The concept of tardiness: the adult edition

Everyone knows the concept of punctuality. Some of us are better at it than others. It is definitely something that I've struggled with since I started caring about it in college when I had to balance the strength of my memory and giving myself ample time to study for a midterm. Post-college, I have gotten better in some aspects of timeliness, such as not showing up to work late, but in the process, uncovered a wholly different side that I've never thought of before. Thus, here is "tardiness": the adult edition.

When you are a kid, there are very few things that you "have" to do compared to an adult. The fact that most kids don't need to run errands contributes the lack of things they "have" to do. Adults, on the other hand, tends to have tasks in a day already lined up with a little bit of flexibility as to their timing, always trying to squeeze in a bit extra if we could. I've been finding more and more cases where I am not late yet, but I know I am going to be late hours, days, or months ahead of time. For example, yesterday for Lauren's birthday bash, I knew I was going to be late when I learned the meeting time was at 6. Breakdown: wake up and start working for Brian at 9. That's when the stores open and I really would not like to be at his home any earlier. So 9am. Takes me about 30 min, including driving time to get the mail. Around an 1 1/2 hours-2 hours at his place doing billing and recording deposit and plan errands. 2-3 hours for errands. 1/2 hour to put everything away. Always add about 1-1 1/2 hours for extra time, like waiting in line, extra shopping etc. That puts my finishing time to around 2ish. Actual finish time: 3. I did start later at 10:30. For the party, I knew it was going to take at least 2 hours to get ready. 1 hour or more for the hair. 45 min for makeup. Drive there: 1/2hr. Actual times: ate when I finished work, took shower, started getting ready at 5, finished at 7. Late already. Illustrating my concept that I knew I was going to be late when I went to sleep on Thursday.

Months late: I am studying my MCATs. Based on my rate of study I know I won't be finished in time for testing in the 2nd week of May.

Fucking depressing isn't it?