Well first of all... night out last night... two pints and a bag of fries/chips.. 11.90... :-) possibly a new record ...

Hobbies front... heard about a kayaking club in my county that is running weekend courses in July and August that end with a cert that enables you to join kayaking clubs - one of which is not far from me... sounds great... only thing is that it costs 200 euro for the weekend - quite pricey..

Horses... I have a passion for horses... I have yet to get back into riding regularly... want to lose a tad bit of weight before I do so that I feel fitter and less of a burden on the poor animal :-) There is a local riding school that gives lessons for 20 euro an hour - I don't think many proper places would do it cheaper than that... will have to factor that into my monthly budgets... maybe 2 lessons a month...

And the best for last... A foundation in film-making course that is perfect for me and that I am really keen on is run by a not-for-profit organisation in the West of Ireland.... I thought the next one didn't start until next Spring... but checked their web-site during the week and there's one starting in September !
It will cost me approx 650 euro which is great value for a 7 weekend course - 14 days...

Anyways so I need to come up with that money before September - will divert all overtime to that and squeeze whatever I can from my budget....

I also want to do the kayaking course and get back into horse-riding... I am passionate about learning to make films but I want to maintain/get balance in my life (Life Coach sessions)... I don't want film-making to be my sole obsession and then get peed off at it after a while... I want to have a rounded life so that my film-making endeavours will be all the more fruitful !!

Emmm...so that's 650 for the film-making course and 200 for the kayaking and maybe 80-100 for horse-riding lessons this summer.... I think I can do it if I am very frugal in other areas of my life - which I generally am...bring lunch to work etc..

Also I usually take a weeks vacation in September every year and go abroad. I am not this year - due to my commitments above. Instead this year, I am taking a week off in August and I will have my first staycation !! I will enjoy just not having to work for the week... can concentrate on scripts and get some good running practice in for the half-marathon I'll be doing at the end of August... and many other little enjoyable things... I may visit a city in Ireland for a night or so...

Oh yeah I have to pay for that half-marathon in August and full marathon in October before August 1st - cheaper entry....

Thank God (or the Universe) that I have a job !