Tag: Musical Attempts

Hallowe’en is almost upon us!

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Just got off the treadmill, having done my nightly ninety minutes to get my steps in. It’s a good thing I decided to set my daily step goal as an October target, because I’ve been so busy with my text adventure this week that I doubt I’d have got any exercise in otherwise! Didn’t even make it to ukulele class this evening, although I will be back with a vengeance next week.

Eight and a half hours to go until the jam deadline – and I expect I’ll be up for quite a few of those hours getting everything finished off!

Busy day tomorrow too…

Pixel lantern
Not an OOTD: I’m still loving making my pixel turnip lanterns! Much easier to make on the computer than hollowing out the real thing…

Today’s earworm playlist:

Michael Land – Lucre Island Lawyers
Jimmy Eat World – The Middle
Fleetwood Mac – Big Love
Duran Duran – First Impression
Michael Land – The First Church Of LeChuck…Orthodox
Duran Duran – 911 Is A Joke

Bits of everything!

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Another good productive day. I went out for a run (just a short one today – I’m trying to get a bit of speed up by doing shorter runs on some days) and finished off my poems for this evening’s poetry night. I then spent the afternoon working on my text adventure game. Still quite a bit to do but I’m on track!

No ukulele class tonight (it’s half term) so I headed straight to poetry night. Poetry night was good – I read another running poem (I do a lot of those) and a poem based on the story of my game. Now back home catching up with a few writing tasks before bed.

It’s weigh-in day tomorrow – fingers crossed it’ll be another week slightly closer to my target range!

Kalenji running top
Not quite an OOTD (although I will be wearing it to parkrun on Saturday): one of my recent postal goodies! Have stocked up on some new winter running gear.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Duran Duran – Save A Prayer
Gunship – When You Grow Up Your Heart Dies
Matthew Wilder – Break My Stride
ABC – The Look Of Love
Boy Meets Girl – Waiting For A Star To Fall
Sacre – The London Marathon
Gomez – Whippin’ Piccadilly
Lukas Graham – 7 Years

Still plugging away

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Another good day getting on with my text adventure, then I headed out to ukulele class. The tunes we’re doing at the moment are fun but challenging, and as I’ve said before I feel like I’m at the right level in the intermediate class.

Hoping for another good loss at Slimming World tomorrow as I’ve been on the treadmill a lot this week!

Christmas catalogue 2019
Not an OOTD: the first Christmas catalogue arrived through the door today. Not in the mood at all yet – let’s have Hallowe’en first!

Today’s earworm playlist:

James Taylor – Wichita Lineman
Monty Python – Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life
Peter Hames – Ordinary Man
OneRepublic – Counting Stars

Treadmills and pixels

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A slightly more laid-back day today. I caught up with a bit of admin this morning, got some ukulele practice in ready for tomorrow’s class, and then spent the afternoon working on my text adventure.

I got my steps in on the treadmill this evening (if it was spring/summer I might be tempted out for some evening runs at the moment, but it’s getting dark fairly early now!). I’ve also been doing lots of reading about creating basic pixel art. For my last text adventure game, I created the graphics by making photo montages, scaling down the images, heavily pixelising them and reducing them to a 16-colour palette. For my current project, I’d like to create at least some of the artwork from scratch, so I’ll be doing some experimenting this week.

Hoping for a productive day working on my various projects tomorrow.

Pixel art practice
Not an OOTD: I’m no artist, but I gotta start somewhere!

Today’s earworm playlist:

Jon & Vangelis – I’ll Find My Way Home
George Ezra – Paradise
Sacre – The London Marathon
James Taylor – Wichita Lineman
Pharrell Williams – Happy

A new adventure

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I started coding my new game today. The enjoyment I get out of doing this has probably been one of my biggest surprises this year – I can lose myself in it for days without really noticing.

As such, it was difficult to tear myself away to go to ukulele class tonight, but once I was there I really enjoyed that too! I really feel as though I’ve found the right difficulty level for me in intermediate class. Sadly I’ll be missing the end-of-term concert this term as I’m going to a gig that night, but I expect I’ll be staying with the intermediate group for a few terms yet!

I’ll be getting back to the coding tomorrow, but first I need to head to Slimming World weigh-in – I’m hoping that hitting my Garmin step goal every day this week will have helped me towards a loss…

Garmin step graph
Not an OOTD: gotta keep hitting those green bars!

Today’s earworm playlist:

Revo – Love’s Vagrant
Basshunter – All I Ever Wanted
Manami Kiyota – Lasaria Woodland
Hans Zimmer – The Lion King Suite
Revo – Ship Upon The Open Skies
James Taylor – Wichita Lineman
Whitney Houston – So Emotional
Dolly Parton – 9 To 5

The best daytime TV…

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…is the collection of old episodes of Top of the Pops that I’ve recorded off BBC Four at the weekends and then have on in the background during the week. Far superior to house-buying shows or Jeremy Kyle or whatever it is the main channels show during actual daytime hours.

