Get Your Priorities Straight, Sister!

Oooh - this is a good time of the year. Yeah, I have the annual post-holiday blues and feel like I gained ten pounds (I really did not) and hate the cold, snowy, winter weather. But, the "Mighty 'Guins" are on a possible icy upswing (Let's Go Pens!), the WVU basketball team will enter some high stakes inner-conference play soon, it's NFL playoff time and to boot, the movie award season is upon us.

Naturally, things are bound to be busy around here. If I'm not careful, work and responsibilities can really get in the way of all this excitement. So, I must devise strategical plans to make sure my priorities stay in order. In the past, I've faced some real challenges in this area, but I always persevere. To commemorate, I thought I would relay a few instances of which I'm most proud.

In my Senior year of high school, the Penguins won the second of their back-to-back Stanley Cups. Awesome. I got to skip school the next day and stayed up all night to watch the television coverage. I was set to graduate about five minutes later, which is, I'm sure, why I got away with this. I like to think it sincerely set the tone for the rest of my adult life. (A shout-out to my parents for that one!)

During law school, when time could get tight, I'd sometimes be forced to skip classes to make sure I fit in all the Oscar nominated movies in time for the big night. When you think about it, this is not much of a sacrifice. I'd also skip class to catch the end of a good Lifetime movie (i.e. "Death of a Cheerleader" or, as I so refer, "the one where Kellie Martin stabs Tori Spelling with the knife") or watch especially good 90210 reruns (i.e. Kelly's cocaine days.) In addition, I blew off my third year Insurance final to make sure I saw "Eight Mile" with Eminem before it left the theatre - totally worth it, since I'll never understand Insurance law anyway and it's not like that final was going to be the difference.

When the Steelers made their fantastic, stupendous Super Bowl run a few years ago, I was lucky enough to work a job where I traveled much of the time, so my presence at the office was hit or miss anyway. The day after Pittsburgh beat Denver to make it to Super Bowl XL, I made a trip to southern West Virginia and then straight home to watch SportsCenter highlights. The day after the Super Bowl victory, I simply did not show up at all and no one even wondered why. (Due to my frenetic Steelers love, I'm sure they put it together. Attorneys are supposed to be logical, analytical thinkers, right?)

My best memory, though, is the release date of the Steelers Super Bowl DVD . As fate would have it, I was on my way to Wheeling, which led me right through Western PA. So, I stopped off at the "Little Washington" Target, bought my DVD, and was home by noon to watch it and re-live the glory. When my office called to see when I might be in, I told them the DVD release was a "holiday" and I'd see them the next day. (I'm pretty sure they thought I was kidding. I assume they figured out I sure wasn't. Back to the logic.)

Of course, I don't have the energy to recount every time I called off work or blew off homework or sat through three movies in one day to make sure I could "fit it all in." That's just part of my daily life. These more exceptional examples make me proud. I'm nothing if not loyal.

So, bring it on. I'm super excited and ready and I can not wait. Because this might be the most wonderful time of the year.