- Catch up on sleep.
- No, really, catch up on sleep. A LOT of sleep. Most production weekends sleep is a sincere luxury.
- Corollary to this, I’m going to try and address the bags under my eyes. You could fit a small independent republic in them right now. I’ve always had some bags, but not on this scale. Cucumbers and wet tea bags ahoy.
- Exercise more. Production weekend diets are delicious [1], but fail.
- Try to figure out what to do with every second weekend of my life.
- Observe a graaaaaaaaaaand stretch in the evenings.
- Try to get a job. Interested [2]?
- Write a manual on the nuances of the Observer website and how the whole thing is synced with our Twitter and Facebook, as well as how the whole podcast (and iTunes integration) thing works. It’ll be far too mind-boggling for anyone to try and fly blind in so some kind of crossover document is very much called for.
- Get back blogging on a regular basis. (No, really!)
- Bid a fond farewell to a university that has given me a hell of a lot in the last six years. I’ve gotten far more than a degree [3] out of UCD: I got a sense of what I want to do with my life, I’ve gotten to present radio shows [4] and edit newspapers [5], be the secretary of an association with 23,000 members [6], and – far most importantly – make a fortunate series of very, very good friends, too plentiful to name, who I’ll try not to leave behind me as I go on to whatever comes next.
- Oh, and I’m not going to go about setting up a new country [7] again. Well, not for a while… *wink*
- Go to Amsterdam for a few days in May with the other half. Can’t wait.
- Master the Italian language. I started learning it last summer using a Pimsleur guide and love it. (Note to self: also rescue your once-formidable, now-negligable command of German.)
- Reintroduce myself to the friends I’ve become sadly all too distant from as a result of working 60-hour weeks.
- Thank the people who convinced me to go for the Observer job in the first place. You know who you are – I owe you for pushing me over the edge.
- Really miss the fun, political incorrectness, late nights, early mornings, sport-watching and everything else that I shared with the rest of the team. To Sean, Conor, Grace, Sweetman, Matt, Peter, James, Farouq, Scally, Killian, Bridget and to Catriona: thank you for making my year such a blast. There was never a day where I didn’t want to go into work – the Observer has been far more than a mere job. You’ve been my second family and I’ll remember it for a long long time to come.
- Finally, I’m going to make sure my long-suffering girlfriend Ciara gets to see a little more of my face, and that she’s full aware of how much I’ve needed and cherished her patience with me when I’ve had other things on my mind over the last eight months. The Observer is an all-consuming black hole of time and I’d fully understand if I’d been told to pack my bags for the short attention she’s gotten this year – but I haven’t. She’s been a rock all year and I’ll owe her forever.
So. What’s next?