Weeknotes 2024 W10 W11

We’re now in double digits for weeks of 2024.

Breaking habits

Duolingo and Readwise have both suffered a loss in attention over the past 14 days.

The little owl is really pissed off with me at the moment. I’ve gone from finishing in the top three and advancing leagues every week to barely maintaining a single lesson per day. I’m finding the design of the passive aggressive home screen widget more annoying than motivating.

I’m doing a great job of adding interesting articles to my Readwise inbox but not making time to read them. I dread to think what the unread notification number is. I wish some of these ‘do later’ would have some boundaries you can set so they don’t end up being a bank of empty promises.

…or perhaps I need to invest in some good old fashioned discipline.

The March Sumo basho started last Sunday but similarly I’ve not kept up with events other than the opening day which was riddled with upsets. I’ve got some serious catching up to do if I’m going to keep up with the Sumo Kaboom bingo and watch the final day next Sunday. Hakkeyoi!

Patterns Day

A definite highlight from week 10 was Patterns Day. Clearlefties are encouraged to help out on the day, I personally love helping putting on the show and making the day a success. It was lovely opportunity to catch up with some people I haven’t seen in person for ages and navigate some awkward hugs (sorry folks!). The content was excellent. Geri’s talk was outstanding, I’ve definitely found my new conference speak muse. Rich’s talk on fluid typography was also excellent and has inspired me to finally take a proper look at Utopia. I left the day with a brain full of thoughts and questions. More of this please!

As much as I wanted to, I wasn’t able to attend Indie Web Camp Brighton 2024 that same weekend. It looked like it was well attended with some really interesting sessions. I ended up staying up late one evening the following week and fumbled around with IndieKit created by the event organiser Paul Robert Llyod. I quickly realised I have no idea what I was doing. I’m secretly hoping Paul and co. organise a Indie Website Club in Brighton.

Fun stuff

I almost forgot about a music gig I’d booked late last year. MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS, Japanese shoegaze j-pop band, payed at EartH in East London. The band were really friendly and performance was full of energy and passion. They played a full spread of their back catalogue including one of my favourites, Slow Motion Replay. The venue was really beautiful but didn’t lend well for standing, I swear there were more seats than people. I was hoping to do more moshing but it wasn’t to be.

A message to fellow gig goers. For God’s sake, put your phones away and enjoy the show!

The support lineup looked a bit poor so after the best Ramen outside of Japan and a superb Japanese-Belgian fusion beer Owa at Monohon I made the snap decision to go and see Monster to kill some time. The Rashomon style storytelling was executed to perfection. Incredible performances by a cast of all ages. I’ll be heading back to the cinema to see it again soon for sure.