I passed my exams. All I have is a feeling of relief. I don’t have to re-take the exams. I don’t have to pay for the resit and use up holiday time. My job is safe (safer?) for a few more months. It’s not like a school exam where you aim for a good mark and to beat your peers. Passing is more than enough. I just have to repeat the process 11 more times.

I’ve finally managed to put up a banner on the site. I was meant to do in when I was in China, and it would have had more meaning then, but it still works for London-life. I would still call Liverpool “home”. Sometime in the future, I will regard London as my home, but not just yet.

I’m planning to do a month-by-month review of the year. Given my rate of blogging, it could take a while.

While trampling through the week the path got strewn with exacerbated clients, emails unsent, dishes unwashed, an untouched fridge, clean gym shoes, discarded post-it notes, work papers that don’t work anymore, to do lists that have been crossed off, amended, added and thrown in the bin and the neglected plan in my bedroom.

I’m left holding 200 pages of unrevised notes and the exams are in 11 hours time. With my free arm there is still a backlog of client work to be cleaned up next week. It’s been hard.

The light bulb in my room has burnt out so I am writing this in the dark. I don’t have time to buy a new one.

Actually, I do have time to buy a new one: I just have to be organised enough to buy it one the way home in the local shop. I effectively plan my time when I work – otherwise my brain gets paralysed trying to prioritise what is important. I do battle with a combination of calendars, to-do lists, post-it notes, flagging important emails in Outlook and an accurately calibrated clock.

I’m trying to get into a routine of sitting down for an hour on Sunday and planning my free time. Yes, I am that boring. Here’s a list of stuff I think about:

• Work commitments
• Study plans
• What I plan to eat
• When to go to the gym
• Church commitments
• What I want to read
• Who needs to be emailed
• When to blog (getting less and less frequent!)
• Fun (probably need more of this)
• Seeing friends (and meeting enemies)

I haven’t planned a time to buy a light bulb yet.