Should Auld Acquaintance be Forgot....

I'm writing this from my sofa, with sausages sizzling in the oven, a bottle of red wine in reaching distance, and a backlog of Christmas TV on my Sky box.  It's New Year's Eve, and I'm not going anywhere.

Crisis has been and gone, and after a snooze-marathon last night (I crashed out on the couch at about 5pm, woke up enough to get into bed at about 1am, and slept through until 7.30 this morning - result!) my sleeping patterns are pretty much back to normal.  It was a good week and it's strange to think that it's over already. 

Today has been a surprisingly productive one.  Although I seemed to survive on less sleep this time around, I still didn't manage to do anything between shifts other than sleep, eat and watch a bit of telly.  So to say my flat was in "a bit of a state" this morning would be an understatement - there is still a week's worth of washing up in the kitchen! And don't get me started on the disaster zone which is my bathroom. (Alexander Flemming would have a field day in there.)  But the living area, which is pretty much the only other part what with it being a studio flat and all, is spotless, after  I finally managed to get around to using a wet mop to get rid of the dust everywhere.

As well as cleaning, I've replied to emails that have been hanging over my head for days, rearranged furniture, created a space where I can actually work from home, and finally managed to hang up all of my clothes properly.  That last one is particularly pleasing because it's something I haven't managed to do in two and a half years of living here.  Mainly because I've been hanging onto the romantic notion of turning the built in wardrobe into an office-in-a-cupboard conjured up after one too many IKEA visits.

I decided today that home-office-in-the-corner was a much better option and after a bit of furniture moving and a visit to WH Smith for pinup board, desk lamp and other essentials, I'm now ready to work.  Or to write.  Or to study.  All of which I'm resolving to do in more or less equal measures next year.  I'm also making a New Year's resolution to keep the dust bunnies at bay.

The one thing I didn't manage to do today was get a script sent off to the Sitcom Mission, which closes at midnight. I've been working on an idea for a while, but haven't had time to develop it properly which is a bit frustrating.  Still, it gives me something to aim for next year I guess.

Speaking of next year, it's only about four hours away.  And who knows what it will hold?  I'm looking forward to finding out, but in the meantime I'll be spending the rest of this one watching a film or two, eating chocolate and enjoying my glass of red.

Happy New Year all.

Christmas at Crisis

I'm not going to get much job hunting, writing or planning done this week, but for a good reason.  For the second year in a row I'm volunteering with Crisis, doing night shifts at a centre for homeless women.

From experience, the week becomes a bit of a blur; starting a shift at 10pm and getting home 12 hours later, snatching some sleep during the day, eating a hot dinner at 4am.  As I've said to a few people lately, it feels a bit like living a vampire-like state for the week.

It's good fun though, and a handy excuse to put everything else on hold.  Normal service should resume on the 30th, once it's all over and I've caught up on some sleep.

One month to go....

It doesn't take much maths to work out that January 22nd is exactly one calendar month away. Which means that in exactly a month's time, I'll be unemployed.  Or a lady of leisure, as I prefer to think of it.