That ADD streak strikes again

I've said before that I must have at least some ADD tendencies, if not a full-blown case. I'm a guy with pretty varying interests. If I'm not involved in several different "extracurricular" activities, I get bored. You'd think I would learn. My life seems to follow this cycle: I'm bored, so I sign up for something to do (an activity, group, help a friend with X, etc). Then I'll get another request and sign up for something else, and so on (hm, Thursdays are free- sure, I can do that)... Everything will be humming along smoothly for awhile- the calendar's packed, but minimal conflicts. Then all at once, there will be a period where all those different activities require something from me at the same time. The stress-o-meter goes through the roof, I curse myself for taking on too much, slog through 'til everything's done (often with spikes in my grump factor along the way), then take a much needed break. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I'm right in the middle of that crest where everything is beginning to happen at once. I really enjoy most of the things on the list individually, but when the "context switching" gets out of hand, I don't really enjoy any of them. It gets to the point where I just want to pull the covers over my head and sleep (wake me up when it's over!).

Here's my current list:

• Being married (best keep this one first)
• Working at a startup where there's enough work to keep a small army busy (and we don't have a small army).
• Editing my dad's book on steelheading and the accompanying DVD (the publisher's been very patient, but the clock's ticking)
• Trying to prep my Boy Scouts for their first campout next weekend and keep them on track for their advancements
• Playing horn in the Oregon Symphonic Band (a regular gig- one of my favorites)
• Hacking on the Optimus Mini Three SideShow driver
• Helping a friend with some microcontroller programming
• Moving my bathroom remodel along its asymptotic approach to completeness
• Singing in the choir at church
• Working on some family history research
• Subbing in the Oregon Sinfonietta

That's just the "active" list- then there are all those little things that I'd really like to do (that will probably one day end up on the "things I'm cursing" list), like:

• Finishing a bachelor's degree. I've been poking at finishing one of my three majors at OIT (a class here, two classes there), but I haven't touched it for three terms now. I'm hoping I don't get hosed by credits expiring- I'm only left with courses to challenge and a few GEs that didn't transfer right from Purdue. Won't make any difference professionally, but probably a good thing to finish.
• Learning piano. I took piano lessons for a year in college and loved it, but never put in the practice time to make it worthwhile. Dropped at the end of one of the aforementioned cycles.
• Learning to dance. A guilty pleasure my wife and I share is watching Dancing with the Stars. I know. I'm a tool. Ballroom and swing always fascinated me, but I've never taken the time to really get beyond shuffling and mumbling counts to myself.
• Landscaping my yard. I bought my house over six years ago and the yard was pretty lame. Every year I've been "meaning" to do something more with it than go mow the weeds every few weeks. Apologies to my neighbors (though I'm not the worst offender here in that area- maybe I'd get to it faster if I was).

That's probably about a tenth of my "someday" list. New things show up all the time. Maybe if I'm smart, I'll read my old blog entries and remind myself not to sign up for so many things next time.

In the meantime, somebody wake me up when it's over!