Geth has been working from home today, so we’ve got back into our home workplace groove, with lots of synthwave in the background but no other distractions. I did my first midweek run of the marathon training plan this morning, and then spent the afternoon editing for a client. I’m off to ukulele class this evening!
When I get back I’ll be finishing off my nails (had to take off my New Year polish and cut them short this afternoon so that they don’t get in the way of ukulele-playing), chilling out with some videogames, and hoping that four days back on plan has been enough for an okay-ish result at Slimming World weigh-in tomorrow morning.
Not quite an OOTD: nail colours ready to be put on later tonight.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Harry Styles – ‘Lights Up’ Monty Python – ‘Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life’ Spice Girls – ‘Spice Up Your Life’
It’s nice to have ‘normal’ days again now Christmas is over. After my run this morning, I got a chunk of housework done, then a bit of day job work, then a couple of hours videogaming.
It’ll be another fairly busy day tomorrow, not least because ukulele class is starting again! I’m excited to see what songs we’ll be learning this term.
Not an OOTD: Geth has bought these energy gels for us to try out in our long race training. I had one this morning and they’re sickly sickly sweet haha! Going to have another go on my long run on Sunday now that I know I don’t hate the taste.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Koichi Sugiyama – ‘Unflinchable Courage’ Teletubbies – ‘Teletubbies Say Eh-Oh’ Japan – ‘I Second That Emotion’ Sidney Samson and Wizard Sleeve – ‘Riverside (Let’s Go)’ Robbie Williams – ‘Rudolph’ The Carpenters – ‘Close To You’
Uh… not a good start to the list. I don’t think I got anything done in this area. It’s now a resolution for 2020, and apparently one that I need to prioritise.
2. Write 500,000 words in 2019…
I absolutely smashed this one, writing approximately 875,000 words in 2019.
3. …and edit and pitch all the words I’ve already written.
I pitched my 2011 middle grade/young adult novel to twenty more agents, and none of them bit, though a couple did say they liked it. I also submitted poetry and short stories to a lot of magazines and competitions – again there was no success there. I just have to keep trying in 2020. I’ve already identified the novel project I’m going to be pitching this next year, and it should be in a submittable state by the spring.
4. Take weekends off.
Hahaha! Well, I’ve been slightly more successful than usual in not doing day job work at weekends, but only slightly. Writing and admin is another story – the to-do list just slips and slips and slips throughout the week and it’s never all done by Friday. I’m not really sure if this is something that can ever be changed.
5. Buy fewer clothes.
I was pretty successful in this area! I only bought stuff I actually needed (well, maybe the Duran Duran t-shirts weren’t exactly necessary, but they’re very nice). I don’t even feel the need to go out to every single vintage fair anymore.
6. Run a marathon.
Done and dusted! Of course, circumstances conspired to ensure that I’ll be doing it a second time in 2020…
7. Perform some of my poetry in public.
I was convinced that this one wouldn’t happen, but it did – eight times! I don’t even feel nervous about doing it anymore, which would have seemed totally impossible to me this time last year.
8. Get sober.
I got sober on the 5th of January 2019, and so I am very nearly at my one-year anniversary. While I’m very proud of myself for getting this far, I recognise that sobriety is a lifelong process, and so I can’t get complacent about it or think that the work is done. I’ll continue to utilise the great online and offline support communities that I’ve found, and to take more care of my own mental health.
9. Get back into the habit of music practice.
Rather optimistically, I thought I’d be able to make a multi-instrumentalist of myself in 2019. I’ve only really had time for my ukulele, but I’m really pleased with how it’s gone. I’ve done three terms of classes at the Sage Gateshead, moving from the absolute beginner to the beginner to the intermediate class, and with the intermediate class I really feel that I’ve found my level. Looking forward to class starting again next week! I also love that I can just find tabs online and teach myself new songs.
10. Actually play some videogames.
This didn’t really happen until about September, but I have been able to get some decent videogaming time in during the last few months of the year. It’s something I love, and I have lots of new ones to play, so hopefully there’ll be even more of this in 2020!
Plus some unexpected bonus achievements…
The first unexpected thing I did this year was buying my car in May and properly getting back into driving again! I’d been meaning to buy a car for years, but I’d been hugely procrastinating about it because it seemed so complicated and I’d always been such a nervous driver before. Having a calmer temperament now that I’m sober has really helped with my driving, and I feel much more confident about it now that I’m getting so much practice in.
The second was starting to learn to code in the autumn. It had always been something I was interested in, due to my twin loves of retro stuff and videogames, but it was only this year that I finally got into it thanks to some of the ’80s Twitter accounts I follow discussing the Adventuron system (for creating illustrated ’80s-style text adventure games) in August. I was able to take part in a couple of game jams in the autumn and improve my game development skills, and I even wrote an Adventuron game for NaNoWriMo (or half of one, anyway – I’ll be finishing it in the first part of 2020, along with a few other games I have ideas for). I also started learning to program in BASIC in preparation for getting the BBC Micro up and running again. I have a lot more coding goals for the next year, but I’ll discuss those in detail in my New Year Resolutions 2020 post tomorrow!
I sort of don’t want to say I’m feeling better, because every time I do, I feel like I’m jinxing myself for another setback… but I have felt a lot better so far today, and I’ve managed to get a lot of stuff done without making myself feel ill again, so I’m feeling hopeful.
I had a bit of day job work to do during the day, and have also managed to get in some ukulele practice. Christmas decorations are very nearly finished as well!
