As I Xi It

Months before my trip to Sweden in 2010, I brought a book called True North by Gavin Francis about his travels in and around arctic Europe. I had been meaning to read it prior to my departure, but it just never happened and so I forgot about it until I booked a trip to Iceland later that year in June. Again, I thought I should definitely read it before I go. There was little point in bringing the book as I generally prefer to stare off into the blue yonder while plugged into my iPod when waiting, flying, whatever.

February 2011 rolled around and Gauss and I are booked to cross the arctic circle again, this time to Norway. Yet again, I gave myself the task of reading it before I went. I did consider taking the book with me but it would seem far too cheesy and besides, I was already weighed down with tins of beans and Sainsbury’s instant mashed potatoes. Although the pages would’ve been a source of fibre, I can’t say that it’d provide much in the way of sustenance so it was left behind.

So, here we are in February 2012, over two years since I brought the book and I’m due to head off on my third aurora hunt. I’m going back to Iceland and have finally started reading True North. Hurrah! However, I doubt I’ll manage to finish it before I leave but at the very least I ought to complete the chapter on Iceland.

What was initially a fun activity has slowly drifted to becoming a chore as I try to fit it around all the other things I’m up to. When I first brought it, I didn’t expect to frequent these northern regions as much as I have. I still have The Faroes, Greenland and Svalbard to conquer. At this rate, I’ll probably cross those off before I finish the book!

So many things have happened in the last couple of months and I’ve become somewhat lazy to blog about my travels. It all becomes a bit of a chore when the backlog of things to blog (bloglog?) starts to pile up.

I wanted to write more about my trip to Switzerland, much more about Iceland and then last month, there was the trip to Northumberland with Jac, Kamil and Randy, just last week I was in France with Xiao and Anja and on Sunday-Monday gazing upon Stonehenge and Sailsbury cathedral.

I more or less write all day for work and it sort of takes away the pleasure to write personally. But the thing is, while writing for work, I’ll often be thinking of things to blog about, but when I get home and down to the computer, I don’t really feel like it and would rather immerse myself in past episodes of The Simpsons.

*sigh*

It’s a bit weird time. When you’ve got plenty to do, there doesn’t seem to be enough of it, but when you’re bored, there’s too much of it.

Today I had planned to update some reports on As and Hg. This morning, around 11.30pm, I went to Ikea with mum in search of a new chair, no avail. So later, we went to Costco to see what they had to offer, there was a nice grey one, adjustable and comfy so it was purchased. I got a whole bunch of other stuff during the day too, a few boxes, a literature organiser (fancy filing rack thing), photo frames etc…

Once I’d got home, it must’ve been something like 7:30 pm. Where has the day gone? I spent the evening building my chair and literature organiser, tidied up my room, basically faffed about. It wasn’t until around midnight that I had a chance to just sit down and enjoy my comfy chair.

Where has all the time gone? Looks like As and Hg will have to wait till tomorrow. But I don’t think I’ll get much done, I’ve got a meeting in the morning, intending to pop into the fish shop for some new fish and I guess once I’m home, I’ll be acclimatising them and tidying up the aquarium.

So much to do, so little time.

Most people tend to think one should make changes in the New Year. If you intend to change or improve on something, why not just do it there and then when you think about it? What’s the point in waiting for the calendar to tick over to January? Surely it makes more sense that in this fast paced modern world that we should make changes and improvements as and when we conjure them up?

I for one will be making changes to the blog now, in December, before Christmas which I guess traditionally is when everything winds down. Well, work wise it does. Offices shut for the holidays, things slow down and its work as normal come after New Year where everyone will be making their resolutions.

Site updates includes, more obviously, the new theme! For the more observant of you, I’ve renamed As I Xi It…Again to As I Xi It 2.0 for more techiness. I’ve included a screenshot taken from my netbook of the old site below for nostalgia and archival purposes.