Tag: The Day Job

Best day

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Another recovery mile this morning…

…followed by a nice walk in the early September sunshine. The first of September is one of my favourite days of the year – it’s the start of meteorological autumn, my favourite season, and of the part of the year starting with ‘-ber’ – the best four months of all. This autumn will probably feel a bit different, just as this spring and this summer felt a bit different, but I’m hopeful that the magic of the season will still be there. I’m still running a GNR, even if it’s virtual; the BBC are doing a truncated and socially-distanced Strictly series (the first participants are being announced tonight!); and of course no pandemic can stop me from binge-watching horror films and eating all the Hallowe’en chocolate during October!

I’m also excited about my 24-hour London Marathon challenge in October, which will keep my training focused for another month or so (Geth and I are also booked for an actual live race – the North Tyneside 10k – on the 18th of October, but we haven’t heard yet if it’s going ahead or not…).

Lots of other hopes and ambitions for the autumn months, including house decor (a few bits and pieces arriving this week!), writing (I have three potential projects for NaNoWriMo) and coding (I can’t decide which game to work on next, but I would like to release at least another two this year).

It should be a good autumn, even if it’s a quiet one. I might even make an effort to go find a Bonfire Night fireworks display this year (I usually can’t be bothered!).

In the shorter term, it looks like I’ll be fairly busy with day job work over the next few weeks, so September will probably fly by… as usual!

Pictures to go up
I am determined to get some of my pictures hung up on the wall by the end of the year, even if I don’t manage any other house projects. If nothing else, it’ll stop them cluttering up the dressing room!

Today’s earworm playlist:

Jared Emerson-Johnson – ‘New Location Unlocked [Midtown Remix]’

Quiet days

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I ran about five miles this morning…

…and squashed my bug for my online game in the process. I’ve since been getting on with a bit of admin – I’ve had a few clients contact me about day job work next week but there’s nothing for the rest of this week as of yet, so I’m using the time to catch up with other things.

I started a new videogame yesterday and am hoping to be able to make a bit of time for it tonight as well!

Thistles
Some thistles from one of my walks last week. It’d be nice to do some walking in a non-urban setting soon.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Katy Perry – ‘Roar’
Rizzle Kicks – ‘Down With The Trumpets’
Pinkfong – ‘Baby Shark’

Switch around

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Three miles today…

…because I wanted to go collect my token for my online game while I was out on my run rather than doing an additional walk. I definitely need to do a recovery mile tomorrow, though, as my legs are starting to get sore after all the running and walking I’ve been doing over the last week.

I also had a bit of day job work that needed to be done today, so I’ve decided that tomorrow will be my day off this week.

Geth and I had a nice Zoom chat/boardgame session with Geth’s family in Lancashire this afternoon. We still can’t meet up with family for pandemic-related reasons (our families all live some way away from us and it’s a bit too complicated at the moment), so the Zoom alternative is a way of tiding things over.

Day off tomorrow, as I say – I’m hoping to feel a bit more alert (I’m slightly wiped out today after my active week last week) and to be able to get some videogames in.

Jesmond Dene
I love these waterfalls in Jesmond Dene. It’s such a beautiful hidden place but so easy to get to from central Newcastle.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Paul Young – ‘Come Back And Stay’

Weekend dozing awaits

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Just a mile today…

…as I’ve got another long run coming up on Sunday and I need to save some energy. I’ll probably just do a mile tomorrow as well. I am still doing my daily walking though – four miles to squash the last of my bugs in my online game today. Hopefully it’ll just be a straightforward one or two miles for my new bug tomorrow!

I got my day job work finished for the week as well, and am now just finishing off some admin this evening. Hoping to get a bit of videogaming in this weekend amongst all the running!

I’ll post my running vlogs as usual over the weekend but otherwise will be back on Monday.

Brambles
First brambles of the year spotted on my walk today! Autumn is so nearly here 🙂

Today’s earworm playlist:

The Cure – ‘Lullaby’
M – ‘Pop Musik’
Queen – ‘One Vision’
2 Unlimited – ‘No Limit’

Out in the sunshine

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Two miles today…

…and while it was very warm and I was a bit nervous about running at lunchtime, I really enjoyed my run today. It felt a lot faster than it actually was (it was a good recovery pace), and I really like my two-mile route.

I hadn’t been able to get out until lunchtime as I was finishing off some day job work in the morning – I like to get work finished and back to the client promptly on deadline days because it means I can properly enjoy my day afterwards. After my run, I did some admin for a couple of hours and then went out for a long walk to squash some more bugs in my online GPS game.

Now finishing off for the day. I’ll be running and walking again tomorrow, but not for as long – need to save a bit of energy for the weekend!

Hillwalking break, 1993
It’s been a while since my hillwalking days, but I do try to cast my mind back when I’m running up the steep inclines in Jesmond Dene.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Rizzle Kicks – ‘Down With The Trumpets’

And a bonus track that Geth was humming earlier:

3 Daft Monkeys – ‘Paranoid Big Brother’

Wall thoughts

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I managed a ten-mile midweek run today…

…which is not something I usually find time for during the week! I need to get the miles in before the Virtual Great North Run, though, which takes place in about two and a half weeks’ time.

