London was lovely and warm. I was able to go out in just a thin jacket last night and everything! It reminded me of when I lived in Southampton and didn’t wear coats for four years solid. Back in the nippy north now, which feels a bit more right for late November.
The Andy Taylor gig was amazing – I’ll write a bit more about that next week when I’ve had time to think about it!
Things will be fairly nonstop for the next few days (especially in terms of finishing my NaNo – eek), but I’m currently eyeing up a possible day off on Monday, which will give me a chance to get organised again.
Not an OOTD: I’m always fascinated by this notice they have next to the plug sockets on trains. You just know that it’s there because someone was ACTUALLY stupid enough to plug in a toaster or hairdryer at some point.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Duran Duran – ‘Ball Of Confusion’ Andy Taylor – ‘Tremblin” Ramz – ‘Barking’ ‘Korobeiniki’ (the Tetris theme music) Andy Taylor – ‘Love Or Liberation’ Zack Laurence – ‘Force Field (The Crystal Maze Main Theme)’ Barbra Streisand – ‘Woman In Love’ Duran Duran – ‘Hungry Like The Wolf’
So, a week ago, I posted about the fact that I was starting to relearn BBC BASIC after all these years (not that I ever really knew it in the first place, given that pretty much all I did on the BBC Micro as a little kid was bash the keys a bit after Dad had loaded the games disk). BBC BASIC is a good system for a beginner coder to play with, because it’s fairly simple, but I’m still finding that it throws up challenges!
I mentioned pulling out the old QBASIC files from my brief foray into coding in the mid to late ’90s, and finding this program that Dad had written in order to show me how to program menus:
To get an idea of how QBASIC differs from BBC BASIC, I ran the code through the QB2BBC converter:
However, this didn’t work when run in BBC BASIC for Windows, because it didn’t like the “choice$” definition. I got it to work by simplifying the code and removing “choice$”, though this of course meant that lowercase a-f no longer led to the correct responses. I also REMed out the OSCLI bit, because it didn’t understand that (and to be honest neither do I):
However, despite the fact that it worked in BBC BASIC for Windows, the BeebEm emulator (which emulates an original Model B Micro by default) wouldn’t play ball at all! There are quite a lot of differences between original BBC BASIC and BBC BASIC for Windows, and the main tutorial available is for the latter, so it took me a good week of tinkering and googling to work out that you can’t split up lines or IF sequences in original BBC BASIC (or if you can, I haven’t found out how yet!) – you have to put it all on one line. This meant that I had to truncate the program and get rid of the Mars bar option (plus a few other edits), because the line length is limited:
Difficult to read, I know! Here it is programmed into BeebEm, complete with runs for all responses:
You fat pig!
Learning to code makes me feel like an idiot a lot of the time, but I usually get there in the end. Hopefully in a few weeks/months I will have a better grip on it!
Today has been a fairly productive one on the whole, because I also got a lot of work done on my NaNoWriMo project (a long piece of interactive fiction/text adventure game that I’m coding in Adventuron, which at this point is much more comfortable ground for me!).
More of the same tomorrow.
Today’s earworm playlist:
The Midnight – ‘Los Angeles’ Kendrick Lamar and Sza – ‘All The Stars’ Madonna – ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’ Britney Spears – ‘Oops!… I Did It Again’
And a bonus track that Geth was humming earlier:
Heaven 17 – ‘We Don’t Need That Fascist Groove Thing’
Geth has started playing a new videogame, which is always the best thing to happen when I’m in the middle of a creative project because (a) it keeps him quiet and (b) it provides the most productive background music for my working brain. The current game in question is World Of Final Fantasy: Maxima, which is doing an adequate job in the music department.
As such, I’ve been able to get a good chunk done on my NaNo today, despite a slow morning. Hoping to continue that pattern over the next few days.
Not an OOTD: and then there’s this particular obsession, which I’m also spending a lot of time learning at the moment…
Today’s earworm playlist:
I genuinely haven’t had anything in my own head today because we’ve had the aforementioned videogame on all day. However, here’s a bonus track that Geth was humming earlier:
It was mine and Geth’s seventh wedding anniversary today. I think we would probably have both liked to spend the whole day in the house chilling out companionably and listening, given that it was REALLY miserable outside! However, I am absolutely determined to hit that 100th parkrun on the 7th of December, so we dragged ourselves out of the house and headed to a very wet Jesmond Dene. It was not a fast run in the slightest, but that’s ninety-eight out of a hundred done. Celebratory cake in two weeks’ time!
We then spent the afternoon in town, as Geth was interviewing pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd in front of an audience for the Books On Tyne book fair. It was a really interesting discussion, and I’ll be reading Dr Shepherd’s book as a result. Lovely to see so many friends in the audience as well!
The evening was all about cards, pizza and nosecco – the last of which has been an absolute lifesaver since I got sober in January, because I think I would have felt really miserable without a celebratory fizzy option on special occasions.
Looking forward to a nice quiet day working on my NaNo tomorrow!
Sort of an OOTD as you can just about see my Sunset Highway jumper: anniversary picture with Geth! Seven years married today.
Today’s earworm playlist:
USA For Africa – ‘We Are The World’ Chris Rea – ‘Driving Home For Christmas’ John Williams – ‘Leaving Hogwarts’ Hitoshi Sakimoto – ‘Opening Movie (FFXII Theme)’
I’m really absorbed in a couple of projects (including my NaNoWriMo text adventure) at the moment, and so the days have a tendency to disappear. Today was no different. I’m going to have to take a break from it tomorrow so that I can actually get some house admin done!
