Control Freak

I've got quite a few lists currently sitting on my desk at home. Some are even normal and rational:

• Winter Break 2005 Travel: dates with proposed cities for each date, hotels booked, cities/dates where lodging still needs to be secured, E's travel dates to see the fam, possible departure and return dates to join E with the fam (on hold 'til my finals schedule is available), useful websites with information about the New Year's destination.


• To do between now and the first day of school: pay bills and completely balance all accounts, clean, price required books on-line, stock up at Costco, handle some annoying legal crap with my brother's landlord, figure out the mess that is E's taxes, dual boot the laptop, get the pictures off the digital camera and up on the Interweb where people can actually see them, and, of course, finish off the other lists as much as possible.


• The Thank You List: I just had a birthday, there's a stack of cards which require letters in response.


• The OCI list: buy a suit (UGGH), update the resume, front-load any of the work that OCI will require so that I don't have to do it during school.

But the one that wins me awards for ridiculousness is The master time-line of the next few years with tentative dates for all major life events (graduation, the bar), travel and/or vacations (as well as proposed vacation locales). The time-line has at least two branches after law school right now: one for a clerkship and one for a firm. All branches include a plan to take at least 2 months to travel with E (either a bar trip, or after the clerkship).

Last night, I tried to pin E down on some 2006/2007 details. Went over about as well as you'd imagine. E's good for me that way. Logically, and even at the gut level, I know my life will be a chaotic mess of chance and circumstance. In fact, I'm often at my best when flying by the seat of my pants, I enjoy the chaos and I know it. But, for whatever reason, the world makes more sense to me when I have a plan, even if it's only something from which I readily deviate.