Since Last Time: 001
A monthly update about my life, guaranteeing no thrills, but some frills.
October was very relaxed, as I worked down my notice from the old job, being mostly left alone as I did so, before embarking on a two week gap in-between jobs. This gave me a chance to realign priorities and reflect on how I wish my time to be spent. Within a matter of hours, I discovered bearblog, purchased a lifetime subscription and published my first post. You are reading a separate monthly update, comprised of the below short sections:
Photo
Heatmap
Lifestyle
Writings
Consumption
Sign Off
Photo
This photo shows the place I've drank many teas over the last 7 years and probably overheard just as many conversations as I've taken part in. Those round tables with the high chairs remind me of the fruitless meetings marketing had with sales, and the passage that travels the length of the office reminds me of the passage of time.
Heatmap
This map shows where I travelled in October. A sunny walk in Peak District demonstrated that autumn is just as close to summer as it is to winter.
Returning to the beautiful chaos of South Italy extended my summer far longer than I deserve. I swam in the Mediterranean on one of the final days of October.
Lifestyle
This month had more sporting activities than any other month since I started tracking in January 2022. I had active weekends/days-off and started regularly playing football first thing in the morning, something I plan to continue doing.
The 16 activities were 8 football, 3 hikes, 2 runs, 2 squash, and 1 cycle.
The drinks were higher than I would've liked, but a work get-together, Halloween and a birthday were 3 occasions I could maybe justify having a little too much.
Writings
Novelty bias is behind the high level of writing this month, with blog posts going out on average every few days. I hope that the cadence of a monthly update will bring me back to writing consistently over the next year.
My most popular post was: the worst thing he did in his life
Consumption
This month I have been listening to the Trying Times album, by James Blake. The standout track is the eponymous one. I went to the live show this month, which was really good.
I have also been reading from the bear discover page. Some of my favourite posts from the month:
We aren’t entitled to a good, happy life, by Future Perfect. This is a really nice, succinct summary of the times we live in, putting an optimistic and sobering spin on what would otherwise be a concerning perspective.
There go 200 of my closest friends, by Bungle in the Jungle. An interesting account of taking a long distance train, something I have been interested in trying.
Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Slop, by Leave the Feed. Another post on the state of social media. What stood out is how they highlighted that Meta are positioning themselves as an entertainment company, rather than a social media company. It made me think that Instagram doesn't contain the entertainment I want to be viewing.
Sign Off
I spent a bit of time getting this post formatted how I'd like, so I hope next month I will focus more on making sure the content is of higher quality.