Remember that study plan?

Ok, so the first week of my study plan was completely wiped out, as was last weekend, and last week was a bit of a washout too (I did get a bit done, but not much, what with going to the movies on Tuesday, and having friends (B&N – I still haven’t figured out this nomenclature thing) round for dinner on Thursday, and work being generally busy all week), but I had good intentions for this weekend. “Had” being the operative word in that sentence.

I got up on Saturday morning, and decided to check my emails and browse a few websites for an hour or so, and then get to work. Half an hour later, I get an email from lytteltonwitch telling me that otakuu is in town, and she’s meeting her for lunch, and would I like to come along? Well, how could I turn that down? (Quite easily, you might think, but we’ve already established I’ve got no willpower – and anyway, I reasoned I’d have a quick lunch and a chat, be away for a couple of hours at the most, and still have the rest of the day to study.) Of course, first I had to sort out some books to take along, and get changed, and finish reading my email, and by the time I’d done all that, lytteltonwitch was at the door.

She’d arranged to meet otakuu and the kids at Borders, so I used all the willpower I had left over from resisting lytteltonwitch’s invitation to make sure I didn’t buy anything (and I was pretty successful – although I did go next door to Nature’s Discovery (or whatever it’s called) and buy a present for MrPloppy, but his birthday’s coming up, so I’ve got an excuse for that one!). Borders is very dangerous.

We went to Browsers for lunch (of course! The staff there are starting to recognise us), and while the kids watched the fish, the adults exchanged books and juicy Bookcrossing gossip. Lytteltonwitch had a couple of books she’d brought back from the convention for me (well, one, Funny Cats, was for me, the other, Doctor Who: Warriors of the Deep was for MrPloppy), and I’d brought along Secrets of the Jury Room by Malcolm Knox, The Nether Regions by Sue Gough, After Dark by Jayne Castle, and Morrigan’s Cross by Nora Roberts. A lovely lunch, but eventually the appeal of the fish tank started to wane for the kids and they began to get restless, so otakuu had to go. Lytteltonwitch and I stayed talking, and then she offered me a ride home, with the proviso that we stop off at the second-hand bookshop…

Bad move. All my willpower went out the window when I remembered it is Halloween on Tuesday, so I had to stock up on suitably spooky children’s books to release (or hand out to kids if we get any trick or treaters). I did at least manage to restrain myself to the 3 for $1 shelf, but even that restraint was spoilt when I spotted The Light of Other Days by Arthur C Clarke and Stephen Baxter, which *wasn’t* on the cheap table. Oh well, it’s only money or something (remind me I said that when we can’t pay our bills next month…)

Once we finally escaped the evil clutches of the bookshop and got back here, of course I had to offer lytteltonwitch a coffee, so we sat talking for a while (during which lytteltonwitch spotted Sharing Blood by Jennifer Maxwell (which B had given me to release) and swiftly claimed it), and suddenly it was after 4 o’clock!

The rest of the evening was spent registering the books for Halloween (I’ve still got to put labels in them), and watching Legend of Sleepy Hollow on TV (I’ve seen it before, but MrPloppy wanted to watch it, and I’m never one to turn down a Johnny Depp movie…), so another day gone without even opening my textbooks…

However, today was another day, and miracle of miracles, I actually spent most of it studying! I’m nowhere near caught up with where I wanted to be by now, but at least I’ve made a good start, and as long as work isn’t too busy, I should be able to get through all the revision I wanted to cover by Saturday. As long as nobody invites me anywhere for the next 6 days…

Currently reading: Pagan in Exile by Catherine Jinks