Tag: Me Time

One last day off

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I just did another quick mile this morning…

…because Easter Sunday was so enjoyable that Geth and I are going to try and have a similar day today with lots of videogaming. As such, I just did a quick run so that I could get it out the way. Lots of interesting routes planned for the week ahead though!

I’m also having a day off before getting back to working on my various game projects tomorrow. Just getting a bit of daily admin done and then I’ll be settling down with my 3DS. It was a lot of fun yesterday playing Professor Layton and Fire Emblem games with the soundtrack of Final Fantasy VII in the background (as I mentioned yesterday, Geth is playing the original game again, and the music is fab!). However, I’m going to take a bit of a break from my ongoing games today and get into a new one, as I’ve fallen into a bit of a grinding hole with most of the ones I’m playing.

Back to the normal (well, pandemic-normal) routine tomorrow.

Final Fantasy VII
This is a lovely game to have in the background. Geth is playing it at a rate of knots, but hopefully it’ll last him for a while yet!

Today’s earworm playlist:

Nobuo Uematsu – ‘Mako Reactor’
Tomohito Nishiura – ‘City Of Miracles’
Cast of The Jungle Book – ‘I Wanna Be Like You (The Monkey Song)’
The Dubliners – ‘Rocky Road To Dublin’

An almost-perfect Saturday

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I did my first pace run in two weeks this morning…

…and I didn’t do too badly considering I’ve been taking it easy for a fortnight! I am missing parkrun on Saturdays, but I’m hopeful that I will be able to maintain my speed during this lockdown.

I’ve now got an afternoon and evening of game creation and game playing to look forward to. I feel fairly lucky that I’m an introvert and a homebody anyway, so I can keep myself quite content during this awful world situation, but I know it must be pretty unbearable for people who thrive on social contact.

Tomorrow will be similar, with added Easter chocolate 🙂

Pixel art tunnel
Light at the end of the tunnel. Made for my upcoming graphical update of Goblin Decathlon.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Abba – ‘I Have A Dream’
Ram Jam – ‘Black Betty’
The Knack – ‘My Sharona’
Flogging Molly – ‘Drunken Lullabies’
The Pogues – ‘Fiesta’
Rei Kondoh – ‘We Should Turn In For The Night’

And a bonus track that Geth was humming earlier:

Ultraviolence – ‘Elektra’

Making the most of time

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Just a mile today…

…because I wanted to get home quickly and get on with today’s projects. I’ve done a whole separate post about my current adventures in creating game graphics, which is my main focus this week. It’s a lot of fun but also takes a long time!

I find that my hobbies have sort of expanded to fill my current additional free time, and am starting to worry that once this lockdown is over, I’ll go back to feeling like I never have enough time for the things I love doing. One thing that I definitely need to do (and this has been a bit of a theme recently) is learn to let go of the things in life that I’m not enjoying but instead just doing out of obligation.

Tomorrow should be a really good day – I’ll be doing my special run for RED day 100, then a bit of day job work, and then Easter weekend can begin. It’ll be a fairly unusual Easter weekend given the circumstances, but I’m still looking forward to a few days relaxing and the occasional bit of chocolate.

Spring flowers
Today’s bit of garden progress: more spring flowers have appeared. Due to the current situation, I’m appreciating our garden a lot more than usual!

Today’s earworm playlist:

Takeru Kanazaki – ‘Fódlan Winds (Thunder)’
Glenn Miller – ‘In The Mood’
Adam & The Ants – ‘Prince Charming’
Cast of The Jungle Book – ‘I Wanna Be Like You (The Monkey Song)’
Michael Land – ‘The Swamp’

Stretching out

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I ran with Geth again this morning…

…and since then we’ve just been in the house, hiding from the cancelled world outside. Geth went to Sainsbury’s, and came back with approximately half the things I’d sent him out for (panic-buying has officially set in here in Newcastle), but we’ll manage. I also went to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription – the outside world feels a bit odd and apocalyptic at the moment.

It’s felt like a long day, but I’m not about to complain, because extra time is my most treasured thing and suddenly having a lot more of it is a real silver lining. Sage Gateshead has now closed, so my ukulele classes are not happening for the foreseeable future, and I don’t know when they’ll be rescheduled. The UK Games Expo confirmed this evening that they are postponing the event to August; parkrun will make an announcement tomorrow.

