The turkey scraps have been eaten, the Christmas tree looks strangely lop-sided and sad, and the jeans are a tad on the snug side. Christmas is over, it was fun while it lasted, and now we’re looking to 2011 and all it has to bring. Which also means that I really need to get on with the work I had planned over the holidays, which has all been put to one side in favour of festivities and sleep.
The first week of my holidays was spent on a dairy farm. I worked an 84 hour week. 84 hours!! Thing is, I came away from it knowing that I could sleep for the next week. The dairy farmers do this EVERY DAY OF THEIR LIVES. It is mental. Even getting the middle of the day off isn’t much consolation, because when you have to be up at 5am and you don’t finish until 7pm, it’s still a long day, whether you spend all of it in work or not. Things were also made more difficult by sub-zero temperatures – while the days are shorter, the working days are longer because you spend so long de-icing pipes, locks, doors, water troughs etc. If I came away with anything from that placement, it was an enduring admiration for dairy farmers. If anyone complains to me about having a long stressful day at work, I will send them to their nearest dairy farm for a few days, in deepest darkest winter.
So the rest of the hols so far have been spent catching up with people, spending time with family, and eating hideous amounts of good food. It’s been nice, although it’s flown past. Now I had a week until I start back at uni, and the work still isn’t done. Vet school is a constant battle to keep afloat I find – maybe it shouldn’t be, I think I do put high expectations on myself, but there is constantly more that you need to do. During this term I found myself so busy that I didn’t have time to fit everything in. So I made a ‘Christmas To Do List’. I now realise how unrealistic this was, given that I have four days to do two bits of coursework, all the work I didn’t have time to do during the week, and go over everything from last term, which now feels like a blur. So what do I do? Well, I could make an ‘Easter To Do List’, but given that I will be doing two weeks horses, some lambing, and going away singing for a few days, I don’t think that’s going to happen either. Well, I suppose I’d better get used to it – life is going to be like this from now on I think!
So, New Years Resolutions? I think just to be a bit more organised. Organisation has been slipping this last term, partly from being so busy, and it’s a downward spiral. If I’m not organised, I’m late, and I forget things. Then other things happen (like smashing up my car – which would have happened anyway due to some rogue black ice, but when you’re in a frantic state of mind as it is, it doesn’t help). Which makes me stressed. Which makes me less organised. Then things like work and social life overlap (because I do my facebook catching up time in lectures – which I always promised myself I wouldn’t do), which makes for a generally chaotic, cluttered life. I think keeping my room tidy and getting enough sleep are key to these things – they make me calm, and I have a more productive day. Things just fall into place. And facebooking time is reserved for lecture breaks.
Which is why, I must now bite the bullet, tidy my desk, shut this darn blog, facebook, and four different email accounts, and get on with some lovely, productive scientific writing coursework.
Happy New Year folks!
) Ah well, she was very complimentary. I’d better watch what I say now then 
