First Post...and Its About Me Messing Up

My phone buzzes. I lazily roll over to swat at it and shut it off. I see who is calling and answer, asking what they need. I'm greeted with a frantic, "Where are you?!?" I ask what they mean and realize that I had a college panel to attend. As I frantically jumped out of bed, putting on my shoes and yelling obscenities as I ran out the door. My parents called me as I sped down Florida to the Hilton Garden Inn, asking where on earth I went. I told them I had a panel to attend at the Hilton with Georgetown, Duke, Penn, Stanford and Harvard; no big deal or anything that I was THIRTY MINUTES LATE. As it turns out my being late wasn't a big deal. I walked in being greeted by the Harvard and Penn reps, apologized for my tardiness, made up and excuse about a violin lesson, cracked a joke and went on in. The point of my telling you this story isn't about that I was late and thus my college apps to some of those schools are now ruined. No, in fact this blog is about time management. So let's rewind to around 4 o'clock yesterday.

4pm: As I walk to my car I am pondering what I have to do after school. I could vaguely remember something, but not what that something was. I ran through my head all the things that usually take up my after school activities. It wasn't a volleyball game; that was last night. Basketball open gym wasn't until Thursday. But what was between them? I dismissed it as nothing and drove home, ignoring the feeling of some unknown activity looming in the horizon.

5pm: I had just gotten home, eaten and started homework, only to fall asleep with college essays strewn about my bed. You would think that the college essays would have reminded me, but no, I remained unaware of the meeting. I managed to sleep for 2 and a half hours. Seeing as I have a cold this isn't that surprising. Now we are back to the beginning of this post.

7:30pm: I wake up and sprint out of the house, making it to the college meeting at around 8pm.

So where did I go wrong? Basically I went wrong around a week ago when I RSVPed to the event. Instead of setting an alarm or an event on my calendar, like a responsible student would do. I simply let myself forget about the meeting. The point of all this is to let you guys know, juniors and seniors, that setting events on calendars is always a good thing to do. If you know you are forgetful, like I am, write it down somewhere. Put a calendar up in your room. Set an alarm on your phone. Do anything to remind you that you have something important to go to.

Although this meeting wasn't a huge deal to be late to, when it comes to a college interview, an SAT, and ACT, a application or scholarship deadline, calendars are your friends. Because if you are late on one of these there is no making a joke and simply strolling in. You waste about $50 on an SAT/ACT sitting or you miss a chance at free money (and who doesn't like free money?). So basically my first blog can be summed up by one sentence; get some form of a college calendar and fill it out as you make appointments.