International Old Ben Day XXXI

I think this year has had a pretty good start so far...

aeliel and I walked up the hill to the Quiet Man for a late breakfast, where we met miss_rynn, bishi_wannabe, fetnas, mousebane, Em, Will, Lon and Marion. Sharing a meal and a drink with some friends is quite possibly my favourite thing to do, and I'm glad to have had the company today :)

There's a birthday cake in the oven at the moment, making the whole house smell like chocolate. When it comes out, we're heading off for a family dinner. I sense a food theme running through my day...

So, what's been happening since last September?

I'm still at uni, and so is Louise. I'm about halfway through my PhD, getting through as many interviews as I can organise over the next couple of months. Louise is sitting opposite me at the moment, working away on a change management essay for her Masters. I'm trying to become a person who knows stuff, and who can use that stuff to help other people. I still love my research area, and will be giving a guest lecture for a Masters course at Swinburne next month.

We've now owned a house for a full year. By the time the Melbourne Cup starts up, we'll have been living here for a year as well. Some things still need doing - we never managed to get curtain rails attached (I suspect we need a hammer drill, as there's solid brick just behind the plasterboard), so the bedroom door is still covered with a drop sheet.

I never made it back to Tai Chi, as I had planned to do last year - leaving the house at 7am just hasn't worked out. I did join a gym, though, and I'm reasonably fitter than I have been for the past five years. I miss the mental aspect of training - learning new techniques, and finding applications for them. I don't know when I'll find the opportunity to go back, though.

For most of the last year, I've really noticed a general lack of spare time. It's forced a lot of changes on my routine, and my painting time has really suffered for it. I can't take on many commission jobs any more, and take months to complete any new project. My personal painting is improving - I've managed to win an award for almost everything I've painted this year. Personal projects happen very rarely, though, and I miss them.

I'd like to find some solutions to this lack of time, over the next year. Separating out some time for study, family time and personal time will be a good start. I'd like to exist in more states than "working" and "unconscious" by this time next year...