…but then I had already been up and about doing stuff for a couple of hours, having woken up at six for some reason. Oh for a predictable sleep pattern.
Kieran and Lisa popped in for lunch today. Geth and I had hoped to use the new garden furniture that I put together earlier this week, but today turned out to be a wet day in Newcastle (of course) so we sat inside instead. It was really nice to see people we actually knew for the first time since March (other than neighbours, shopkeepers, hairdressers, bumping into running friends when running etc. etc.) and to catch up after a long time.
Looking forward to a quiet weekend now. Next full update on Monday!
Today’s cheery and colourful leggings. Brightening up the start of the weekend!
Today’s earworm playlist:
Toto – ‘Africa’ Duran Duran – ‘Save A Prayer’ Vangelis – ‘Chariots Of Fire’
…as I’m fairly busy this week so can only squeeze in super-short runs. I had a small bit of day job work to do today, and I also did the final bugfix for my most recent jam game. This was a bit more complicated than expected as I had to do a lot of fiddling with the Spectrum versions to get them to compile. The workaround wasn’t 100% perfect, but they’ll do for now, and with all the reported bugs fixed the game is a much better product than it was on first release.
As such, I finally feel I’m done with One Last Thing… now and can focus all my energies on the next few projects!
I’m going to squeeze in a couple more hours of coding and then get some Paper Mario played this evening. I’m on a tricky section, but I think I’m close to the end of the game now – somewhere between one and three play sessions should finish the plot, I expect.
Tomorrow I’m going to have a play with some simple graphics for the game project I’m working on this week.
2020: the year of brightly coloured trousers (you can’t see all the examples on the line from this angle but I assure you there are quite a lot of them). They really cheer me up at the moment!
…and I’m still fairly slow this week, but I’m fine with that. I’ve been thinking about what I’m going to focus on in terms of my running this autumn and have a few challenges and ideas that I’m quite excited about. Just need to hear whether the London Marathon is going ahead in October or being postponed again (one week to go until the announcement is due!) and then I can make some concrete plans.
The rest of today has also been fairly slow going, but I should have all my admin and a bit of coding done by the end of the afternoon, so I can sneak in some more videogaming hours this evening! I spent eight hours playing Paper Mario: The Origami King yesterday and could honestly have played all night as well – I’m really enjoying it.
Similar day tomorrow… though hopefully not quite as slow!
I’m a bit obsessed with Lucy Locket Loves stuff at the moment – the bright patterns really cheer me up 🙂 These leggings are really comfy (though not quite as cosy as the loungewear, which is my new weekend go-to).
Today’s earworm playlist:
Manami Kiyota – ‘Satorl Marsh’ Rod Stewart – ‘Baby Jane’ The Beatles – ‘Ticket To Ride’ Harold Faltermeyer – ‘Axel F’
…as I woke up with a slightly sore shoulder (I had planned to do closer to two miles today but decided to keep it short and gentle again).
I’m still not sleeping well, and I don’t feel productive at all this week – I’m a bit slow to get going with everything. Still, I’m managing to get a bit of work on my current writing project done every day, which is great.
Despite the uncertainty about absolutely everything at the moment, I am 100% certain that two things will be the case by the end of 2020:
I will have made a significant dent in my videogame backlog. There’s no way I’ll have cleared it completely, but there will at least be light at the end of the tunnel…
I will own enough leggings to last me for the rest of my life, and yet I will still want more. So many shiny patterns!
Everyone needs a hobby, or twenty in my case. Especially at the moment.
Videogaming tonight, running in the morning, writing during the day, rinse and repeat.
I’m running out of pictures that I can take during lockdown, as my world is obviously a bit samey right now. As such, I’ve been going through the family archives for old computer pictures. I love this one from 1980.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Billy Idol – ‘Rebel Yell’ Revo – ‘Ship Upon The Open Skies’ Thought Beings – ‘Shakedown’
…as I had various other things to do. Looking forward to some longer runs later in the week.
It was a bit of an odd weekend as I was trying to keep myself from feeling too down about the fact that if not for the coronavirus situation, I would have been in London running the marathon. By and large, I managed to distract myself with videogames, and I did a couple of short, fast runs to test out my pace a bit. I also spent most of yesterday trying to solve technical issues, as our SteamLink box was playing up again. I’ve told Geth that we have to keep an eye on it by turning it on every day, which provides lots of excuses for videogaming this week!
I’ve also managed to get a really good clean of the house done. I’d been neglecting it a bit, because I usually base my cleaning schedule around when we’re expecting company… and obviously we’ve not had any recently. However, I’ve spent the last couple of days getting on with it, and the house feels a lot nicer now.
