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Since establishing the 6 p.m. deadline for this column in an update February 3, I have yet to meet it. It seems that time just keeps slipping by while deadlines come and deadlines go. Yet we need this goal for which we can reach.

I've mentioned before also, another deadline. This was just another in a long string of deadline after deadline going by only leaving in question; what's the new deadline? With insufficient incentive behind them, these deadlines have become meaningless. Whether it be a reward for successfully meeting a deadline, or a penalty for failure to do so; some incentive nonetheless is needed to give the deadline weight.

A new deadline has now been set as I have heard through the grape-vine, for mid-march. I didn't hear a specific date this time but it doesn't really matter because it won't happen anyway. What next? Set a new deadline of course. I've been asked what I'm going to do next. I really do not yet know. I've resolved myself to continue in my present job until it is eliminated, in which case I'll just have to wait to see what options I am offered at that time. If my current position is not eliminated prior to my eye-sight diminishing beyond the point where I can continue the satisfactory completion of the tasks required of my present position, I will be forced to take disability leave.

I mentioned a sign with the date June 1 as the date that the offices would be available for lease. The sign's still there and I have no idea how firm that date is, but that would be a good date for my life to change. I hope that there is strong enough an incentive to meet that date, but experience has taught me very well that nothing is for certain, or as it seems to be. Only time will tell and one can only hope for the best.

Summertime, job-hunting, arranging for fall semester classes, and just enjoying the daylight again. That is something I can look forward to; a life. What that means to this column, I also do not really know. Dramatic changes in ones life produce much fodder for a journal but finding the time and the motivation to sit down and write it ... deadlines can be put-off only so long before they are forgotten altogether. My incentive in this respect is in the mere pride of the accomplishment, and penalty for failure lies only in the failure itself. At this time however, I plan to continue writing it as long as I can.

All I can do now is wait for the real deadline to become known to me, only then can I begin to move on but until then I'll just wait. Whenever I hear someone mention a deadline now, I can't help but laugh. Deadlines are used to entice people to work harder and faster in an attempt to complete the work by the specified date. But when unrealistic and arbitrarily set, like the boy who called wolf, the deadlines become mere folly.

I want to go back to school where the deadlines *must* be met ... at least within a couple of days anyway. I think that I've been out of circulation too long and at least one or two semesters of re-training, if not a bachelor's degree --or more -- may be in order. In addition to career-related courses, I also need to take some time to learn braille, mobility, and other blindness-related skills.

I'll try harder in the meantime to meet my deadline with respect to this column because as I have stated before, deadlines are important. But then again, so is punctuality - - isn't it?