Weeknotes 1597

Monthnotes

• It's been another month, sorry.
• I passed my driving test! Sent off my application with a new photo and got the old one back which still had my photo from when I was 16 or whatever. Great stuff.
• Had the first Lads Chat-- mentioned a while back that I was trying to organise a Men's Mental Health group for my pals; the first one went pretty well! There were a few lessons immediately but it was a positive experience on the whole.
• Had to take a bit of time off from union stuff for a while when my grandad got really ill, but I've been getting back into the swing of things, just in time for the AGM. Lots to do.
• We went to see Oedipus Electronica at the Old Market, who very generously sent us press tickets. The staging was really striking; doing the same musicians-on-stage-setting-the-tone thing as we saw in The Doctor at the Theatre Royal last year, It was a bit intense, though 😅.
• We went round Wakehurst, a botanic garden run by Kew that's right by the village where I grew up. Used to go there for walks all the time, not been for maybe 15 years? Still pretty much the same, still really lovely!
• We put up our Christmas tree—possibly a bit early, but I was gone for the first weekend of December and we we had a car.
• Went to another one of Shona's gigs and it was great.
• We've moved to a new office in the same building; despite being slightly smaller in terms of square footage we're counting it as an upgrade because it's rectangular and has windows to the outside.
• Went back to see my parents at the weekend for their birthdays and the trains were stuffed so I ended up hiring a car and driving. Not the most fun in the world but I think I'm a bit more comfortable with it now.
• Got to see family and Lola :)

Eating

• Morelli Zorelli is an ace pizzaria in Hove which does some cracking calzone—and most importantly they serve chinotto, which I am an absolute fiend for.
• Bam's Kitchen is just round the corner from our office; we took a client there the other day and they had an absolutely amazing French onion soup. Their salads are great hearty veggie lunch.
• When driving home I stopped off at the Tim Hortons on the way to Chichester as I'd not been to one since I was in Canada nearly five years ago. It seems like there are actually quite a few in the UK but the only other one in the south east is in Broadstairs.
• Tried the Ghost Cinnabon-flavour vegan protein powder and it's absolutely the best protein powder of any kind I've ever had. No sugar in that but you could drink it like a dessert. Not just 'acceptable' but delicious.

Reading

• I read Rian Hughes The Black Locomotive which was a mixed bag: some very strong actual writing but I dunno I found some of the stuff in there a bit cringe? "Aquilla for people who watch Geoff Marshall videos" is a bit snippy of me but where's the lie.
• Caught up on the Sins of Sinister crossover that was happening at the beginning of the year in the X-Men comics, and it was somehow actually good, which is almost never the case. It was between books written by Kieron Gillen, Al Ewing and Si Spurrier, three writers I really enjoy, and it brought back a bit of that HoX/PoX skipping-between-timeframes fun.

Watching

• Nick Broomfield's Biggie and Tupac, which Sean recommended on a podcast, and my goodness, it's really quite something. Perhaps not one to watch if you're really interested in the actual case, but it is genuinely hilarious. Can't tell you how many times I've said "the Mob Pirus" in Nick's weird affected voice.
• When CM's not around I find myself a loose end and one of the things I sometimes do is watch The Expanse, which is a fun show with an amusingly SyFy budget. In one episode you can see what's definitely an Ikea octopus peg airer turned upside-down on a table with the pegs taken off because it looks Future-y. Nearly at the end of Series 3; I'll probably stop after that like I did with the books because it turns into Firefly and becomes really boring.
• Rewatched House of Cards for the umpteenth time when Amber was visiting. Might be the best TV show... ever?

Playing

• I played a bit of Tunic which was very charming. Reminded me of Hyper Light Drifter.
• I restarted Outer Wilds, which I have had a few good runs at since its release but never been able to stick the landing with, so I'm hoping I'll be able to this time.
• Tried the new Assassin's Creed because Ubisoft has a subscription service now and I reckon I'd get £12 of fun out of it, but the tutorial was so boring I gave up and asked for my money back. I have fully become my dad.
• On the other hand, Alan Wake II is bonkers; great fun. I need to play a bit more of it but it's already got the Max Payne guy in it, so I'm having a blast.

That's the most videogames I've played in ages!

Keep it real. Over and out.