Oh yikes, I haven’t blogged for a while now, and that’s because I have been awfully busy with school and work. We are releasing a new version of our product at work, and I find myself staying in the office until really late for the past several weeks now (including weekends). At the same time, at school we are coming close to the end of the Software Architecture class, and in this final stretch we are expected to deliver a full Software Architecture document based on our research and prototyping and a final presentation to our stakeholders.
People ask how I can manage to perform well at a demanding job while finding time to deliver for school, and honestly I don’t know. Somehow I manage to get things done, but I must add that unlike other students in our cohort I do not have any personal commitments yet requiring me to be home early. I am the only member of my immediate family living here in Northern California, I am unmarried and don’t have children, and my girlfriend lives in New York City, so the only folks who care about the time I spend at home would be my two cats, but let’s be honest here, they really just want me to open those food cans for them. My classmates who are married and have children to raise must find it much more difficult to strike a balance. I commend those students who manage to work on their master’s degree while raising a family, and I am certain that that is probably a much harder situation to balance than my current situation.
Life has been pretty busy this month. I wake up, reply to a few personal emails (while a large number remain unread), go to work (and work through lunch), go to school, come home to do homework while having dinner, go to sleep and start a similar cycle again the next day. Sometimes, I come home exhausted and just veg out by watching stupid videos on YouTube before falling asleep.
I sometimes feel like it’s not me who manages my time to finish everything, but my Outlook calendar that accepts appointments on my behalf and each morning reminds me of school and work deadlines and what I have to do for the day (if I ever lose my Outlook calendar, I think I’ll be running around like a duckling looking for his mom). In times like these, our school advisors stress the importance of exercising, eating healthy and making time for personal fun, but much easier said than done. I do make an effort of buying more healthy food, and by putting a mandatory Volleyball appointment on my weekly calendar, I make a point of attending this appointment no matter how busy I am, so I can ensure that at least I’ll get three hours of exercise and fun each week.
On the other hand, a nice side effect of having both academic and professional demands peak at the same time is that after both demands die down, I’ll truly be able to relax. You see, I already planned and purchased the flights for my entire family to meet up in New York when my school vacation starts in two weeks. In fact, one of my classmates will drive me to the airport right after our final presentation, and I can’t wait to spend time with my loved ones in New York without worrying about school and work.