Gutted

That my joint favourite Dr Who is leaving.

Life in the Tardis will never be the same again and neither will my idea for a Dr Who script.

Oh well, back to the drawing board!

I 'Heart' Learning

I've learnt a new trick at work. It's called scanning. Yes, I know it's been around for a while, but I hadn't got a clue how to operate the machines at work - it's a bit too high tech for me! So my scanning pile has grew and grew and has possibly sat in my in tray for around a year ish. So I thought it was about time I learnt how to do it. I had a little bit of coaching and then I was let loose on my own without a chaperone, in charge of heavy machinery. Oh dear, it could have been a disaster, but thankfully I survived! When I learn a new task, I have to learn everything, so I can now scan, scan duplex documents and send the file back to my e-mail address as one document. Impressed? I certainly was!

So I thought I'd be ultra brave and try out something else new - the on-line ordering system for the library, for my BBC Top 100 Read List. I love it! I can order books off my list, see where they are located in Nottinghamshire and reserve them at any chosen library. The library will then ring me, when they are available. I've currently got four books on order, but I'm tempted to bung another four on, just in case it takes a while for them to come through (nothing to do with the fact that I love playing on the system of course!)

So I'm off for a lie down now, all this new learning is exhausting.

PS I've now finished Bleak House and have begun War and Peace - I love it!

An Update

They're dropping like flies at the moment at work, so I'm crossing everything that I don't catch the various stomach upsets/man flu that's going around. It does mean that there is a little less of an atmosphere there at the moment and hopefully this is the sign that things will settle down.

My list, as always, has been my saviour and it's what I turn to, when things are a little rough. I've nearly finished Bleak House, which is one of the BBC Top 100 reads - all 800 pages of it, which unfortunately is soon to be replaced by War and Peace - all 1444 pages! My novel, I keep chipping away at and I'm nearly at my target of 50,000 words for this month. I haven't bothered doing anything re New York, for obvious reasons. We still don't know if we will be able to go or not and hopefully should hear by the end of this month.

I should be completing two more tasks in November - the You Tube one and seeing a play at the RSC. I am trying to be a little more organised in sorting out when I do stuff. Although I may get the opportunity to complete tasks that are not planned, I'm finding it helps, if I at least have some idea when I'm likely to complete it - it also helps to know these things when I'm planning the radio appearances.

So, I'm off to try and write some more of my novel and finish off the night by reading Bleak House - can't wait to complete this task now so I can read some other books!

It's All Fun And Games.....

Work is not good at the moment. There seems to be an atmosphere within our team. No big arguments are happening, but instead there are loads of niggling little snipes at one another. I don't like it. We used to be a real close knit team and got on well with one another, but we've had a couple of incidents that someone has decided to blow out of all proportion and therefore create something, that wasn't there before. I'm stressed. Not just because of this, but the whole New York/Japan scenerio and I don't feel right some how.

I haven't written for nearly a week, so I'm off to eat my chinese takeaway and do some writing of my novel, to try and cheer myself up. Hopefully things will get a little less stressful soon!

Have a great weekend!

What Country Will You Be In This New Year?

There I was happily sat at work minding my own business, when my hubbie rang and delivered a very crashing blow.

We have booked to go to New York for New Year. I've booked the hotel, Rick has booked the flights and I've even started to thinking about booking trips etc. This trip will cover three tasks in one (state of America, trapeze and Times square for New Year). We both decided that we wouldn't go away in Summer, so we forfeited a holiday then for this trip. I've been looking forward to it for months and was hoping to catch up with an old friend whilst we were there.

The project hubbie is working on at the moment was due to go live last weekend. It didn't. Instead they want to put the date back to the end of December. They've requested my husband goes out at that time to cover the live date. It's in Japan. Bang goes our trip to New York. However we have told them, that in order to compensate I want to travel with him for a week, so at least I get the chance to see my hubbie for New Years Eve (hopefully!).

My stomach has been churning all day. I don't know whether I'm coming or going. Then of course, there is the possibility that the project could be put back and we could end up still going to New York or end up doing neither. Oh god, why is life so difficult at times?

I'll keep you posted!

One Monday Evening...

I was driving home from work, on a ordinary Monday evening. Tired, as I always seem to be on a Monday, still feeling the after effects of a busy weekend, when low and behold, what should pass me in the sky, but a Virgin hot air balloon! The same hot air balloon that was scheduled to take me on my eleventh task and the same one that cancelled due to 'high winds'. Talk about rubbing salt in the wounds! Anyway, I decided that it was at least a sign for me to get on and rebook it. So I tried and after failing miserably on the Internet, I rung them today, to find that I can not book it until January for a March flight. I'm a little scared of doing this task, to be quite honest with you. I like to feel safe when I'm doing these things and I think completing this will be just a bit on the nervy side. So I was a little disappointed that I would have to wait until next year to do it.

