Twelve

Let me give you an example of a typical week in my life:

Monday to Friday I wake up between 5.30 and 7.30 and start to write, which I generally do till around lunchtime.

Except on Thursdays and Fridays, when I have classes at 9 and ten respectively. The classes are two hours long. The Thursday class I go to about fifty percent of the time.

In the afternoon I do various tasks. These will include: errands and shopping; napping; watching comedy DVDs; working at Oxfam, one or two days a week; having a two or three hour session of Risk, one or two days a week; sorting out email; and various other online procrastinations.

On Thursdays I play football at noon in a 5-a-side competition.

On Mondays I have a game of squash with my friend Matt, and then we usually have a sauna, come home and eat lots, and play (and record) music together.

My girlfriend is home around six. Sometimes I cook for her. Sometimes we hang out.

Saturday morning is football morning - two full games fill my time between 9.30 and 1. Then I'm gloriously knackered and don't do much else.

Sunday I'll probably write some, or occasionally get together with some people for food.

Among all that there might be one or two movies, and a walk (though probably not a walk, as of late), and perhaps one or two episodes of sex. I sometimes do some work for uni too, but not very often.

And that's about it. Not very exciting, I suppose. And not a very socially-full calendar - certainly, these past few months I've come to spend more and more time alone, and I'm starting to get a liking for it. I'm even getting a liking for spending time apart from my girlfriend. This book thing is coming to possess me - it's in my head all the time, always being written and tinkered with, whether I'm on a computer or not. The only time it's not there is when I'm on a football field (or on the computer playing some ridiculous game of Risk). I long for the day when it will be done, and the monkey will be off my back. It's hard to imagine how I'll feel then. Free, I suppose. Free and happy and light, in the way that I feel free and happy and light - and ecstatic, even - when I get an essay done, only times a million. That's something to look forward to.