Grr

Had I got the funding, I would be starting a PhD this week. This thought does not improve my mood at all. I imagine that I am not much fun to be around at the moment.

I have caught myself, on several occasions, wandering around smiling today, and giving off friendly vibes. I think that I must just have got into bad habits. I suppose that there are worse habits to get into. I can't imagine that scowling at everyone is going to improve anyone's day.

I am also very jealous of anyone who appears to have recently escaped from any sort of rut. Some friends just got engaged; another friend went off to theological college; the old vicar got himself a new parish a couple of hours away; friends have new jobs; new students are hanging around looking all hopeful (several of them even had the audacity to make conversation with me).

Tomorrow I shall go round to Serena's house again for tea. I am looking forward to this a great deal. I am proposing to give her a lot of responsibility for writing one of my letters (I must work on finding an appropriate reward); we may even look at it together.

It is Serena's birthday on Wednesday. Her present arrived in the post late last week, and I collected it from the Post Office this morning. It is rather lovely. It is an unusual necklace, in brown and amber, with a large hand-blown* glass pendant. I don't think that many people could carry it off, but I think that it will look excellent on Serena. I must also make her some soap and some face cleaning things. There are a couple of recipes I must try out. If she is wrestling with my letter, that gives me more free time to create.

On Saturday we will be going to the theatre together to watch Jeremy Hardy. I shall give her presents at that point. Hopefully I will have amassed a small collection of goodies at that point. If not, I shall have to hang my head in shame again, and I do not want to do that.

How are you? Is life good for you?



*People blow things with their hands all the time in America.