This will probably be the last WEAK NOTES of 2023. But I’ve somehow still managed most weeks since July so I’m chalking it up as a win.

Midwinter draws in, it’s dark all the time, the air is mostly made of icy water and 48% of the UK’s electricity generation capacity is being used on fairy lights.

Honestly, I’m not there yet. Christmas is eight days away and I’ve done the necessary logistics re gifts and groceries and travel plans, but I’m really not in the mood yet. The schools aren’t breaking up until the 22nd round here and I’ve got a stupidly busy week of work ahead.

I wonder if the kid will look up from his iPad long enough to realise there’s no tree up?

I finally have clarity, approval and purpose. (At least from a professional standpoint.) Now I have a few months of solid dev to blast through, but the wrangling side can be out of my brain until Easter at least.

So I bought another guitar:

This, in and of itself, is not a rare occurrence. I’ve probably owned over a hundred and there is a rotating stable of 15-20 in the house at any point.

This one is super annoying though. Got it for a couple of hundred squid from eBay because I’ve been looking for a donor instrument to make something with a single P90 in the bridge akin to a Les Paul Junior Double Cut or an SG Junior, and maybe stick a vibrola on it like Mike Adam’s Les Paul (I even like the “masking tape over the neck pickup rout” aesthetic).

The problem? It’s a great instrument as it is. Really nice. Nice neck, frets are in pretty decent nick, no crackly electrics and the pickups (which are USA DiMarzio humbuckers, Super Distortions if the interweb is to be believed) are awesome. It sounds brilliant as is, plays like a good Les Paul (but with a slightly narrower neck as you get to the body).

So now I’ve got a decision - restore it to it’s former glory (which wont take much) or do the Junior conversion I wanted to do (which will possibly involve drilling a hole or two). Obviously, the woodworking diminshes the value (although it’ll be largely invisible even if I revert to the humbuckers.) I’m tempted to rig up something with solderless connections so I can easily swap between the two… hmmmm.

Andre Braugher died this week which is tremendously sad. He was amazing and we (like everyone else based on Netflix’s trending chart) are having a tribute re-watch of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. It’s such a perfect thing… I honestly think the only half-hour-comedy-type-thing I’ve enjoyed more is The Good Place, and I’m pretty sure that’s done by the same people.

Re the trending thing, it is slightly suspicious how many actors have gone too soon in 2023 while their shows have been part of the Netflix catalogue (cough Matthew Perry cough). Perhaps the streaming wars have entered the “strategic assassinations” phase.

Goals achieved from the previous week:

  • sort out Christmas as long as Amazon hold up their end, we’re ok
  • sort out the kid’s birthday party it was a roaring success
  • rebuild the Jazz Bass that’s actually on the to-do list for today, although a pub lunch may put paid to the actual work. But all the bits are here.

Goals for the coming season:

  • Peace, love and understanding.

Have a happy [insert preferred Winterval deployment here] and see you in 2024.