the adventures of pinkaholic girl

christmas time in the city

Wow, this year has really flown by. Especially the second half! Seems like only yesterday it was June.

In a case of history repeating itself, I am once again going to be unemployed over Christmas (but willingly), going to spend Christmas day in London, and then I'm hopping on a plane and flying to Seville, coming back before New Years' Eve. Heh. There is one big change, in that most of the Christmas period will be spent with Niall and his parents. I'm pretty sure I'm breaking several "parental holiday laws" by going on one 2 days after meeting said parents, but hey. At least the shopping in Seville is teh AWESOME, especially the shoe shopping. I know that Vik is agreeing with me all the way from Mexico.

As I mentioned, I'm currently unemployed, and I'm loving it. This week has mostly been sleeping in a whole lot, plus some christmas shopping, followed by TV and more sleeping. I have an unsigned agreement to go back to my old workplace in the new year. At first I thought I'd be insane to do it, but the new contract will be working on a shiny new project (no maintenance! hurrah!) that will be using .NET 3.5, and has the potential for really large scope in the cinema industry, which is cooooool. I've even bought reading material to supplement my learning while unemployed. How keen is that?

I also finally, finally, finally have internet again. I can't emphasise how exciting this is for me. w00t :) I think it was 13 or 14 weeks without internet all up, which is positively criminal for someone in IT. I'm back to hardcore planning of holidays for next year. Niall and I are working out a schedule for a weekend in Sweden at the icehotel, staying in one of their art rooms if we can swing it. Plus some husky dog sledding and wacky adventures on snowmobiles to remote places. PLUS I need to build a snowman... I've never made one!

Other exciting news is that as of the 4th December this year, I am a highly skilled migrant. The visa gives me another 2 years in the UK without restrictions on working, and it makes it much easier to find work as well - less hoops to jump through. And now, if I stay another 3 on top of the existing 2 years, I'll qualify for a british passport......... ;)

Thankfully most of the chaos that has featured prominently in the last 6 months of my life - moving house, no internet, last minute parental trips, sorting out visas - has settled down now, so bring on Christmas, even the freezing cold weather. Things are looking up :)

posted by d @ 6:27 pm