Just so you all know, I have not lost my mind. You'll probably think I have because... I'm actually going to be sticking up for Lee (my super-annoying technical brother-in-law) a fair bit in this post. I know. It feels weird just writing that.

The receiving end of my fury today will be Sian's dad. Oh my god, he is one of the biggest dicks I have ever, ever encountered. Seriously.

( in which I rant. )

I was actually working on an entry during the week but it seems to have been eaten somehow. I don't think I actually finished it off and it got deleted when I shut my laptop down or something. Oops! Also, I've only just noticed that LiveJournal has lovingly stuck adverts inbetween every single one of my entries... Not cool, LJ. Seriously not cool.

Anyway, I've been in a good mood for the past five days or so! Being with Jason has cheered me right up and now, even though he's back at his, I still feel good. So I'm going to hold on to this feeling over the weekend. Also, I'm down to 12st 11lbs (YAY) and my final paycheck from Next was a lot bigger than I expected. I was expecting like £50 because I only did a short week, but I actually got £112. Not bad, eh? It must have been a sale period bonus or something. But it means I have a bit to tide me over until my first JSA payment... which incidentally I have yet to sort out.

So, since my last entry I have played a lot of Minecraft, typed a fair bit of my novel up, spent a lot of time with Jason and procured him a free double mattress! Sian revealed when I was at hers last Friday that she was getting a new one on Monday, and immediately I realised that I had a golden opportunity here. Since Jason gave his mattress to his Mum (prior to her stroke she was on the couch and now needs a proper bed more than ever) he's been sleeping on the floor, because his lovely generous brothers have taken up the two couches. Jason shows all the symptoms - minus the cardiac issues - relating to Marfan syndrome, so obviously sleeping on the floor with all his joint troubles wasn't ideal. It was starting to do him in.

( The Epic Tale of the Third-Hand Mattress, and Other Stories )

An apology is probably in order for my horrendous consistency over the last month or so. According to my LiveJournal, which you might call the 'terminal' of all my scribblings, I haven't posted much since the "Tom incident".

( And so this entry continues... )

Apologies about any formatting issues this entry might have, by the way. This is an e-mail post and I can't quite remember how I used to lay them out so they'd look alright on my LiveJournal. I hope everyone's having an awesome life, and I'm sorry I haven't been updating much! Just know that I have a mass of typed up and handwritten backdated entries to get up - you're not rid of me yet!

I have to learn how to do things by e-mail post like change my userpic, add tags, privacy settings and the like. Happily there's nothing in here that I want to hide from the world!

I've really got to stop neglecting this journal. I'd hate to look back in a few years and find it full of gaps where awesome or important things have happened but not been recorded.

Let me see - what's gone on over the past week? My novels and art remain at a standstill. I went to the pub with Sian and Emma last Saturday, then invited them to the pub quiz on Thursday. Emma dropped out on account of having no money so it was just Sian and myself, along with Jason, Lee, Dave and a few of the people who'd been there on my very first pub quiz night.

On Wednesday night, I stayed over at Jason's yet again after we watched 'The Hangover 2' - not because we watched 'The Hangover 2', just to clarify. Though it was a bloody good film! And that was also the third Wednesday in a week that I didn't go to the Jam Night. So Anna's probably out for my blood now. And possibly my kidneys.

As for work, work has been very busy, which probably accounts for 50% of my neglecting this journal. We're looking after The Leigh Journal while their editor's on holiday and last week, particularly the 26th and 27th, was absolutely manic. The amount of stuff I got done...!

( All that busyness threw the first part of Wednesday into stark contrast... )

I have made like a genius and made a whole bunch of Amazon orders... mere days before Christmas. Consequently, my inbox has been quiet these past few days, save for the odd bit of spam e-mail here and there. The only e-mail from Amazon is one that begins with 'due to the adverse weather conditions...' yadda yadda. You can pretty much write the rest yourself.

Where have I been, this past week or so? Well, I was stranded in Lowton for the first three days, Due to the Adverse Weather Conditions. The rest of it I've spent working at the shop, watching Bleach, attempting to write... and generally doing anything but writing on here.

So here I am. Back. With a vengeance? No. More like with a slightly sore stomach.

( It's under the cut because I'm a horrible person who likes making your f'list shorter... )

Right, people! Now that I'm done waffling about myself, what can I do for you lot this Christmas? Would you like to see some artwork up here (as it's been literally years since I've done anything worth posting)? Would you like to see more writing being posted, perhaps? Tales of my musical conquests? Anything else? Harass me. You have my permission.

I did the dumbest thing ever, today. Or, should I say, two days ago? Remember how Laura and I arranged to go out today? Well, we did. Then, as we ambled along Peasley Cross road, I realised I'd done something very stupid. I was expected by Sian for a game of Snap at the Oak Tree Pub in Newton, at 3PM.

Sian naturally got very, very annoyed at me, but I balanced it up. I hadn't seen Laura, my best friend of ten years, in two or three months. Choosing between her and pub snap with a bunch of friends I'd seen only five days ago wasn't difficult... at the risk of sounding horrible. Consequently I felt like a pillock all day.

( Despite all that, today was a good day. You'll only get to share in the awesomeness by partaking in this LJ cut. )

Sian and I, after much texting, have agreed that the issue of my return to Ireland is a subject that requires much time and thought. It certainly isn't something to be taken lightly. Anyway, I really am off to bed now. Honest. I really am.