I’m thinking a lot about putting stuff on my walls again. This is something I think about a lot (need to put that picture up! need to paint that wall! need to wallpaper this room!) but rarely get round to. Next week is meant to be a bit quieter (as it stands!), so maybe I’ll get round to doing something then. Presuming my attention hasn’t wandered over to something else!

Today was similar to yesterday. In addition to my run, I managed a walk, a yoga session, and some day job work. Tomorrow will be similar again, though my run will be a lot shorter and I will be doing my day job work first thing so that I can get it back to the client promptly.

I’ll also maybe order some of that stuff for the walls…

Dalek poster
One of the few things that I’ve actually put on the walls in the two and a half years since we moved into this house. Like most house stuff, it’s a can that just keeps getting kicked down the road.

Today’s earworm playlist:

The LAs – ‘There She Goes’
The Lancashire Hotpots – ‘Ebay ‘Eck’

Time on feet

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A two-mile run today…

…which was later followed by a four-mile walk and a 25-minute yoga session. I’m doing a lot of extra cross-training this week, as I mentioned yesterday, to try and help with my fitness in the lead-up to my autumn challenges. The walking is being helped along by an online game I’m playing where you need to collect items en route!

I also got a bit of day job work done for a client, and caught up with some admin. Looking forward to a quiet night reading now!

Fetchpoint score
My Fetchpoint game score has dropped significantly due to the fact I’ve not played for several months and my penalty items have been building up. Hoping to clear them all through walking by the end of the week!

Today’s earworm playlist:

3 Daft Monkeys – ‘Paranoid Big Brother’
Rizzle Kicks – ‘Down With The Trumpets’

Hints of autumn

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A still-fast-ish mile on a mizzly grey day…

…which really made me feel autumnal. I run a bit faster in the autumn because the weather conditions are best (and also usually because it’s my last push of race training for the season – we are yet to see if my last two autumn races standing will actually go ahead, but things may be very different this year… anyway, autumn is still associated with zipping along through the crunchy leaves for me, among many other things!). I expect we’re still due a bit of nice weather this month, though, so I won’t start hunting for Hallowe’en chocolate just yet.

I also didn’t run until lunchtime because I had a deadline for a client today and wanted to get the work done first thing. In that sense I was quite lucky with the weather today, as the last few days it would have been too warm to run comfortably after around 10am.

I’ve otherwise spent today getting on with admin and housework, and am looking forward to some videogaming time tonight as usual. I finished Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World yesterday, which is a decade-old game I’d been meaning to finish for years, and am planning to move onto Beyond A Steel Sky this evening.

Same again tomorrow, though I’m hoping to be awake earlier.

Running shoe wear
My most recent pair of running shoes (bought in Inverness in March when we were up for the half marathon… the last week that felt normal) are starting to wear down to the foam on the edges, even though I’ve been alternating them with my previous pair. I think I’m going to have to ease up on the leggings-buying and invest in one or two new pairs of shoes as my next running purchase – running every day really does wear them down.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Manami Kiyota – ‘Satorl Marsh’
New Order – ‘Blue Monday’
James – ‘Come Home’
Traditional – ‘The Blaydon Races’

Semi-flying Friday post

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A mile on a hot day…

…and then I got some day job work done, and then Geth and I walked to Asda instead of driving because the weather was so nice, and since then I’ve been finishing off my latest game!

Need to get back to it – I’ll probably do a short update in addition to my Saturday running vlog tomorrow…

Cat finding some shade
This cat is a frequent feature of my local walks and runs. He/she has a very impressive collection of frilly collars and seems to be wearing a different one every day.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Nintendo – ‘Whispering Woods (Battle)’
Duran Duran – ‘Rio’
Pulp – ‘Disco 2000’
Frankie Miller – ‘Caledonia’
Nintendo – ‘Paper Mario: The Origami King (Main Theme)’

All set

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I got up early(ish) to do another mile this morning…

…because I had a very exciting appointment at the hairdresser, which I posted about here. I then spent the afternoon finishing off my day job work so that I’ve got a clean slate for next week and can properly enjoy the weekend in the meantime! I have so many games to play – my copy of Paper Mario: The Origami King arrived today, Beyond A Steel Sky (which I have been excited about for years) was released on Steam yesterday, and a couple of new Adventuron games have dropped in the last couple of days (one of which is in Spanish, so I will have to dust off my rusty linguistic skills).

I’m normally very strict about sleeping naturally but it has not been serving me well in terms of waking time recently, so I will set a couple of reasonably-timed alarms over the weekend in the hope that I will be able to get up, get my running and admin out of the way, and settle down to some gaming time.

I’ll post my running vlogs over the weekend as usual, but unless I get excited enough about one of the games I’m playing that I need to blog about it, don’t expect to hear anything else from me until Monday!

Geth mowing the lawn
Geth braved the garden today after multiple weekends on the bounce of it being ‘too wet for mowing’. It was apparently a haunting jungle experience and he will be making the effort to do it once a week from now on!

Today’s earworm playlist:

Manami Kiyota – ‘Satorl Marsh’
Nobuo Uematsu – ‘Temple Of Chaos’