weeknotes for w/c 02/09/24

made it into september alive. nice! a slow week work-wise, but a rather busy week personally.

• first full day back in at work, tackled some health stuff on Monday
  • booked MMR jab for next Monday, flu jab for October
• had a virtual gp consultation, he suggested the problem with my wrist was RSI or carpal tunnel and gave me some tips to manage it
• felt a little down in the evening after work, as I didn’t get as much as I wanted to done, so didn’t go to the opera as planned
• manager off this week, feeling a little anxious about probation, incredibly worried it’ll be extended
  • work has been heavily blocked because of conflicting projects and waiting for code reviews
  • tired of not making any progress at all at the moment, feels like I’m stuck in a holding pattern waiting to get things done
• knocked out quite a few things on Tuesday
  • photos from the Lake District trip finally got delivered, and they look good! i might put some up
• passed my theory test on Tuesday! managed to finish it in 30 minutes and it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be.
  • now it's time to schedule driving lessons! 35 hours are ~£1,700, which isn’t too bad
  • might start planning a European road trip now. as i never went interrailing (unlike some of my friends), this could be my rite of passage into "real" adulthood
• started CBT therapy
• went to fortnightly pub in the evening, met some friends
  • there were about thirteen of us there
  • it was really busy but really good to see everyone again
• got up early on Wednesday because of a dental appointment
  • it felt good to start work earlier, i felt more awake and alert
  • it also feels like all the people i need to get stuff done (code reviews, feedback on plans)
  • my teeth are doing much better than a couple years ago
• finished a letter to my aunt, and posted it on Thursday
  • letter-writing is really fun, i think i'd like to do it more
  • included some of the printed photos in it
  • stamps got delivered in two packages, make-up stamps on Thursday and special stamps on Friday
  • i was a little impatient, so used thirteen make-up stamps to post it. it looked a little ridiculous, but at least i got it sent
• got off the waitlist for uncodebar 10 on Friday, finally have a ticket
  • i'd like to do a talk to fill the inevitably me-shaped hole that’ll be in the schedule
  • was planning to keep writing my talk over the next couple of weeks, but i'll need to have a version done by the 21st
• went to karaoke on Friday night at the Lyttleton Arms in Camden, it was awesome
  • didn't get to sing, but i'm looking forward to next time!
• planning to see a friend in Portsmouth next weekend
• got an incredibly ergonomic setup now, including a new computer stand, footrest, Logitech MX Master 3S, Dell UltraSharp 27 inch 4K monitor, Wave Keys keyboard
  • ordered from work on Monday, got approved on Tuesday, shipped on Friday, delivered on Sunday. nice it got done in under a week!
  • should’ve done this from day one but better late than never
  • don’t have any space for the monitor on my desk, so i’ll need to do some more reorganisation
• applied to mentor for Coding Black Females through Monzo
  • i’ve done some informal mentoring, so it would be nice to do something more structured
• slowed down a lot on my Spanish progress
  • finished track 8 on Language Transfer
  • made it into the silver league on Duolingo
  • i think i’ve been too tired out this week to continue my intensive regimen, but i'll make time next week
• considering my next few goals after passing driving theory test
  • got told the blog is a little boring at the moment. need to cook up some good content, so it's not just weeknotes
  • build a Spanish habit
  • start work on a Google Cloud certificate, considering the DevOps engineer
    • i don’t know much about DevOps so I’d be interested to learn
• although we make heavy use of AWS at Monzo, it'd still be nice to get an intro to the fundamentals. a cert seems a good way to do that
• pass driving practical test
  • want to see if I can do ~3 months of reasonably intensive lessons
• learn how to take good photos
  • since the Lake District, i'd love to take more photos! i think i need more things to take photos of though!
• went to the Proms on Saturday with some friends to see the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers
  • arrived slightly late
  • beautiful performance of gospel music
  • featured a divine rendition of He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands (described as a combination of South African, Texan and choral)
  • had dinner at an Italian restaurant afterwards
• had a rather slow Sunday
  • had some family around
  • settled down to do some Dreaming Spanish in the evening
• excited for the rest of the month. will finally get some change deployed into production