I got a good few watched today because I was still catching up with admin. I then headed out to ukulele class in the evening (songs are feeling easier!) and have been doing a few writing jobs since then.

Back to the day job tomorrow as soon as I’m done with Slimming World weigh-in.

Top of the Pops 1985
Not an OOTD: a 1985 episode of Top of the Pops on our 2010s flatscreen. I still miss John Peel.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Jax Jones and Bebe Rexha – Harder
Billie Eilish – Bad Guy
Blancmange – Living On The Ceiling
Tones & I – Dance Monkey
Jim Croce – Bad, Bad Leroy Brown
Peter Hames – Ordinary Man
Charlie Puth – One Call Away
Lizzo – Truth Hurts
Dominic Fike – 3 Nights

Late in the day

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It was too wet and miserable to go for a run this morning (yup, I have become a bit of a fairweather runner ever since doing the bulk of my marathon training on the treadmill!), but it had brightened up by mid-afternoon so I ended up running later instead. It turned out that it wasn’t a good idea so soon after lunch! I need to plan things better if I’m going to start doing late afternoon/early evening runs.

Other than running, today I have mainly been getting on with admin and writing. I’m really appreciating this nice quiet week after the whirlwind of the last fortnight.

I’ve now updated my text adventure game after collecting various feedback over the last week!

More of the same (with bonus ukulele class) tomorrow.

OOTD 1st October 2019
OOTD: posting today’s outfit again for once! As you might have guessed, I am currently happily living in my ’80s jumper collection. Glasses Emporio Armani (2017), jumper Jac (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2018).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Duran Duran – The Chauffeur
Kylie Minogue – Spinning Around
Andy Taylor – I Might Lie
Ed Sheeran and Stormzy – Take Me Back To London
Naughty Boy and Sam Smith – La La La
Lewis Capaldi – Hold Me While You Wait
Trevor Something – Miami Nights

One of those hectic Wednesdays

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The manic week continues. I’m looking forward to the weekend so I can get on with making a few improvements to my text adventure game.

After finishing off my poems for tonight’s poetry reading this morning (I really wish this didn’t get left till the last minute every month, but it is what it is), I had editing work to do for a client during the rest of the day. I then headed off to ukulele class (I’ve been able to squeeze in a bit of practice here and there over the last few days, so last week’s challenging songs are already feeling a bit less challenging!), followed by a mad dash to poetry night. I’m not really nervous about reading at poetry night anymore, and it’s become something I really enjoy doing every month.

I read a poem about autumn tonight. I love autumn.

I’ll love it a whole lot more once this ridiculously busy week is over.

Autumn 1985
Not really an OOTD (or at least an extremely belated one): discovering autumn for the first time, a very long time ago. Those crunchy leaves have never lost their appeal, although I’m probably less likely to try and eat them nowadays.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Michael Land – The Scumm Bar (MI4)
Marilyn Monroe – Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend
Aaron Carter – Crush On You
Duran Duran – Girl Panic!
Chris Isaak – Wicked Game
Jackson Browne – Rosie
Duran Duran – Skin Trade
Jim Croce – Bad, Bad Leroy Brown

Scene infinity

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I spent pretty much all day today finishing off an entry for another writing competition. It was a scriptwriting competition this time, and I always find script takes a bit more out of me than prose or poetry. Very tired now! Looking forward to a slightly less brain-heavy weekend coding my text adventure and practising my ukulele.

I’m also going to head to parkrun in the morning to stretch my legs! Haven’t been out for a run in a week.

Spider plant
Not an OOTD: my spider plant is looking a lot less tired than I am today.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Michael Land – The Scumm Bar (MI4)
Mousse T vs. Hot & Juicy – Horny
Michael Land – The Drinking Contest

Back to the Wednesday routine

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I slept a little longer last night, which is a good thing. I was still up fairly promptly to get a good day of writing in – I’ve got two competitions I want to submit to this weekend, so I’ll be busy all week getting these projects finished.

I then headed off to my first ukulele class of the term this evening. I was a bit nervous about moving up to the intermediate class – if it hadn’t been for the fact that they changed the times of the classes (meaning that beginners class now clashes with poetry night once a month), I might have stayed in beginners for another term. However, the pieces that were introduced tonight are very manageable – a bit challenging, and I’ll need to get back to practising every day, but I will have definitely nailed them by the end of term.

I’m going to an earlier Slimming World weigh-in tomorrow morning so that I can have another productive day of writing!

Tyne Bridge, September 2019
Not an OOTD: the Tyne Bridge still has its Great North Run sign on and looked absolutely beautiful from outside the Sage Gateshead tonight.

Today’s earworm playlist:

2 Unlimited – No Limit
Michael Land – Sea Cucumber
Revo – Horizon Of Light And Shadow
Peter Hames – Ordinary Man
Jim Croce – Bad, Bad Leroy Brown
Jackson Browne – Rosie