TOMORROW night I've got a date I've been looking forward to for months.
I planned my outfit ages ago and all I've got to do between now and tomorrow is enjoy the excitement as the big moment draws close.
At 8.30pm, the time will finally arrive - I will sit down to watch the Sex and the City movie.
There are TV shows that you enjoy, love even, and then there are ones which go that step further than entertainment - which affect how you live your life.
In my lifetime there have been three such programmes: Anne of Green Gables, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Sex and the City.
I won't go into how Anne of Green Gables inspired a love of patchwork and cross stitch or how Buffy resulted in me taking up kick-boxing and honing my sarcasm.
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But I'm here to tell you, as a single girl, SATC has become my bible.
I always loved the show when I was in a relationship but it was as a singleton that I really discovered the value of SATC.
Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte became an extension of my friendship group.
I don't mean I'm some friendless potato couch who lives her life vicariously through a TV show. I mean, yes, of course I AM living vicariously a bit - the shoes, the clothes, the lifestyle etc. But that's not why I've come to love the show.
One major reason for my adoration of Carrie and Co is they make you feel validated as a single woman. I know it shouldn't take an American TV show to make you realise that being single can be great fun, filled with opportunities and friends. But if you're surrounded by smug-marrieds and programmes that make you feel like you must be lacking in something if you're single, watching a show about a group of successful, glamorous women who don't need a man to complete them can give you a boost.
Another reason why I've learnt to love it is because the experiences of the women often mirror my - and countless millions of other women's - lives and because there are useful lessons to be learnt.
So many of my own experiences, from trying to deal with a man who's essentially a good kisser but licks your face, to realising that your friends rather than a man can be your soul-mates have happened on the show.
This makes you realise that you are not alone and gives you some ideas about how you can deal with what life throws at you.
Clearly I am far, far, from being the only woman who feels this way.
Sarah says: "SATC is one of very few celebrations of single life. It validates many of the experiences we have and choices we make. One of my favourite episodes is one in which Carrie questions the amount of time and money we spend celebrating coupledom' - be it engagement parties, weddings or baby showers. Carrie rightly acknowledges that, as a single person, the choices and achievements we make are often pitied, and seldom celebrated. I for, example, am proud of achievements I make in my career - but I won't be throwing a party because of them, and I'm not expecting any congratulatory cards to drop through the door. SATC provides a very welcome boost!"
Laura adds: "Is it wrong that I'm as protective over SATC as I am over my friends? I get narked when people (usually guys) criticise the programme and I pity the man who tries to tell me Sarah Jessica Parker isn't attractive! When she was recently named the least attractive celebrity I was truly outraged, as if I'd overheard a guy in a bar saying my best friend was a minger!
"Some people may think the programme is just about four neurotic women talking about men and shoes but us true fans know it's much more than that. We may not be able to afford the Christian Louboutins and Jimmy Choos they talk about in the show, or be able to get into the kind of bars they visit but we can all relate to the issues they address in their frank, witty style. And if it gives us a bit of fashion inspiration along the way then that's never a bad thing!"
OK, yes, SATC is just a show/film. But it also provides women with a set of strong, successful, feminist role models who value their friendships above all else, and those are pretty thin on the ground.
If SATC has helped just one woman feel more comfortable about exploring her sexuality, remember the value of her friends or realise that it's not worth agonising over a man who's just not that into her', then that's got to be a good thing.
But it's clear the show has done an awful lot more than that.
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