A Day in the Life of Not Jack Bauer: Part 1

My name is not Jack Bauer. I'm not a federal agent, but today is the longest day in my life.

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OK, so I'm not tough as nails as Jack Bauer, or even a female version at that, but I've been hanging tough for the past 23 hours of being awake. I don't anticipate going to sleep anytime soon because my paper isn't done yet. My plan was to stay awake working long enough until class registration started at 7am. But guess what? I've been locked out of the system because I couldn't remember my password. The lockout is for 30 minutes, but for whatever reason, my second try wasn't successful either. So while all the classes are filling up in the past hour, through no fault of my own, I can only sit here and tear my hair out. So that I won't scream maniacally, I decided to write something down.

Today's been a bad day, but I was able to survive so far. This is the start of a miniseries on how to live on a student budget and have enough sanity left to deal with the craziness of school. I learned a lot of lessons today on saving time and money, though some of it was in retrospect.

Thursday, 9am--after being up all night working on my paper and dealing with editorial issues (with school stuff), I woke up not feeling so great. Good think I had some extra strength Tylenol around. Sometimes it's a waste to stock up the first aid kit, but if nothing else, have band-aids and over-the-counter painkillers. To prevent the whole expensive bottle from going bad when exposed to fluctuating conditions, not to mention saving space in your purse, just carry one or two on the go in a small container.

Thursday, 10am--I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! Got no time to pack a real lunch, so what to do? I've been eating out way too much lately and need to save money. A hunk of bread is always good to have around. Brought that with me so that I can buy a dinky cup of soup from the school cafeteria for $2 and still make a full meal out of it.

Thursday, noon--even though I could use my lunch to read, I knew that I need to have a break. Yes, it hasn't been long since I started my day, but I knew that it would be a really, really long day ahead. Even after we get out of bed, it takes a few hours for our brains to truly wake up. If I spend my time to eat and do nothing else--not answering email, not surfing the web, not otherwise multitasking--at least I'll have a small moment of peace and enjoy being awake. It's always important to have a short moment to yourself without interruption. Savor it. It won't last long, but makes you feel ready for the world.

Thursday, 12:30pm--sure enough that moment of peace didn't last long. The editorial problems I've been having finally made me blow my top, as yet another piece of bad news rolled in on my inbox. Gosh, people, be responsible! Have a small way of letting it out--not too over the top because it'll look--scratch that, make that "is"--embarassing and immature, but when you bottle it up on a day that you know will be hell, it'll only fester. Just let it out, get it over with, move on.

Thursday, 3pm--got out of class, realized that I had to rearrange my schedule because I realized that I no longer want to practice a specific area of law, hence no point in taking that class. Yes, it's a really big decision for me, I had to make it on the longest day in my life, and I had to do it unceremoniously quickly. Registration is 7am on Friday, I have to spend all night writing a paper, have to pick a new class and take care of business now. Had to convey my displeasure at one person responsible for the editorial drama. Couldn't yell, but had to do it professionally. Gotta have a sense of humor so that you won't come across as a b-----, but need to know when to be serious so that people get it. Tough balance, but I think I got my point across.

Thursday, 4pm--free food and booze for a big social. I'm there for the food, since I can't have the booze. Need to be sober to write a good paper, ya know! No time to cook...

Thursday, 4:30pm--went back for seconds with friends who haven't eaten all day. If there's free food, may as well make it dinner. Dealt with more editorial drama somewhere in between. Had to wait for a while, but by 5:30, I was quite full and headed home.

Thursday, 6-7:30pm--quite a blur. All I knew was that I wasn't feeling so well. Sat in bed and read.

Thursday, 8pm--went out to Starbucks to get a venti green tea latte. I didn't want a dinky cup of coffee made w/double espresso that costs an arm and a leg. I wanted to stay awake without the jitteriness. Besides, the green tea latte was a far better deal: I get the right amount of buzz, it tastes great, and it'll last me for hours.

Thursday, 8:15pm--got down to do serious work

Friday, 2:30am--moved from my desk to bed so that I can work more comfortably. Got less than half my paper done.

Friday, 4:00am--finally finished that venti green tea latte. Told you that it'll last a while.

Friday, 7:00am--the registration meltdown...

To be continued...