time flies.... supposedly

As another fortnight passes by and I haven't written anything for the blog I find myself wondering again what my actual intentions for this thing really are. Not in an "Bloody hell, what's the point?!" kind of way, just a genuine questioning of what I am using this blog for. I think I have stated before that I don't want it to turn into an online diary of the sort a schoolgirl would write. I remember all too well those night-time missives about who I fancied most that week, who had fallen out with who at break time and whether or not I like the new Take That single. OK, looking at the last one, maybe not that much has changed in the intervening 14 years! I also remember how I would start out all enthusiastic at the beginning of a fresh new diary. All those crisp, blank pages inviting me to spill my heart. By the end of the notebook I would be sick to the back teeth of sitting up in bed trying to think of something to write. So, this is how the online blog is an improvement - I only need to blog when I have something to blog about.

Not that there haven't been things to blog about in the last few weeks, it just seems that time has got away from me again. As the old saying goes 'Time flies when you're having fun'... but I have recently discovered in the weeks leading up to the mildly unanticipated start of my new job I am discovering that time does, in fact, pootle along of it's own accord whether you've found something productive to do with your time or not. I kept thinking I had ages to go before I knuckled down and earned some cash, now it's less than a week away. And despite my best efforts to use the intervening time wisely I find I have not very much to show for 7 months of unemployment. I thought I had done quite well with my reading this year, and after discovering a thread entitled '50 book challenge' on Shelfari I thought "Hey, that's easy. I can definitely read 50 books in a year." Er.... maybe I can if I get a wiggle on. I'm sure I must have forgotten a couple, but I wrote out my list of 2007 finished books so far... 20. That's pathetic! So I've cracked on with the new Harry Potter and finished it in 2 days. I won't write any kind of review for it because a) I don't really enjoy writing conventional reviews of things, and therefore don't find it very easy and b) I don't want to unwittingly give the game away in case someone stumbles across this page. And there's a perfectly adequate chat about the book here and a slightly more crazy one here. I have been marking my progress with Mr M's brother via text message so no doubt we'll have a good old discussion of it at the weekend.
But apart from trying to read lots, what exactly have I been doing with myself since Christmas? I suppose it's not all bad when I look back, a greater part of the year was taken up with my Open University course and I am very pleased with how I did on that. Still waiting for the official results now but I'm sure there won't be any nasty surprises in that brown envelope. I try not to think about the number of people doing OU courses who hold down a full time job at the same time. I struggled with working part time over Christmas. And when I start Approaching Literature in February I will be working full time. Only my old friend time will tell how I manage with that.