Time

One of the most frustrating things in life is the hopeless, infinite lack of time. We can never have enough for all the things that count: the HUGE bucket lists AND prominent careers (or school)  AND happy, picturesque families AND hobbies, and, and, and... We want to do everything, but in those moments when we feel overwhelmed, we want to sit back, relax, drink hot chocolate, waste time into oblivion, think of the here and now. Occasionally, when we are able to make time for everything, we have fun - we love it! - and then it ends. Looking back, the time is gone, and it may as well have never happened, because we can never experience it again.

In school, we hear about the geological time scale, the biography of Earth (what, some four-billion years long?) and yet, here we are, and those four-billion years can never be reclaimed. Then we go to anatomy to learn about our frail bodies, then on to biology to learn how our dead corpses will be welcomed back into the elements as we decompose in our graves. Then on to history, to reminisce about the billions of lives that have come before ours, shining like flares, only to be extinguished by time.

Our mortal lives are over in the blink of an eye. It's painfully simple and true.

Now, whether or not you believe in an afterlife is immaterial. It still stands that the most should be made of one's life on Earth.

Like YOLO, except not really.

The above acronym is widely misconstrued and used by idiots to justify stupid behavior (Pardon the aggression).

Ex1 "YOLO, dude, just smoke the ---- cigarette."

Ex2 "Just jump! C'mon, YOLO - it's not that high!"

Ex3 "Look, it's Friday, tomorrow's another thing, and, you know what? ---- it. YOLO."

Sigh... If the concept of YOLO were used with any sense at all, people would be saying things like:

• "Quit spending time on inappropriate websites, there are way better things to do."
• "Spend a little more time with your baby brother while he's still young."
• "Why the heck are you cutting your life short with drugs?"

Stupid behavior aside, there is still the problem of having two good options and not knowing which to choose. This is my biggest struggle, personally. Do I get a head start on that research paper, or spend some time practicing my writing? Both are good (equally so, in my opinion - not even school trumps developing one's personal talents). Both present their own set of pros and cons.

Many people have different ways of handling these problems. Some break their time down into micro-chunks, do a little bit of this, a little bit of that. They like to feel like they've tended to each facet of their lives every day. Others will set a priority and shut everything else out indefinitely. I would not recommend this while you are young because youth is perfect for exploring different opportunities and interests. Finally, people like me will "phase."

Phasing is why I haven't posted in a couple weeks. It involves spending long periods of time focusing on one hobby or interest, and then moving on to something else. This works especially well for me because my two major hobbies - writing and computer programming - are both very time-consuming. Phasing allows me to complete whole projects before I get distracted by other things.

During the month of February, my "project" was this blog. I spent most of my free time reading (to improve my craft) and writing posts. Then, during March, my interest dwindled, and that's how I knew it was time for something fresh. My "project" for March was improving my coding skills, which involved a lot of online reading, coding practice, and the purchasing of textbooks through Amazon. These were the types of things I did:

Above is a terrain-generator I created using a program called XNA. This could be used in building custom terrain for a 3D video-game.

This is a nostalgic Mario-style level editor I built from scratch, which I have called TILT 2D (short for "Tile It")

A turn-based, 2D shooter that allows players to fire rockets back and forth at each other (with randomly-generated hills and terrain that can be blown up! #geekpride :D)

 

The most complex of all - a 3D flight-game where the player shoots balloon-targets (the result of a fun online tutorial).

 

I also bought two (heavy) books by Ian Millington: Game Physics Engine Development and Artificial Intelligence for Games, and have spent a "ridiculously large portion" of my free time in the last week delving into their murky, mathematical depths ("my mother" par. everyparagraph).

 

This time-management strategy works for me because I get bored of everything, even the things I love, so switching back and forth keeps me from "burning out" in either of my major hobbies. It also feeds my hunger for progress. Every project that I accomplish reassures me that my reservoirs of time and passion aren't being sapped for nothing.

 

So, I'm curious: how do you juggle all the pieces of your life?