Breakdown: Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

[Note: Family came home from their cruise today.]

Useful Accomplishments:

• None.

Frivolous Accomplishments:

• Earned "Bridge Over Trebled Slaughter" achievement in L4D2 (PC).
• Got enough Demoman achievements in TF2 to earn "Demoman Milestone 3."

Excuse(s) for not getting more done:

• It's summer vacation!
• Was invited to hang out with friends.

Breakdown: Saturday, May 22nd, 2010

Useful Accomplishments:

• Completed all of today's chores.

Frivolous Accomplishments:

• Earned some Steam achievements in Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2.

Excuse(s) for not getting more done:

• It's summer vacation!

Breakdown: Friday, May 21st, 2010

Useful Accomplishments:

• Went to the dentist for a filling (actually two) on-time. [Note: cost me over $300 for the two visits combined. Now I only have a little over $700 left until next semester...]
• Got all of today's chores done.

Frivolous Accomplishments:

• Played completely through "Sam & Max Episode 302: The Tomb of Sammun-Mak."

Excuse(s) for not getting more done:

• It's summer vacation!

Breakdown: Thursday, May 20th, 2010

Useful Accomplishments:

• Went to my dental cleaning appointment on-time. (Will need to return tomorrow for a filling.)
• Breezed through my "Intro to Programming" Final Exam, even doing the extra credit portion despite my earlier performance making it unnecessary.
• Completed my Statistics Final Exam, though I'm not sure I did very well.
• Handed in 1 complete and one partially completed overdue assignment for Statistics.

Frivolous Accomplishments:

• Nothing noteworthy.

ANTI-Accomplishments: (Epic failures.)

• There were a LOT more overdue Statistics assignments to do, and I had a decent portion of time to work on more of them between the finals, but I ended up wasting most of that time.

Excuse(s) for not getting more done:

• Being out all day made me too lazy to do all my chores, but I took care of the most important ones (making sure the cats had food and water).

Breakdown: Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

Useful Accomplishments:

• Helped a classmate study for our "Intro to Programming: Java" Final Exam tomorrow.
• Actually completed all the chores I was supposed to do today.

Frivolous Accomplishments:

• Nothing noteworthy.

ANTI-Accomplishments: (Epic failures.)

• Had planned to work all day on the overdue assignments for Statistics that must be handed in at 6pm tomorrow, but only began to work on them very late and failed to stay on-task.

Excuse(s) for not getting more done:

• None really. :(

Breakdown: Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

Useful Accomplishments:

• None. :(

Frivolous Accomplishments:

• Earned a couple of TF2 achievements.

Excuse(s) for not getting more done:

• Went to see Iron Man 2 with friends.
• After the movie, ended up spending time at a friend's house.

Breakdown: Monday, May 17th, 2010

Useful Accomplishments:

• Stayed up all night Sunday, FINALLY managing to begin, and complete, my Fiction final paper in the 'wee hours' of the morning. (None of the overdue assignments were even started, however.)
  
• Handed in my Fiction Final Paper on time.
• Went and completed my Calculus Final Exam (although I did not do very well due to lack of studying).
• Actually completed all of the household tasks I was supposed to do today (family away on vacation).

Frivolous Accomplishments:

• Finished my playthrough of the game "Machinarium."

Excuse(s) for not getting more done:

• After staying up all night, I didn't have energy to do any more than I did.
• The fact that my next deadline is Thursday (for overdue Statistics assignments) lulled me into a false sense of security.
• IRC Roleplaying session scheduled for 9pm onwards (I connected late by accident).

Multi-day Breakdown: Saturday, May 15th & Sunday, May 16th, 2010

Useful Accomplishments:

• Made a trip to the store and bought special food items for my sister's dog, using her credit card, as requested.

Frivolous Accomplishments:

• Received a "Bonk! Atomic Punch" item in TF2. (Did not have one previously.)

ANTI-Accomplishments: (Epic failures.)

• This weekend was my last chance to complete all the important assignments I hadn't done for my Fiction class and hand them in on Monday, and even though it was on my mind several times (especially on Sunday) I simply could not bring myself to begin working on them during the entire weekend.

