Hello, and welcome to another edition of Weeknotes, a stream-of-consciousness post about life, work, media and everything in between.
Here’s what I’ve been up to:
Life
I have very little to report when it comes to my life at the moment. Other than passing my driving test, I’ve mainly just been catching up with friends and family before we scoot off to Mexico in a few weeks.
I always feel so weird in the run-up to a big holiday. We booked this trip back in January, and although we’ve planned a few bits and pieces for when we’re out there, we haven’t organised much outside of flights and hotels. I feel massively underprepared (which inevitably comes with all the anxiety that feeling entails) yet completely at ease. Do you need plans when you’re thousands of miles away from home and no longer have access to Microsoft Outlook? Yes. You do. We’ll get on it soon, I’m sure.
I’m also uncomfortable with flying so that doesn’t help when I have dozens of hours of plane rides in my immediate future but hey! That’s a conversation for my therapist, not you, random internet stranger. I left social media to stop throwing my anxieties into the void, so I don’t plan to start doing that here instead. Cheers.
Work
I’ve been presenting a lot of research findings these last few weeks, which has provided a lovely opportunity for me to take Figma’s new PowerPoint competitor, Slides, for a spin.
It provides all the design gubbins you’d expect from Figma, but is very much framed as a supercharged presentation tool. Alongside letting you get super nerdy about precise object positioning (trying to line things up in PowerPoint is tantamount to pulling my own fingernails off with a fork, so this one benefit is enough to make me a life-long convert) it also comes with a bunch of nice features that give presentations a fun “wow” factor, such as in-line Figma prototypes and interactive polls.
It’s not perfect yet (lower pricing plans have only just been permitted to save reusable templates, which felt like a huge oversight when Slides first launched) but like most Figma products, it’s easy to use and makes a once arduous task a joy.
I’m not being paid to say any of this, but if someone from Figma is reading: I’m not against it.
What am I reading?
I am back on my fantasy bullshit with Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn. I’ve known about this series for a long time, but I’ve been surprised to discover it’s even better than the hype would imply. I particularly love how its magic system, which sees the mythical Mistborn’s burning metal in their stomach’s to manipulate the world around them, is built upon a strict set of rules that makes its action sequences feel believable and exciting. It’s good!
What am I watching?
Not much at the moment. Yolli started watching Friends again so I’ve been catching the odd episode or two here and there. It’s… good? It’s good.
I also went to watch Mean Girls in the cinema with a friend last week which was (a few yikes lines that have aged like milk aside) excellent.
What am I playing?
It’s a real eclectic mix of things at the moment. Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, I Am Your Beast, and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door are the main three. However, I’ve also been picking away at – of all things – Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D.
I recently hacked my 3DS (did you know it’s really easy to hack your 3DS?) and for some reason this is the game I’ve decided to play first. In a series filled with baffling entries, this may be the strangest Resident Evil game I’ve ever played. It’s a lean package primarily made up of levels and characters lifted from Resident Evil 5, and other than a smattering of content from Resident Evil 4 that’s… it? It’s less an expanded release of Resi’s mercenaries side mode and more, well, a side-mode that was released for full price.
I kinda like it. I’m broken as a person.
Some nice music
I am once again mourning the loss of my beloved Wild Beasts, a band that burned as bright as they did fast. They are truly exceptional and you should listen to them immediately.
Thanks for reading!
Any spelling mistakes, grammatical errors or badly phrased sentences in this post are all intentional. Cheers.