Tempus fugit
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Time, it seems, can work both for and against us. Six months ago, free time was something I had in abundance. Now I can scarcely find it for looking. This week, for example, I have plans every single day. In fact, the only 'free time' I have worthy of note will be a handful of hours at the weekend. And even this allocation is somewhat misleading in that said time has already been allotted for other tasks. Even this blog entry is being written in an unexpected respite between activities.
Alas, I cannot complain. While, on a week like this one, it would be nice to have a little more time than I've actually had to catch my breath, the things that have kept me busy have been worthwhile.
First among these activities is the work I've been doing with my band. Having formed in November, we’ve been working hard to write and rehearse original material and in the last few weeks have been confirming and planning our first live performances, due in March. Now that we have decided on a name—From Embers Rise—we seem to have stepped up a gear and we are entering an exciting phase of our evolution. For my part, I've been frantically writing lyrics and practicing guitar parts.
A related activity that has borrowed another of my evenings is the work I'm doing to improve my singing voice. I have been worried about hitting the high notes and struggling with my technique, especially with gigs looming on the horizon. Thankfully, a very talented friend who teaches such things has very kindly agreed to take me on as a student and after just two lessons so far, I can already sense the improvement.
The activity I'm most worried about at the moment is my writing. Obviously it's something I love doing, but it requires free time to do it. This is obviously somewhat difficult when you don't have any. I've already had to put the novel I've been writing on hold for the duration of my creative writing course. However, I'm now struggling to make time for the writing the course itself requires. This is something I need to address (and it will be the activity that consumes those few spare weekend hours). While the grade I get for the course isn't a major motivator—I'm primarily there to learn the craft—it would still be nice to do well. With that in mind, I really need to crack on with it.
What I require is for each of the next few weeks to have an eighth day, ideally at the weekend when I don't have to be at work. I could then use this time to catch up on the things I'm falling behind on and maybe even to recover from the busyness of the other seven days. Unfortunately, however, I can't see this happening. With that in mind, I'm just going to have to find a way to make better use of the time I do have available. How important is sleep anyway?