A non-stop weekend!

Over the past three days I have:

  1. Volunteered at parkrun
  2. Gone to see Fenwick’s Christmas window (a Newcastle Christmas tradition)
  3. Gone to a vintage fair
  4. Gone to an incredible Culture Club gig at the Metro Radio Arena
  5. Run the Town Moor Half Marathon
  6. Recovered in the pub
  7. Eaten recovery pizza
  8. Got a whole load of recorded TV watched and started my annual Christmas TV project
  9. Started a new bucket list project
  10. Got a total of 12,000 words written on my NaNo novel, taking me up to 76,000 words

Tomorrow is busy again as I’ve got lots of admin and a boardgaming evening!

OOTD 17th November 2018
Saturday OOTD: gig-going outfit. Blouse Hermann Lange Collection (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2018), jeans Levi (2018), boots Primark (2017).
OOTD 18th November 2018
OOTD: post-race recovery outfit. Glasses Emporio Armani (2017), jumper Jac (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2018).
OOTD 19th November 2018
OOTD: busy Monday catching up! Glasses Emporio Armani (2017), hoodie Internacionale (2000), t-shirt Gildan for Beat:Cancer (2017).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Taylor Dayne – Tell It To My Heart
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper – Shallow
Arcadia – Election Day
Duran Duran – Girls On Film

Towards ‘the end’

I got another 4,000 words done on my NaNo novel again today.  It took a while because I was trying to catch up with the last few weeks’ worth of music charts as well, but it got done.  I’m determined to (a) keep this streak going and (b) finish this story!

I also got my music practice in again – keyboard this time.  I may not have time to do it next week (and definitely not over the weekend) but we’ll see.

Going to try and get an early night tonight, because I’ve got a very busy weekend ahead of me with a couple of early starts.

OOTD 16th November 2018
OOTD: day in the house. T-shirt Gildan for Infest (2018), jeans Vivid (2018), boots Carefree (2017).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Duran Duran – Come Undone
Elton John – Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting
Duran Duran – Burning The Ground
Duran Duran – A View To A Kill
The 1975 – Too Time Too Time Too Time
Loud Luxury and Brando – Body
Pulp – Sorted For Es And Whizz
Paula Abdul – Straight Up
Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush – Don’t Give Up

Suddenly Christmas…sort of

Another 4,000 words on my NaNo novel, taking me up to 60,000!

Today’s music practice: back to the tin whistle and those last few slightly difficult tunes from Recorder From The Beginning.

I’ve had a couple of weeks where I’ve not really watched much TV ’cause I don’t like having the distraction while I’m writing.  Tonight I turned the TV back on – first because I wanted to watch a couple of BBC4 documentaries on iPlayer (one with Boy George talking about the 1970s, which is (a) pertinent to my novel and (b) excitement-building for the Culture Club gig I am going to see on Saturday, and one about vinyl singles, which was just glorious and nostalgic and featured lots of excellent talking heads), and secondly just to have some Now! ’80s on the go as background music for the rest of the evening.  A couple of alarming things that have apparently happened in the last couple of weeks:

  1. Vintage TV (channel 82) has disappeared from our channel list.  I need to look into this.  I’ve not been watching Vintage TV anywhere near as much as I used to since Now! ’80s appeared on the channel list, but I’d still like to have the option.
  2. Every advert is suddenly a Christmas advert.  I am not at all ready for Christmas yet (I’ve just been so busy and so have been unable to get in the mood) and so all the carols and turkey dinners are leaving me a bit cold (and also panicked, because ARGH you always have to do lots of stuff to prepare for Christmas).

Still getting a lot done, but still very behind on managing the actual to-do list at the moment.  Hoping to get that sorted tomorrow morning.

OOTD 15th November 2018
OOTD: a non-Pilates Thursday. Hoodie Internacionale (2000), vest top Primark (2016), skirt Gap (2007), tights Primark (2017), boots Primark (2017).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Duran Duran – Come Undone
Queen – Bicycle Race
Duran Duran – Rio
Duran Duran – Skin Trade
Leo Sayer – Moonlighting
Alannah Myles – Black Velvet
Arcadia – Say The Word
Technotronic – Pump Up The Jam

Twinkle, twinkle

Another day, another 4,000 words on my NaNo novel.

Also: another day, another old kids’ music book that I dug out of the stack and started going through again (today’s offering: Me and My Piano).  Nothing like being super proud of being able to play through a tune and then noticing from the date written next to it that you first managed to play through it when you were six.  Also, it’s sort of bizarre when you find yourself playing through Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star with actual feeling.

Also: had some actual day job work to do as well for a client, as well as lots of day job admin.

It’s been a fairly productive day on the whole!  Tomorrow there’s no Pilates class, so once I’m back from Slimming World I should be able to get properly into my work again.

OOTD 14th November 2018
OOTD: wearing bright mustard trainers because I can. Hoodie Sonar (2006), Duran Duran classic lineup t-shirt eBay/Fruit of the Loom (2018), leggings Primark (2018), socks unknown brand (2009), trainers Nike (2018).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Queen – Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy
George Michael – Careless Whisper
Duran Duran – All She Wants Is
Arcadia – Election Day
Duran Duran – Girls On Film
The Power Station – Communication
Duran Duran – Last Chance On The Stairway
Duran Duran – Notorious

My earliest NaNo win ever!

My daily 4,000 words put me past the 50k mark and up to 52,000 today!  That’s ten days earlier than my previous record from 2015.  I can’t even officially validate it yet!

The rest of the day was just spent doing more admin.  Same again tomorrow.

