Procrastination City!

Before I begin my post today, I wanted to take a moment to pray for all those affected by Hurricane Katrina. Words can't even describe the sadness I feel looking at the footage. Please check out my boys (is it okay if I call you guys that...*LOL*) Clay Cane & DiZyaBoy's perspectives on the media coverage and Presidential reaction to this disaster. They're both definitely some interesting reads.

Procrastination City - Population 2,000,000,000 +

I don't know the exact number of procrastinators out there. If I did, I'd, umm, I don't know what I'd be actually with that one. More on time? Heh.

In my continuing week long series titled 'what's wrong with eric g. today', let's talk today about the "procrastor bug".

Let's start with the moment I open my eyes and am thankful to live another day, shall we? I procrastinate every morning before leaving for work. I know I should leave the house by 9AM but I wind up leaving typically closer to 10AM. It's a wonder I haven't gotten fired. Although I do stay until almost 7PM so it's not like I'm not doing my time.

So why do I leave later than normal to work? I know part of it is because I dread my job. Don't get me wrong! I do enjoy most of the folks I work with, even the brownnosers...*LOL*. I've been with my present company (let me get all Wheel of Fortune on here), a major banking institution and consumer finance organization since April 1997. That's over 8 years.

It's funny I leave later considering I get up at 7AM sometimes. Usually when I get up that early, my work pager is the culprit. I do have access to the system from home so I'm able to find out what went wrong.

I usually spend the next hour or so surfing the Internet. I think I have an addiction. I'm sure I'm not alone...*LOL*.

I spend time reading blogs, maybe adding a few words to my own blog, checking out email, and trying to find the next big stock to get in or get out of. Before I know it, it's almost 9AM. I may tell myself to only spend 5 more minutes. But it winds up being 20. Then I realize, damn I do have to go, so I race to shower and rush to put on some clothes. I usually wind up in the office by 10:30AM.

Then once there, I do even more procrastination on the job. I may wait later to make a phone call. I'll take a bit longer to run some queries.

I wish I knew why I procrastinate so much. I have theories, of course. I believe part of it is my deep seeded need for escape. Luckily I have Internet access at work, so I'm usually checking out stock boards and TWoP all day. I don't dare visit my blog, though...*LOL*. The Internet definitely is my top escape tool. I used to listen to music on my MP3 until that fateful day. I later realized that the issue may not have been so much my singing (as I suspected and was told it was) but the music itself. I decided to turn on my MP3 and walk over to the cubes on the opposite side to see if I could hear my player. I did this late in the afternoon after the weird idiots left. Sure enough I could hear the sound of music, though I didn't hear the actual lyrics or anything. Even lowering the volume didn't help. So I sighed and accepted that I would have to deal with the annoying work noise another way. Hence the Internet...*LOL*.

What'll happen then is by 5:00 PM, I'll start to actually do some work. Then I'm out the door by 6:45 PM. It's not like I don't do work other times, it's just that I may do it at a slower pace. Also I may have to sit with co-workers who have questions for me.

But I do still procrastinate.

Speaking of which, my dad finally got a cell phone last weekend. I was shocked to get a voicemail from my sister "Tasha" telling me to call him back on his cell. My mom had been nagging for him to get one for years. Yet he procrastinated. I think the emergency last week may have finally been the driving factor.

So on that note, what will be my driving factor? Well, deadlines obviously help. Knowing that if I don't get my shit done, I'll be in the office till 8 PM helps too..:-) But maybe I need more.

I will say that some of my best work comes from waiting until the last minute. There's just something about burning that midnight oil that drives the fire in you. Of course, since I'm in my early 30's, that fire burns less and less. Yeah, brutha needs his sleep.

P.S...
Speaking of sleep, remember the guy Aaron who kept me awake till 3am Saturday night? Then dissed me on Sunday? Get this! I get an email from him this morning. It had one word on it. Hi... (and yes, it had the 3 dots afterwards.) What's that about? I was doing that emotional thing again...*LOL*...and concluded that his not answering me may have been his way of getting back at me for my date Saturday. Yeah, stupid, huh? I mean, I couldn't think of any other reason he blew me off. I think he may have sent the note this morning to see if I was pissed (still). Actually I'm not. If nothing else, I'm intrigued So I did what any normal intrigued guy would do. I sent him an email back saying, 'How are you doing? So do you want to call me?'. I'm crazy, yeah! But my curiosity is getting the best of me. I know what it did to the cat but I can't help it. I'll keep you all posted on what happens next. Yeah I love the drama! *LOL*.