14/12/07 - 24/12/07

The diary of my rubbish December continues...

Friday 14th December - Woke up at 4:30 hungover. Didn't go back to sleep but felt fine by the time it was time to go to work.

It was ACA exam results day and big congratulations to Eppy, Gillian, Adeel, and Cassie for all passing their finals.

The evening saw Rob, Ann and I hit Halifax. We didn't seem to drink loads but did have a good night until about 1:30 when it got a bit Christmassy for Rob's liking so we called it a night!

Saturday 15th December - It was Lucy's birthday so Kate had a party. It was a good night and great to see Kathleen, Lucy, Sarah and John again as well as the usual friendly faces. Anyway there was half a washing up bowl of punch to drink (sorry, special bowl for punch and only punch) which we finished about 4am and then went to bed...

Sunday 16th December - ...for about six hours before Lucy had to fly back to Ireland. I do remember Kate cooking us a nice breakfast though! In the afternoon I sorted out with a family friend about how we would tell my parents about my grandad on Wednesday. Then things started going pear-shaped again. The family friend rung that night saying he couldn't get time off work so it was decided Phil would come with me. Kate also tried to get me a room for Vegas but with no luck.

Monday 17th December - After about four hours sleep, I awoke at 2:30 not able to get back to sleep, mainly worrying about Wednesday. I ached all day at work and felt awful so I went to bed at 5:30pm and got up at 10:30 for a couple of hours for some toast as i'd not eaten all day. No Christmas quiz for me then!

Tuesday 18th December - Most of my aches had gone but I had a cold and looked a bit like i'd been fighting Ricky Hatton. There was some good news in that my monitor at work broke and I was given a new 17" one which is two incher bigger than everyone else in my room so I was well chuffed with that.

I made it through the day then I was sick when I got home, only to be straight off out to the CASSH Christmas social at Revolution. It was more social than other years with over 40 people turning up, double the normal number of students but this was really promising for the future. I laid off the heavy drinking due to my recent lack of food and loss of weight (5lbs in two days) but was ready for bed by 1am.

Wednesday 19th December - Phil and I got up at 5:30 to head for Manchester Airport to pick up our parents who were flying back from Ecuador via Amsterdam. Mum texted me at 5:00 waking me up for another four hours night of sleep. We broke the bad news which was hard and was a bit like going through it all again. The funeral will be on the 27th by the way.

I got home about 10:30 feeling sombre and like I never wanted to leave the house again so had a sleep for an hour which perked me up a little. It was time for work's Christmas party at Lounge 68. I started off drinking slowly, still feeling awful but then after my meal decided on taking the "what, the hell it's Christmas" approach polishing off any spare wine that was left, be it red or white.

From then on the drinks kept flowing and from what I remember, I had four glasses of white wine, two glasses of red wine, four vodka and oranges, two smirnoff ices and a sambuca. Well that's what I remember anyway and from what I remember it was a fun day/night but not greatly eventful other than The Rhino getting up to his usual tricks! I caught the last train home feeling fine at 10:25 and went to bed.

Thursday 20th December - I took the morning off and got up at 11:00 having got up for a few waters in the night having walked into things indicating how drunk I actually was. I got into work and three or four people were commenting on what I text them the previous night. I didn't remember texting anyone the previous night.

Turns out there were only a couple that got me into trouble, one of which I was the total innocent party in and have no idea how I even got involved but i've managed to sort this one and one I was not the innocent party in and deserve everything I get. Although, in hindsight, if you're going to tell a friend you're unhappy about certain things and keep dropping subtle hints about things, as well as telling everybody else half truths, then perhaps i'm not totally to blame, especially as I had no idea i'd even sent any texts until about 12 hours afterwards. Some friends are just too much like hard work anyway so life will be less frustrating this way. Having said that though i'm always open to reconciliation!

It was the audit meal at Cibo's that night too but this was a fairly civilised affair with me getting home at 9:45.

Friday 21st December - It was a festive day at work though I was very all day. It was Carolyn's last day. I wondered about applying for her job but i'm content at the moment but should my audit load increase too much, then I maybe tempted to look elsewhere or make things change back. Anyway, Sarah also left which was very sad as she was one of only two people left in the audit department from when I started. On a lesser note there's also a severe lack of females at work now too. So we went out for a few after work. It was only a few though so I had beer. Beer seemed to clear my cold up nicely but I ended up hitting the sack at 10:00 after keeping falling asleep all evening.

Saturday 22nd December - Just a relaxing day. Oh and I rung Vegas and couldn't get a room. Kate is looking into it again. I wonder if i'll ever get a room!

Sunday 23th December - Ed, Bill, Kate, JJ, Caroline and I went to The Big Six for a chat. It was good to catch up with the boys from the south again(!) and hope to see more of them over the Christmas period.

Monday 24th December - I have time to write Christmas cards but alas it seems a pointless exercise and somewhat too late! Sorry everyone. It's also only really dawned on me how knackered i've made myself, sleeping until 1 o'clock every day since Saturday. Not surprising really looking at my sleeping times! I always go to church for midnight mass which is where i'm going now.

If I remember anything else, i'll add it but that all seems quite comprehensive. I know tenses and spellings may be wrong in places but i'm not going for any literary awards so i'm not too bothered!