Procrastination and the 9-to-5: An Adult's Story

Here's the thing. I'm a procrastinator. Major. 

Not in life things though. More in work/schoolwork things. I was known to wait until the last day to write a multi-page essay in high school and then get an A on it. (So humble...) In college, I put off assignments until the last possible minute, and sometimes it didn't work out the way I wanted it to, but honestly, most of the time it did. 

Fast forward to now. I work a 9-to-5 (7:45 to 5:15), and I'm still putting shit off. Today I played that stupid Kardashian's app intermittently throughout the day. I wrote checks, I sent the checks, I filed the stubs, I entered in time cards, I updated billing files. I did all of the work that needed to be done. But I procrastinated with a stupid app. 

And now I have 12 minutes left until I can run for freedom towards the weekend. Everyone has abandoned their work and honestly, I could be doing something else, yet here I am writing a blog post instead. What is this procrastination and what makes it so irresistible? 

I wonder how much work actually gets done in the day at offices across the world, because while I'm googling graduate schools in Europe, I know co-workers are tweeting and updating their spotify playlists. Is this the curse of the 9-to-5? The I'm going to be here until 5 anyway, might as well push it back so the end of the day flies by. 

I just am curious, how many of you are procrastinators? Also, what's your celebrity list rank on the Kardashians app? I've been stuck at D-lister for days.

Let me know. (And I'm sorry for the drab and ranting post, I fully intend to have a better read within the next few days. Hint: 313)

Until next time, 

-J 

Living With Less, To Live More?

I am a travel blog fiend.

I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing because while it sparks that fire in my wanderlust, it also makes me sad that at this point in my life, I can't just pick up and travel. If given the chance to leave to see the world, I would.

I know that for some people, stability is a top priority. Stable jobs, steady income, an idea of where life is going. And while one side of me is the same - I like the salary, knowing where I'll be living in 10 months time, and knowing that my friends are going to be near me with their stable jobs and homes and lives - the other side of me loves change, craves adventure and new experiences and food and memories. I like the idea of living in a way that is more about experiences than material things. I may be alone on that one for the most part, and don't get me wrong, my shopping addiction has provided me with some nice things, but in many ways, I'd like to live with less and to experience more on the whole.

So, where is this going? Like I said, I'm a travel blog fiend. Additionally, I love me a good documentary, compliments of Netflix. This whole thought was inspired by the two.

Living In Another Language is a blog I've been following for a few months now, and different from the others I follow in that her and her husband aren't military based. They are where they want to be solely because that is how they want to live their life, they chose to live in Korea and right now they are in the process of settling down (for the next year) to live and work and travel in New Zealand. I adore the life that the couple has created in truly being immersed in their experiences and living simplistically so that their efforts are put into experiences rather than items that probably wouldn't get to go with them to their next home in a new country.

"TINY: A Story About Living Small" - I watched this documentary one day a few weeks ago, mainly out of curiosity. I've always been intrigued by what people can do in limited square footage; those model apartments at IKEA are my favorite. Even when I was looking for apartments (before my friend signed on to be my roommate), I was interested in potentially living in a 300 sq ft studio space. TINY is about living in a 124 sq ft space (I'm pretty sure my bedroom is larger than that). It's not a story about travel really, his goal is to live on an area of land he purchased, although he could go anywhere since his home is on wheels with a trailer hitch. It does fall into my category of living with less in order to live more. Here's the trailer, you can watch the full film on Netflix or YouTube:

Would it be worth it? To live in a small space? Would it allow you to step outside into the world and help you experience what's around you? Would it be worth it to pick up, leave everything behind and just go? Are the memories really worth more than the material treasures?

Let me know.

Until next time,

-J

Updates: Sorry We Suck

Once again, I'm sorry. Blogging hasn't been at the top of my to-do list lately. The schedule, meant to help us, isn't working and I apologize. I mean I think about blogging daily as I read everything on my Bloglovin feed and scroll through Thoughtcatalog, but thinking is not the same as doing. Anyway, I digress...

Here's an update on what's been going on since the last time I've posted:

First of all, I've gotten addicted to Thought Catalog. This is entirely my roommate's fault because we tend to send each other a lot of links throughout the day at work and it has morphed into having the site up in an incognito window the entire workday and then sometimes when I get home from work. I read almost every article that is posted from lists to odes to scary fiction. *Note: I regret the scary fiction most days.* Just check it out. Chelsea Fagan, I bow down to you.

I've also gotten addicted to Orange Is The New Black. I know, I know, I'm a little late to the scene but hey, I needed to finish watching all of my TLC shows on Netfliz first. This is Day 3 since I started it and I've never been more annoyed to be coming to work because that means I only have 6 hours left in the day to watch it. (I fell asleep last night at 9:30 so I'm only on episode 9). Its on my mind so much that I have spent approximately 1/2 of the day yesterday looking at articles about the show and Piper Kerman and Catherine Cleary Wolters (the real life Alex Vause). My co-worker sent me this today, a video of Uzo Aduba, a.k.a. Crazy Eyes, auditioning for other OITNB characters. And I now know half of the office's favorite characters (mine's Morello, just FYI). I get the obsession finally, I GET IT!

Oh, I bought a new car. Alright, it's a 2012, but it's basically new (26,000 miles) and new to me. Also, I'm in love with it. I'm not a car person. I can't fix it, I can't tell the difference between different years. I can tell you what I drive now, what I used to drive and how to put gas in it. I can also tell you that I'm extremely happy about the car because it 1. has working brakes (I'm looking at you old Sunfire and your leaking brake fluid), 2. it has windows that ALL roll down (still looking at you, 2002 Sunfire), and 3. has a remote clicker that ACTUALLY WORKS (thanks a lot you red canoe (still the Sunfire)). My only gripe is that it cost me a chunk of my savings as a down payment and all the warranties tacked on put it above what I ideally wanted to pay, but hey, at least I won't die and it looks pretty fancy in all of it's shiny glory.

Let's see, what else has happened? I shattered a glass pan yesterday by putting it in a cold sink after it had heated up on a burner accidentally. I recommend not doing that, it went everywhere and now there's chunks of glass in my garbage disposal (maintenance will inevitably hate me). Um, I haven't gone to Pilates in a while because I'm lazy and would rather watch YouTube then get a leg cramp like I do in every class. Oh and I got an excellently awkward tan line by not rolling down my high-waisted shorts enough while laying out over last weekend. Thank god I bought those high-waisted bathing suit bottoms back in April.

I'll try to be better about posting, but no promises. Hopefully I'll have something to write about soon.

Until then,

-J