Oh dear...The Weekend started badly, as I slept very little due to some sort of stomach bug.  I realised as soon as I woke up that work was out of the question, so cover was arranged, and I had my first sick day of the year.  Thinking back to when I used to do "A proper job", I used to take a lot of sick leave.  I think the combination of doing work that was deeply unnecessary and dull, and the fact that this brought on depression led to some unimpressive attendance records.  I remember one year in particular where I had 35 days sick leave on top of the 36 days annual leave.  I'm amazed that they even knew who I was, let alone fail to take any action.  Of course, looking back over my days of self employment, I find an entirely different story, and I think this is only the fourth session I have missed in getting on for 6 years.  It's amazing what happens when there is a degree of enjoyment and motivation isn't it?  I think my nocturnal habits have led to me being open to bugs and diseases, and so I am not surprised to have been struck down.  The day was spent relaxing really, although I did stir enough to give the lounge the biggest damned hoovering it has ever had.  I watched some football, and did a little reading and generally lazed.  I also discovered the iTunes U app, which give you access to a lot of Academic information, and small courses.  There is a lot of theatre based stuff on there, and the National Theatre section is excellent, in particular, Katie Mitchell's section.  I feel I may be spending a bit of time on there....and it's all free :-).  Eldest was out for the night, youngest had a friend round for a sleepover, and Mrs Plug went to bed early, leaving me with a small glass of wine, and the TV.  I watched The Rock with Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery, which is a pile of old nonsense, but at least shows that I can watch action films as well as dull old arty farty ones.  

I have been trying very hard to become a little more organised, as is probably apparent from the blog so far this year.  One rather large job is going to be organising all of my phone contacts, which sounds dreadfully dull.  I have realised that amongst my contacts are at least 30 names I don't recognise, two people who are dead, and a huge amount of contacts from a job that I have not done for coming up for 6 years.  In fact, looking carefully I realise that I have never cleared out my contacts since I started using a mobile phone.  This was 18 years ago.  The trouble is, it's one of those jobs that needs to be done, but I know will take an absolute age to do it, and I am not sure I have the will to bother.  Anyway, We are getting more work lined up.  There is a chance of a week long workshop in the Summer, which will be excellent, but I need to make sure the money is right, or I will end up giving up all of the Summer Holidays again, and I don't want to do that.  We also have some Easter Workshops to do as usual.  All in all, the year is panning out very nicely work wise, and I am really happy about it.  The day was made even better with news from the accountant, which has meant that we do not have to panic our way through the next few months with a huge tax bill.  We treated ourselves to a bottle or two of wine and Pizza in the evening, which was a pleasant way to end the week. 

I rested up a bit this morning and sat happy in the knowledge that paperwork was just about up to date.  My major problem now, is that I have masses of paperwork for shredding, and only a small machine that gives up the ghost after half an hour.  I think it might take me a week to shred this lot.  It was good to get some filing done, and it is remarkable what it can do for the mood.  I am nowhere near organised yet, but it is certainly heading that way.  Siri has been absolutely hopeless and not made a cup of tea or helped with the filing.  I am considering his position,  The evening sessions went well, and the after school club in particular is a massive challenge, with that many young ones.  They are all lovely, but it is just as much as exercise in crowd control as it is drama.  I certainly earn my money in that session.

It is two years since I bought my first iPhone (3GS), and I can read back from my blog about how much I enjoyed the whole experience.  The interesting thing is that most of the apps I recommended straight off, are the ones I continue to use.  Not much has changed in my life I suppose.  So how is the 4s in comparison.  Well it is a different shape to the one I am used to, but that is not a major issue.  The screen is Much clearer, and the clarity on video is stunning by comparison.  The Camera appears even better, and the Video camera much more.  iCloud has made the experience more pleasurable, and the ability to sync my Kindle books is rather good.  I am now looking at the possibility of iTunes Match, but perhaps more of that on another day.  Siri is fun, although I am slightly disappointed at the lack of UK coverage as far as local amenities are concerned.  The advert certainly led you to believe that Siri can do more than the reality.  However, I have used it for a couple of things, and found it to be quite fun.  Whether I would ever use it in public is another matter.  I fear that if I see anyone using it I may want to slap them, and so I would be fully deserving of the same.  I did get it to say some rude things, as I believe it is the law to do so.  I am now looking at the possibility of some sort of decent case for it.

Another morning at the school and the project is going well.  I managed to get quite wet on the way to school, and this was reflected in the rather sorry looking wet canvass on my red converse.  One of the kids looked at them and asked if I had really sweaty feet.  I Love my job.  The rest of the day flew by, and I managed to get a little more paperwork done for my long suffering accountant.  All in all it was a good day.  My iPhone has been playing up on and off for a little while, and I have been toying with the idea of upgrading since Mid December.  I finally decided to go for an iPhone 4s and managed to get it all for the same price each month.  Ordered, and apparently delivered tomorrow.  I suspect at least five minutes of my week might be taken up playing with Siri.  I am way behind on my reading, but I am currently ploughing my way through a Frankie Boyle book, which is partly for writing reasons.  It's not particularly wonderful, though I did enjoy his description of Danny Alexander as looking like the Honey Monster after having had a shave to look for gay sex on the internet.  

