Tag: The Day Job

Sunshine? What sunshine?

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Another practical run this morning…

…as I had a couple of things I needed to go and do, and I’m making sure to limit my outdoor excursions to once per day (I think it would be permissible to go for a run and do a separate grocery shop, but I also think it’s important to combine and limit these things where you can).

I was starting to get a bit wistful this afternoon because it’s been lovely and sunny the last few days, and it’s felt very pleasant running outside in summer clothes, and in different circumstances it would be really lovely to be able to go for a few nice walks as well…

…then Nintendo released a Mini Direct news video today, and announced that the demo for the new Bravely Default game was out. I’ve been playing the Bravely games on the 3DS for years and have been really excited for the first installment on the Switch, which is due out later this year. The Bravely demos tend to be ten-hour prequel-type things, and Geth is finally about to finish Dragon Quest 11S, so this couldn’t be better timed, and I know how I’ll be spending my weekend! Somehow, I don’t think I’ll be pining for walks in the sunshine after all.

I’ve finished my day job work for the week, so today I’ve just been getting on with admin and housework. Tomorrow should be similar, although I’m also hoping to get some work done on my next adventure game!

Bravely Default II demo
Demo already downloaded to the Switch! I’m really looking forward to cracking on with this over the next few days 🙂

Today’s earworm playlist:

Hiroki Morishita – ‘Duty’
The Beatles – ‘Let It Be’
The Kinks – ‘Lola’
Cast of Spitting Image – ‘One Will Survive’
Assemblage 23 – ‘Let The Wind Erase Me’
Levellers – ‘The Devil Went Down To Georgia’
Revo – ‘The Land Of Radiant Flowers’

Parallel universes

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Another Wednesday interval session today…

…which was tough, but I’m kind of enjoying them in a slightly masochistic way. It was Geth’s turn to brave Sainsbury’s today, so I was able to focus on my run.

I then spent the afternoon finishing off a paper for a client, and am now weighing up options for the next few days’ entertainment. Disney Plus launched in the UK this week, which has been good timing in retrospect. Geth bought a year’s worth of subscription yesterday and put on Aladdin and The Sword in the Stone last night, which sparked a lot of fuzzy childhood memories. It also means we can watch the latest Star Wars TV series, which I expect we’ll be doing over the next week.

In the parallel universe where coronavirus didn’t happen, I had to make a decision about whether I was going to be spending tonight at the poetry night or at my ukulele class end-of-term concert (it would have been the concert, as that only happens three times per year – and for unrelated reasons was probably going to be the last one ever – but that’s all academic now). While the decision has been taken out of my hands, the poetry night is doing a Facebook Live event this evening, so I’ll have a nosey at that.

I’ll also be poking my head into the videogame world this evening – both playing them, and having a think about the next one I’m making…

Interval splits
Some of my best interval splits from this morning’s workout (I know this is a real ‘running bore’ picture but being in the house limits my photography ideas!).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Koichi Sugiyama – ‘Unflinchable Courage’
Toto – ‘Africa’
Cast of Aladdin – ‘Arabian Nights’
Bill Conti – ‘Gonna Fly Now’

Indoors-ier

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A practical combined run and grocery shop this morning…

…because last night the UK government announced stricter measures to encourage people to stay indoors. You can still go out to exercise once a day, and you can still do essential grocery shopping, but the idea is to minimise your time outside as much as possible and so I combined my run with my shop today.

I’ve spent the rest of the day working for clients and catching up with my writing game on 4thewords. Looking forward to another quiet evening.

Hot cross buns with jam
Stuff I wouldn’t normally eat #1: early hot cross buns with jam. Geth found these in Sainsbury’s the other day while on an unsuccessful crumpet hunt. I’d never usually eat hot cross buns when it’s not Good Friday, but these are exceptional times.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Koichi Sugiyama – ‘Unflinchable Courage’
Spice Girls – ‘Say You’ll Be There’
Lizzo – ‘Truth Hurts’

Another indoor week begins

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Just a recovery mile this morning…

…and since then I’ve spent the afternoon doing work for clients. Geth ventured out to Sainsbury’s this morning and managed to get most of what we needed, so hopefully this is a sign that supermarket stocks might be starting to stabilise.

