After getting some more DIY stuff done with Dad this morning (extractor fan installed! lightbulbs completed! car lights and tyres checked!) I headed into town with Mum and Dad for a walk. We had some lunch at the Christmas market and went to see Fenwick’s Christmas window (a Newcastle tradition), then had a wander over the bridges into Gateshead and back.
Another nice evening meal tonight! Back on plan tomorrow prior to Slimming World weigh-in on Friday.
Not an OOTD: Mum and Dad outside Fenwick’s Christmas window. This year’s theme is Charlie & The Chocolate Factory.
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.
I’m still in Edinburgh (Geth is holding the fort at home, and reports that my paper chains haven’t fallen down yet, which is a real victory as they’re a bit delicate – will be reinforcing them at the end of the Christmas period), and still feeling a bit ill. However, it’s been a good day – I went to my yearly dental checkup this morning (the main reason I’m in town – the Christmas stuff is a bonus), did some more decorating of Mum and Dad’s house this afternoon, and then caught up with my cousin Freya this evening.
A very early train back to Newcastle tomorrow morning so that I can pop into my Slimming World group before heading home.
Not an OOTD: Dad also dug out the Micro today. We confirmed it works and everything! Looking forward to having a play with this over Christmas when I bring the disks up from Newcastle.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Coldplay – ‘Christmas Lights’ The Midnight and Nikki Flores – ‘Light Years’ Phil Collins – ‘Another Day In Paradise’
…is the best way I can describe my brain right now. This cold has really knocked me out.
I don’t think it helped that I ventured out in the sub-freezing temperatures this evening in order to attend the Slimming World opportunities event. It was useful and informative, and I’ve signed up to find out more, but it was a real struggle walking back and forth from the Metro (especially as all of Newcastle is an ice rink at the moment!). Tomorrow will be all about staying in and keeping warm.
OOTD: I may be only sometimes conscious and also simultaneously too hot and too cold under my blanket, but at least I got to wear my snowflake jumper for the first time this winter today. Jumper unknown brand (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2019).
Today’s earworm playlist:
John Williams – ‘Across The Stars’ Duran Duran – ‘My Antarctica’ Destiny’s Child – ‘8 Days Of Christmas’
So this morning I had roughly 8,000 words still to go on my NaNoWriMo project. I now have 4,000 to go, so am on track. Once I’m back from parkrun tomorrow (this is assuming Jesmond Dene is still on in the icy conditions… *update – just as I was writing this, Facebook informed me that Jesmond Dene is off, so I don’t know where I’ll be parkrunning tomorrow if anywhere!*), I’ll get stuck into it and get it finished.
Sunday’s going to be busy as well – I’ll be getting the Christmas decorations out, and also going to a Slimming World consultant opportunities event to see if it’s something I might be interested in doing – so it looks like it’ll be Monday before I can have that long-awaited post-NaNo gaming day on the sofa. Of course, I might be itching to get into the next project by then…
Not an OOTD: as a retro phone fan, I do appreciate that hotel room phones always look as if they were installed several decades ago. The one in my London hotel room on Wednesday night was burnished in this fetching ‘late 20th century beige’.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Duran Duran – ‘Hungry Like The Wolf’ Cast of The Muppets – ‘Mahna Mahna’ Andy Taylor – ‘Love Or Liberation’ The Power Station – ‘Get It On’
Bit of a manic morning today, with a last-minute client who had a very tight deadline! It meant I had to rush to get to Slimming World, but I did make it before the end of weigh-in.
I’ve since been having a very quiet afternoon/evening – not planned, but it’s been one of those days where I’ve found it hard to concentrate and I’m not actually sure what I did for that whole time. Hoping to be a bit more with it tomorrow.
Not an OOTD: this arrived from Mum and Dad today! Always an exciting delivery 😀
Today’s earworm playlist:
Pepsi & Shirlie – ‘Heartache’ Queen – ‘Killer Queen’ Duran Duran – ‘(I’m Looking For) Cracks In The Pavement’ A-ha – ‘The Sun Always Shines On TV’ Duran Duran – ‘Falling Down’ Paul Young – ‘Come Back And Stay’ Michael Land – ‘Talking With Jumbeaux LaFeet’
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.
It was another late night last night, but I finally got my Hallowe’en text adventure game finished and submitted! You can play and rate it here. I’ve really enjoyed making this game over the last month – it’s a Hallowe’en story that’s heavily inspired by my childhood Hallowe’ens in Scotland. (Look out for a game designer appearance – it’s set in 1987, and so my two-year-old self shows up in the story!)
I also had a good loss at Slimming World this morning – only one and a half pounds away from getting back into my target range now – although I imagine that was partly due to being too busy to eat over the last few days!
A busy weekend coming up (especially as I started the annual NaNoWriMo push today). Glad I’ll be able to have a couple of quieter days at the start of the week!
Not an OOTD: finally got to light my lantern today (a whole day after Hallowe’en actually happened!). Hoping that the pumpkin will stay unsquishy for a few days so I can keep it going till Bonfire Night.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Squeeze – Cool For Cats Tina Turner – The Best Tones & I – Dance Monkey Sarah Brightman & Steve Harley – The Phantom Of The Opera
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!
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
Another good loss at Slimming World this morning – 1.5lbs off – meaning that I’m only 2lbs away from being back in my target range. So close now! Determined to do it in the next couple of weeks.
I’ve had a fairly relaxed afternoon doing some admin, and have sorted out my to-do list so that I can have a full day of working on my text adventure game tomorrow!
Not an OOTD: I wasn’t slimmer of the week, but the slimmer of the week hadn’t stayed to group and I was second in line – so I got the basket! Plenty of fruit and veg to help me and Geth have another good week of eating.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Queen – Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy Gunship – The Mountain Princess – Say I’m Your Number One Bruno Mars – Locked Out Of Heaven Marillion – Lavender Blue
