Another unfinished draft, finally published, with commentary from today.
- Making
- A laser-cut stencil of the Coiled Spring logo. Online laser cutting company Ponoko has a $20 introductory discount, so I whipped up a stencil of the logo and sent it off. We’ll see how it turns out.
- Turned out nice! Good quality plastic, clean cuts. I stenciled my aluminium audio kit briefcase. I should post a photo. I also tried a t-shirt which didn’t work so well.
- Cooking
- We have an Instant Pot, so Cassie’s trying lots of new things. I’m still making my daily sandwiches, now including a couple of carrots to peel at work. I could leave the skins and scrub them, but that’s messier prep at home, and I’d need another container for them.
- The Instant Pot was a great investment. Cassie got this sticker for it (not this exact design, but the same idea).
- Drinking
- No more alcohol. Just can’t handle it, and it drains my energy. I’ve been hardly touching a drop the last couple of years, and then I had a rather boozy British Dads brunch, and I felt rotten for two days. Not for me any more.
- This continues. I’ve had perhaps 3 glasses of beer since August, and nothing else. Gaining weight was an unexpected effect.
- Reading
- Haruki Murakami – ‘Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage’. Classic Murakami, even with the surreal bits and strange stories, just following a character eating simple meals and listening to music is enjoyable.
- Kind of a disappointment, actually. Not enough magic realism. Oh well. I’ve been reading Paul Auster recently too.
- Trawling
- Through stuff in the apartment that was not unpacked yet, but if we aren’t staying in Dubai, I shouldn’t bother too much.
- Well, we did stay. We should still go through stuff.
- Wanting
- A new job. I have a couple of solid possibilities, but I don’t yet know if they will be right. I must be sure they’re right – I’ve sabotaged myself in the past by taking jobs just because I needed one.
- Finally started current job in October 2017. Since then, it’s been firefighting all the time, but despite that I feel more valued and supported than I have for a long time.
- Looking
- For a new job.
- Found one! I like it! It likes me!
- Deciding
- If the job offers are right for me.
- One DEFINITELY wasn’t – it had a clause in the contract that meant I would have to pay them 2 months salary if I wanted to leave within 2 years. What?!
- Wishing
- Stuff would settle down.
- I could be calm and happy.
- I was with my family.
- All is better now. I’m having to travel a lot for work, but in some ways that makes things better at home.
- Enjoying
- Spending time in Abu Dhabi with my lovely friends who are taking care of me while I’m on my own.
- They were/are great. Thanks, J & T x
- Waiting
- For my final paycheck from Thales, and the whole bureaucratic domino Rube Goldberg perfect storm that will trigger.
- For a $2.50 delivery from Hong Kong.
- For a first repeated coherent word.
- Storm didn’t materialise in the way I expected. Don’t know what the delivery was. Trying to remember words – so much interaction now! I think possibly “turtle” was first.
- Liking
- My homemade muesli. I did try toasting stuff first, but now I just throw oats, raisins, shredded coconut, wheatgerm, and anything else I fancy into the big plastic ex-protein canister and shake.
- Still good. Flaked almonds ftw.
- Loving
- A&E and their mother, obv.
- Pondering
- How do other people do it/manage/cope/organise etc? Exactly the thoughts the CBT doc says aren’t helpful.
- Yeah right.
- Listening
- The Pattern Forms, “Peel Away The Ivy” (my review here), and the old “Welcome To Mars” series from Ken Hollings.
- New Meat Beat Manifesto album ‘Impossible Star’ out now on Bandcamp!
- Considering
- Actually editing and publishing the Coiled Spring backlog of interview recordings.
- Buying
- As little as possible.
- Watching
- “Soundbreaking”, the PBS music production documentary. Fascinating and educational, even for the bits I already knew.
- Hoping
- We find a nice cheap place that ticks at least a few of our boxes.
- I think we did pretty well.
- Marvelling
- At the effortless grace and smoothness with which all construction, bureaucracy, services and everything here is performed.
- Cringing
- see above
- Needing
- To do more exercise. A combination of lack of time and lack of will to overcome that lack, is making me very out of shape.
- I’ve just today slotted swimming sessions into the calendar.
- Questioning
- What on earth is wrong with people. If society abandons those less well off, what do you think will happen to them? They’ll magically bootstrap themselves?
- Smelling
- The mint tea, and at home the Bitter Orange hand cream I’m still working through. My aging hands.
- Some ginger tea today.
- Wearing
- The same Clarks Desert Trek I wear every day. So comfortable, great patina, shame the soles are now paper-thin and you can’t resole crepe (without some hassle).
- Got them resoled in the UK. Plus I added an arch support. There’s life in them yet!
- Noticing
- The weather here in Dubai is warming up. I stepped outside on my way to catch the Metro at 7am, and it was already balmy. Uh-oh.
- Same as last year. Funny that.
- Knowing
- Things are possible, and that I can do them.
- Thinking
- I can’t.
- Admiring
- The people in the US resisting the blatant lies and cruel actions of 45’s administration.
- They persist. Hopefully not for much longer.
- Also Cassie, for reasons soon to become clear.
- Getting
- Out of the rut of not bothering with things.
- Still working on this, but getting better.
- Bookmarking
- Interior decor ideas, especially ones with DIY and/or scrap materials input.
- Feeling
- More in control, depending on the day.
- Meds, therapy, and circumstances are all helping
- Hearing
- The JBR Music Festival.
- Celebrating
- All the little things as much as possible.