Today, after school, I was hit by the realization that I have definately overextended myself. I had just picked up some paperwork for track (code of conduct, physical form, medical release, etc) and it hit me: I have just added one more activity to my already lengthy list. As it was, I already had to be in 2 places at once that afternoon: play practice and with my math teacher, working on learning about conics for a competition. I managed, running down to practice just before my scene, but I'll have to pull a similar stunt tomorrow.

As of right now, my weekly after-school activity schedule is something like this: Mon: play practice; Tues: math and play practice; Wed: quiz bowl and play practice; Thurs: tutoring down at grade school, then play practice; Fri: weight room for track (pre-season) and play practice.

Right now I don't always have play practice, and the next few weeks are odd because of other theatre-y things... No matter what, though, I'm spread pretty thin. And I've got homework (lots of it), finals are fast approaching, and... Oh, this is going to get interesting. Maybe I should get a clone, or something. Or just prepare myself for a mental breakdown.

One of my friends told me to stop caring today. Actually, 3 of them did. We were working on a packet in econ, and they told me, "You've gotten into college, you have a solid A in this class, you don't even need to do this! Stop caring so much. Stop trying so hard!" What they fail to understand is that I HAVE to care. It's like a genetic mutation. I can't not do the work - I'm a massive perfectionist. It hurts me that I have an A- in English right now. Most people in my class would kill for that grade, but I wish it was at least a plain A. I'm incredibly hard on myself sometimes, I think. I'm wondering what will happen at college. My school is know for the stress and large workload... Yet despite (or because?) of this, it feels like a match made in heaven. Sometimes I think I thrive on stress, on pressure, in spite of all the grumbling, the sleepiness, and whatnot. I think I'd get bored if I didn't do all the stuff I do.

"I'm addicted to stress, that's the way that I get things done - if I'm not under pressure, then I sleep too long and hang around like a bum." - Jim's Big Ego, Stress

Sometimes I think that should be my theme song.