Excuse(s) for not getting more done:

• None, I just suck. A LOT. >:(

Breakdown: Friday, May 14th, 2010

Useful Accomplishments:

• None. :(
  

Frivolous Accomplishments:

• Played through a campaign of this week's L4D2 mutation, "Last Gnome on Earth," earning Steam achievement progress.
• Played entirely through "The Dig," a LucasArts SCUMM adventure game from the 90's.

Excuse(s) for not getting more done:

• None, I just suck. :(

Breakdown: Thursday, May 13th, 2010

Useful Accomplishments:

• None. :(
  

Frivolous Accomplishments:

• Earned enough Scout achievements to get Scout Milestone 2 in TF2.
  
• Got through to the ending of World of Goo (earning a Steam achievement) -- although I did skip 2 levels I couldn't seem to complete.
  

Excuse(s) for not getting more done:

• Class from 6pm - 8:30pm
  
• Roleplaying session on IRC scheduled from 9pm onward.

Breakdown: Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Useful Accomplishments:

• None. :(
  

Frivolous Accomplishments:

• Played a round of "Follow the Liter," this week's Mutation in Left 4 Dead 2 (earning Steam achievement progress).
• Played through "Samorost 2."

Excuse(s) for not getting more done:

• None... I just suck. :(

MISSING RECORDS: May 7th - May 11th, 2010

I forgot to post during this period. I do not remember clearly enough to do so now.

Breakdown: Thursday, May 6th, 2010

Useful Accomplishments:

• None. :(
  

Frivolous Accomplishments:

• Earned some more achievements in TF2.
• Earned enough Demoman achievements to complete Demoman Milestone 2.

Excuse(s) for not getting more done:

• Yesterday's epic sleep failure has my sleep rotation all messed up.
• Longest day of school: classes until 8:30 PM.
• Roleplaying session on IRC scheduled from 9pm onward.

Breakdown: Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

Useful Accomplishments:

• None. :(
  

Frivolous Accomplishments:

• Edited my TF2 spray so it actually has my in-game name on it.

ANTI-Accomplishments: (Epic failures.)

• Went into hibernation mode,* wasting the day and screwing up my sleep rotation further.
  

Excuse(s) for not getting more done:

• See "Anti-Accomplishments."

* I was up all night, but not playing video games the entire time; some of it was spent browsing web pages and watching videos. So, after my class, I decided to take a "short nap"... but didn't set an alarm. Partway through, I was woken by my mother, who needed to ask me something, and that interruption in the sleep plus the fact that it became dark again during my rest led me to sleep way too long... until about 11pm.

Breakdown: Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Useful Accomplishments:

• None. :(
  

Frivolous Accomplishments:

• Located, downloaded, and installed several reskins for TF2.

ANTI-Accomplishments: (Epic failures.)

• SOMEHOW, despite checking that my alarm was activated and properly set before going to bed, I slept past my first class.*
  

Excuse(s) for not getting more done:

• The crazy, inconsistent sleep I've been getting has left me tired today, which makes it even harder than normal for me to accomplish anything. (It causes my Laziness Impulse to win out each time I try.)
  

* I don't know how this happened. I have no memory of turning off my alarm after it sounded, but this must have happened since the alarm I use is loud and obnoxious. Also, the sleep mask I had been wearing to block out the sunlight when I went to sleep was laying on my nightstand instead of being on my head or somewhere loose nearby on the bed or floor like it usually is when I first wake up. Therefore: I must have woken up, shut of my alarm, put the mask on the stand, then fell back to sleep and lost all memory of the event. Either that, or my unconscious mind somehow managed to do all that without me actually waking up. How am I supposed to control that??

Breakdown: Monday, May 3rd, 2010

Useful Accomplishments:

• Read the story I needed to read for today's class immediately prior to going to the class. [See below, also.]

Frivolous Accomplishments:

• None, really.

Excuse(s) for not getting more done:

• I stayed up all night playing Team Fortress 2* and needed to get some sleep in during the middle of the day.

* This had less to do with any sort of "addiction" to TF2 and a lot more to do with my horrible mental condition where the harder I try to make myself do something the more intensely I become distracted by anything and everything other than that one thing. My original plan was to play a "little" TF2, then read the story, then sleep for (at least) a couple of hours before class. Instead, every time I tried to go to the story, I'd fail. It wasn't even that I played TF2 the whole time; I stopped several times during the night and did things like watch part of a TV show or get something to eat or drink. Each time I'd eventually give in and play a "little bit more" TF2. Eventually, it was time to drive to campus, and I ended up reading the story in my car in the commuter parking garage right before I walked to class.

