Days off

My reward is almost at an end. No more holidays for me in my England jaunt. Blergh.

I am quite scared and apprehensive at 10-12 week terms back home. 7 was the longest here and I almost collapsed at the end of it. *shrug* Maybe that's 'cause it was the end of the year back in July.

This week I've spent far too much money, almost paid off my Contiki tour for Christmas, finished Christmas shopping, wrapped them all up (and am just waiting for the posties to stop striking to bother sending them all (and I mean all...) home. For some unknown reason I decided to buy proper presents instead of just little tiny tokens like last year. Damn postage.) bought some jeans, gone to Lincoln and walked down the steepest hill I've ever seen (imaginately called 'steep hill' - photos available through my profile on a social networking site) and am just about to head out to Wisbech (uh oh, me's is heading out to them there Fens) to celebrate Halloween with my peeps.

Last year we got trick or treaters, but my overwhelmingly British housemates ignored the door, this year the Canadians are excited to welcome them. So, I am going to head over for some good old North American (ooh, yep, I went there!) Halloween fun.

Boo!

Another 350 GBP

Balance: 1139
Paid: 350
New balance: 789

Half term

7 weeks of school complete, so I get my reward: a full week off!

Yes, I will be doing copious amounts of planning
Yes, I will be marking furiously
Yes, I will be looking dreading the class on the first day attempting their exam.

But I can do it at 2am if I damned well please.

Payment

460 pound paid onto my trip for Christmas.
1139 to go - come on tax return!!!

Christmas

I am almost completely finished with my Christmas shopping in October for the second year in a row. My excuse is that I need to meet the deadline for shipping and post, but in reality, I like buying presents for people. :) Gives me a rush - both the spending of money (I think I am a little addicted to that rush) and finding something that I hope the person in mind likes.

Both sisters are done. Mother is semi-done. I found something perfect, bought it, then worked out at home that it wasn't quite so perfect after all. This is the danger buying something on the other side of the world - it can make it inappropriate for back home in the antipodes. Dad is also done.

So it's basically just the step family to buy for now. I will have to wait until I can afford it though; all tapped out at the moment. (see aforementioned addiction to spending).

Second year in a row I will be far away from loved ones. I will hopefully be in the Royal Casino in Monaco all 'gokked' (oh God, I'm using it as a verb now) up and forgetting that I am not getting any presents or hugs from friends and family.

Next year.

Daylight

Come Back. Please.

Heading into winter now and the sun is very shy. He was very verbose and like an old jumper - comfortable - in summer, and now has decided it's time to take a holiday.

He arrives around 7am and leaves at 7pm. Doesn't sound like a big thing, but he's not helping me wake up anymore. It's soooo hard to get up. My alarm goes off three times, and it's still a struggle to get up and going.

So even though the sun back home is the devil (related to the sun here, but is mean and nasty with the amount of heat he gives off) I am looking forward to getting up with the first ringing of the alarm.

Goal #9

I don't really know why I decided this was something I needed to do. Cull Facebook 'friends'? It's not like they're being offensive or taking up any of my time.

But I did it. Well, I started anyway. I culled 10 people!!! Generally people who added me that I really didn't like when I knew them in person and a couple of people who aren't healthy for me.

Going to give myself a month to cull another 10 - it's a big decision people! :)

Changeover

I live in shared housing. Much cheaper that way. A month's rent is less than a week's pay - they have realistic house/room values in this country! :)

The couple that were sharing with me have left. They left yesterday. The owner moved back in.

I hope it goes better with her.

Weekend

It's here again. The week goes so fast! It doesnn't necessarily seem like it's going fast while you're at work, but on a Friday night it's like... wow! Where'd that week go?

Especially when you're going to bed at 8pm.

changing my password

My profile on the computer system was down all last week, so I needed to change my password today (it was reset by IT). I was at a loss - I use 5 or 6 passwords throughout the internet and they are all time related and I didn't want to use them for work.

I recently found out a friend's password and was inspired by her ordering the initials of a band in order of attractiveness. Inspiration striking, I thought of all the men in television and film that I am attracted to at the moment.

I now have an eight letter password of seemingly random letters that can only be worked out by knowing every single famous TV man I'm attracted to, choosing the correct ones, and the correct combination.

Perfect.

Oh, and I did write it down somewhere so I didn't forget when my tastes change!