork: I always finish what I need to get done by the end of the weekend, regardless of what else I do. Having less time makes me more productive.
Fun things must go on my calendar, otherwise I’ll tell myself I don’t have time for them. In the fall, I surprised myself by banging out an essay draft in a couple hours because I would be busy all afternoon. Since then, I’ve made sure to plan fun into my schedule. I’d rather do things with my weekend than stare at a blank page for a few extra hours.
The spring crew season starts tomorrow, at which point 25% of my waking hours will go to crew. (Since the end of October, it’s been only 12.5%.) I’m excited and pretty intimidated; it’s going to be in-tense. I made sure to have fun this week and not worry too much about work, because I’m about to get very busy. 5:00 mornings at the gym, here I come.
After Shabbat dinner on Friday, which was lovely as always (I met fellow blogger Shreya, who’s back from abroad!), I watched a movie with some crew friends and got a full night’s sleep. (And I finished a pleasure book I’d been reading (and not actually enjoying) for over three weeks.) (Shoutout to going to bed at reasonable hours on the weekends.) Yesterday’s big event was taking a friend on her first trip to Trader Joe’s, after which I stopped by Japan Club’s annual Yuki Matsuri for some yummy food and cool student performances.
Hiking to Trader Joe’s! We took the shuttle to Babson and walked 2 miles. It was cold. We got a ride back.
Another friend and I saw a student production of Fade last night. She turned to me before the show started and said she wanted to be social but didn’t want to go to parties, and I was like, yes, me too. Parties are not our thing. We’ve now seen on-campus plays together two weekends in a row, and I hope we can keep it up (if not plays, then movies!).
Yesterday, in addition to all that, I wrote my first four-page essay of the semester. There! Fun and productivity, all in one day!
Today has been another good mix. I got up, did an hour of reading for my writing class, and went with some crew friends to get donuts in Brookline. The donuts were fantastic, and the conversation was even better. It was good to get off campus, even just for a quick trip down Rt. 9.
Moral of the story: if you want to have fun, prioritize it. Maybe not all the time, but often enough.
In other news, if you remember my cupcake decorating post, I did something similar this past Thursday. After a tour of the back of the house, we food reps made pizza in the Bates dining hall kitchen! They provided the dough and let us go wild with toppings. There was vegan cheese! I’d already had lunch, so I showed up to my next class with an entire pizza. No one gave me funny looks. Now, if only the dining hall staff would make a vegan pizza this good.
Me and Agnes picking out our pizza toppings (photo cred: Cassie)
Me and my pizza! (photo cred: Lori)