"I CAN TALK OR I CAN WORK BUT I CAN'T DO BOTH" Jess and I are still not back to where we were. Neither of us wants to split up but every now and again it looks inevitable. We had another conversation about it this morning and that was good - cleared the air - but I have no idea if we will still be together by the time Christmas gets here. I don't talk about this stuff online too much but if nothing else it serves as explanation as to why my recent (and future) postings are somewhat erratic. Hopefully, this will all work out for the best. Speaking of erratic behaviour - I phoned in 'sick' this morning. I hate taking time off when I'm not physically ill but I feel like I've been kicked around emotionally a little too much lately and I need a day to recover and get my head straight. It's fucked up that I can't simply say that when I ring in but they expect you to say something simple like 'flu' despite the fact that nine times out of ten whoever answers the phone thinks you're lying anyway. Bottom line is that I'm doing them a favour - the last thing they need is me laying into an annoying customer Clerks style. So yesterday was actually a pretty good day. We got the fire going for the first time in ages and spent most of the afternoon sat in front of it. I became convinced that it was Sunday because we had such a nice relaxing lazy day. As the day wore on we slowly ran out of timber but I attacked an already broken wooden chair and tossed that on too. Real fires rock - especially when you throw junkmail, unpaid bills and Badly Drawn Boy CDs on too. Got most of the stuff I wanted to do done yesterday so today I'm pretty much free and easy. Will crack on with the novel and try to get up to date with that pesky email. May piss around with other parts of the website too if I feel sufficiently inspired. I rewatched Gladiator late last night. I'd forgotten how good Richard Harris was in it because it's such a short role. Brought a tear to my eye when he speaks of how he may be remembered after he's gone - wished I'd recorded that bloody Parkinson interview now. Mike is blogging to: The Director's Cut by Fantomas