Busyness Is As Busyness Does

Friends are like bus metaphors. You wait ages for one, then suddenly they pop up in all your writing at once, making you look like an unoriginal, cliché-peddling moron.

Sorry, that was a tangent. What I meant to say was that I tend to find myself hanging around at home a lot, with intermittent nights out and plenty of time to work on my writing and post crap on the internet, then suddenly I am booked up for days on end. We’re approaching one of those periods now. I am writing this on Tuesday night, and I don’t have another night in scheduled until next Monday.

I am intending a couple of FTBD updates in this period, but apologies if it all goes horribly wrong. In the meantime, here is some exciting advice on how to cope when hecticness is thrust upon you.

Rest In Peace

A lot of this, I warn you, is advice I may not necessarily take myself.

Nonetheless, theoretically, it’s a good idea to rest between engagements. This means refraining, sometimes, from staying out drinking until eleven, then coming home, knocking back a coffee and chatting on the internet until two.

Like I say, I can’t imagine I’ll be practising what I preach here. The lure of Twitter is too damn great. Still, in theory, this is a great idea. Everyone else should do it. Alternatively, maybe if you drink enough whilst out, you won’t want to stay up!

(I am the worst advice blogger in the world.)

Alcoholism – It’s Not Just For Old Men

I did a piece on after-work pub survival last month, and you can probably re-use some of that brilliant advice here. Eat food, try not to kick anyone in the nuts, etcetera.

However, when going out multiple days in a row, it may pay to take it to the next level and sometimes not drink at all of an evening. Certainly, I am currently trying to gauge which of my upcoming engagements I might be able to pull off without touching the hard stuff. On Sunday, I’m seeing some stand-up comedy, I figure that probably doesn’t require inebriation.

Once more, this could end up being utter hypocrisy. But I don’t want to die quite yet, nor to run out of cash or spend the following week fighting a mega-hangover, so I’m going to give it a go.

The Black Mist

Technically, I think I pitched this as some kind of cynic’s advice blog, and here is the problem I often encounter after a few days of solid interaction with other humans: I start wanting them all to go away and leave me alone.

Anyone else? Just me? Honestly, after a few days of trying to deal with people upon people, regardless of who they are, the exhaustion sets in. I don’t know how people who go out every single night do it. (Well, except the ones who just sit in the corner of the pub and drink constantly. I’m pretty clear on how they do it.)

I don’t have any clear advice for averting this, I’m afraid. Schedule an evening off? Make sure you have a few conversationally light activities such as the cinema to break up the constant banter? Sounds good.  In the meantime, I’m off to get started on an entry for Friday, as this may be my last chance.