Over the past month and a half I have disappeared slowly, meaning I have been stretched to thin, I can’t even brush my teeth twice a day, no time for it.
Yesterday I got an invitation via email and it said; ‘if you have some free-time….’
And I said lady, ‘time is an asset I can’t afford to lose,’ an original Nolawi idiom.
I don’t like it when people disappear when they are busy. People are busy, but busy is the norm; so when people say “I am busy” it should be when you are not just busy, but extremely busy.
Let’s face it, most people are not that busy, at least not extremely busy. Extreme busyness is when you don’t have time to pee and when you have to pee. So I think most people can afford to spend ten seconds of their busyness to email someone telling them I will contact you at the earliest convenience.
Based on convenience
Relationships of any type should not be based on convenience; I once told a friend that I was too busy to hang out and he was not understanding of my situation. Hey, com’mon I could finish my project or I could have coffee with you and attempt to finish the same socio economic discussion we have been arguing over the last two years.
For a second, I thought what an asswhole I was for putting my friendship on hold because I had an urgent project at work. But then, I realized that this was the same person that completely disappeared from the face of the earth because he was on cloud nine – in love. So I mentioned to him that he had done the same thing when… ; his response “that is different!”
Oh I see, so when people ignore their friends because they have met that special someone I should understand. Well I do, but I don’t think there is a difference between a girl and a project. Both need time.
I like this girl, and I think she likes me too. Not now but then, when she was my dilemma.
She is smart; she knows what her priorities are. You know the things parents always tell us; know your priorities, blah blah blah….Thats is one of those things people no matter what age have to learn to balance. In the corporate world, the successful people have made an art of prioritizing. Work first and family second or vice versa in some cases.
The thing is I know I shouldn’t be on the top of anyone’s priority even if it’s my girlfriend but I don’t want to be last either. You know the one she calls if and when she is bored with nothing to do.
I am busy, the real kind and I will continue to be busy for the next two weeks. The real extreme busy kind. There is a saying in Amharic “be’inqirt lay joro degef” I got in a car accident last week; some guy hit me from the back. Dealing with the insurance people turned out to be a headache.
I told the bernos presser that it will be back in October, and I was attempting to have it done but I couldn’t. It’s either get the usual four hours of sleep or have the BP back in October. And I chose the four hours and so here is my apology, the BP will be back on November.
Published by October 25th, 2007 in Personal and Social.
We appreciate your effort, but don’t overstretch yourself that much to get BP back. I hope you are okay from the accident. October, November, it’s all semantics.
On the busy subject – you are right, we all say we are busy even when we are really not. I think it’s just a way of saying I’m too damn lazy to do anything else other than my job.
tiru the 2wice thing is suppose to be irony, to mean I don’t have time for things that are not important like brushing your teeth twice a day… you see once is enough… although 2 is better
but we all do things that are not perfect… like sitting at the dinning room table when you eat instead of the sofa… get off your phat ass and do something….
Noles, I hope you are none the worse for wear after your accident. Don’t worry too much about bp when you are so “extremely” busy. Besides, everybody knows November is a better month anyhow. Like aba said don’t stretch yourself too thin.
Keleku ayalfem! One can only do so much, so do what you need to do dude. Hope you’re not suffering from whiplash.
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can i ask you something here..
how many hours did it take you to create this read Nol??..
i knew someone was going to ask, i edited out the last sentence…. i actually timed myself writing this, exactly 24 minutes… to write and another ten to post….
Ok. ur defnition and classification of ‘busy’ doen’t seem bad at all. And Let it be. You don’t even have time to brush ur teeth twice per day, eh? How disgusting and am lucky not knowing u in person by any chance. As a smart person u don’t loose time imagining why, do u?
Having said that, I have one more wonder: do u go to the toilet as you suppose to be??kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk. No, No, Nooo. I don’t want you respond that. I got already enough
Take it easy man. You don’t have to work continuously or over-stretch yourself. We know that you are trying to keep your promises…and November is not far. So allow yourself to have fun.
Speaking of Convenience, don’t you find it weird when friends disappear when they find love? This was happening to me with most of my guys friends. When they find that someone, they just ignore my calls and emails. And every time they end their relationships come back and continue our friendship where we left of. Is it because am a GIRL friend?
