We all change over time. We modify our tastes, we pick up new habits and lose old ones, we learn new things and develop new likes and dislikes. We make new friends, lose touch with old ones, mature and become more conservative about some things while learning to become more laid-back about others. We all change. If there is one thing about me that has remained fairly consistent throughout my life, though, it is my severe inability to determine how long things will take and to set aside enough time to accomplish whatever the task may be.

If I think a drive will take me 15 minutes, it will inevitably take 20. If I make the drive enough times, I eventually learn that it actually takes 20 minutes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I end up allowing myself 20 minutes to make the trip. I’m almost always late. When informing me of a meeting time, some of my friends have taken to telling me a time that’s actually 15 minutes or so earlier than they actually expect me. If we’re meeting for dinner, and they want to meet at 6:00, they’ll tell me 5:45 to ensure I’m there by 6:00. It works, except for those rare occasions when I’m actually running on-time or early.

Today is one of those days where I am running woefully behind schedule. This whole week has been that way, actually. I could blame it on my being sick on Monday, but in reality, Monday’s illness wouldn’t have set me back all that much if I had been on-schedule to begin with.

I had set aside a number of tasks that needed to be accomplished this week: work stuff, getting ready for the trade show; cleaning the apartment; buying things I’d need for the trip (such as eyedrops – there’s going to be lots of dust on the show floor and my eyes have been very dry lately – and matches, since they don’t allow lighters on the plane, and breakfast stuff, since there’s no place to eat anywhere near the hotel except room service and convention center food, both of which are outrageously expensive); doing laundry and packing, etc. I thought I had left myself enough time to do everything, but of course, I didn’t. I never do.

It’s after 2:00 am. My taxi is scheduled to pick me up at 7:30 am. (I am so glad I chose the 9:20 am flight instead of the 6:20 am flight!) I’m packed, and I got all the files on my computer that I’ll need… But there’s still some cleaning I have to do. It’s still not exactly a “clean” apartment (though it is better than it was a week ago), and it’s going to have to remain in a fairly ugh state for the most part until I return home from Chicago. But there are still a few things I need to do – I need to clean out the litterbox and tidy up the bathroom a bit…

It’s woefully embarrassing having my neighbor come over to feed the cats and see the apartment in the state it’s in. I meant to clean, and I did, in fact, do a lot of cleaning. But not enough. You’d think I’d learn to keep it clean in the first place – this is a recurring dilemma of mine. Heh… :)

Oh well. I suppose my break is over, and it’s time to go finish up before I can go to sleep. I have a feeling that’s not going to be until about 3:00 am, though, which means I’ll only be getting about 3 1/2 hours of sleep tonight. Not such a good start to a business trip, hm? Oops.