perfectly overwhelmed

Like every good overachiever I tend to put a lot on my plate. Of course once it's there I want to do perfectly at everything, but the truth is

I get overwhelmed. Sometimes I can handle it and other times the tiniest addition will send me into a tailspin. I'm taking two classes for my 4 week summer session at UIC. Of course the school warns against this kind of intense course over-load, but I have a goal to graduate in the Spring of 2013 so I'm uber pushing myself. There are a handful of other reasons why I needed to take 2 courses during this short session like health insurance and fitting in that silly Italian 102 class, but really I just like to make myself crazy. A typical day goes like this: get up at 6:30am to take care of the puppy. Eat breakfast, shower, get dressed. Rush around trying to finish my reading and homework assignment for my English class and get out of the apartment by 8:30. And, oh yeah, take the dog out one more time. Let's just say that I never get out of the house by 8:30 and there is usually some kind of running to get to class on time, which also involves huffing it up 3 flights of stairs. My first class is a survey of American Literature, which goes form 9 to 11:55 - or really noon because my teacher doesn't quite remember what time the class actually ends at. Then I wander around trying to figure out what I'm going to eat for lunch because I still haven't managed to make my lunch yet. Too soon it's time for my second class - American History, which goes from 1 to 3:55 and also gets out 5 min or more late because this teacher also thinks that class ends at 4. UIC: Don't you think it would have just been easier to have the classes end at an nice even, round time? Next I walk home, take care of the puppy, lie down for a few minutes if I'm lucky, maybe eat something - then it's reading time! I usually start at the kitchen table but by the end of the night I've manged to sit in just about every seat the apartment has. I literally read from the moment class ends to the time I go to bed and then again in the morning. After one week of class I still haven't managed to finish a a reading assignment. I keep trying to remind myself that I'm almost half way through, but today it's just not making a dent. Wednesday there are no classes so I got up at my normal time and wanted to get out of the house early to get some much needed errands done. First stop: the bank. Because this is my one day off I was fated for trouble. I drove around trying to find parking for 35 minutes, when I finally managed to nab a spot I go into the bank, but can't "find" it. There's a big sign on top of the building with my bank name. I decided that the easiest thing to do would be to call them. After all my day was quickly slipping away and I had already spent about an hour on my bank errand. Wouldn't you know that they closed this location about 6 months ago!?! I had two options here: call my branch and make an over the phone transfer (obviously the easiest option, but I had found out recently that these were limited because of the type of account I have) or drive twenty more minutes to a different branch. Since I had other errands I drove to the other branch. By the time I got home from running all over the city it was after 2pm. And did I mention that it was extremely hot? I had to take a nap when I got back, and didn't really get caught up or ahead at this point. Still trying to find the strength to make it through these classes. (She chants: two more weeks, two more weeks).

A favorite quote from (or maybe regarding) an awesome book: "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry". I'm starting to think that could represent my life in its entirety.