After spending decades in the military where schedule was a given (and not a dirty word) I more or less successfully transitioned to a life of travel where schedule is something you make up yourself. Then on to graduate school where you have little to no control over where and when you have to be.

[side note, if you have forgotten, I can refer you back to my rants of 2018-2019 about the Bar and its requirement for schools to take attendance. That is right, law schools take attendance (which means you have to physically be there. Not watch a video later or get notes). And expect you to participate in class which really doesn’t make up anything as part of the grade unless you are really on a borderline. There are also rules about what percentage of a class can receive what grades…. That part of the whole experience felt like somewhere between elementary school and undergrad @ university].

Like everyone else – we are now going on more than 18 months of a “schedule” being mostly dictated by outside agencies scheduling  Zoom/WebiNex/GoToMeeting/etc meetings. Add in the challenges associated time zones and consistency just didn’t exist.

I added in working at Alameda County Vaccination clinics in the end of January (1-3/week) with shifts being 10hrs+travel time. Those particular locations are being phased out as the demand simply isn’t there anymore. At least here in California, anyone who wants to be vaccinated can be (no charge). The only limits for some anymore are transportation or hours of the clinics. (evening and weekend clinics were added in May).

So here I am, the clinics where I worked are shutting down. The new ones are more than an hour’s drive which really isn’t worth it.  Many of the organizations which were running weekly conferences have dropped back to monthly or bi-monthly. Zoom times are less and less applicable. Other than 3x week exercise class, my time should be my own?

except for a seemingly never ending list of errands that puts me behind the wheel of the car.

Of course, this may be preferable to sorting and organizing the contents of the garage