Literally no-one believed (or cared) that there would be a fourth consecutive week of WEAK NOTES. (There won’t be a fifth though…)

I have comfortably written 30,000 words this week in quotes, emails and design documentation. And honestly? I struggle with it. Wurds iz hard. I have a horrible tendency to write how I speak which leads to all sorts of contractions and odd bridging phrases creeping in. In fact, part of the reason for writing here is to keep practicing this stuff in the times when all I write is code. I need my bizniz wurds to become as terse as my code is.

Also, everything I’ve written this week is stuff no-one is excited to read. I owe them the courtesy of not taking up their time with my waffly prose and must instead deliver all the facts in a super high-concentration info dump.

It’s the nature of contracting work though… there’s a big thing coming up which is initially a consulting and design gig, and as the quote is going in shortly that means some initial scoping and broad design and lots of meetings about how it works with the disparate bits of the client’s business. On the bright side, once this bit is done (and assuming they go for it) it should lead to 4-6 months of solid toil in the code mine. Getting to build stuff is the pay off. (As well as, you know, the money.)

So, as much as I dislike the writing part, I need to get on with it.

I got to go into the office a bit this week. There are nice people on the client-side of this (potential) gig so it should be a nice way to spend the winter.

They Cloned Tyrone (on Netflix) is completely wonderful. It looks amazing with the framing and the light and the grain and the cigarette burns and oh my word the colour, the script is brilliant, the performances are sublime and everyone deserves all the awards and plaudits.

(Also, because it’s on a streamer, they probably all deserve to be fairly paid as well.)

The kid has been endlessly pronouncing that “the sun is a deadly lazer” (sic) and it took me a while to track down the source of the meme. It’s old and I was unaware of it’s existence, but the whole thing is worth your time.

Had a weird dip in the fitness thing (weight loss plateaued, my VO2 max line that I was pleased with plateaued, felt generally meh about the whole thing). So I ate like a normal person for a few days, forgot all about it and yesterday ran the fastest 5K and 10K splits I’ve managed since records began I got my Apple Watch nine months ago. The cake might be a lie, but it certainly helps you go quick.

I’ve also swapped my overall target from “don’t be fat” to “run a 55min 10K around Kew Gardens on Sept 9th” having pulled the classic “sign up for runs while drunk” move. So it’s HIIT and cardio during the week, one long run at the weekend and lots of protein and veg, less of a calorie restriction. More training than dieting.

A month to knock a few minutes of my 10K should be doable, right?

Alas, the black toenail is beginning to return. That means I’m a proper runner. (Who needs new shoes?)

In Japan you can be an officially recognised master craftsperson who hand shapes the nose cones of the Shinkansen with a hammer. In England all the King’s horses and all the King’s men can’t even build a track.

Fun fact: “Shinkansen” means “New Trunk Line”.

Goals achieved from the previous week:

  • survive being in the office with the client, and somehow design and cost a whole new app based on slightly fuzzy requirements: mostly yes
  • get ready for holidays: I’m so ready, are we fucking there yet

Goals for the coming week:

  • Do nothing. By the pool. With a beer. (After a couple more panicky days of work, no doubt.)

No post next week. In fact, I’m going to try and avoid screens unless altogether unless it’s to catch up on the movie/telly backlog. (I’m particularly looking forward to Asteroid City and Good Omens S2.)