Circle of Terror-ific: Terror-ible stress

[Mama]

Great work on the Circle of Terror project, Em, and the other TBE fans/comic artists who participated! What a great idea. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Emi was hard at work on hers, but I had no idea what she was doing. I hassled her because she has SO much she is doing her senior year, and she tends to do art/handle e-mails all day and expect to be able to work on papers (ahem) well after midnight, which we do not want. Although she and I agree that she needs to learn to manage her time well (as we all do), I feel a little chagrined to know that I added stress to this worthwhile project for her. I figured since her art is under her own deadline, that external deadlines like homework should take precedence. Yet, when I see what she does, I burst with pride and admiration for her. She is a genius, but her GPA doesn't reflect that, and she has been trying to rectify that...and now it is college application time! I hope her fans would understand if she needed to skip an update to get a school or work project done. She is so dedicated to serving you all, and her characters, sometimes to the exclusion of other necessities in her life. Any comments from you all on this dilemma would be appreciated, including how you may have solved such a problem in your own life. Thanks, from the artist's Mother!

[~* Eclipse the Shadow *~]

We would totally understand if you had to take an update off to finish up school stuff, Em. I think we've all had the same problem at some point. By the way, great work on the Circle of Terror! Is Hirschel supposed to be Crais? Can't wait to see the pictures of you dressed as Hirsch! ^_^

[Emily Teal Young]

Yes, Hirschel is Crais, except Crais doesn't have an eyepatch... (Or course, Crais isn't missing an eye!) And then I'm wearing an eyepatch because I'm dressed up as Hirschel! *giggles*

[Cerillian]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mama:
<B>Although she and I agree that she needs to learn to manage her time well (as we all do). . . . Any comments from you all on this dilemma would be appreciated, including how you may have solved such a problem in your own life. Thanks, from the artist's Mother!</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>
As a college student, and having several friends and a brother away at college in various places, I get to see things like that pretty often. Different people deal with things in different ways. Some of them, including one of my friends, a pre-vet med student, and my brother, a sophomore in Computer Science, have found almost the same solution. They've pretty much given up most non-school activities except on weekends. They litterally have reserved half an hour for themselves to watch DBZ, because on week's they're busy, thats about the only time they're not at class, working on homework, studying, eating, or sleeping.<P>Of course, that may not be the best solution for you. I attended a seminar on time management a while back, and some of the guidelines I remember may help you.<P>First, you record how you spend your time. Over a representative sample of time, you record what you do at what times, and for how long. By representative, I mean long enough to get a clear picture. If every day has pretty much the same scedule, then one or two days is enough. If you have a weekly pattern of scedules, then a week or so should be enough.<P>Second, you total up the amount of time you spend doing each activity. Total time spent sleeping, eating, drawing, talking with friends, in transit, at school, and so on.<P>Third, you rate activities by their importance to you. This can be the hardest part, I think. Pick any way you like to measure this, and try to honestly figure out how important everything you do is.<P>Fourth, you compare the time spent on different things to how important they are to you. Then you can decide what you can spend less time on, and what you can spend more.<P>The core idea behind this is that you can't do everything you want. You don't have an unlimited amount of time. The goal is to to be able to spend more time on what is important, and less on what isn't. However, going through this whole process can take a lot of discapline.<P>In an extension of this idea to your mention of missing or delaying an update to work on school or work, if Emily can honestly say that the school or work is more important than getting TbE up on time, then I'm all for it. Of course, if Emily couldn't say that, then I think the Mama may start to worry a bit more . . .<P>Cerillian, wishes he had the kind of self-discapline to put that kind of plan into action . . .

[Gillikin]

Hi, Em's Mom! ::waves to Em's mom:: I loved her circle of terror entry, as well. It really was very good. And I certainly hope that you can keep up your homework, and your TBE schedule. If you have to take a day off, by all means do so. Just come back refreshed, and feelin' better. Just don't do it too often, or I'll have to send Talia after ya'. <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/wink.gif">