The North Tyneside 10k has also postponed to October, so that’s the last of my spring races fallen by the wayside. I’m amazed and grateful that none of my postponed races clash with each other (or with the GNR), and also feel quite lucky that I hadn’t booked any of my planned autumn races before this all kicked off. I had wanted to run the South Shields 10 Mile and the Great Scottish Run this year, but they’ll be there for me in the future.

Keeping in touch with family as the daily situation changes is my main priority at the moment, along with keeping myself and Geth safe and sane. Running is a big help with the latter, and I’m really glad I have that in my life at the moment.

Brooks running shoes
I was able to try out my new running shoes from Inverness this morning. They’re super bouncy and did give me a slight but noticeable boost!

Today’s earworm playlist:

Lightwood Games – ‘Link-A-Pix Theme’
Ollie Wride – ‘Back To Life’
Mesh and Mechanical Cabaret – ‘Born To Lie [Duet Version]’
Koichi Sugiyama – ‘Unflinchable Courage’
EMF – ‘Unbelievable’

A perfect Wednesday!

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Not that I’m giving up my ukulele class any time soon – I’m already looking forward to the next term that starts in September – but it was really nice today to have a whole entire day to myself on the sofa!

Yesterday’s uncomfortable distracted mood was all gone – I felt so much more focused today – and so I was able to get nice big chunks done on four of my ongoing writing projects. I’m going to be a bit busier tomorrow, but I’m hoping for a similarly productive writing day on Friday.

More videogaming and music this evening.

OOTD 17th July 2019
OOTD: like this outfit too 🙂 Blouse Lucky Winner (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2018), jeans Levi (2018), trainers Reebok (2017).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Duran Duran – Big Thing
Ta Mara & The Seen – Affection
A Flock Of Seagulls – I Ran
Tyler Lyle – Lost And Found [The Midnight Remix]

More peace and quiet

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Another fairly quiet day. After Slimming World this morning, I did a big shop so that I wouldn’t have to go out again for a while (it’s still cold and wet out there!), and have spent the afternoon writing and playing ukulele.

Looking forward to more time to myself tomorrow.

OOTD 13th June 2019
OOTD: still waiting for the weather to improve! Hoodie Sonar (2006), vest top Primark (2018).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Timecop1983 and Seawaves – Lovers
Trevor Something – Summer Love
Wham! – Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)
The Midnight and Nikki Flores – Light Years
Meat Loaf – Paradise By The Dashboard Light

Writing, and not much else

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Geth is away visiting family for a couple of days, so I’m taking the opportunity to get a really good chunk of writing done. I did my Tuesday recovery run (just forty minutes this week – it feels like nothing!) this morning, and have spent the rest of the day working on my Camp NaNoWriMo project, along with a few other things.

Same again tomorrow, except without the run, and hopefully I’ll manage to squeeze some ukulele practice in there too.

OOTD 16th April 2019
OOTD: an in-the-house outfit. Jumper unknown brand (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2017), leggings Primark (2018), socks unknown brand (2007), trainers Reebok (2013).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Duran Duran – The Chauffeur
Duran Duran – Sound Of Thunder
Status Quo – Margarita Time
Nik Kershaw – Wouldn’t It Be Good
ZZ Top – Gimme All Your Lovin’
Whitesnake – Here I Go Again ’87
EO – German
Sheena Easton – For Your Eyes Only
Chicago – If You Leave Me Now
Queen – Killer Queen
Steve Winwood – Valerie
The Rolling Stones – It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll
Billie Eilish – Bad Guy

An actual Saturday!

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I am aware every Saturday is an ‘actual’ Saturday. What I mean by the post title is that it’s been a Saturday at home, meaning that after I got back from parkrun (still slow and meh, but at least I did it), I was able to put my feet up and mindlessly browse the internet all day. I’ve not had a proper Saturday like that in ages!

I’m going to have a similar day tomorrow in order to refresh for the week ahead.

OOTD 2nd March 2019
OOTD: feeling very springlike today! Scarf Accessorize (2003), blouse H&M (2018), leggings Primark (2018), shoes 1st Position (2018).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Bucks Fizz – Piece Of The Action
Duran Duran – Rio
The Beatles – We Can Work It Out
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper – Shallow
Feargal Sharkey – A Good Heart

And a bonus track that Geth was humming earlier:

South Park – I Can Change