2024-09-26
I really have no conception what I want the blog to be used for. Originally it was the main place of writing when I didn't write as much, and I would have posts on various things. But I have not written a blog post since Feb 23 (a year and a half!) and have now begun @@[wv][/wv] so I am not really sure what I should be putting on my blog.
The wv has the restriction of writing at least a thousand words that is relaxed here. I think wv could be used for getting my thoughts together, and then any proper ideas I write up into blog posts once I've gotten them in a good shape so to speak?
Anyways...
I am thinking of starting 100DaysToOffload, the challenge to write 100 blog posts in a year. So I would start I suppose from 2024-09-30.
This will actually get the blog to be used a little, and mean that I would write in a way that I sort of expect to get read? Not that I have much (any?) readership. It would go alongside writing the longer form, more rambly wvs, but be shorter (or less constrained by length, at least) and more just about what I did during the week as opposed to actual topics.
To get an easy fifty-two in, I think I would like to do a weeknotes regular, where I write just what I did in the week. I suppose a part of this would be to find something new to do each week, which would be fun! And of course, continue with my current interests.
At the same time, for next week, I am going to begin Inktober. This will be to draw one sketch (in pencil and can later potentially be inked in) each day in October. I'll upload these on the weeknotes or somewhere else.
For the week 2024-09-23 to 2024-09-29.
It's been a decent week. I went to the gym two days in a row for the first time ever: Sunday and Monday. I went with my dad and I've ended up pulling my triceps - I knew I shouldn't have done it as I did triceps the day before as well. It's now pretty painful if I move my arm in a certain way. Hey ho, I'll recover.
I went out for work drinks on Wednesday. I got tontoed (for non-Brits, that means smashed, drunk) having about nine drinks (mostly cider, one rum and coke) in total. It was on an empty stomach, and I can't really handle my alcohol that much anymore, because I barely drink. It was great fun - we (me and ...) discussed with the HR lady about maybe living and working abroad - I got the e-mail back on Tuesday confirming my application for German citizenship, so I've only got two more years and then I'll be German! - but she in good HR fashion just said to ask our managers.
I've started to take creatine, to hopefully make me sort of generally more performant at... the gym, and at life, I guess. I did get incredibly dehydrated the first day I took it, and bloated the day after, but I think it's ok now even after just a couple days. I suppose (since I'm not loading it) that I won't see any changes for a couple of weeks, which is fine. Maybe the change won't even be that drastic.
I've been looking into [Kagi](https://kagi.com), which despite its horrible sounding name looks to be an amazing search engine. They have a trial with 100 free searches, and it does appear to be really good - it prioritises (and seems to index really well) searches from small, independent sites, and does not have the same kind of AI written articles (we all know the type - titles like BEST X OF $CURRENT_YEAR and then huge amounts of drivel to pad out space for ads) or the same few sites (Instagram, Facebook etc) that clog up searches; it also seems to have a good ability to customise the searches to your liking, e.g. reducing the prevalence of certain sites or increasing others.
Currently I'm just on the trial, but I think I will use it day to day, and then if it's really good I will pay for it. $5 a month (probably £4ish) is fairly reasonable. It does feel odd to pay for a search engine though...
I wrote my @@[first sonnet][/poetry/sonnet-1] this week! It is sort of just a play on the Shakespeare sonnet 18 "shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" but still proud of it in a way! I quite enjoyed writing it and enjoy sonnets as a poetic style, so will try write more.