Winter has finally arrived with a vengeance. Where I live that means days with a top of 10–11℃ and grey skies. Nothing approaching snow levels. It has superficially snowed here once in my lifetime and that was 1985.
My last Now post was Now, 5 July 2026. I missed last week because I simply did not have the energy or motivation to write. Work has been a real challenge this month. The nature of the projects I have responsibility for hit me hard and my head was not in the game. I’ve spent time in conversation and looking after myself. At times even talking via a blog is too much. Yet, I want to write more and that tension I’m constantly dealing with. Bad periods at work make it that much more intense.
This weekend I’ve been off the games. I spent some exploration time with AI looking at ways I can improve my photo cataloging speed. A tweak in how I approached locations and events made a huge difference. I’ve updated my Mediabank processes. I caught up on all photos from February 2025 through to December 2025. Something like 1,000 photos. Now I’m only 6.5 months behind!
There is still a guilt about all those personal projects I’d like to work on that I’m not getting to. Today it does feel like I cleared space. Any project that moves forward must do so at the cost of others.
Less than an hour ago I finished theKing (2004), The Song of Susannah audiobook and I’m about 80% through Wang (2019), The Sword of Kaigen. It has a story structure that’s keeping me on my toes. I’ve learned something of Japanese honorifics along the way. My next audiobook is The Dark Tower, King (1994), Insomnia which I’ve not read since it first came out over 30 years ago.
Cities Skylines II continues with a new city. The last one was tanking financially and I had no idea why which made it hard to fix. I have a new headset for voice recognition in Elite: Dangerous but haven’t played with it yet.
Motor racing has always been a love of my life. That made watching the first couple of hours of Le Mans 2026 so disappointing. I couldn’t connect with it at all. Instead, I fired up the GT3 Spa 24hr and it’s much more engaging.