Esti enante feredu…
inkuan igzabher aweTah!
And forget what a fool ur friend was for not giving you the time when he was in love. Two wrongs don’t make a right. And if you think about it, no one is guaranteed a tomorrow…..A good example: I’m sure you didn’t expect the accident!
Good thing that u believe time is an asset that u can’t afford to lose. But what good is it if u lose a chance to make a small difference in your friends life? (okk, bizu sAlifelasef,~~~~~)
Am I the only one who noticed this comment?
“I don’t think there is a difference between a girl and a project. Both need time.”
Don’t get me wrong…. I definitely agree with you on the fact that no one should ever loose sight of their friends or their goals just b/c their in a new relationship.
Comparing a project to your woman…interesting? Certainly there are circumstances that can definitely make this statement true however; to compare your girl to a project is callous. As a smart working man who knows his priorities, you to ought to know that a relationship- a real one- should be the higher priority in the battle between the two.
Understandably a mans sense of self is achieved through his accomplishments where as a womans is defined through her feelings…she needs to feel cherished…to be compared to a project is humiliating. A project is fleeting; we move from project to project weekly or monthly depending on the nature of our careers. I’m not trying to downplay how busy you are, sometimes a project can make or break our future goals
. In that regard a relationship is a constant growing thing in our lives…it needs to be nurtured more than a project or else it cannot survive. I’m sure you mean well by focusing dutily on your project, nevertheless you maybe losing sight of something meaningful if you really like this girl the way you say.
Having recently acquired new responsibilities at my place of work to pick up the slack, it has caused me to lose track of time which resulted in less time for my friends, so in your defense, i know how hard it can be to ensure equal doses of time to every part of your life including your own “me” time. But just how special is someone to you when they are penciled in the task list between this & that… You might want to consider how valuable they are & how vital their participation in your life is or let them go and work on that darn project cause if you can’t take a moment out of your day to relay how much you cherish that person…you may want to figure out why that person is taking away precious time from your projects.
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Speaking of Convenience, don’t you find it weird when friends disappear when they find love? This was happening to me with most of my guys friends. When they find that someone, they just ignore my calls and emails. And every time they end their relationships come back and continue our friendship where we left of. Is it because am a GIRL friend?
Esti enante feredu…[/quote]
Abyssinia, I laughed when I read your msg cuz I have a guy friend (we’ve known each other since we were knee high to a grass-hoper) and he always pulls a disappearing act when he gets hot and heavy with a new girl. It can’t be a jealousy thing from his ladies du jour since I am married. He does it to this day and I’ve come to accept it. Whatever tickles his fancy. It might be one of those things that we will never understand about men…LOL.
Nolawi, courage mon ami. Don’t spread yourself to thin, it ain’t healthy and enkwan egziaber awetah.
You are right Moi.
I actually have a longer answer but due to busyness with work, I will keep it short for now!
Bilena – just a thought
Maybe the fact that you can’t see Nolawi’s point with “stretched to thin” is because you’ve never been “the extremely busy” one before sleeping 4hrs a night and for that reason have a difficulty to comprehend what it really entails to be not only busy, but “extremely stretched to thin busy”.
To me the value of time is based on the emphasis you put on the things your working on. I for instance don’t complain about working that much on my projects, because it is simply that important to me that I do it and if I don’t then it will fall short. And since failure is not an option at this point…I really don’t have a choice, beside who else will do the work?
Do I think keeping a balance between work and the rest of my life is important? Absolutely, but many things in our life are beyond our control.
It’s not easy to juggle the demand of work, personal projects/business, and family all at once when each demands the same attention. So the best we can do is to consider what’s important to us (moi) right now in my life when managing my time (many factors will take part hear – Age, life, goals, responsibility, timing, etc.) and based on does reflection one should choose to live a life in support of those values.
I have to also say that there is no right or wrong answer to our discussion as it basically boils down to “Where you are in life and what you’re trying to accomplish.”
DawitK,
Listen to what you are saying. Who do you know who isn’t incredibly busy? Life it’s not all about being busy. Dawit… in my perspective it’s how to manage time instead of allowing time to manage us. Dawit how does your own dictionary define BUSY? It’s not about 48 hours of your time…It’s about how you manage your time EFFECTIVELY. Use your ingenuity and imagination to avoid boredom or burnout. The Not So Big life is for those who feel like they’ve lost touch with what’s important and want to go from the bigger is better mentality to embracing quality over quantity.