I was scheduled to record my flight for Radio Nottingham, so I gave them a quick ring, just to update them on what was happening. They still want me to appear on the radio in December to do the paper review and they will also discuss the two tasks that I will complete in November. The paper review will consist of me arriving at the studio at 7:30 - reading through all the days papers and finding three articles that I wish to discuss. Then at 8:25, I will be live on air, talking about my blog and the articles that I've chosen.

So, from disappointment to giddiness in less that six hours - not bad for a day's work!

October's Hit List

Something very strange is happening to me at the moment. All the jobs that I've been putting off for ever and a day, I'm suddenly completing. My wedding dress is now dry cleaned and boxed, I've applied for my passport to be changed in my new name and all my filing system is updated at work.

So I'm applying the same principles to my 40 things list. Each month I'm going to set myself a few targets to complete and hopefully I will be able to chisel away at my outstanding tasks.

October's Hit List is as follows:-

Complete Bleak House (BBC Top 100 read)

Re-book balloon ride for next year

Update Radio Nottingham

Book New York Trapeze School

Organise New York Itinerary

Hit 50,000 words on my novel

I figured if I broke my list down into bite sized pieces, that it won't seem so huge a task to complete. I'll let you know how I do......

I Have A Question....

Is it too presumptuous to have already chosen your book launch outfit from Vivien Westwood when:-

a) You haven't finished the book
b) You haven't got an agent
c) You haven't got a publishing deal

just a thought, that was all......

Something That Keeps Me Going....

When I can't think of anything to blog about or if I want a break from writing my novel, then I have to watch this clip. Pure genius!

Lucky

My co-worker, Sarah, got her boobs out early this year. Not just randomly you understand, for 'Charity'. She was asked to take part in a race for life promotion, where you would be topless but body painted to make it look like you were wearing a top. She asked me if I would take part. I declined for obvious reasons, which hubbie was happy about. Until he found out that Nell McAndrew was taking part and then he seemed all too eager for me to take part. I still declined though, horrible wife that I am.

Sarah ended up doing various press stuff, one of which was an interview for Marie Claire magazine. This was done in two parts. An interview at the Cancer Research offices in London, followed by a photo shoot at her house. She was ecstatic, as anyone would be and we all eagerly awaiting the article going to print and waited and waited. Six months later she received an e-mail to say that the article wouldn't be used, as too much time had elapsed and it wasn't topical any more. Sarah has put a brave face on things but on a positive note, she's been asked to feature in Essential magazine for January. Sarah doesn't court publicity, she just wants to promote fighting for cancer where ever possible, so anything that happens as a result of her fund raising is a bonus.

In a small, insignificant way, I can relate this to my writing. When I started my blog, I did it for me and the fact that I pop up on the local radio every now and again, is a definite bonus. I have to be prepared for the fact that by finishing my novel, it may not open the doors I want it to, but if I can just get it to open one door, then that will make me a very happy bunny.

Half Way There

Can I hear a drum roll please? I've reached 40,000 words on my novel! Which means I'm half way there. Even though I probably won't get this finished for Christmas, which was my original goal, I still feel chuffed!

I remember how for such a long time, I had this book going round in my head, but I just didn't have the confidence to know where to start or even if I had the stamina to see it through. Now 40,000 words on, I have something that I love to do and I'm halfway to completing one of my main goals.

So bring it on - here's to the next 40,000 words. I'm on a roll now, so hopefully it won't be too long before I'm celebrating finishing the first draft.

It Was Not Meant To Be......

I phoned the balloon flight hotline before I left work, twice. Both times it mentioned that the flight for this morning was cancelled, but no mention of this afternoon's flight. I left work, got changed and got everything together that I needed to take. I rang the flight line again, just to see if they would mention a time that we had to get there for. The announcement said that all flights had now been cancelled in the afternoon, due to high winds and the possibility of rain. Now, I know I was a little nervous but.....

So it will be probably be next year now, before I complete this task, which has totally buggered up my list. The one that I've just recently done that has all my tasks under which year, I'm going to complete them in. I'm now going to have to move the balloon ride one into 2009, which now means I have over 18 tasks to do next year.

Oh well, I guess next year is going to be a busy one!

Gulp

Unless the weather changes drastically in the next couple of hours, I'm going in a hot air balloon this afternoon. I'm a little bit nervous. All my bellies are churning. I'm also a little bit excited, not knowing what to expect. Just hope I'm okay once I'm in the air. If I don't feel safe, then we could be in trouble and if hubbie flips, then I'll flip and then the whole basket full of people could flip. It could have a knock on effect you see, me being nervous.......