The secret to being an early riser is ...

There isn't one.

I want to get up at 5:00 am.  I work 2 jobs.  At least 3 nights a week, I do not get home until 9:30 pm.  I cannot seem to wind down to actually go to bed on those nights until 10:30 - 11.  I don't sleep well most nights.  On the nights I can go to bed early, I tend to still stay up late. 

I started reading all these self-help books and articles, things like: 

9 Secrets to ACTUALLY Waking Up Early
How I Became an Early Riser
8 Tips for Waking Up Early & Conquering the Alarm Clock

All of them are a variation of similar themes.  Put the alarm clock across the room.  Have a consistent sleep-wake schedule.  Stop using electronics at least 2 hours from bed.  Don't eat late (remember that getting home at 9:30).  Don't hit snooze.  Ask a friend to help.  Blah blah blah.  Done them ALL.  Did all the "sleep hygiene" stuff to get to sleep.  Have tried numerous ways to get up.  I have used wind-up LOUD clocks, sunrise alarms, etc.  All I have found is that sleep and I don't really mix and I am going to be tired in the morning.

If I really want to wake up at 5 in the morning, I am going to have to make myself get up.  So tonight I will set multiple alarms, place them around the house, and make sure they are all set for the same time.  You can't do this with a baby.  You can't do this if your significant other has a different schedule. 

See, there is no secret.  I don't start my day with joy, I am just trying to wake up.  I don't meditate blissfully awake to a new day.  Hell, most of the time I am praying that it will snow.  I can't give a strong reason because the reason is literally so I can continue working 2 jobs without fucking one or the other up.  The reason is so that I can keep making lunch and breakfast to take to work.  The reason is so I will have time to exercise most if not every day.  The reason is to get into some semblance of a schedule so I will stop sleeping until noon on Sundays.

Self-help and advice do not seem to help.  I am tired.  So is everyone else.  I am trying to dig out of severe debt.  I would like to retire one day.  Even though everyone says doing something like this will kill me, I have no clue what else I can do.  I can try to find another job that pays as much as the 2 combined.  That would most likely mean moving from the area I am in which also means leaving my significant other who is tied to this area.  It would also mean starting over with very little money, and on and on.  Yeah, that's not happening any time soon.

So for now, I will continue setting my alarm to 5 am and hope that I can actually stay awake instead of going back to bed after changing it to 6:30 or 7.   

The Traveling Office

As an adjunct professor you rarely have much of an office.  You might have access to printer services or a printer.  You may have a desk and a room.  But much of the time, you have nothing.  So what's an adjunct to do?

I have heard of people that have the trunk of their car organized for each campus, for those that work multiple campuses.  I once had a rolly bag full of everything I thought I would need.  But it always came up short.  And now, my classes are at bad hours (nothing is open) and I have no office.  So I am re-evaluating what I need again.

Right now, I have my Big Red Book, my Chrome book, and a few office supplies in my bag.  What I am planning to eventually include are the BRB, a laptop, portable scanner and printer, possibly a small projector, and office supplies in a bag.  That's a lot of stuff.  But it is stuff I need at weird times, like needing to print out something because I am short something, needing to scan in student papers so I don't lose anything, and a million other things. 

One day, maybe, adjuncts will be treated more equitably within the college structure and we won't have to plan out how to create the best traveling office.

Adjunct Life and the Perfect Bag_Spoiler I haven't found it yet

So every adjunct professor has to deal with this, carrying your office with you everywhere you go.  I know that many people have switched to digital for a lot of things, but my students do a lot of in-class work that they turn in.  And then there is the computer.  What is in my bag currently? 

1. My Chromebook (soon to be replaced by a Windows based laptop)
2. The charger for said Chromebook
3. 2 Sets of Exams that need grading
4. 2 Sets of lab exercises that will need to be completed over the next week
5. My Big Red Book.  The BRB holds all.
6. A sort of grade book, mainly to keep up with all of the student activities (active learning is a bitch)
7. Pens, pencils, a stapler, a hole punch
8. My wallet, toothbrush bag, a brush, my glucose meter, my glasses case, and other random personal stuff

What I would like to include in it: (1) A portable scanner, (2) My Big Pink Binder that also holds more than everything, and (3) A portable printer.  I loved my old portable printer but it has died a good death and is waiting for me in Valhalla. 

I cannot seem to find the perfect bag to hold everything.  And I have to haul breakfast, lunch, and snacks plus a gym bag.  So every day it feels like I have the means to simply escape and move to a small town in Arizona where I get odd jobs under a completely different name.  No, I haven't planned this out at all. 

Until universities understand the importance of keeping their adjuncts reasonably accommodated, I continue my quest for the perfect bag.  For now, I use a Samsonite.  The rolly part is pretty great.

First post

It is February 10, 2020.  I have no idea what I want to do with this blog.  It is obviously not to make money.  Nor is it for pictures and showing off. 

No, this blog is about life, in general.  Being in debt, working multiple jobs, being tired, training to run a marathon, and trying to get ahead in life (what does that mean?). 

I am a divorced, 52 yo, obese, highly educated, tired, diabetic, and out of shape woman that wants to run a marathon, teach college science classes, and do well at my day job all while balancing a relationship and a semblance of a social life.