Weeknotes 0

I’m going to try doing the weeknotes thing this year. I don’t know what I hope to get out of it, but maybe it’ll be useful to do some self reflection and to warm myself up for some longer form writing? It’s not been a full week yet, but it is Sunday, so here goes:

• I normally start the year feeling optimistic – I’m a sucker for the symbolic clean break. This year feels different though, for obvious reasons. Usually I have resolutions to “get in shape” and “read more books” that don’t really pan out, but I find them useful motivators anyway. I suppose the closest thing I have to a resolution this year is these weeknotes. Maybe I’ll go for exactly one run at some point too.

• As for reading more books, I was given Children of the Days by Eduardo Galeano for Christmas. It’s 365 (very) short stories from history – one for each day of the year. I’m hoping to use it as a kind of countdown/checklist for getting through what promises to probably be another rough year (for everyone).

• I managed not to think too much about work or computers over Christmas! Instead we played games and cooked food and watched TV – it was actually quite nice staying in London. It didn’t snow, but walking Augu through a frosty Ruskin Park made me realise I probably am going to miss it (a little bit) when we move.

• One of the games we played was Detective: Season 1. Despite the name, it’s actually the 3rd or 4th under the Detective moniker. It’s simpler and more streamlined than the previous games, which I don’t mind. But I much prefer how the earlier games felt like long form TV series’ with the individual cases being linked through an overarching story.

• I’m taking part in a fantasy basketball league this year. I’ve never done fantasy sports before, or even really taken much of an interest in sports at all. I tried a few times to get into football in the past but it’s difficult and embarrassing as an adult. With basketball, I at least have the excuse of it not really being a thing here in the UK. It’s fine for me to pick which teams and players to support arbitrarily and to ask silly questions. I like that it gives me something to look at when I pick up my phone that isn’t the news, and I have a bunch of new podcasts to listen to. Most of all, it’s just nice having a shared hobby with a friend who otherwise lives on a different continent several time zones away.