I’m out and about again the next couple of days, so I’m really hoping I’ve recovered enough not to make myself unwell again.
Not an OOTD: the Christmas mugs are out. Hot drinks are very welcome in my current state!
Today’s earworm playlist:
David Essex – ‘A Winter’s Tale’ The Justice Collective – ‘He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother’ Kuana Torres Kahele, James Ford Murphy and Napua Greig-Nakasone – ‘Someone To Lava’ Pretenders – ‘2000 Miles’ Sam Bailey – ‘Skyscraper’
I’ve tried to have a ‘not doing anything’ day (i.e. just mindless internet browsing and so on) today in order to try and recover from my cold. Not doing anything, it turns out, just makes me feel frustrated and bored, like I’ve wasted the day. I’ve got a show at the Sage Gateshead to go to tomorrow afternoon, and although I will have to wrap up warm, I think I’m going to feel a bit better for getting out.
Also, there’s a loose connection in my laptop mouse, and it keeps beeping every five seconds to inform me that it’s either just connected or disconnected. Time to order a new one, I think. In the meantime, I’ve just given up and turned my laptop volume off.
Not an OOTD: Geth was given some Kona Brewery beers as an early Christmas present from a colleague, so he dug out his souvenir Big Kahuna glass from the time we went to Hawaii. It’s making me long for tropical islands and sunshine, which is NOT the way I usually feel in December when I’m excited about Christmas coming up! I’ve been researching some traditional Hawaiian ukulele music as a result.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Gary Glitter – ‘Another Rock ‘N’ Roll Christmas’* Kuana Torres Kahele, James Ford Murphy and Napua Greig-Nakasone – ‘Someone To Lava’ Coldplay – ‘Christmas Lights’ Bananarama – ‘Really Saying Something’
I travelled back to Newcastle first thing this morning (although I didn’t go to Slimming World because (a) I had a few last-minute clients with urgent deadlines today and (b) I’m really struggling with my cold today – wish it would just go away now). Have had a nice quiet day playing my ukulele and catching up with Strictly episodes!
Tomorrow will be all about staying in the house and trying to knock this thing on the head!
Not an OOTD: after a whole term of only playing my soprano ukulele (because it was the one I was using for class and I thought it was probably better to keep practising on the same one), it was nice to dig out my concert uke today. I’m hoping I’ll have a gig bag for it soon so that I can carry it around more easily!
Today’s earworm playlist:
Jennifer Rush – ‘The Power Of Love’ Coca-Cola – ‘Holidays Are Coming’ Lewis Capaldi – ‘Someone You Loved’ The White Stripes – ‘Seven Nation Army’ Gary Glitter – ‘Another Rock ‘N’ Roll Christmas’* Kuana Torres Kahele, James Ford Murphy and Napua Greig-Nakasone – ‘Someone To Lava’
*I KNOW. You never hear it anymore (because… Gary Glitter) but it’s on the That’s Christmas compilation album from 1994, which I listen to every year when I’m doing Mum and Dad’s decorations, and it’s REALLY catchy.
A fairly early post today as I’ll be busy all evening. It’s the final ukulele class this term (sadly I can’t make the end-of-term concert next week as I’ll be at a gig in London, so it’ll be January before I’m back playing ukulele with the class again!) and then poetry night afterwards. Both of the poems I’m reading tonight are about it being a good time of year to stay in the house, which is sort of indicative of my current outlook on life.
I’ll be nipping out to Slimming World tomorrow, after which I can start preparing for a semi-quiet weekend!
Not an OOTD: the treadmill is most definitely a near-permanent feature at the moment, with even Geth finding it too slippy to run outside most mornings.
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’
I felt a little bereft this morning when I finally had to put my Hallowe’en decorations away (Bonfire Night and its associated endless background bangs and flashes now being over)…but as ever, it’s a very busy time of year. I’m nearly a week into NaNoWriMo (I have no idea where that time has gone), and Geth and I have lots on over the next couple of weeks, so it’ll be December and the run-up to Christmas before we know it. Today is the first day of the year that I allow myself to think about Christmas, so we’ll be sitting down this evening and starting to make plans.
I’ve not had much time for NaNo-ing today – there’s been a bit of day job work, and I’ve still got a lot of admin to catch up with from last week. I really enjoyed ukulele class this evening though, and am now catching up with a few Strictly episodes.
Not an OOTD: we learnt another new song in ukulele class tonight! Really enjoying this term.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Squeeze – Up The Junction Duran Duran – Hungry Like The Wolf Jackson Browne – Rosie
I’m so busy at the moment that I don’t take as much time as I should to relax in the evenings (I’m always finishing off projects or writing a bit more or getting some admin or housework done here and there). It’s not good for my brain and it would be nice to spend some time in other people’s worlds as well as creating my own. As such, I’m planning to spend a few hours videogaming and reading tonight in an attempt to chill out a bit, as the next few days are going to be a bit hectic (all fun things but a lot of them).
I’ve had another good, productive day working on my NaNo – I’m really enjoying doing the story, especially as I’m also working on turning it into another text adventure game. Tomorrow I’ll be doing a bit more, but mainly catching up with house things and practising my ukulele before class (as I’ve not had much time for that recently).
Not an OOTD: a good book that I’ve really been enjoying, and my 3DS, which badly needs checking to see how many contacts it’s made recently!
Today’s earworm playlist:
Michael Land – The Smugglers’ Cave A-ha – Take On Me Duran Duran – Liberty
