WOT- Waste of time. That is what we say around our house when we go to an exceptionally boring board meeting or a workshop that really doesn’t pertain to us. WOT.
The other day I was reading an assignment in the lobby of Reynold’s, the theatre building at Montevallo. I had four hours to kill between auditions. I had written in my journals and was now reading a book on directing. A classmate came up and made a comment about the fact that whenever he saw me out of class I was either writing or reading, never just hanging out. I have heard that before, not only from other students but from teachers as well.
Isn’t that what I am supposed to do? Why is this kind of behavior so surprising? In reality I have two very simple reasons for staying busy on campus. The first is that I have a family I want to come home to and give my undivided attention to when I am home. The more I can get done during lag time at school, the more I can spend home time with the ones I love.
Secondly, at my age I am very aware of how little time I might have left. Actually I have always been unusually aware of how short life is and that even if you live to be 100, chances are you won’t get to do everything you want to do. You spend wasted time on hold, or in line, waiting on the doctor or on friends running late. I will spend four hours going to school today and only 50 minutes of that will be in class. I try to listen to my son on the radio if he is on during my drive time or run through my music. Once I was so intent on going over my music, that some church friends were in the car next to me waving and shouting and it was a long time before I finally noticed them! They still laugh about how focused I was on singing! But I don’t have my music yet and it doesn’t time out to be driving while Jon is on air. So four hours of my life, gone just like that! (Except for the 50 minutes of class that I always hope will be something for which I will be glad I spent the four hours away from home!!)
So I try to use the time I have on this earth to get as much done as possible. To see and do as many interesting things as I can squeeze into a day. And I get irritated when I feel like I have wasted my time. My husband Tim and I talked the other day about trying to figure out a way to keep those WOT times to a minimum, we are fortunate to live a life where we aren’t forced into as many of those situations as some people.
So yes, if you see me outside of class on campus I will be reading, or writing, or eating (although that is the one thing I frequently skip) because I want to be done and ready to move on to the next adventure when it presents itself.
