This month went much better overall, despite a few empty days where I don’t think I did anything of use.
Fun
Games
I’ve mostly played Two Point Museum or Solitaire Expeditions when solo this month then Destiny 2 when with friends, as the friends that I spend most time gaming with have been more available than normal. Two Point Museum is engaging in a “…oops, its now 1am” kind of way, despite it not being particularly difficult. Destiny 2 had its “Guardian Games”; a yearly event about completing a checklist of game experiences known as “Moments of Triumph”. While I completed some of these challenges naturally through playing, and others only required minor adjustments like making sure to bring certain types of weapons to activities, I specifically chose to not try to complete the set. I get caught up in feeling like I need to complete the full list and tick off everything in events like this, even when I won’t use the rewards at the end, so being able to say “no, I won’t get any practical use or fun from doing this” and stick to that statement was a relief.
Music/Podcasts
I’ve not discovered any new music this month but have spent time listening to a new podcast; Let’s Learn Everything!. I found this one through enjoying the many episodes of Lateral which have featured the presenters of Let’s Learn Everything! as contestants. In their own show, the trio’s chemistry and enthusiasm is even stronger than in their guest appearances: I expected to find this annoying, but their exuberance about everything they are learning is so genuine and sincere that it is endearing rather than obnoxious.
Other
I spent some time tinkering with a Fiio X1 that I bought on eBay. I’ve wanted to play with one of these for ages for hardware reasons, as they are basically the non-apple version of a classic spinny-wheel iPod. While it could never be my main take-to-work DAP – as 1) it doesn’t have bluetooth and 2) it apparently gets confused and slows down if more than 5,000 songs are on it – this one was advertised as having firmware issues, so I wondered if reinstalling the firmware might be enough. Then I could resell it after getting my gadget fix.
At first, I thought the confusing, inconsistent-seeming controls, which involved two buttons that seemed to never do anything, and one button that alternated between meaning “select” and “back”, were a result of the firmware issues. Then, after installing the right firmware and getting the X1 to load both with and without an SD card in place, it turned out that no, the UI is just that bad!
The software and UI experience was so frustrating for me that the X1 went straight back on ebay (in “working but with gremlins” condition) and my desire to tinker with them has now gone. (But if someone ever released a DAP with that hardware but with bluetooth and a more logical UI/software, I would be first in the queue.)
Data
I spent most of one day off adding and correcting data in MusicBrainz. I like to add each episode of the podcasts I most enjoy to their database, partly so the data is there for everyone to use, and partly just so that I can track my listens accurately. However, I haven’t been consistently adding data for a few weeks due to spending so much of my work time inputting/checking data.
Every episode from number 71 of my current favourite podcast, Lateral, are now in place and fully correct on the site. The older episodes, which I added incorrectly before I understood the (admittedly convoluted) style guide for broadcasts, will take longer to fix. However, I have started making the new release groups needed for each episode and linking each of the recordings I had added to its new release group. Then I can ask in the forums for help with the overall merge/move if needed once all episodes have a correct release group.
Work
Following the chaotic few days I mentioned at the end of last month, I went back to work on the 3rd. The manager who was now in charge of the somewhat-derailed project asked me if I still wanted to be part of it. I asked if I could be part of it but as a helper rather than a responsible person – “a passenger rather than a driver” as that manager phrased it. This approach worked reasonably well, and everything is mostly re-railed, thanks to the combination of more people being freed up to help, and the new manager understanding the systems involved in what we are doing, and the steps required to do things safely, far better than the previous person responsible for the project. To be honest I don’t know why the second person wasn’t in charge from the start!
Our back-on-the-rails version of the project has a lot more checking steps, which is reassuring but also involves a few more long meetings. Safely moving and allocating the patients belonging to the more complicated caseloads in the North of our area took far longer than moving the South patients; the cross-referencing and communicating needed to keep the North team aware of the changes meant that my social battery was very much flat by the end of each patient- moving day. In both cases I ended up leaving a couple of tasks I would normally complete in the evening for the people starting tomorrow morning, which I didn’t like doing.
I worked on Mother’s Day, and my colleague’s daughter and dog visited to see her. While the dog was friendly and didn’t mean any harm, he got overexcited by how many people wanted to pet him and so greeted me with his teeth, which promptly ended his trip inside the building.
Family
I’ve been part of more family-related things than usual this month due to it being my nan’s 80th birthday. She ended up having multiple small celebrations over a few days, similarly to my most recent birthday. One of these experiences was that me and my aunt took her to the Ivy Brasserie in Bath; she really enjoyed this, and raved about her duck salad and her complimentary dessert-with-candle all week. (I also had the duck salad, and agree that it was excellent.)
On my nan’s actual birthday, my Mum and sister visited during the afternoon and evening, then had other Bristol business to attend to the next day. My nan couldn’t decide between two different birthday cakes, so chose to have both, using the logic that “you’re only 80 once“… I chose to not point out that you only turn every age once.
Near the end of the month, I unfortunately needed to take my nan to her brother’s funeral. While I wouldn’t have gone myself, as I’m not sure if I had ever met her brother and so it didn’t feel right to be there, I was also the only available person who could have driven her there. However, my nan’s other brother also had a dilemma, as the length of time his family would be driving meant they had to bring their dogs, but they didn’t want to bring the dogs into the service or leave the dogs alone in a locked car. So we decided that I would look after the dogs during the service; this both made their day easier and meant I didn’t have to do much socialising. This plan worked out well, so the only tricky part of the day was that I needed to spend just under 3 hours of it driving.