OOTD 13th November 2018
OOTD: this t-shirt reminds me of the summer! T-shirt Campus Crew for Toronto Blue Jays (2018), skirt H&M (thifted from Steff 2016), tights unknown brand (2014), boots Carefree (2017).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Arcadia – Say The Word
Duran Duran – Hold Back The Rain
Five Star – Rain Or Shine
The Bangles – Walk Like An Egyptian
Pepsi & Shirlie – Heartache
George Michael – Careless Whisper
Soft Cell – Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
Chaka Khan – Ain’t Nobody
Duran Duran – Notorious
Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball
Duran Duran – Rio

A quiet Monday

Geth’s been out boardgaming all evening (he and friends have discovered a new card game that they’re really enjoying) and so I have been taking advantage of the quiet house again.  This has meant another 4,000 words on the NaNo novel (48,000 in total!) and lots of admin done, though not nearly as much as I would have liked.  I’ll be getting up early tomorrow to try again.

OOTD 12th November 2018
OOTD: a day in the house. T-shirt Punk Masters (2018), jeans Zara (2018), boots Carefree (2017).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Al Stewart – Year Of The Cat
Steps – Better Best Forgotten
ELO – Mr Blue Sky
Jackie Wilson – Reet Petite
Abba – Happy New Year
Leo Sayer – Moonlighting

A creative Sunday

Geth was out boardgaming today, so I took the opportunity to get lots of stuff done:

  1. I finished putting all the stuff I need to scan and shred over the next few years on the new shelves in the study, so we can access the bedroom again.  I also got all the CDs onto shelves.  The study’s not UNmessy, but you can at least move through it easily now.
  2. I got another 4,000 words written on my NaNo novel.  I’m up to 44,000 now!  Two more days at this rate and I’ll have an officially winning novel, although it’s going to be nowhere near done at 50k and I’m serious about aiming for 120k now.
  3. I picked up a book I found in the study the other day called Recorder From The Beginning, which was the book my primary school recorder group used to learn the instrument (so I’ve had the book since the start of Primary Three in 1991), and played it all the way through using my tin whistle (well, nearly – it’s all super easy until the last three pages and then it suddenly gets difficult!).  I want to learn a new instrument or two soon – hopefully in 2019 – and (badly) playing my old ones is helping me to get motivated.

Looking at the last few weeks, I have actually been really productive, but I’ve not FELT productive because I’ve been procrastinating on all my boring daily tasks like housework and accounting and getting through my various lists of music stuff I want to listen to.  Definitely time for a giant to-do list update tonight.

Doctor Who was great tonight!  Strictly was not, because I’m really upset that Danny and Amy went out.  I’m going to go sulk about it for a week.

OOTD 11th November 2018
OOTD: comfy Sunday outfit. T-shirt Cyberdog (originally early 2000s, thrifted from Geth 2014), belt H&M (2017), tights Primark (2017), boots Carefree (2017).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Rita Ora – Your Song
Duran Duran – Serious
Duran Duran – Meet El Presidente
Duran Duran – Rio
Abba – Lay All Your Love On Me
Duran Duran – Come Undone

I didn’t really notice today

I’ve been so tired today, I didn’t even really notice it go by.

I did get another 4,000 words written on my NaNo novel, though…somehow!

OOTD 10th November 2018
OOTD: trying to get comfy. Jumper Faber (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2018), jeans H&M (thrifted from Steff 2016), boots Carefree (2017).

Today’s earworm playlist:

David Bowie – Oh! You Pretty Things
Duran Duran – Ordinary World
Duran Duran – Hungry Like The Wolf
Bruno Mars – 24K Magic
Chaka Khan – I Feel For You
Rita Ora – Your Song

Still chugging away

Mum and Dad were round again today, with Dad finishing off a few more house jobs for us (thanks, Dad!).  We were then able to go for a nice walk around Exhibition Park and show Mum and Dad where we go for parkrun.

Geth and I will not be parkrunning tomorrow, though, as we’re both knackered after a long week.  We should be okay after a weekend of sleeping and recovering.

I got my daily 4,000 NaNo words in as well!  Still on that roll.

OOTD 9th November 2018
OOTD: semi-smart going-out-to-eat outfit. Dress Warehouse (2018), tights Primark (2017), boots unknown brand (2018).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Spagna – Call Me
Duran Duran – Skin Trade
Duran Duran – A View To A Kill
And One – Hardware Conflict
Stevie Nicks – Rooms On Fire
Destiny’s Child – Independent Women
Leo Sayer – Moonlighting

And a bonus track that Geth was humming earlier:

Thompson Twins – Doctor! Doctor!

Shelves exist now

Dad worked his shelving magic today, and we now have lots of shelves.  Tomorrow morning I will be able to begin the magical process of putting stuff on the shelves!

In other news today: maintained at Slimming World (fine), another 4,000 words on NaNo (consistent), felt slightly better but still a bit ill (improvement), went to Pilates (necessary), ate Indian food (risky in terms of feeling ill, but it was super tasty).

OOTD 8th November 2018
OOTD: practical to evening. Top David Emanuel (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2018), leggings Primark (2018), boots Primark (2017).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Alison Moyet – All Cried Out
Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes
Duran Duran – Hungry Like The Wolf
Queen – Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy
Arcadia – Election Day
Duran Duran – The Reflex
Miley Cyrus – We Can’t Stop
Curiosity Killed The Cat – Down To Earth
Pine Ridge Boys – You Are My Sunshine
Duran Duran – Rio
The Corrs – Breathless

And a bonus track that Geth was humming earlier:

Shania Twain – That Don’t Impress Me Much