Wednesday, March 11, 2009

I am not always on time, please don't expect that from me

I am constantly running 5-15 minutes late. With the exception of things like planes and trains, which will take off without me and I WILL be early for that and you better not make me late or so help me (ask me about the time it took me 24 hours to make a trip that should have taken 5, I dare you), it seems that I am always late. Oh, and I do build time into my schedule to make whatever temple session I'm trying to make, but it always seems a closer call than I might like.

I'm never more than 30 minutes late. If am, I'm probably not coming, it's already been arranged that I will be that late (see my Thursday schedule), or I'm dead on the side of the road. Check for me, will ya? I don't like to make people wait, nor do I like waiting. For instance, the day that The Spy (who just moved out cry), this guy, and I had to wait for my other roommate for at least an hour or more was annoying to us all.

(Side note: She always complained that she hated getting rides because she had to wait for whomever she was receiving them from. I would like to point out that I waited a lot more for her that summer than she did for me. Another pet peeve: Calling me when I'm only 2-3 minutes late just really annoys me (sorry, Mom, I know I did this a lot when I was younger), because I guarantee you that I haven't forgotten or something.)

Also, if work needs me to be exactly on time, I will be. I'll even be early. The days I'm not on time, I stay a few minutes late to make up for it.

Anywho, I recognize that other people's time is as valuable as my own, that Sacrament is best when you're inside the chapel and not in the foyer, and that traffic is a tiny bit faster at 9 AM than at 9:15.

I know this. I hate that I'm late.

I blame, lovingly, my mother. She always found one last little thing to do before we ran out the door (probably because some kid was dawdling) and I got used to having 5 more minutes sometimes. And, now, I do the exact same thing.

It's also her fault, again, lovingly, that I don't get breakfast on the most extreme days of lateness. It was tradition that breakfast was always last after getting ready for the day, and I still subscribe to that theory. So, there are many Sundays, that because I slept in so long and took so long getting ready, that I don't get anything to eat before Church at 1 PM. Yes, I know how ridiculous and unhealthy that is. My mom knows that I blame her for this, and she always laughs at me.

So yeah, I want to improve. I know it takes me at least an hour to get ready for my day (at my sleepy speed), but it's so hard to want to get out of bed in the morning. And, on days that I do get up well in advance, I somehow lose 30 minutes somewhere in my time. The nasty Time Elves come and snatch that time away from me, and then they stick it somewhere in the middle of particularly slow days. It goes something like this "10:45. Okay, I, WAIT how is it 11:30 already!?!? Crap!" And then, on some quiet, turtle-paced Monday, "2:05 . . . GAH! It's only 2:10! How is it still 2 PM at all!?"

I can hit snooze for hours. Having an alarm clock across the room doesn't work for long. Setting clocks ahead just makes me do math, because I know exactly how far ahead it is.

Any ideas?

5 comments:

Jasmine said...

If I need to be out the door at 8:30, I try to set a goal to leave, as my husband puts it, at the absolute latest 8:15. I do this knowing that I will most likely be running late and will have some leeway. This helps sometimes, but not all the time because, as you pointed out, I just do the math and justify moving a little slower and leaving a little later.

Myrna said...

My mom had a propensity to be late, as well. So she set all the clocks ahead. It worked for her.I guess you are the kind of person who can't be fooled into that, though...

kimmers said...

I am just like you. I HATE being late, but usually seem to end up running behind so much lately. And seriously, I am never on time for work because it's never been mandatory. And now, two years later, it's physically impossible for me to get here on time. Haha. And when I read the part about "10:45. Okay, I, WAIT how is it 11:30 already!?!? Crap!" I totally laughed. That happens to me on daily basis when I'm hanging out with Dave (my hott boyfriend ... hehe). How do we remedy this so we are getting the most out of our time??

AmandaStretch said...

Kimmers - At least you have a hott boyfriend to blame. I do not. ;)

Emily said...

wow- we must be related. I like to think I'm pretty punctual, especially when it's important. But when I am late, it's for the same reasons as you... and I have the same problems w/ the traditional remedies. Maybe we should just be worse at math....