It's been, of course, another full on week of crazy variable work stuff. I finished my assignments with a little time to spare (hours, not days) - one, I loved and wanted to do more of; the other, well, let's hope the people marking it don't find it as deathly boring as I did. It definitely convinced me that I am not cut out to be a quantitative researcher. 'It just has to pass' became the mantra. Then I had to write a dissertation proposal which I was fixated on and just couldn't do, so I submitted some awful cough in the direction of a document, just because I had to get it off my list. I have had somewhere over 100 re-marks to do, which I finished today. A small but important bit of other exam board work. And then I checked my school email on Friday morning and found that the head had added a 45 minute inset day slot on something that is my responsibility, which I had to plan and give to her to deliver. In her defence she sent it on Tuesday and I hadn't looked but, yeah. I had a list of school things to do already and therefore none of them have been done yet.
Meh. I can only do what I can do. Let's not even mention the three events I'm speaking at in the next month, the school course I'm doing that I need to prep for and that article I said I would write for a magazine, that is due some time this week. Lol.
Anyway, enough whining. Let's all remember that I do choose to say yes to these things.
I have (in amongst all this because why not) been to Mother Hand's for a few days this week as she rented a beach hut. It wasn't really beach hut weather but we did try to make it work. We got up early on Thursday and managed to get to the beach in a brief window of sun, only with some rain around the edges so we got treated to a beautiful beach rainbow, well played, Portsmouth.
I caught a (much delayed) train home on Thursday and then went for some drinks with local history teacher friends for an end-of-summer debrief. This sort of marked the end of the holiday for me as Friday was spent at work, although on Saturday, Mr Z and I did manage a brunch and we watched two episodes of The Last of Us while I wound yarn for my next knitting project.
On that - I finished knitting the UV unicorn jumper for the niece, it looks AMAZING under the UV torch I bought to go with it. Sadly they did not come to hang out on Wednesday so she doesn't have the jumper yet, but hopefully she will love it.
I'm now winding the wool for a Christmas jumper, Kristtjørn by Hanne Rimmen. I bought the green and red yarn in Oxford and the white in Norway this summer (the yarn shop lady helped me pick it out and told me Oslo was a city of around a million people that supported at least 20 knitting shops - further evidence that Norway is somewhere I could live). Unusually for me, I think I will knit a proper swatch for this one, since I probably only have time to knit it once before Christmas. I'd also like to use up the UV yarn on a small jumper for the nephew, though, so we will see how I get on.
After a summer of many novels, there hasn't been much reading this week, probably because I'm trying to make myself read a book for work, which usually results in just, no reading happening at all. I have been reading an ancient children's book called Lone Pine Five that Mother Hand returned to me, I don't remember it at all but then I read millions of books as a child so that's probably to be expected.
As I said, we've been watching The Last of Us and have one episode left. I finished my Sex and the City rewatch and started AJLT season 3 but I am already disappointed with it. I want to watch the new Clarkson's Farm, the Ken Burns Vietnam War series (I don't really want to but it has been so highly recommended by someone whose opinion I would normally value, that I feel I must try) and The Phoenecian Contract, which I see is out to rent online, another sad story for our cinemas. I might see if it is still playing anywhere before I rent it.
While I am trying to get away from the 'every second of my life must be meaningful' vibe, I might make a list of things I'd like to achieve in the autumn. Every year, I get to November and feel like I've missed out on the whole apples, leaves, pumpkins thing. I made myself a summer holiday list which was not completed, but helped me think about things I really wanted to do, so maybe it's time to do that for the next season.
Ooh! And I almost forgot the good health news, that arrived at the end of July. Following a second blood test, the surgery has declared that I am officially in remission from diabetes. Yey me! My sugars are still in the pre-diabetic range so there is no reason yet to stop, but the nurse was very pleased with my progress. Zoe said, 'So you were diabetic for what, like, five minutes?' - a quote I shall hang on to. Hopefully I can continue to make progress in this area of my life also. In all my copious free time.
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