I'm still feeling a hangover from Saturday night I think I've now reached the age where I really have to realise that I can't do it any more. I really do have to learn to take it easy from now on. The rest of the day today was spent catching up on paperwork and generally trying to stay awake. The evening session was good fun if a little bit of a struggle because of the way I'm feeling. I'm going to have to start trying my hardest to have a few early nights though I think I may have said that before on the blog and never really managed it. My mobile phone is beginning to play up it's the old iPhone 3G S I don't think it's ever fully recovered from having a broken screen. I think I may well have to order a new one. If anyone thinks this is an excuse for a new toy you are wrong. Of course you may be right. I spent the morning at the school and it was quite pleasant to get the afternoon off. They were not in the mood today and you could tell that as soon as you arrived in the classroom. I think that the teacher felt that they were all a bit sleepy, I concur with that and the whole morning was a bit of a struggle. For a change I was quite pleased to get out of there and come home. I'm back there tomorrow and I hope that they are in a better mood.

By the time we got home, it was nearly time for the football, and rather than blow any further gaskets, and add to the general tedium of the blog, I will refrain from further comment.  I did little else all day really, mainly as I had a dreadful hangover.  I watched a couple of episodes of The Killing, which is all very nice, but I wonder if it really deserves the plaudits it received.  I shall persevere I think.  I wrote a little more of the latest play for the youngsters, and generally panic ensued over how much i had to do, and how little I had actually achieved. I am looking at the diary and hoping to squeeze in a day off or two.....

As I mentioned quite recently, there are certain social situations in which I dread finding myself.  This evening is another one of those, in that I am attending a Burns Night for the very first time.  This is a surprise to those who know me, as I am rather partial to Whisky.  I am not sure how shallow this makes me sound come to think of it.  Anyway, after a pleasant Saturday morning session, we rested up for a few hours in the afternoon, and I fell asleep.  This had the result of making me feel absolutely dreadful by the time we needed to set off.  Mrs Plug had also arranged for us to stay over, something else I wasn't keen on, but, as they say, t'was all arranged, and so off we went. In no time at all I found myself in the company of Mrs Plug, Mrs Plug's 2 cousins, and two other friends of theirs.  We sat and listened to some bagpipe music, watched some highland dancing, ate traditional Burns Night food...and drank a lot.  It was pleasant, but slightly surreal.  By the time the next morning came around, I felt awful, and had every right to do so.  I am no longer built for such evenings.

Mucho excitement at Plug Towers when eldest found that she has her first Audition for Drama School at Mountview.  She awaits news from four others.  I hope that she works her behind off over the next few weeks, as she has the talent, and I want her to shine.  All very exciting and nerve wracking for her.  I managed to spend some time writing today, and got about 50% of what i wanted to write done.  I went to bed a little disappointed, if not with the quality, definitely the quantity.  I was drawn to twitter today, to watch updates from everyone's favourite MP, Mrs Dorries, who was having her ridiculous 2nd reading of her Sex Education Bill read.  Well that was the plan, but it appeared half way through the day that it had been withdrawn.  Much puzzlement followed, and then what appeared to be the "Lady" herself reappeared on Twitter.  This was all too much for me to ignore.  It turns out to be her.  She spent the afternoon trying to look mysterious about her bill being withdrawn, but really only succeeded in coming across as a bit of a twit.  However, there is a side of me that is rather glad that she is back.  I am going to try a different tack, and see if I can be overly friendly.  That should be entertaining.  The evening rehearsal was excellent tonight, and I am very much looking forward to the show going on the road.  I spent the evening dreading parts of the weekend.  We are going to this Burns Night Party.  It all sounds a bit scary to me, as it contains "Highland Dancing".  I do not intend to partake in such matters, and any persuasion in that direction, gentle or otherwise, will be answered by my lawyers.

I worked very hard today, and felt that I had earned my sleep by the end of it.  It seems that I am now back into the groove of working.  I think you develop a rhythm in such things, and whilst I do seem to have a varied timetable each week, momentum is a wonderful thing.  I am still behind on certain admin tasks that are becoming quite urgent, but I am sure I will remedy this in the next few days.  I am also hoping that I can really knuckle down with the writing side of things, as I am enjoying that a lot also.  It was Mr Pops Birthday today, and I shall look forward to sharing a small glass of sherry with him in belated celebration quite soon.  I am rubbish at sending birthday cards, and this is something I must try to remedy.  I took on the job of sending family birthday cards last year, and did pretty well.  This year I need to add friends to the list as well.  After School club and Evening session went well, and we had more newbies turning up, which is excellent.  I think all of our T Shirts have now been distributed as well, so it has been a busy and productive start to the year.  In the evening I watched a film called Archipelago, which was interesting.  I watched it as it was recommended by Andrew Collins who is a writer/journalist that I rather like.  I am not sure if I was in the wrong frame of mind, but it seemed to me to be rather to clever for its own good.  It was far too self aware in fact.  Fixed cameras and static actors make some shots interesting, but I found it irritating in places.  The scenery was beautiful, and bleak and suited the story of a family get together that disintegrated as it became obvious that the Father was not going to attend, but by the end of it, I wondered really....what was the point.