Week Notes 2021/28

Introduction

Notes for the two weeks of 12th through 18th of July 2021.

Work has been work. I will be glad of a week off very soon.
On Saturday, I went into an Oxfam bookshop and picked up six science fiction novels:
- The Memory of Whiteness by Kim Stanley Robinson
- Short. Sharp. Shock. by Kim Stanley Robinson
- Green Eyes by Lucius Shepard
- 334 by Thomas Dish (How many copies of this do I have now?)
- Inversions by Iain M. Banks
- Look to Windward by Iain M. Banks
It’s probably getting close to my annual read an Iain Banks book I’d been saving since they are now an extremely finite resource.
In terms of writing fiction, this week has been very much an on then off affair. The increasing heat and muggy weather along with my work/life balance slipping out of control has impacted my willingness to sit down and do the work. Although mid-week I did sit down and look at a writing exercise I’ve been devising.
I got Emacs working on my Macbook Air. Visual Studio Code was starting to bother me in really petty ways. To put it simply, Emacs & Vim are musical instruments I know how to play well and Visual Studio Code is one that I don’t.
My main monitor is starting to show signs of bad IPS backlight bleed, which is bothersome. This is not something I really wish to replace.

How to Read Literature (Terry Eagleton, 2014)
- Still reading this. It’s fine. So far there’s nothing that’s a revelation in this book, but there is a good anecdote about Harold Pinter.
Trafalgar (Angélica Gorodischer, 1979)
- This is very much my thing. A novel composed of short stories by an Argentine author.

On Tuesday 13th July, I tried to go out for 10km, but stopped at five. It was warm & muggy beside the sea. No fun.
On Friday 16th July, I headed north for an 11km loop which took in Scottstown Moor, which was a new location to me. About 120 meters of climb. About was warm as Tuesday, and, probably, as muggy, but I remembered to take half a litre of water, which made it kinda enjoyable.
On Sunday 18th July, I went for a 12km run along the beach. It was at an easy pace. The main disappointment was the coffee trailer I’d intended to stop at about the halfway mark closed a few minutes after I passed it just before my turn around point. This was another occasion where I was wise to take a soft flask of water.

Star Trek: Deep Space 9 S7E16 “Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges”
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 S7E17 “Penumbra”
Loki
- Series Finale. Basically met my expectations. Easy entertainment. Well acted. Alternates between visually interesting and utterly boring
Hemingway
Highlander

Mostly with my Novation Circuit Tracks and a Red Means Recording Sample Pack
- I’m considering getting a small MIDI keyboard.