I want to start by confessing that I spend A LOT of time on the internet. Much of it is productive. I read MFA websites as I narrow down the list of programs I plan to apply to. I study online for the GRE. I blog here, I edit the Saturday Poetry Series on As It Ought To Be, I write for the recently launched opinion editorial syndicate iPinion, and I occasionally find the time to do a little work on my poetry project blog.

Finding the time for all of those activities is hard enough. But really, I've got ten-to-twelve good hours in the day to work, and I'm lucky if I actually work for a solid four or five. And this was the case when I was employed full-time in a 40-hour-per-week job.

So where does the time go? I believe the answer is that the internet is the biggest time-sucker on the planet. Aside from the actual work I do, all I do on the internet is check my email and facebook. Yet I can easily hop on the internet to do those two things and find myself down the road an hour (or more!) with nothing to show for my time.

My girlfriend and I were talking last night and she confessed she routinely checks Dlisted to procrastinate from work. In the time she's spent at Dlisted she easily could have done the task she was putting off twice!

We ALL do it. This is why many companies block access to sites like facebook from company computers. But not all do. And those of us who work from home don't have that imposed restraint.

If you find the internet sucking the productivity right out of you, if you're like many of us and simply can't help yourself, there is a product called Freedom that will block the internet on your computer for you for up to eight hours. You tell the program when to block the internet and how long to block it for, and it shall set you free.

The internet sucks the time out of life. No question. It is the single-biggest reason I am not as productive as I want to be. But there is far more going on in This Unemployed Life than just dicking around on the net.

While I am writing this I am procrastinating from some notes I should be making regarding poetry publishing. I have two GRE study guides sitting next to me that are overdue and need to be returned to the library today, unread. Later tonight my GRE study group is meeting at my apartment.

I have to drive across town today to deposit my unemployment check. I can't simply take it to the local ATM because I moved my money from the bastards at BofA, chose a bank based on its merits, and now I can't deposit money without a 40-minute round-trip drive. And don't think for one second that the good people of EDD would be so kind as to provide direct deposit to its poor recipients.

On a good week the gym eats up an hour or two a day. Luckily I've injured my shoulder and am on a break from the gym this week, freeing up a little time. Starting next week I'm in a memoir writing class that will eat up my Thursday nights. Every other Monday I have guitar lessons. I am volunteering to help mediate a friend's custody situation including writing up the final agreement between the parents.

This weekend I have three different sets of social plans on Saturday alone. Today I had to turn down an offer to give a reading for the UC Berkeley Extension because it conflicted with Bay to Breakers. One weekend in June I have a bachelor party, two weddings, and a book club all in the span of one weekend.

Somewhere in there I have to register, study for, and pass the GRE with flying colors. I have to choose and polish a selection of my best poems for grad school writing samples. I have to write individualized personal statements for the applications to twelve separate graduate schools. I have to try to get some work published to bolster my literary CV. All this while continuing my weekly contributions to the aforementioned blogs and syndicates.

The truth is, I am writing this entry in my robe. I am still in the clothes I woke up in. I haven't even considered taking a shower yet today. If my stomach didn't grumble I wouldn't even find the time to eat.

People assume that because I am unemployed I have a lot of free time. The truth is, I can't remember the last time I had this many things on my plate. The struggle is how to balance it all, where do your priorities lie. If you can sort that out and master the art of effectively managing your time then you must not be on facebook.