I’m A Morning Person

She says… writing this at night.

Not that this is any great revelation to me. I’m quite certain I’ve always been a morning person. Even my mum says as an 18-month-old, I”d get up at 6 a.m. and go and bang on the neighbour’s door and want them to come out and play; even in school, I’d rather study till 9 p.m. and get up at 5 a.m. and start studying again rather than stay up all night; even in drama school and the theatre where morning people are looked at askance. Yep, even when I was performing and directing and not finishing shows till 2 a.m. I’d still be up bright and early the next day.

So, it’s not as though I’m coming up with any earth shattering news here tonight, it’s just that I’m finally admitting it. Because, let’s face it. Most people HATE morning people. There’s nothing designed to put you off your day than some Pollyanna-ish goon leaping out of bed and greeting the day with vim and vigour. Ugh. I know people hate it. But there you have it, I’m one of them.

I write this because now that I’m “gainfully unemployed” – albeit temporarily methinks – as promised I’m working on doing edits on my book. So I was up bright and early (even though I’m still not sleeping well), ran errands, took the dog to the park, ran more errands, sorted out washing, sorted out emails and bills, went to the doctor and then crashed. That’s right by 3 p.m. when I resolved to start my edits I collapsed in a heap – and I’ve pretty much been doing the heap collapsing every day for the last several weeks (months) by 2 or 3 p.m.

So THAT is why I have resolved that “working on my book” time will now be mornings, starting tomorrow morning, when my brain isn’t woolly and I’m not trying to pry my eyes open with toothpicks.

There is something to be said to finally confessing to being a morning person. Hands up if you’re also a morning person. And if you’re not, please don’t hate me.

Change of Status: No, this is not a Facebook update

 

So I’m changing my status. Yes, indeed. Despite what you may think, this does NOT involve telling everyone on Facebook what I ate for breakfast this morning. In fact, it has nothing to do with Facebook at all. But you knew that, right? Because you read the headline.

No. I’m referring to U.S. immigration status. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of dealing with USCIS (United States Customs and Immigration Services), well, then you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, then G-d bless you for being born an American.

Between attorneys fees and the mounds of trees they destroy to file your paperwork, it’s enough to make a grown person weep. But that’s just the way it goes. And despite all the tension and nail biting that goes with making sure everything is done correctly (hence the attorney and said fees), I’m trying to look at the upside of the downside.

The downside is that while my paperwork is being evaluated by immigration officials, I cannot legally work. And if all goes well, paperwork will be approved in the next 30-60 days. So here I am playing “hurry up and wait.” What’s bizarre about this is I’ve never ever been told I am not ALLOWED to work. This is an anathema to me. Aside from having to live off savings at this point, I don’t know how NOT to work. It’s what keeps us feeling like we’re productive members of society, no? And keeps us away from the idiot box (although it is Olympics time so I guess that’s some consolation).

However, the plus side is that while I cannot be gainfully employed and earn a salary, I finally have all this time to actually finish editing my novel and send it out to agents. I have ZERO excuses (except the Olympics) to procrastinate any further. So, hold my feet to the fire for me. Demand that I check in with updates on a regular basis starting tomorrow. Feel free to kick my arse.

Thank you.