Doing it for me

There’s been very little activity here lately. Obviously. I’m hoping to change that. Well, a little, at least. Because I’ve kind of been missing blogging. Not all of it – some elements of blogging I feel like I ‘should’ do can become a downright chore. And, hey, I don’t have the world’s most fascinating life, so topics can be hard to come by. But the actual writing bit, I love.

Image from www.escapenormal.com

So, my plan (as it stands today, anyway):
1. Take a leaf out of the slow blogging book. I only just heard about this, and basically it means uploading the odd post now and then. Not caring about how relevant your timing is to current events. It also means taking time to create thoughtful, well-considered posts. Ha! Think I’ll skip that bit. I’m not that bloody dedicated. If I’ve actually managed to write something, it’ll get a review or two and posted.
2. Write about what interests me. Which is myself, basically. What I do. Where I go. What I think about. Clearly this means my posts are likely to be rather mundane. Dull, even.
3. To elaborate on point 2, my topics will probably consist of:
* My daily life. Bet you're dying to read all about that.
* Rosie. Of course. Naturally, these ones won't be in the least bit dull, not even for readers completely uninterested in new teeth, nappies, breastfeeding and so on.
* Some work I do as part of my graphic design course. Figure I may as well include it.
* My move to a simpler, more – as described by its proponents - primal life. This was prompted by the enormous sense of calm I felt when I left full-time work and my days followed the rhythm of a baby. But then life got busy and draining again (not that I’ve returned to full-time work. Or much work at all) and I started looking into ways of reclaiming that sense of physical, mental and emotional wellbeing and vitality.
The first step was deciding to quit eating sugar. And led to adopting what is called The Primal Blueprint (and Primal Connection). The most tangible way of practising this is through food and exercise, but there is much, much more to it. So you, lucky readers, will get the chance to hear all about what I eat, my strolls through the countryside, and various attempts to live ‘in the moment’. Again, bet you can’t wait.

Out with the funk, in with the blog (again)

Hello everyone, 'tis me again. Sorry for not posting for so long. Despite appearances, I didn't actually forget that I had a blog. It just got pushed a little towards the back of my mind for a while.
Don't worry, not by anything major. Not anything minor, even.
Firstly, I had about a week with no internet coverage while traipsing about the WA never never on holidays, which kind of broke my blogging (reading and writing) habit. Then I got a bit wrapped up due to my parents visiting, and organising the final stages of settling the purchase of our house. Not that either of those made me busy, but they sound like convenient excuses so I'll run with them.
And I was in a bit of a funk - you know the kind where you go back to work after a couple of weeks off and subsequently lack motivation for anything because you wish you were still on holidays? I was in that kind of funk.
But, lately I've kind of been hovering around the fringes of the blogosphere. Have read the odd post here and there and checked in with twitter and Facebook occasionally.
And now I'm back to feeling like myself so hopefully can breath some life into this blog again. I have a couple of posts already written about my holidays, which are obviously outdated now, but I'm going to use them in the very near future anyway. It's my blog and I'll make it look old and tired if I can't be bothered doing otherwise want to.
Hope you enjoy!

Hello, I'm baa-ack!

Hiatus [hahy-ey-tuhs] noun: A break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series, action, etc.

Or, in simple terms and specifically in relation to this blog: being slack. And a bit busy. But mostly slack.

Apologies to anyone who's missed my posts in recent weeks (I like to think there are some of you out there). I've missed it too. I've also missed the time and energy it takes to maintain it.

I know I've no right to the time-poor complaint when there are people with children, and especially people with paid jobs and children, coping with being far busier and much more harried than me. But that doesn't negate the fact that I have been busy, and, more to the point, feeling busy.

I'm someone who, when faced with the promise of ample free time, likes to make the most of it and attempt to use it constructively (provided this constructive activity is also enjoyable. Like blogging. Not like ironing). I also like routine (to a point - day after day of doing the 9ish-5ish thing became as much fun as going to a Justin Bieber concert every night of your life. Or even for one night of your life, for that matter).

I like to know where I'll be and what I'll be doing at what time, and when I will have the opportunity to do my own thing. That way I can organise myself. Up to a month or two ago I had free time and routine aplenty: go to work from 6am to 2pm, Monday to Friday. An hour or two for houseworky stuff at home. And the rest of the day was mine.

This system functioned quite well for a while. Then work went haywire. Regular hours and weeks were out. In were sporadic days off and shifts that lurched from 9 hours to 11 to 7 to 12. (Don't worry about getting out the violins - I've had my sook, followed it up with a tablespoon of cement powder and am over it now, thank you.)

Anyway, the lack of routine left me feeling all at sea, and the lack of free time left me, well, not-free. Obviously. In the midst of this I moved to a different department (from gold room to the lab) and was therefore learning a whole new job. Which meant for the first time in several months I actually had to concentrate. My brain, while loving being engaged again, didn't know what hit it and went a bit fuggy for the first few days.

Ultimately, I simply didn't have the willpower to also blog at the end of the day (ie was slack). Not that I even had anything to blog about. My weeks were consumed with work and, fascinating as that work is, the thrills of hitting the on/off button of a pump 20,000 times a day, or squirting solution into test tubes 5000 times, are hardly blog-worthy topics*.

Now, however, I'm pleased to report I've got a handle on the new job. And am extremely pleased to report am on a regular and generous roster that should allow me to heartily indulge my blogging habit.

So this is my longwinded way of saying sorry for going AWOL, but I'm back now and would love for you to stay tuned. Pretty please!


* Figures are estimates only and may be slightly exaggerated.

Image source: Flickr.com