Might open it up again once I get back from poetry night tomorrow evening though…
Not an OOTD: got the old 5 1/4 inch floppies out all ready for testing on the (hopefully still working) BBC Micro next month! Can you tell I might be excited for Christmas already?
Today’s earworm playlist:
Duran Duran – ‘Come Undone’ The Everly Brothers – ‘All I Have To Do Is Dream’ Clint Mansell – ‘Leaving Earth’
While there’s an extent to which I feel I’m sort of not getting the full experience of NaNoWriMo this year due to rebelling and creating a story that is both an update of a novel from sixteen years ago and a brand-new text adventure game, I have to say I’m enjoying it more than I’ve enjoyed any creative project in years. I’d be working on it morning till night if I didn’t have so many other things going on at the same time! It’s partly because, as I’m designing it as a text adventure, there are a lot of different ways through the story, and so I’m telling several versions at once rather than one definitive version. It’s a lot of fun.
Spending so much time playing with the Adventuron coding system over the last few months has encouraged me to dig out my extremely brief childhood attempts at learning QBASIC. I’ve converted a few of the old ’90s files to BBC BASIC (because I’m excited about the fact that Dad and I are finally going to be digging the old BBC Micro out this Christmas after years of meaning to get round to it…fingers crossed it still works!), which is very similar, and I’m going to be doing a bit more experimentation in that area.
It’s going to be a relatively quiet week, so I’ll be fairly head down with my project.
Not an OOTD: crying with laughter at this ‘demo menu’ program that Dad put together in 1996 to show me how to programme a menu in QBASIC 😀
Today’s earworm playlist:
Blondie – ‘Maria’ Natalie Cole – ‘Miss You Like Crazy’ Aitch and ZieZie – ‘Buss Down’ Post Malone – ‘Circles’ Dermot Kennedy – ‘Outnumbered’ Cast of Muppet Treasure Island – ‘Something Better’ Gunship – ‘When You Grow Up Your Heart Dies’ Duran Duran – ‘The Chauffeur’ The Midnight – ‘Days Of Thunder’
I was out and about all morning running errands. About five minutes after I left the house, it started pouring with rain, and I hadn’t brought a brolly so I was a drowned rat by the time I got home a few hours later! Glad I don’t have to go out again for a couple of days now.
I’ve been doing day job work since then (and I’ve no idea how it’s managed to get so late as I’m sure I didn’t have that much to do!). Hoping to squeeze in a bit of work on my NaNo later this evening.
Not an OOTD: I’d never normally succumb to mince pies this early but it’s not been the best of days.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Duran Duran – ‘The Chauffeur’ Ed Sheeran, Camila Cabello and Cardi B – ‘South Of The Border’ Sam Feldt and Rani – ‘Post Malone’ Roxette – ‘It Must Have Been Love’ Lewis Capaldi – ‘Bruises’ Meduza and Goodboys – ‘Piece Of Your Heart’
More admin and housework this morning, and then I got a bit of writing done in the afternoon (including a bit of work on my NaNo – which I’m just about keeping up with!).
A good ukulele class this evening, and I’m now back on the sofa catching up with Strictly.
Hoping for another productive day tomorrow – I’ve got work to do for a client, plus a bit more writing and housework to get on with.
OOTD: the second of my new ’80s jumpers! Jumper Sunset Highway (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2019), leggings Primark (2019), boots Clarks (2016).
Today’s earworm playlist:
Tiësto and Mabel – ‘God Is A Dancer’ Starship – ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now’ Whitney Houston – ‘Saving All My Love For You’ Andy Taylor – ‘Love Or Liberation’ Georgia – ‘About Work The Dancefloor’ Bronski Beat – ‘Hit That Perfect Beat’ Traditional – ‘Bonnie Ship The Diamond’ Duran Duran – ‘Hungry Like The Wolf’ Keala Settle – ‘This Is Me’ Lauv and Troye Sivan – ‘I’m So Tired’
It’s only a couple of days per week at the moment because life is pretty busy, but during November, when it’s starting to get very cold and dark, I really appreciate having full days where I can stay in the house and get on with things!
After doing a bit of housework and admin this morning, I spent some time in the afternoon working on my NaNoWriMo. A couple more days and I should have caught up with where I’m supposed to be in terms of wordcount!
There’s only a couple of days left to rate my text adventure game for the Adventuron jam, so please give it a go if you like games! I’m already looking forward to making more of these.
I’ll be mainly sorting out the house tomorrow, as Geth and I have guests coming to stay at the weekend.
Not an OOTD: it’s so cosy having the fireplace on at this time of year!
Today’s earworm playlist:
Sheena Easton – For Your Eyes Only Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber – I Don’t Care U2 – Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of Lewis Capaldi – Bruises Technotronic – Pump Up The Jam
I’ve had a nice quiet day getting on with writing, housework and admin – and managed to squeeze in a bit of work on my NaNoWriMo project as well, which was nice! Geth has been out all day, so I’ve had the Christmas cookery shows on again. The only problem is that coupled with the cold weather, they’re making me hungry all the time.
Another full day to get on with writing tomorrow, I hope!
OOTD: back posting an outfit of the day for once! Geth requested this one ’cause he really likes my new jumper. Jumper Cabin Creek (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2019), leggings Primark (2019), boots Carefree (2017).
Today’s earworm playlist:
Michael Land – LeChuck’s Theme Lewis Capaldi – Bruises Ace Of Base – All That She Wants Sister Sledge – Frankie
