Me and my shadow

For a couple of days, Friday and Saturday to be exact, I was being followed. I wore a GPI tracker and wrote down exactly what I did by the minute all day. It was great fun; I felt very important for two days and I’m glad it lasted only two days. I was part of a Saint Mary’s University time management study. They will call me for a final interview soon. The purpose of the study is to help in basic urban planning.

It happened to be a busy couple of days. I did the usual (painting, walk the dog, clean up, eat, sleep) as well as my Tai Chi class, the park, some theatre, a party. But what became clear to me was how I don’t function in a linear manner. It was hard to write down what I did in an afternoon at home. I’d start one thing, start another, go back to the first, start a third, go back to the first (or second) and so on. It wasn’t multitasking because I was doing only one thing at a time. But I certainly didn’t finish one thing before starting another.

I paint that way as well. Work on many pieces simultaneously—have several paintings going at once. Part of it is the drying time but I don’t think I would work well any other way. My focus is very much where I am, what painting I’m working on, or what “thing” I am doing around the house, yet I seem to need the opportunity to move around from one thing to another. Sometimes I think it would be a good idea to stay with one thing to the end but that doesn’t happen very often. And this does work. For me.