Yesterday evening we managed to get some boardgaming in (we didn’t play Pandemic, though it was tempting!), and this evening will be spent on my 3DS. While the ongoing situation is still incredibly dread-inducing and depressing, my increased quantity of me-time is most definitely a silver lining. I’ve been lucky enough to get a fair bit of work lined up for this week, which prevents things from feeling too aimless.

A similar day tomorrow, then, and I expect the rest of the week will be the same!

Dragon Quest 11S
Geth has been playing Dragon Quest 11S on the Switch since he got it as a Christmas present, so it’s been a feature of our environment for three months now. While it is a pleasant game to watch, I’m quite looking forward to him moving onto something else.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Russ Abbot – ‘Atmosphere’
Eddy Grant – ‘I Don’t Wanna Dance’

Out on the hunt

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It was another practical run this morning…

…because I needed to visit nine shops before I was able to find any pasta, and so I thought I might as well get my run in as part of the search! Our wee Sainsbury’s Local had a few packs of macaroni left. It transpired that they’re now limiting them to two per customer, which is probably why!

I also (miraculously) managed to find some toilet roll in a pound shop that I never normally go into. Everyone in there was being really great about only taking one pack. I now feel confident that Geth and I have enough to keep us going, even if it takes a couple of weeks before I manage to find some again.

I spent the rest of the day working on a paper for a client – I’m very grateful to have some work at the moment. I’m looking forward to a quiet weekend, including a ‘non-parkrun’ tomorrow and a ‘not nearly as long as in marathon training’ long run on Sunday.

Upscaled pixels
Being in the house means I’m running out of stuff to take photos of, so I made this slightly existential upscaled pixel art self-portrait.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Koichi Sugiyama – ‘Unflinchable Courage’
Badly Drawn Boy – ‘Once Around The Block’
The Beatles – ‘Michelle’

Empty shelves

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Just a quick recovery run this morning…

…and then I went with Geth to the nearby Sainsbury’s Local, hopeful that we would be able to find some of the supplies that weren’t in stock earlier this week. ‘Some’ being the operative word.

Supplies we actually found:

  • Face wipes! I can now take my makeup off again without having to scrub with soap and water.
  • Milk – semi-skimmed rather than our preferred skimmed stuff, but it’s milk.
  • Quorn mince and chicken style pieces. As a veggie I absolutely rely on these in cooking, and I managed to find a couple of bags that were well hidden on the top shelf of the freezer section.
  • Pesto… well, the last jar in the shop, anyway.
  • Biscuits. We really shouldn’t be eating these, but they are definitely not in short supply.

Supplies that we are still lacking:

  • Toilet roll. I wonder if that particular shelf will ever be stocked again.
  • Every type of pasta that isn’t lasagne sheets. I’m a pasta obsessive (I literally eat it every day) and this is extremely worrying to me. I’m certainly going to be making a lot of lasagne this week.
  • Rice. We drew the line at buying the manky microwaveable stuff.
  • Passata and chopped tomatoes. Basically, you can forget about anything tinned right now, which means I’ll be making meals with jars of Dolmio and the like instead (which is not as healthy, but unfortunately we have to make do).
  • Fresh fruit and veg. We managed to find workable alternatives in the fridge section, but it’s alarming how low the stocks were today.

As such, I’m going to be venturing out into the wastelands of larger supermarkets tomorrow to see if my luck is better.

On a positive note, work is finally coming in again, which suggests that academics are starting to get comfy working from home and writing their papers. Hope we can all make the best of a bad situation and have a productive few months.

Pasta
My current complete pasta stock, which is worryingly low by my standards.

Today’s earworm playlist:

The Rolling Stones – ‘Ruby Tuesday’
Demi Lovato – ‘Confident’
Badly Drawn Boy – ‘Once Around The Block’
Duran Duran – ‘First Impression’

An opposite-of-normal Wednesday

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After the kind of interval session that just a week ago I could not have imagined fitting into my training until at least the summer…

…I came back home for a fairly unplanned afternoon. Work has been quiet for the last couple of weeks; I was (and still am) hopeful that because most academics are now working from home, they will have more time to write papers and hence more papers to send to me, but I suppose that everyone will be trying to negotiate a new normal at the moment before they can settle back into their work. However, I have had some constructive feedback on my most recent text adventure game, so I was able to spend most of the afternoon working on the next update for that.

