Time

Another thing I'm starting to wonder about is how I am going to manage to get various personal chores done while working. I used to think it was a nifty thing to go home at 5ish and leave work at work. But the flip side is that the entire time I'm there I have to stay focused on work, and I have to be there -- no matter how little needs to be done -- to get paid. (I'd forgotten about this nasty little aspect of the 8-5 job.)

What this means in practice is that I am obliged to stay there during the time when the places I need to visit -- shoe repair stores, DMV, hair salons, etc. -- are open, and when I'm finally off work, they're closed. Even dropping off my timesheet is a conundrum of logistics: I have to be at work around 8-9am (when I come in determines when I get to leave) but the temp agency only opens around 7:30, and the college is a half-hour drive away. I can't turn in my timesheet after work, either, because it closes at 5pm. I thought about asking D. to drop it off for me, but I'll need to pick up a new timesheet and he can't do that for me.

I suppose the answer is to go in later, or to ask for time off without pay -- how lame. How do people with more complicated lives manage to function?