one
This week I went back to work after ~24 days off. When you work remotely from home the transition between working / not working is a deceptively subtle one, though I have a feeling it will kick in for real this week.
two
Uncut Gems was brilliant. I saw it in one of the smaller cinemas at the Barbican which was extremely hot and airless and only compounded the tense and sweaty nature of the film.
I ended up going to the Barbican twice in a week. On Saturday we saw Into The Night just before it closed, and caught a performance from the ‘house’ jazz band inside the exhibition which was also great and also way too hot and sweaty again.
While waiting to get in I also saw Trevor Paglen: From ‘Apple’ to ‘Anomaly’ – a wall of hundreds (or thousands) of images on The Curve within the Barbican which was incredible – especially since every single one had been individually pinned into place.
three
I’ve started messing around with an old Nikon L35AD camera I bought a few years ago. I took this photos with it and i’m not really sure why I haven’t used it since as I was really happy with the results and it has a killer flash which will stun you for a good few seconds.
four
I started some coding courses with SuperHi that I bought last year – Advanced CSS and Javascript. Ultimately I would like to be able to build Mantel – an idea for a book cataloging website I designed in 2018 (basically Good Reads but simpler) but it’ll take a while for me to get there. This week I start a short writing course at City University in Narrative Non-Fiction.
five
On Sunday I went on a very cold but sunny bike ride with my brother around Surrey Hills. It was probably the first time we’d ridden bikes together in 20 years, since we used to ride trials bikes along the seafront where we grew up. I met him at Guilford and we made a loop from there. He was a lot faster than me, but i’m also sure he’s about half my weight now, plus I had to navigate, so i’m blaming it on that. Plus the fact i’ve not exercised in at least 3 weeks now.
six
I’ve finished reading How to Do Nothing. The message at it’s core was really good, but overall found it difficult to connect with. I’m going to try and alternate between fiction and non-fiction this year, and plan to start Blood Meridian next.
seven
It’s getting darker later, just slightly. Which is always nice, and also slightly distressing at the same time as you’re reminded that time only moves in one direction.
eight
I designed a quick simple logo for Personal Record Club, a friend’s side project which lets you pick the one record you’re enjoying listening to right now. For me right now it’s On the Outside by Ethan gruska.