Week 1

This week felt like a bit of a blur. As I sit down to write this on Sunday morning, I’m struggling to recall exactly what I did over the past few days. The pace of December always feels overwhelming, and as an introvert, I can’t help but feel a sense of relief now that the holiday season is behind me. It’s nice to see things settling down and returning to a calmer rhythm again.

Things that happened

• I went geocaching with my eldest kid on Monday. We were somewhat into geocaching during the pandemic and were both excited to pick up the hobby again. Geocaching is fun! That said, I wouldn’t recommend doing it in a busy city center like we did that day—people give you the weirdest looks. We did manage to find three caches, so that’s cool. There’s still one we need to figure out, though.
• We celebrated the old year, the new year, and my wife’s birthday. It was nice! We watched Harry Potter movies, enjoyed some tasty baked treats my wife made, lit a fire, ate a bunch of s’mores, and had people over on New Year’s Day.
• I went back to work on Thursday… well, sort of. I was working from home in my pyjamas, which was nice. It wasn’t very eventful, luckily, since most people were probably still off from work. I only received three emails during my Christmas break, and none of them were important. That said, I’m kind of looking forward to going back to work tomorrow.
• On Saturday, I took down all our Christmas decorations. I usually don’t mind doing it, but I kind of miss them now. Well, I guess we’ll have to buy more plants to fill the empty space the Christmas tree left behind!
• Oh, and I almost forgot. Half of our household caught a cold during this last week of our holiday break. This seems to happen every year. It’s so commonplace that I almost didn’t think to mention it!

Media consumed

• • I discovered Ulrich Schnauss while listening to a Shoegaze playlist on Spotify, and I really like his sound. His music is a great blend of Indie Rock, Shoegaze, and Electronica. Highly recommended if you’re into that sort of thing! It’s probably also excellent music to listen to while programming.
• The Haunted Objects Podcast is back after a short hiatus, and we’ve been binging the latest episodes in the evenings. I’m a big fan of the podcast and the Newkirk Museum of the Paranormal. If you’re into (or curious about) the paranormal but prefer a scientific and open-minded perspective, this is definitely something you should check out. The Newkirks and their friends are wonderful, funny people who approach the paranormal with curiosity and a scientific mindset, rather than the Bible-thumping, “everything is a demon” approach you often see on TV.

Nature

• I went for a walk on New Year’s Day at an estate in the next town over. It was a nice, dreary walk. I didn’t spot much wildlife, though—it might have had something to do with all the fireworks unleashed upon the sky the day before. I think many critters were still in hiding. I’m not a fan of fireworks. I did see one Great Cormorant, though.