Social reminders

gashinryu's 40th is this Saturday at the usual place, starting at about 8pm when we get back from the Joust. Come along and help him celebrate :)

I need to remind people about the medieval banquet I'm attempting to organise for my 30th. There were quite a number of you interested when I suggested the idea - strangely though, when it came to coughing up none of you have so far ;)

So, please go to that post and update as appropriate and send me your moneys. The deadline for this will be 7pm Thursday 2nd August 2007, and I will announce the final go/no go for the 18th August date on Friday 3rd to allow people to book advance train tickets.

Recently...

I've been feeling a bit stretched thin. Work is new, there's still change happening and I'm still settling into my new role, which is rather piecemeal at present. Things are going well on the socialising front and the getting fitter front (taking into account the temporary setback of illness), which is pleasing, but other things have suffered somewhat as a result. This is somewhat distressing - but luckily, I think that's all it is. I need to do some more paperwork on wills and finances soon, which I just haven't had time or inclination for recently.

I think some of the reason I've been getting into Ulysses 31 again, and reading books, is escapism. Which is all fine and good as long as I don't neglect everything else.

Balance in all things.

Hah...

My last update seemed to come out differently to the one I was imagining in my head. I wanted to talk about approaching my 30th and feeling that I was having fun but not really following my dreams or ambitions, like blacksmithing (specifically weaponsmithing). I've always been the sort to have something to look forwards to, to work towards. I've also been adverse to spending money on entertainment (harks back to my student days, I guess). So I guess I've been coming to the conclusion that it's not wrong to want to spend a bit of money on hobbies, even when those hobbies could be quite costly - if I can afford it, that is.

So, this is why I want to sort out my finances, so I'm not putting my hobbies before my original and sensible plans of making sure I have a decent pension and no mortgage in my old age. Anything left over after that will be money for toys; which is better than my current cycle of spending money on toys and not actually saving up for the house improvements or anything sensible. I know this is a phase and I know it's going to change soon, but I guess I just want to make sure I'm not committing myself to a boring life with my plans for the future without living while I'm young enough to enjoy it fully :)

Other people don't seem to have these issues - or if they do they don't seem to talk about them much. So, how do other people view these sorts of things?