plans

I'm a great one for lists.

It's become an ingrained ritual that every week I make a "to do" list for the weekend. Some weeks the to do list is crammed full of stuff interesting stuff, but the list is generally composed of exactly the same stuff.

Now this may seem slightly odd, because if it's the same stuff every week, why don't I just remember to do it? Well there's the thing - the few times I've not composed the list I end up forgetting something.

The problem seems to be that most things on the list are very small tasks. They are the work of mere moments, so forgetting to do them is very easy indeed.

Perhaps the weirdest thing about the list is that it's also a schedule. So, for example, it not only reminds me I've got to put the rubbish out, but it tells me to do it on Sunday morning. It says Sunday morning because then the large amount of detritus I generate on Saturday (and of course over the preceding week) will get thrown away, but it will also definitely get done before the bin men come.

This is level of pedantry is what makes my lists mine. But marks me out as a very peculiar person indeed is that I rebel against my own lists!

You see, what I do is even though I've said Sunday morning, I'll put it out Sunday afternoon, or even last thing Saturday. I'll do this even though experience has told me that Sunday morning is the best time. I'll do it even though it's only me that's reminding myself that Sunday morning is the best time.

It's one of my major oddities. I'll tend to make the final deadline (the bins are actually collected on Monday mornings), but I have to do it on my own terms.

But there's another key problem of mine in there - I have to have a deadline. It's one of the reasons I'm rubbish at finishing things. I'm horribly lazy - if I've no real deadline then I'll often not bother doing it. But give me a deadline and I'll meet it, though I probably won't do the work when I said I would :/.

Which isn't to say I end up doing everything last minute. Indeed, if there's a proper deadline involved there's a good chance I'll be finished a long way in advance.

That was slightly more introspective than I initially intended, but there you go.

This weekend I've planned to do very little other than my fortnightly flat clean. I've been so tired this last week and with the weather is looking like it's going to continue on in its rainy and windy vein, it didn't seem very wise to plan much so we'll have to see what I get up to.

My guess is lots of Anno playing instead of ticking any of my deadline-less tasks off :/.