Wangin' It, Take Two

So apparently, blogging in the airport means blogging on my phone for the first time. (At least for me.) So if there appears to be an abundance of typos / spelling and grammar errors, you can blame auto-correct. (No really.)

As of about 9:30 last night (again, going by Atlantic Time), I officially finished my first year of university. Exams, term papers...everything. Done. And now I find myself sitting in an airport, patiently awaiting my connecting flight to return home.

And I'll be honest, I have no idea what I'm doing.

I've always hated the looming pressure to decide what we're going to do for the rest of our lives; the expectation to have everything planned out, all the time, no exceptions. And the whole "back-up plan" thing, too, but you probably already know that.

So needless to say, I have been stressing a bit. I have no idea what I'm going to do this fall; wether I'm going to head back to school or stay home and bum around in my parents' basement while saving money to spend on who-knows-what.

And you know what? I SHOULDN'T be stressing. Nobody should be. There's nothing wrong with being unaware of the future, or with not planning out every little detail of our lives. We're not psychics, so why should we be expected to be?

My love for spontaneous-ness (shush, I can make up words if I want to make up words okay) shows through the way I write. I would rather just jump into a story than plan the whole thing out first; if I spend too much time planning it, the story bores me, and I lose the motivation to continue with it. If something changes or doesn't connect with something that happened before it, I can just go back and change it later, no big deal. That's what the editing process is for.

So if I decide that I want to change my character's name from "Amanda" to "Amelia" half way through a story, why can't I decide, "Hey, I wanna drive to Vancouver," as well?

Well, probably because I'm broke and don't know how to drive, but that's besides the point.

My point is that spontaneity (look, I used the actual word this time, happy?) is great. Making decisions on the fly and not over-thinking everything makes life more exciting. If we had everything planned out, and knew exactly what was going to happen, it'd be boring. Like when you know the ending of a book before you even read it; everything seems predictable and not nearly as exciting.

Now, let's see if I can figure out how to post this post.

Until later,

- Justyne

Deadlines (WFMAD Day 16)

Let's face it: the only thing that could ever motivate me to finish my homework was the looming arrival of the test or assignment due date. (And if I'm being honest, even that didn't motivate me a whole lot this past year.) Deadlines, it seems, provide great external motivation.

The problem, I find, is that I suck at applying deadlines to my own personal projects. I tend to overestimate my abilities, and how much I can actually get done in a set amount of time. So when I do set deadlines, they pass easily without my project or goal being completed, which leaves me feeling frustrated and dejected and even more unmotivated than I was before.

The only exception to this, it seems, is this blog.

Aside from the brief period of time after the school year (in which I seemed to be unmotivated to do anything other than play Sims), I've been really good at updating this blog. I said I'd update every Friday, and for the most part, I've nailed it, every time. Even now, in the midst of a blog-a-day challenge, I have yet to fail. (Unless you count posting after midnight failing, which I don't. Cut me some slack!)

So what's the difference between this, and my other projects? Why can't my deadlines be as successful for everything else?

Maybe my other projects are simply too big. Maybe my deadlines are unrealistic; the work too big to complete in the given time. Maybe I need to develop a new routine, or a new method to working on my projects.

Or maybe, I just need to dive right back into it.

I'll be honest; now that I'm taking a break from school, and working mostly full time, the pressure is on. To make real progress on my writing, my art, and other creative projects. Before, with my focus always on school, this had always just seemed like a hobby.

It's not just a hobby anymore.

So maybe, despite all the times I failed before, it's time to give it another shot.


Until later,

- Justyne

In Which I Blog About Blogging (WFMAD Day 11)

I've been wangin' this blogging thing for the past six months now. (Seriously, though, it has not been six months already. It hasn't. I refuse to believe that, just like I refuse to believe my younger sister just entered high school, and that I, myself, graduated over a year ago. WHAT.)

To be completely honest, I still have no idea if I'm doing this right.

I find that my blogging tends to be all over the place. Sometimes, I give writing tips. Sometimes, I blog about writing in general. Sometimes, I ramble on about my life--which, I admit, is pretty boring. I'm still not entirely sure what I'm doing a good 99% of the time. Sometimes it's nice, to be able to wang it so frequently. Most times it's a pain in the butt, because I still have no idea what I'm doing.

It has its ups and downs, I guess.

But, since you're still reading this after six months, I must be doing something right.

Now, considering that I have blogged about a wide variety of topics, let me ask you: why do you read my blog? For the tips? For my day-to-day life activities? Answer in the comments below; I'm curious. :)


Until later,

- Justyne

Surprise Visits and Juggling

Oh, how I love surprising people!

This past Tuesday I found myself in Saskatchewan, surprising the close friend pictured above (on the left; I'm on the right). This is something that I've been planning with her boyfriend for about a month or so now, and I was so, so, SO happy to finally get the chance to do it! Even though I only got to spend one full day with her, seeing her was fantastic and I had so much fun. :)

Now, moving on.

Am I the only one who sucks at juggling? Not the physical, three-balls-three-bowling-pins kind of juggling (although I suck at that, too). I'm talking about juggling in the figurative sense; juggling work, juggling school, juggling family and friends and sleep. Juggling time.

I've always sucked at this. It never mattered how many to-do lists, schedules, resolutions, plans, or promises I made; one thing would always end up taking precedence over the others. Sometimes it was writing. Sometimes it was time with friends. Sometimes it was Sims. (A lot of the time it was Sims.) I favour one thing over the others, and focus on that for days, weeks...sometimes even months, if I'm into it enough.

I'm the same way with my writing projects, too, now that I think about it. I start one project. I work on it for days, weeks, months. Then I get bored; I switch to another project, or start a new one entirely. It's because of this that I have so many unfinished short stories, and why I'm always jumping back and forth between writing projects. It's part of the reason why I have such a hard time finishing the things that I start.

It's frustrating. Reeeaaally frustrating. It's frustrating because I have such a short attention span, and because--despite all they taught me about time management in university--I still fail to be good at it.

I love wangin' it. I love the spontaneity, the excitement, the freedom that comes from not planning every second of your day, every day of your life. But sometimes, it does make it hard to get stuff done. It's hard to juggle when you don't know how many balls are about the get thrown your way.

(Ooooooh check me out, using all of my fancy-shmancy metaphors. I'm deep.)

It takes practice, I think. A lot of practice.

But hey, I have the next 12 months ahead of me to practice. I'm sure I'll get it right.

Eventually.

Until later,

- Justyne