Normally I’d be at ukulele class tonight. I’m not, obviously; it’s cancelled like everything else. As such, while it’s not a normal Wednesday, it’s now a ‘new normal’ day: the same as yesterday, and the same as tomorrow.

Braidburn Valley Park, April 1987
Windback Wednesday: Braidburn Valley Park, April 1987. Mum is pushing a two-month-old Malcolm in the buggy, and I’m standing to the left of the photo in my ‘puddle suit’. I last ran up and down that path a week ago today, before I left Edinburgh; it has not changed in the slightest in thirty-odd years. In these uncertain times, that is extremely comforting.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Koichi Sugiyama – ‘Unflinchable Courage’
Demi Lovato – ‘Confident’
Toto – ‘Africa’*

*I decided two weeks ago that Toto’s ‘Africa’ would be my handwashing song during the coronavirus pandemic. I have now washed my hands so much that it is also starting to become a frequent earworm.

A few days of virtual adventuring

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A useful running-an-errand run this morning…

…followed by a few hours of day job work… and then I curled up on the sofa to play text adventure games. After a week or so of real-world running adventures, it’s been nice to spend some time exploring virtual worlds instead!

Tomorrow will be similar – I’ve got an appointment in the morning, so will run there and back like I did for my appointment today, and then I’m hoping to have some more time for gaming in the afternoon. Still lots of jam entries to play.

Text adventure game
Despite the fact that we weren’t allowed to use graphics in this jam, I’m really pleased with the way my game looks. The Adventuron TWO style can be customised in really lovely ways 🙂

Today’s earworm playlist:

Will Powers – ‘Kissing With Confidence’
Prince – ‘The Most Beautiful Girl In The World’
Sesame Street – ‘The Pasta Song’
Koichi Sugiyama – ‘Unflinchable Courage’
Calvin Harris – ‘Summer’
No Doubt – ‘Don’t Speak’

And a bonus track that Geth was humming earlier:

Bill Conti – ‘Gonna Fly Now’

Creating

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Back to my recovery mile this morning…

…and then I spent a very pleasant afternoon putting together the code for the text adventure game that I’ve spent the last few weeks building in my head and on paper. Ideally I’d have been able to start getting into the coding a few weeks ago, but life has been a bit hectic (as usual!) and I also kept changing my mind about which of my game project ideas would be best suited to the current Adventuron jam. Anyway, I thought it would be another last-minute entry for me this time round, but the deadline’s been extended today and so I can spend the next week tweaking and playtesting, which is great!

I then got a bit of editing for clients done, and am now having a quiet evening before a day of (mostly) admin tomorrow.

Game screen early version
One of my game locations. Wonder what my theme is? 😉

Today’s earworm playlist:

Normani – ‘Motivation’
Biffy Clyro – ‘Many Of Horror’
Queen – ‘Flash’
Justin Bieber – ‘Love Yourself’
Lizzo – ‘Truth Hurts’
Alanis Morissette – ‘Hand In My Pocket’
Duran Duran – ‘Perfect Day’

A slightly backwards Monday

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Because I went to the Social Run Group again today, I didn’t do my run until the evening…

…which meant that my day was a bit backwards and I was at a bit of a loose end this morning without my usual run! Geth and I were up fairly early as our new dishwasher was delivered first thing. It’s our first dishwasher and is going to make life a lot easier in the house, especially in the autumn (washing the dishes is Geth’s domain, but during busy work periods he often finds that he doesn’t have enough time to do it).

I then spent the day getting a bit of admin and day job work done (and some work done on my very last-minute entry into this month’s game jam!) before heading out to the run. It’s been nice to have a quiet evening since then!

Bosch dishwasher
I know this is a super boring photo but I am SO HAPPY that the dishwasher has arrived 😀

Today’s earworm playlist:

Justin Bieber – ‘Sorry’
Justin Bieber – ‘Love Yourself’*
FM-84 and Ollie Wride – ‘Wild Ones’**

*Yup, brain is still insisting on Bieber circa 2015, all day every day.
**I like most synthwave but I’m not keen on this song either.