weeknotes for w/c 26/08/24
what happened on the week beginning 26th august 2024?
a relaxing holiday followed by a flurry of activity at work. i didn't get as much as I wanted to do done, due to only having two days at work. still, a packed week!
- the Lake District holiday continued
- on Monday, the holiday in the Lake District continued, went hiking the Windermere west shore route
- caught the bus from Kendal to Bowness, walked to Ferry Nab, caught the car ferry across the water to Ferry House, hiked up to Wray Castle
- the walk took about two hours, walked slowly to take photographs
- didn’t managed get to go into Wray Castle, as it closed by the time i made it up there, but still a nice walk
- caught the tourist ferry to Brockhole and then Ambleside and then caught the bus back into Kendal
- i'd want to get a DSLR (or mirrorless!) camera second-hand, get into photography. it’s truly beautiful here. i’d like to learn what all the little settings and buttons do
- caught the bus from Kendal to Bowness, walked to Ferry Nab, caught the car ferry across the water to Ferry House, hiked up to Wray Castle
- got a hotel massage on Tuesday, was surprisingly nice
- tried to sign up for codebar unconference, got put on waitlist, seems like it’ll be a busy conference
- travelled back to London by train on Wednesday evening after holiday. Feeling tired but I’m very happy with the experience.
- got home around midnight on Wednesday.
- realised on my way home I forgot to change my slack status and log my holiday in my calendar! oopsies.
- ordered some photographs of my Lake District trip using FreePrints on Thursday when I got back
- on Monday, the holiday in the Lake District continued, went hiking the Windermere west shore route
- continued with my reading, too!
- started reading Nod on the train home, and continued on Saturday evening. it’s very intense right off the bat.
- Nod is very chaotic, meandering prose. it's organic and conversational, i like it.
- the chapters are somewhat long, though, so i struggle to read one of them in one sitting.
- continued to learn to drive
- continued some theory practice with Theory Test Pro, learnt about vehicle handling, how to keep my vehicle safe and hazard awareness
- completed all the topics, now working on hazard perception!
- booked my theory test
- there was no point waiting until i was 100% confident to book, as the slots get booked up so quickly. i initially got it scheduled for late September, but managed to snag a much earlier cancelled spot for next week on Sunday
- will do weekly revision and keep practicing with mock tests until my real test
- continued learning Spanish, kind of exciting
- i’m using Dreaming Spanish to pick up vocabulary, along with Language Transfer's Complete Spanish course for grammar tips and Duolingo's Spanish course for the structure of CEFR
- using Dreaming Spanish, i'm worried i’m not learning “real” Spanish and just a sanitised version of it, like watching pop science videos and only learning surface level science concepts
- Dreaming Spanish is pretty much Spanish Buzzfeed, and I’m all for it
- i’m keeping up with it because a friend is learning too and keeping me accountable, and i'm going in with an open mind. i’m trusting the process like my homie insists.
- i’m also wary of solely using comprehensible input to learn Spanish, and how it delays speaking quite late.
- i find the Duolingo exercises easy enough, but it’s hard to “riff off” them and form my own sentences
- caved and bought Duolingo Super
- maybe i just don't have the vocabulary yet
- spent half an hour on Friday’s lunch break listening to Language Transfer, better than scrolling through YouTube Shorts
- will attempt A1 exam about three months after doing theory driving exam
- considering getting a tutor at some point, possibly after attempting A1 certification
- busy first day back at Monzo on Thursday, picking up work i left off. didn’t get as much as I wanted to done at work this week, though!
- blocked by a small-ish team, some ill team members and big deployments in a similar area i'm working on
- had a slow Friday
- had a burst of productive energy, did some 1am clothes washing and hanging on Friday morning
- went to a meetup at a pub in Angel on Friday night, met cool people, it was really fun
- had a meeting with my manager and it was very good. it seems like i'll pass probation which is exciting. looking to celebrate!
- got new notice board and hung it up on the wall, put some todos on it. i feel super organised now and my life is fixed
- got some disparate bits of life admin done on Saturday and Sunday
- booked a GP appointment online as my wrist hurts a bit.
- bought Prom 64 tickets for next Saturday, will try to get Day Promming tickets to Prom 69 because Florence + the Machine's Lungs is a really good album
- obtained a ticket to see The Marriage of Figaro on Monday night
- met up with a friend transiting through London for lunch, it was nice to catch up with him
- sat down and wrote a letter to my aunt, which was lovely. I also purchased some special stamps so I could send more letters each month! Delivery of Royal Mail stamps by Royal Mail is weird...
- booked an eye test with Ace + Tate for later in the month
- got my driving theory test pulled back to the 3rd of September!
- considering moving around and working on a startup at some point, moving across the world seems fun. i read this blog post and it kind-of appeals to me