I’ve got a small amount of day job work lined up for this week, which is great, and I’ve got several more housework-type tasks to get on with as well. I also want to finish my graphics for my next adventure game before the end of Camp NaNo on Thursday, so I’ve got plenty things to be getting on with! It’s nice, though, because it provides a bit of structure to the day. I’d obviously love it if I could just sit and play videogames the whole time, but I think I’d probably lose track of days and nights as a result! Oh, for those student summers when I’d regularly be playing until 7am and it didn’t matter…
I’m still getting a good few hours in every evening though, and I find I’ve got time for lots of reading and TV-watching too, so if I ignore the general world situation, life is quite relaxed at the moment!
Yesterday, I wore what should have been my race kit. I’m looking forward to taking these special London-themed Tikiboos out for some longer runs to make sure that they will hold up during the marathon.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Tomohito Nishiura – ‘Froenborg’ Yasunori Mitsuda – ‘Elysium, In The Blue Sky’ Abba – ‘I Have A Dream’
A slight diversion on a usual running route today…
…which made it a three-mile-plus run. Always good to get the extra distance in.
I’ve been feeling like my personal fashion style has changed again recently. When I reached my target weight in 2018 and had to buy a whole new wardrobe as a result, I went for a mixture of timeless investment pieces, which I knew would last me for life if I took care of them, and fun vintage finds, which satisfied my obsession with ’80s fashion.
I have not worn any of that stuff in months. My lifestyle, even before the lockdown, has shifted to that of a sort of active homebody – I get up in the morning and change into running gear, and after my run I go for my shower and then throw on a comfy leggings/t-shirt/jumper combo, because I know I’m going to be spending the rest of the day either on the sofa, doing housework, or doing a bit of yoga or Pilates. The numerous pairs of good quality jeans I bought two years ago are not comfy or casual enough for a spontaneous yoga session. My vintage ’80s stuff, other than my well-loved collection of cosy winter jumpers, is too fancy for lounging around the house. I have not worn shoes other than running shoes for over a month: I have two pairs in rotation for actual running, and one ancient pair that I use for going out to the garage or garden.
Even pre-lockdown, I rarely had anything to go to that required dressing up – nobody minds what you wear to Slimming World or ukulele class, and even poetry night is far from a formal affair. This year, I have only been out of leggings a handful of times – New Year’s Day, the LeBrock gig, a couple of family meals in February… and I think that’s about it. Most of my leggings cost £2 from Primark, but they’re getting a LOT more wear than the £50 jeans hanging in my wardrobe.
I’m not about to get rid of what I bought in 2018 – there may come a time when I’m interacting with the world on a regular enough basis that I might make the effort to wear something with actual fastenings again, although I expect it will be a slow road out of lockdown for me personally seeing as I’m appreciating the peace and quiet so much – but I don’t see myself buying any more investment pieces or filling up my bag at vintage fairs again for a good couple of years at least.
I may start spending slightly more than £2 on leggings though, seeing as they’ve been so good to me recently.
I’ve always loved high-heeled shoes, but they are so far removed from my current lifestyle that it’s laughable. At least they look pretty on the shelf!
Today’s earworm playlist:
Hiroki Morishita – ‘Just Across This Mountain And We’ll Arrive Soon’ Nina Nesbitt – ‘Stay Out’ Nobuo Uematsu – ‘On Our Way’ Cast of The Muppet Christmas Carol – ‘It Feels Like Christmas’ Red Hot Chili Peppers – ‘Road Trippin” Duran Duran – ‘A View To A Kill’ Gordon Duncan – ‘Sleeping Tune’*
Just a quick mile to kick off my next hundred days on my run streak…
…and then I came home for hot cross buns. I’m now making the most of the start of the long weekend – I’ve used some Easter discount codes to buy some more funky-patterned running tights. Unfortunately most of the old capri leggings I’ve been wearing for my daily runs were bought when I was bigger, just don’t fit right for running anymore, and will have to be relegated to Pilates/yoga/round-the-house leggings. This wasn’t a problem in previous years when I was only running between one and three times a week and so basically always used the same old reliable pair of Karrimor drawstring capris I’ve had since 2015, but based on our typical laundry schedule/occasional longer trips away, I do need a few more pairs that don’t keep having to be yanked up while running.
Also, funky-patterned leggings are amazing, whether you’re doing exercise or not.
Going to be spending the rest of the day (and most of the Easter weekend) making and playing videogames 🙂
A brass band and a narrowly-missed target featured at this morning’s parkrun…
…and then I spent the afternoon doing day job work (a client has an urgent deadline so I did some weekend hours today) with the British Indoor Athletics Championship on in the background.
Now having a quiet evening in order to rest before tomorrow’s long run… and I distinctly remember saying something similar last week, and probably the week before. Marathon training does tend to result in some particularly un-rock-‘n’-roll weekends, even by my standards! Early nights all round 🙂
I also got a long-neglected sewing project done today. I’m guessing these leggings will be a bit too big nowadays but hopefully they’ll also be comfy after tomorrow’s run!
Today’s earworm playlist:
Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber – ‘I Don’t Care’ George Ezra – ‘Paradise’ Alanis Morissette – ‘Hand In My Pocket’
