Boy c ot t ing Chaos

Rita A. Morgan

//T A That came first, the day planner or the organized person?" senior public relations major Lisa McMonigle V V wonders To keep herselfon top ofthings, this PRAD trafficmanager, Career Center employee andfulltimestudentusesseparatefile foldersforevery class. She haseach folderlabeled and inher attachecaseatall times. Her assignments and projectsarealways atherfingertips Now,if sheonly had time tosit down and getthem completed

Missed appointments and forgotten assignments arefrustrating, if notdeadly, toany sizeGPA. It doesn'ttakean Einsteintofigureoutthatifyou don'tturninan assignment, your grade may getslightlybruised. Most professors pound intotheirstudents' heads,"A missed deadline could wellcostyou yourjob!"

Sooner orlater, ithits all ofus. "Enough is enough. I've gottogetmy life together. Ihave no otherchoice. I must do something — buy aday planner, getacalendar, find aportablesundial, drag my mother up here orsomething. I'll do whatever ittakestogetmyself organized!"

Sincehauling your mom around all thetimecould getsomewhat embarrassing, you'llprobably just decide torunto thelocalbookstore and pickup a planner. Day planners, although notasloving and kind asamother,do have their own advantages; and they rarelyquestionyour lackofvegetables at dinner oryour habitofdoing one huge load of laundrya month

Organization is notusually something found inus at birth Infact, theneed usually arisesforit only aftera traumaticincident.

David Hart, featureeditorforthe "Champion," admits:"I never carried a calendar untilIbecame an editor." Now you can'tseparatehim from hishandy little "organizer notebook" thatsimply snaps intohis3-ringbinder foreasyaccess when assignments aredistributed.

Ruth Joyner, inventory controlmanager forthebookstore, quickly confirms theideathatplanners/calendars are the happening thing thesedays The famous burgundy and navy blue LU calendars embossed with gold were notavailable forpurchase due torisingcostsfrom thesupplier This, ofcourse, resulted innotonly abig lossforthebookstore,butthe studentbody aswell Usually they order 1,200 planners— 600burgundy,600blue— priced from $3.95and up "They selllike hotcakes!" Joynersays. Sheestimatesthat80%of the studentspurchasetheirplannersfrom the bookstore.

One might thinkthatonce they finallygetup theinitiativetopurchase thatpesky, little, reminds-you-of-a-wanna-bedressed-up-like-a-self-indulgent-yuppie day planner they were wellon theirway toa life ofeaseand on-timeassignments Well, hold on toyour seats The funis justbeginning If only it was aseasy asit sounds Senior PR major and PRAD manager LisaMorgan summed it all up "I have toschedule time toschedule time I'm still tryingtofigureit out, but one thing'sforsure— ifit's notinmy planner, forgetit. It just won't getdone."

Day planners canbe found inall shapes and sizes. There arelittle ones and big ones, thickones and thinones. Some show a whole month atatime, while otherslist outthewhole day inhalf-hour increments (who reallyneeds things that precise?). You can buy electronicpocket-sized planners, you canbuy programs foryour computer oryou can simply save thecash and buy alittle note pad likethekind you had infourth grade. However you choose todo it,do itcarefully.

Dave Gallagher performshissenior recital This Sounds ofLiberty alumnusis currently singing withtheSpeer Family.