Weeknote 2024-W38

2024-09-22 19:39

Some random front-of-mind pieces from my week.

🏃 Ran 74.65km / 4,195m profile

Comfortable 4,000m+ this week. I'm off work and doing what I love, so there's more time to get out there and recover, rather than squeezing it in after/before work. A lot of snow still about so the earlier hilly runs were slow going, but beautiful. Later went to Wye Creek (last 3 peaks) which is north facing so snow was not an issue. Got the bike out too, doing errands to the grocers and library.

🩸 Health

Just finished my first week of 3 off work. My focus is to not think of work, do the things I enjoy, think a little about past pivot points in my life (and what drove the decisions for change), and explore my interests (but not let them consume me - more on that below), build some healthy routines and sleep. Sleep is still shit. I tend to wake at 1-2am every night and stay awake for 1-2 hours. I was given sleeping tablets, told to take 1/2 each night, so will start upping it to 1. I'm also on Escitaopram antidepressant, which I'm not sure is working yet. There's a million other things about this I can't put into words right now.

💻 New tools

Ubuntu Linux distro - Installed as a dual-boot on my Windows Dell laptop. I've only ever used Mint (which is what I'm typing on now, on my older laptop), but I'm doing The Odin Project which recommends Ubuntu (below on why I'm doing the Odin Project), which I'm doing on my DELL laptop.
Rufus - How I installed Ubuntu as a dual-boot OS. I've used this a number of times now and never had issues.
Jellyfin and Finamp - I mentioned these a few weeknotes back, but I want to mention again because I'm just loving listening to my mp3s and scrapping the streaming services. Earlier this week I buggered up and logged out of my server in Finamp and it took me a while to figure out how to log in again, but I've got it all sorted again now and noted how to stay connected.

💻 The Odin Project - I came across this via Apple Annie's bookmarks blitz, specifically the Plain Vanilla bookmark, which recommended a couple of web development learning paths for n00bs like me. One of which is The Odin Project Foundation Course. I started going through the introduction and was hooked instantly. There seems to be a good bunch of links to resources that are explaining a lot of shit for me, definitely filling some gaps. I've only just started my foray into web development. It's definitely something I'm enjoying, and have some ideas where I want to take it. Thanks to The Odin Project I now know the difference between front-end, back-end and full-stack development. My interest at the moment is full-stack with a lean towards back-end. I was super pumped the other week when I created a web server off my Android. But I enjoy the whole lot. Feeling a release of creativity I haven't had before.

I have to be careful here given my situation. I'm clearly invested in it, but I'm still employed, on sick leave, and trying not to cause stress. Yeah I enjoy it and is fun, but it's something that consumes me and gets my brain ticking, so I need to manage that. I agreed with my therapist to limit this to 3 hours a day (or was it 2?).

📚 Finished reading The Naked Lunch - Holy crap. Every time I picked this up I felt like I needed a shower after. I seem to be in some weird entanglement with drugs, sexual fucked-up-ness, social commentary and saxaphones. Maybe its how I'm escaping without messing myself up. I couldn't help but think about how DBC Pierre must've got inspiration from this for Light's Out in Wonderland, which I finished last week. ⭐⭐⭐ Only 3 because I couldn't follow what the hell he was on about a lot of the time. It's a solid three though because really you could just pick up a paragraph and be blown away regardless of context.

🎶 Listening to...

The Naked Lunch OST - I loved listening to this crazy sax soundtrack while reading the book.
Carnivore - Self Titled (1985) - I find this album hilarious when riding my bike through town hearing Peter Steele yell "Crush! Kill! Destroy!"

📺 Watched The Naked Lunch (1991) - I'm glad I read the book first, and a bit about William S. Burroughs. This was a good blend of the book and his real life. Classic Cronenberg. Kinda glad they didn't go all out with the book.