November - thank god that's nearly over

You may skip this if you want. It's just a typical blog rant. Nothing to see here. Move along...

It's not been a good month. I had a huge row at work with my boss nearly resulting in me walking out, certainly resulting in me having to think about the 'next step'. And last week a row with someone else about something that was a) nothing to do with them and b) nothing to do with me (I was in the wrong place at the wrong time), and which just confirmed my thoughts about the first bloody row.
And here we are, several days before pay day and I'm so brassic (skint/penniless/poor) I've actually been eating breakfast cereal for the last week for meals. There's something not quite right about all of this!
Still, at least I'm losing weight.

Tomorrow I'm going to a meeting I organised for about thirty academics from four different institutions, including my own. The way this month is going, I predict disaster. The head of school, who I suspect thinks I'm a cleaner, will be there and I'm supposed to introduce her and sum up the day. Could be my chance to shine but any bets I bomb?
Craftily, I've put the last item on the day's agenda as 'colleagues are invited to adjourn to the bar to continue discussions' because what normally happens at these things is that everyone disappears the moment we get to 'coffee and summary of the day'. Teachers make the worst students - they never come back from lunch on time and slope off early. Hopefully the prospect of a pint and some peanuts will help. I'm gonna scrounge a Guinness from someone and steal a bowl of nibbles - I'm starving! All I've eaten the past week is a bag of muesli!

Oh and to cap it all the last three weekends have been marked by bizarre colds that have lasted one or two days - I really don't know what's going on there. This last one looked like it was going to be a stinker but has abated in the last few hours. It must be psychosomatic: it tends to coincide with me needing to get to work on the bloody book. Although if it were all in my head, why is there so much snot involved? Really - if there is a God up there, are colds her little joke? And why are they so much worse for men??! I'm a sneezer, and it hurts. I haven't yet perfected the girly art of the silent sneeze (how do they do that?)

I just turned on the radio and heard... Christmas carols. It's the first Sunday in Advent today. Not long ago I was complaining that Christmas comes earlier every year and here I am taken by surprise once more. I think I've probably missed the last posting day for New Zealand so that's a dog house of my own making.

Something that gets me about Christmas is the panic shopping. The shops are only shut for two days at the most (if that, nowadays) yet everybody stocks up on food and milk and bread like there's gonna be a nuclear war or something. Even I get sucked into it, planning to buy two tins of beans every day between now and Christmas Eve so there's something in the cupboard just in case. You watch, the fridge will be bursting with milk that'll eventually get thrown out (I normally get through two pints a week so why do I think I need five to last me two days?), there'll be tins of fruit galore (I don't like the stuff normally) and who knows what else. If I buy a bag of walnuts and some tangerines I'll know I need help.
I even found myself telling the cat (don't worry, I'm on the waiting list) that I'd need to stock up on cat biscuits - I mean, why? One box lasts all bloody week, just one box.

You know, I think I may be having the first online nervous breakdown here. History in the making...