I’ve been trying to find the motivation to blog for nearly two weeks now, after making the mistake of vaguely promising to write about Summer Game(s) Fest announcements in my last post. Since then, I’ve been engulfed in that oh-so-familiar feeling of obligation that I had grown so tired of, the very same feeling that motivated the creation of this blog in the first place.
To be honest the vast majority of things shown off at Geoff’s annual parade of digital gubbins didn’t excite me enough to have a thought other than “Yeah, I might play that. I guess”. There has been plenty of great writing about that event that I’ll link to below instead. Speaking of…
Welcome to Weeknotes, a blogging format I’ve recently discovered that has been a staple of internet blogging since its inception. The general idea is that every week (a Friday afternoon, traditionally) you write a quick post that summarises your week. What you’ve been doing, working on, listening to, thinking about, etc.
Originally, they were used almost as handover notes to yourself for when you return to the office on a Monday morning; a collection of loose threads to pick back up at the start of the working week. I don’t quite want to do that, but I’m hoping a more relaxed concept may help me focus on the original intention of this blog: a space to practice writing.
Every week I want to write, but I get hung up on not having an idea interesting enough to write about. Maybe this is a hangover of my time as a journalist (let’s be fair here, content creator is more apt), where every piece had to be focused enough to appease Google’s SEO algorithm.
I also want to write a little more about my personal life and job, because I’d like to look back at these posts and remember what was happening at this specific point in my life. Maybe I’ll stick with this, maybe I won’t. The important takeaway is that it doesn’t matter either way, which is a lesson I’m struggling to learn as I continue down this path of discovering how I’d like to interact with the internet as a whole.
Anyway, here’s what I’ve been up to:
Life
I have been busy, but in a way that has felt manageable and nice. I spend most evenings with either Yolli or a friend, which has given life a sense of variety I appreciate immensely. It’s a good balance between in-person hangs and online gaming sessions that has been beneficial to feeling “present”, something I’ve been trying to improve over the last few years.
This week, my pal Liiana and I bought some Magic The Gathering draft packs and challenged ourselves to build 40-card decks out of their contents. As someone whose only experience with the game is through pre-built commander decks, trying to construct a deck from scratch using only a random assortment of cards was a genuine thrill. What colour combinations will work best? What synergies can I pull out of this assortment? What is the gimmick? What is the tactic? I lost – because I always do – but it was close! I can’t wait to do it again, even if my bank account is whimpering at the thought.
Speaking of, this week’s featured image at the top of the post is a vegan Shakshouka she cooked for us. Tofu eggs! It was delicious.
Work
I started tracking my time using Toggl last week, which has improved my focus quite a lot. I used Toggl religiously during the pandemic once I started working from home, but found it particularly useful while at RPS. I dropped it once I returned to the office when I joined Greggs, but I’m glad I’ve picked it back up. We’ll see if it sticks, but right now it’s working quite well. It’s a nice way to analyse what tasks have taken up the majority of your time (meetings) and to identify what needs to be focused on more in the week ahead (fewer meetings).
To catch people up to speed, I work at Greggs (the Sausage Roll people) as a User Experience Designer / Researcher. I work specifically within the Retail Systems Team, helping to build and improve software used by colleagues within the shops. It’s great!
This week, I began a new project to help shed some clarity about an issue we’re having with a particular system. It’s an interesting one, as although the consequence of the issue is apparent, the cause of it is muddy and hard to identify. Greggs is a big business, but it’s unique in that everyone still acts like it’s a small one. My job this week has primarily involved talking to each individual team about their view of the issue, before compiling them together into something that resembles an answer. Everyone is always super happy to help, handing over as much information as they have available to them. Realistically, my role in this particular instance is minimal (I’m compiling information rather than analysing it in any real detail) but it’s always nice to interact with a large selection of cool people.
What am I reading?
I’m still working my way through Displeasure Island by former colleague and current friend Alice Bell. Alice’s cosy murder mysteries are truly excellent, and I recommend you buy them both immediately.
As promised, here are some nice articles (and a podcast) about Summer Game(s) Fest that did a better job of communicating my feelings about the event than I would be able to:
- Nintendo Does What Everybody Else Nintendon’t – Nathan Greyson (Aftermath)
- The Bittersweet Feeling Of Seeing Your Game Revealed After Getting Laid Off – Nathan Greyson (Aftermath)
- Memory lapse – Nathan Brown (Hit Points)
- Top 10 Most Anticipated Games – The Back Page
What am I watching?
Loudermilk on Netflix, which is not good but it’s watchable enough I suppose.
What am I playing?
Running through Destiny 2’s latest expansion – The Final Shape – has been a blast so far. Hanging out with Ed is always a highlight of my week, but The Final Shape is actually a good bit of Destiny content which makes for a nice change. Yolli and I have also been plugging away at Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door on Switch (I love it, she’s yet to warm to it, but we’re sticking with it for now).
Shamefully, I can’t stop playing Supermarket Simulator. We don’t need to talk about that here.
Some nice music
It’s Brat summer, don’t you know, so Charli xcx’s latest hyperpop masterpiece (I don’t say that lightly, but it is) has been on heavy rotation. Today, Charli released a remix of Girl, so confusing – one of the album’s best tracks – featuring Lorde. Not only is it a thrill to hear Lorde again, the original song was about a perceived rivalry between the two that has now seemingly been resolved in this very remix. Also: it’s a banger.
Thanks for reading! See you next week!
Any spelling mistakes, grammatical errors or badly phrased sentences in this post are all intentional. Cheers.