DawitK,
Listen to what you are saying. Who do you know who isn’t incredibly busy? Life it’s not all about being busy. Dawit… in my perspective it’s how to manage time instead of allowing time to manage us. Dawit how does your own dictionary define BUSY? It’s not about 48 hours of your time…It’s about how you manage your time EFFECTIVELY. Use your ingenuity and imagination to avoid boredom or burnout. The Not So Big life is for those who feel like they’ve lost touch with what’s important and want to go from the bigger is better mentality to embracing quality over quantity.
well, im one of those people who is BUSY…all the time. between school, work, family, little time is left for my friends and even bernos. the top three are my priorities so therefore i cant not get to them. the 24 hours in the day are hardly enough time to fit everything that needs to get done. im still learning to manage my time and its so hard, mostly because i deal with things as they come up rather than planning ahead of time.
Meron….
Time well spent is worth much than gold
I totally agree what you say and I respect that. Give all your best to the fulfillment of a worthwhile endeavor. Not just because we have to live in life “we don’t just live” I’m not saying that leisure is a no-no. I believe it’s up to me to make my life beautiful and manageable with the help of God. I want to use my time wisely, effectively and mutual accountability. No body wants to procrastinate on things that set priorities. I don’t be a couch potato just sit around and be contended with daily activities (BUSY). They key is to have a balanced life. Majority of us we just laze around but when we all realized haven’t accomplished a lot. Time should be our most valuable resources. Once lost; it can never be reclaimed…time we all look back and recollect the pleasant memories and deeds that we have achieved
Meron,
This might help:- Time Management from the Inside Out: The Foolproof System for Taking Control of Your Schedule and Your Life (Paperback)
by Julie Morgenstern
Then again, you might not have time to read a book ):-
Nol, I am glad you got out of the accident unharmed.
No rush to get BP back on. We will get there when ever so don’t strech thin for us.
I am sure most BPers know you are no slacker!!
On the subject of being busy, enjoy life and live for today because we don’t know what tomorrow has in store for us.
It is nice to manage our time according to our priorties, but life is full of surprises we can plan to accomplish this and that today and we might not spend the day as we planed it. Just take it as it comes.
Sky,
Not trying to bring negativity… I don’t agree with “enjoy life and live for today because we don’t’ know what tomorrow brings” this is not a destination… and you will never have a desire. That will create lack of purpose. That’s’ why so many Abesha people got tricked. The problem is for those who believe enjoy life for today do not have any purpose in their life “I’m sorry for saying that”. We all set goals and make plans to achieve them and work hard to gain but something is still missing. We all may accomplish many things but life is passing them by. Even Bernos wont’ be here if they have the same thought but mission is their purpose for living.
hey guys while you all have a great excuses for being “BUSY”, especially those things that are keeping you busy, which does not really contribute for better life of yourself or other …i say this.. Because by the time you have accomplished the WoW project of life you have missed the process that could have been enjoyed…NOW you have the result which may not be that important…..LET SAY what if you die today while you have a lot of work, project,….to do…. guess what we still move on and your input/ hard labor of busyness has gone out of the window and the next guy has picked up the job his own new way…So let’s put our focuses and busyness on a very fruitful projects such as to know Christ and do what he wants us to do….to find out Please read your Bible, Pray, go to church, meet other Christians who walk with the Lord and experiencing peace, joy, satisfaction instead of “tied up with things that are not productive in a long run”.
I do not remember the exact title of this move…”….Schmidt??” life is more than ours….
So my challenge for those who are busy is take a Bible, read a scripture once a day and think about it. (you can read it while sitting on the toilet bowl- since most of you are very very busy…that is a good minute!)
Nolawi…do not sweat over BP….your health comes first (stress causes a lot of health complications….check the health website for your info). I applaud you for your accomplishment believe me if anything happens to you everyone will be like yap there was a ‘ ‘ who did it and they all move one…Balance life with God.
God bless all
NALOWI … FEEEEEEEELLL BETTER ASAP! Take everything in stride. One day at a time. I’m glad your in one piece. Sometimes random road blocks or misteps help us slow down and take a second look at our surroundings to see what path we should be on.
