Currently
January 21st 2025
I keep waiting for something monumental to happen that makes me think that this page needs updating, but as a change-averse person, I would naturally avoid that sort of thing.
Forest is improving slowly. He is so annoying to walk sometimes; super interested in everything and will run from side-to-side to sniff dogs and chase leaves and (my least favourite) try to lick people's hands. It's like trying to walk a very strong butterfly and it irritates me. Sudo was pretty terrible on the lead as well so I guess it's something I'm doing. He's still shredding everything, given half the chance, too. He completely destroyed his bed, so now he's sleeping on bare plastic, which feels super mean but I can't be buying a new dog bed every day. He's also still far too interested in the cat. Not aggressive, just very exciteable and that's the wrong energy for her.
I got a 3D printer! I've wanted one for absolutely years, but it's always been something that I didn't have space for, or didn't quite feel ready for someone as lazy and critical as me. I got a Bambu Lab A1, and the results have been really impressive (though I'm not enjoying my timing - Bambu seems to be trying to lock down their ecosystem quite aggressively at the moment which is causing a lot of fuss in the community). I've been trying my hand at some simple CAD using FreeCAD (because we all know my attention span doesn't suit subscriptions for things like this and pretty much all CAD is on a subscription! It's difficult but super satisfying.
I've also decided to pick up social media again. I think that's enough now, with a blog and a newsletter (subscribe!) and social media. I like Mastodon a lot actually. Discoverability is still a bit difficult but I have enough pulls on my attention right now that only following one or two accounts works well!
Media
Watching: The Sopranos, Silo, Station Eleven
Listening: loads
Playing: Nothing, really. Occasionally playing Nine Sols but it's not a casual game.
Reading: Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell I am going to finish this soon I swear
This is a Now Page. I found the idea for this via Chris Glass.
Past
November 5th 2024
It felt like a while since I've updated this, and with good reason. It's been ages!
I suppose the main things are that we got a dog, and Tabitha started secondary school.
The dog is called Forest (no idea why this tag is pulling in new-forest as well. Ignore that and maybe I'll fix it one day) and he is a black labrador. He's currently about 4.5 months old and he's a funny little thing. He's pretty much house-trained already, which is a relief as it took Sudo ages. We've still not been able to properly introduce him to Friday because he's too excitable and she does not like that. He also doesn't like being left alone, which we need to do something about. Having 4 adults in the house, there's almost always someone around, which means he doesn't get left alone often, so we need to manufacture it a bit.
Tabitha is enjoying Roedean a lot and she seems to be doing quite well in that environment. She's enjoying her classes, and has made some new friends which we're pleased about. They always seem to be doing something fun or interesting - I'm a bit envious of her. My high school was absolutely dreadful, by comparison!
Things have been a bit slow at work, but I think it's something a lot of agencies are dealing with right now. We're lucky we've got plenty of existing clients who all want attention, but I think a lot of people are tightening their belts at the moment. It has meant that I've been able to be more proactive about admin stuff that I would usually put off. It's good to be on top of things like that.
I've picked up a little part time assistant badminton coaching at the session that got me back into playing. Bit surreal. I enjoy coaching most of the time - it's interesting looking at the physical mechanics of the game, and the strategy side of things. I feel like looking at things like this has helped my game as well. I had to drop one of my weekly sessions because Tabitha now has something on Mondays, which is annoying because that is a brilliant group and I miss it, but kid's got to come first!
May 2nd 2024
Tabitha's officially in at Roedean, which we're all very excited about. I'm stressing a bit about how we're actually going to fund it but it's not forever and I know it's going to be worth it. I'm not sure how she's going to get there, long term. I can drive her for a while and she could get the bus but there's a horrible road to cross, and I don't like the idea of an 11-year-old on a city bus alone. Got to let go sometime I guess.
I had an operation earlier in the year and then did something to my achilles playing badminton so I've been off/partially off exercise for a long time, and it has been reflected in my weight. I knew I was going to gain weight but it's more than I was anticipating so I'm back on the bike at 6am every day. It's quite nice making my way through films but it is difficult to drag myself up every day.
Work's work, y'know? Not much to report. I've managed to do some things in a cool way, or learn something new, but I haven't had anything significant to get into for a long time. I thought I did the other day but then I realised I'd already done it last summer! Memory's going.
Looking forward to going to the Belgian Grand Prix with the F1 Dads in July. Normally don't like to look forward to things that are that far away - there's a lot of potential between now and then - but doing fun things feels like loads of effort lately. Life doesn't throw me impromptu fun as often as I thought it would. Even if it did I'd probably resent it for changing my plans at the last minute!
I'm not reading as much as I was at the start of the year, which is frustrating. I know I enjoy it, so why won't it become a persistent habit? It makes me so happy to read on a regular basis, but if I don't force myself to do it, then I just don't do it. Why does it take so much effort to be happy?
November 8th 2023
Done applying for secondary schools for Tabitha, and just waiting to hear on various entrance exams, experience days, and other scary things. She started walking to school on her own, which has hit me harder than I anticipated, emotionally. She's starting to not need us any more and I know that's the goal, but I miss having a little baby sometimes.
Still playing a lot of badminton but limiting myself to twice a week at the moment, otherwise I'm pretty much constantly injured. Totally missed cycling this summer; using the trainer in the garage is so convenient, if a little boring. Watched some cool stuff, though. Apple TV is killing it at the moment.
I think I skated once the whole summer.
We got a new car! In my early 20s I had a mk1 MX-5 and I've missed having a fun little go-kart to zoom around in. Obviously two seats is not really ideal when there's three of you. So now I have something new with two seats and I love it. I'm a bit concerned with affordability long term, but even if I only have it for a year it'll have been a fun thing to have.
It's mine and Charlotte's wedding anniversary at the end of the month. We'll have been married for fifteen years, which is kinda crazy to me. It simultaneously feels like forever, but also how is it that long?
The problem with these Currently pages is it makes you realise how little your life changes, but also you kinda need to rewrite the whole thing to reflect a collection of very small changes. I've decided to keep a history of them, which will likely need to be refactored before long.
July 23rd 2023
Working at Buffalo (14 years!), primarily with NodeJS/TypeScript and React, Craft CMS, then odd bits of PHP for adding to Craft, and Ruby on older projects. Hoping to rebuild this site soon as the NextJS version is pretty old and I've learned a tonne since I built it.
Living in Rottingdean, near Brighton (6 years) with Charlotte, Tabitha, and Friday.
We're looking at local secondary schools for Tabitha to start in 2024. There are so many schools, and a surprising number of good ones.
I'm playing as much badminton as I physically can, but recovering from an injury at the moment. Much less cycling; I've been finding it really boring now that I'm done with TV shows I should've watched 10+ years ago! Not long until I can start skating again!
I've been writing and photos with more regularity. I've been finding that it's starting conversations more, as people drift away from social media, which has been a good motivator. I've grabbed a couple of GoPro mounts to try and start making some more video. We went to a theme park and the guy we went with made some really cool videos with his, and I was envious.
Still playing lots of video games, and listening to music as much as I can. I've also been trying to read fiction a lot more, and have been enjoying it. I'm such a slow reader, though. Takes me ages to finish a book!