Making time

This isn't the long delayed update on my holidays - that'll come shortly though I promise. Since arriving back home, I've felt things have been slightly out of control, in that I've been rushing around, both at home and at work, whilst feeling that I've accomplished very little for all the effort. What I've really needed to do is simply sit down and make some time. Making time is usually a remarkably simple process and, despite the inherent scientific complexities involved, it only seems to require a single ingredient: discipline.

Now, you may be surprised to learn that I'm really not a terribly disciplined person (I await the sound of collective gasps and hear naught but crickets chirruping gently). Once I've started working on something I'm quite content to devote an ungodly amount of time to completing it, but before starting any project there's a great deal of scope for procrastination. And what I lack in discipline, I more than make up for in my procrastinating skills.

When I returned from holiday I was adamant that I was going to be more organised about... well, my life really, but I soon found myself slipping back into my old habits. And my production of time was markedly lacking. Fortunately, there are more ways than one to manufacture time. It can also be gifted. Today, for example, I was kindly given an afternoon shaped block of time when I got sent home from work. Not for misbehaving or anything suchlike, but rather because I had a cold. Now colds for the most part don't bother me, except save perhaps for the sore throats that sometimes accompanies it. This weeks cold though, which arrived to greet me near as soon as I'd stepped off the plane, has largely been characterised by a running nose and fits of sneezing. Nothing I couldn't happily work through, but it seems that my bouts of sneezing quickly garnered me the title of "plague bearer" and my slightly germophobic manager, in whose direction I'd spent the morning sneezing, eventually suggested than I may be best off heading home. I started to protest, but he quickly added "for our sake, not for yours" - just the sort of logic I find persuasive.

So I headed homewards to luxuriate in afternoon not spent at work. There's a particular quality taken on by time when you're not in work when you're supposed to be - it just sort of tastes better. Anyway, I spent the afternoon being only slightly idle, and the remainder I used to treat poor Blog, who has been feeling a little neglected this past week. I've wrought a whole new skin for Blog, which you can view using the handy dandy theme selector over at the side. The theme is fairly basic (it's called "Simple" after all), but it contains some ideas I like and that I'll eventually try to expand upon one day. Blog seemed pleased by it which is a good sign. I also rejigged the list of recent comments to display a little bit of the comment text itself (courtesy of the rather useful excerpt words Moveable Type extension) which seems to make it a little more useful now.

Of course, that's also used up time I should have spent mailing people and doing other useful stuff. But Blog is making contented sighing noises now. I think I've done a good thing.