Breakdown: Sunday, May 2nd, 2010

Truly Useful Accomplishments:

• None. :(

Truly Frivolous Accomplishments:

• Received my first "loot" hat in TF2, the Troublemaker's Tossle Cap. (Not counting the Camera Beard I already had, since it technically is a Misc. slot item, even though it counts as a hat for crafting purposes.) Unfortunately, it was for Scout, whom I rarely play, and whom I also prefer to have wearing Max's Severed Head, which I already owned.
• Combined the Tossle Cap and Camera Beard and ended up with the Officer's Ushanka. I consider this to have been worth it.

Excuse(s) for not getting more done:

• I actually set an alarm this time, but staying up too late into the morning and the humid weather made it harder for me to wake up, so I still slept in too late.

Breakdown: Saturday, May 1st, 2010

Truly Useful Accomplishments:

• None. :(

Truly Frivolous Accomplishments:

• Finally watched a Netflix DVD I had been hanging onto for far too long.

Excuse(s) for not getting more done:

• I forgot to set an alarm (when I went to bed at dawn) and ended up sleeping until 5pm.

Breakdown: Friday, April 30th, 2010

Truly Useful Accomplishments:

• None. :(

Truly Frivolous Accomplishments:

• Earned some achievements in Left 4 Dead 2 (PC).
• Set up some new spray images to use in LFD/LFD2/TFC.

Excuse(s) for not getting more done:

• It's Friday. It's so very hard to be productive on a Friday.

Breakdown: Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

Truly Useful Accomplishments:

• Finally got completed Override form to Registrar & was placed into the closed class I needed for next semester.

Tasks partially completed:

• Left message with dentist's receptionist, starting process of resolving appointment conflict.

My excuse(s) for not accomplishing more:

• Got an opportunity to hang out with CKJ and others (which doesn't happen often enough, in my opinion), and took said opportunity. Was out until after midnight.
  

Breakdown: Thursday, April 29th, 2010

Truly Useful Accomplishments:

• Completed an important overdue assignment for a class during 'wee hours' of morning.
• Called back dentist's receptionist and successfully moved appointment to a time and day that would no longer conflict with a class.

My excuse(s) for not accomplishing more:

• Staying up late (to do the homework assignment) left me with 4 hours of sleep, so I was tired.
• Had classes from 12:30 PM until 8:30 PM.
• Had scheduled roleplaying session on IRC from 9:00 PM onward. ["Tales from Fairview"]
• I only have one class tomorrow, which I've already done the required reading for, so my Procrastination insists "You've got all weekend for that other stuff!"
  

Statement of purpose.

This is my daily struggle:

When I have something I need to accomplish...

• Being naturally lazy, my first impulse is to "do nothing." Once I've jumped that hurdle (not too difficult, usually)...
• As a procrastinator, my next natural impulse is to "do it later." (After so many years, I've apparently become adept at fooling myself into believing I have "plenty of time to do it" - up until it's too late.) While I'm still struggling with that, being forgetful and distracted* causes me to sometimes become engrossed in other matters and genuinely forget about the first thing I had to do for a while. (Combined with the procrastination, they are my greatest obstacle.) When/if I've finally remembered to do it and also wrestled the bear that is my procrastination...
• My perfectionist tendency makes my next impulse be to "freak out," since by then there's usually not enough time to "do it properly" before the deadline. (This is often the final nail in the coffin of many of my endeavors, and why I almost never leave something 'partially finished;' things tend to be either Complete or Nonexistent.)

Due to all of this nonsense, I usually have a "ToDo List"** that grows faster than I can deal with, and it sometimes breaks my spirit when I consider just how much is left to do. I decided that perhaps I should make a little blog to list things I actually have accomplished each day, so I can look over it and feel a bit better.

On the flip side, I decided I should also list my excuses for why I didn't get more (or anything) done in a particular day, so I can see how ridiculous the rationalizations my screwed-up mind comes up with truly are.

* It could very well be undiagnosed ADHD or something.

** In quotations because I usually don't have an actual list of all the things I have yet to do.