Time Management Antithesis
I woke up with a gorgeous redhead this morning. It was very hard to resist being distracted by her, but I'd promised to meet sanjibabes (another redhead), who I heavily flirted with last night, to take part on her study on time management for polyfolk.
I find this ironic, because I feel like I've been especially bad at time management recently. I've been grossly underslept for pretty much this whole trip, I've had to cancel lunch today with a guy I haven't seen since high school, the trains are buggered this weekend and I need to be at Heathrow at 5pm today.
The hardest part is the way I think it will make other people feel. I feel like I'm being an ungrateful houseguest, an inconsiderate lover, and generally selfish and uncaring, just for living up to commitments I've made and to do what I need to do. In actual fact, my wonderful hosts don't seem to mind too much, I warned the woman I took home last night that I wouldn't have time to interact with her much today and she said that was fine, and sanjibabes just described her uni/work/project/activism/partner/social schedule to me, so I think she'll be quite understanding of mine.
I'd be understanding in her position too. I have a partner who I'd like to see more of, but she leads a very busy life and doesn't have enough time as we'd like to spend with each other, and I totally get that. Normally it's the other way around; partners usually want more time with me than I have to give, unless I compromise on other commitments or general life maintenance, something I just can't do now like I could in my 20s. But deep down I feel a bit hurt and unloved when people I want to see more don't have time, and I don't want to make other people feel that way. It's a flawed explanation, but it's how I feel.
There was a workshop on time management at yesterday's UK Poly Day. It offered tips like scheduling time to sleep, checking in with partners' needs frequently, and really considering the consequences of time-management decisions. I do some of these things reasonably well, even if I haven't thought of them so directly, and other ones need work, especially on the trip I'm currently on.
So I ended up saying bugger it and catching a taxi to meet sanjibabes. We put our professional/ethical hats on for the interview and then flirted some more while I was on hold for transit info to get back to Honor Oak Park. I missed the train they suggested, but one of the ticket inspectors had a PDA that could look up an alternative transport method and print it on the back of a transport ticket. This afternoon's going to be a rush, but I'll get to the airport on time. I just need to work out how to get a window seat on British Airways.