So long Christmas, we hardly knew ya

The problem with saying "long time no blog" in a blog post, and then leaving an even longer gap between the next couple of blog posts? Sheesh. I just go on setting new records for myself, don't I?

To be fair it was Christmas. The shocking thing is that it seems so long ago now — in fact, by Tuesday it felt as if it had been weeks since Christmas. I am surprised by this every year; for months beforehand we're inundated with Christmas imagery and decorations, music, themed advertisments everywhere you turn, and every shop in sight trying to make you buy festive goods. Traditionally it all gets too much for me, and by early December I am — shock shock horror horror — feeling festive. Three weeks of being full of Christmas cheer and then suddenly the big day comes and goes, you're left with the tidying up and leftovers, and the shops have all started selling Easter eggs. Lovely.

As was possibly predictable, my post-Christmas number-of-books-I-own-but-haven't-read-yet is now exceeding fifty again, and my shelf is bending under the weight. (Though since one of the books is Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, this may account for the weight all on its own.) What is depressing is that it may take me forever (and then some) to get through them all — I don't seem to read as much at uni as I used to in a previous life that didn't involve a degree. In the last ten-week term, I read only eight books. And one of those barely counts, because it only took about two hours to read. Grr. My New Year's resolution may be to start going to bed earlier and reading for longer, rather than just falling in bed when my eyes won't stay open any more and consequently only reading a few pages before turning off the light.

My DVD collection is also growing nicely, though I did have to completely redo my storage case (I keep the discs themselves in a carry-case, and the covers separately at home, for reasons of portability) because I store my films in chronological order. Um. That doesn't make me a geek, does it?

And now I come to the downside of having finished our first term right at the start of December — it's back up to Warwick on Tuesday, lectures begin on Wednesday. Gah. And me with holiday homework still to finish (and start)...