Mercedes
lulady,
I think you probably read too much in to the “live for today” statement. I don’t believe in not having a goal in life but I am not going to kill myself in the process of achieving my goal by stressing myself too much or stretching thin to the point I get in accident because I have so much to accomplish today and I have to be here, there at this hour, do this and do that. I will take time to smell the roses and have logical/realistic goal so you don’t go crazy to accomplish it.
nicely put nolawi. the article that is.
btw, try not to work hard, work smart. But I tell you, I am not happy that BP isn’t functional today. This was absolutely a day I needed to vent on nowhere else but BP. damn it!
Chil! you’re back and already ready to vent, mts! I miss BP too, Noles, but, it’s not worth your cycle of sleep deprivation and tired, Long days so don’t stretch yourself thin over that.
As for definition of busy, priorities and time management…the way I see it, setting priorities is basic but as for the time management bit, I think, setting practical goals and deadlines make a busy schedule manageable. Yes, it’s about using your time effectively assuming minimal laziness but trying to make every second count by doing ridiculous things like eating breakfast or applying make-up and stuff in traffic is also unrealistic and setting yourself up for a breakdown…
so Extremely busy as defined above is just a failure in setting practical deadlines not cos the person is a victim of heavy work load.
Nol, I’m sorry about your accident…enkwaan beselam egzer awetah. Don’t be too busy for what you love to do and of course to the loved ones. Nice article btw….
Much luv to all!!
Nolawi,
I totally understand your point. Even though life is give & takes sometimes it is good to just give and have less expectation in return. That way you don’t get disappointed.
Nolawi..something in that article rung true.. we all pretend that we are busy than we really are or have our priorities mixed up…
BTW.. I miss BP.. yet I am glad I don have the temptation to log in for work anymore..
Noles,
I’m sorry about the accident, hope all will be well soon!
I concur with you on busy-ness, the challenge for most of us(at least for me) is to create a balance and to differentiate between what is fundamentally important and what seems to be “urgent” with no clear result.
If being busy pertains a bunch of activities, then it is what they call ‘busy for nothing’. At times, I look back and review those ‘activities’, those ‘meetings’, those ‘brainstormings’… which pressed me so much till I couldn’t breathe, I regret for the time ‘wasted’ and a real growth opportunity lost.
Like “Peaceethio’s” comment, if I don’t enjoy the journey, the process, the ‘in-between’ and if I lost myself in the process of accomplishing “whatever that is that keeps me busy”, my busy-ness wasn’t meaningless.
November is right here right now, Nol. So, BP hopefully will be here before the month is out. I miss BP.
You know what I miss about BP? The small talks….What I ate for lunh…sidib timhirt bet…minamin.
Yesterday I was laughing at what my 5 year old said and I said this will make a good BP entry not realizing BP is off. So, here is my BP entry for the day.
A few days ago I tried to explain to my 5 year old what the word multitasking means. I said to him….multitasking is when you do two things at the same time. He got it and a couple of times he used the word appropriately and I was surprised that he knew how to use the word. Yesterday we went to church and he said he wants to go to the washroom. I took him downstairs to the church washroom, walked him into the washroom and said to him to let me know when he is done and stepped out to give him his privacy. I waited about five minutes by the door and I thought he took a little too long. I called him and said, what are u doing? He said I am multitasking. At first I thought he forgot the meaning of the word. Just to make sure, I said, how are you multitasking, to which he replied, I am doing pee and poo at the same time…I laughed so hard…..
you know, if I was one that gets to hang out with you every now and then, I would say please, don’t worry about BP and take the time to brush your teeth. but I don’t… so who cares silante tinfash, get BP back!
hahhaha LOL Dini… you’re loading the mskin little fellow with big words his classmates won’t even know how to spell.
Dorisha, besm-ab…CHekagn!
BPers,
Here is a funny happy B-day song I sort of improvised for my son’s 1st B-day…Habesha style…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AGQ7_tJeM8
Good day! hgh pill
Recently one of my friends started an obsession with the actor Nicholas Cage (mostly because their names are both Nicholas – sounds strange but he is strange and that isn’t the point). After asking around the rest of my friends he seems to be a very controversial figure.
What does the forum think? do you love the all action superhero? Or do you hate the droning voice of the man who does nothing but action shooters?