July 3, 2007

A piece of advice my accounts teacher gave us in high school a few months before our Senior Cambridge exams was to adhere to the 8x3 model in organizing our time. I might have mentioned this in an earlier post but just in case I didn't - he suggested sleeping for 8 hours, studying for 8 hours, and devoting the other 8 as we liked to play, fun, etc.

Sounds neat IMHO. I've never been quite able to implement it...or perhaps not when I try to do so consciously.

Today was a slightly different story. I ended up implementing the 8x3 more or less. So I slept for about 7 hours and took in an afternoon nap...okay I understand 2 hours is hardly a nap but you know what I mean! Devoted 9 or so hours towards non-sleep-or-dissertating-activities such as preparing for a 4th of July lunch which included cleaning up and dessert (I'm taking care of desserts only because a full-fledged meal is something I'm not confident enough to handle unless it's really close friends and family who won't let me live down a disaster but at least I won't feel too awful just in case it happens; on the record I've only had one disaster so far since I've been cooking and it was scrambled eggs.), an AM workout, groceries, a late lunch at a restaurant with my parents who closed down early today, etc. And, yes....dissertating took up about 6 hours which included planning the remainder of the current chapter (I'd been floundering a bit) and writing up a decent chunk. It wasn't 6 hours straight but that's what it amounted to. That I didn't realize it until I started writing this post made for a very pleasant surprise.

In other words, yay today (Mashallah, knock on wood, throwing a pinch of salt over my shoulder) except for some mild annoyances on the personal front!

I'm taking the day off tomorrow for the most part but July 5th is when I'm going to aim for an encore. Well sans the major cleaning bonanza. Stay tuned for that update....I'm rooting for me pulling off the 8x3 consciously this time.

Okay off to work on the pineapple semifreddo that I'm making for tomorrow...yes I know it's past 11:30 pm but it's supposed to stay in the freezer for at least 8 hours and there is no way I'm waking up super early in the morning to make it so that it's ready in time.