Winter Olympics

So, the Winter Olympics officially begins on Friday.  On Superbowl weekend.  Someone has messed up.  America will not be watching the Winter Olympics - American football has priority.  At least this weekend.  Especially here in Seattle.  I don't know how much of the Winter Olympics I'll end up watching.  I enjoy a lot of the events, but the American coverage - especially its prime-time coverage in the evenings - is almost unwatchable.  And if I thought the Olympics coverage was jingoistic before, I dread to think how worse it will become now in the current political climate.  Does the UK have a chance of winning any medals?  I have no idea, and if I'm going to be honest I don't really care.  Winter sports is not really our thing.  I'm not sure I'll even bother to catch any of the balls-to-the-wall action of curling.

Some Work Memes

 

Knight of Seven Kingdoms

I don't think I've mentioned this, but I am really enjoying A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms currently airing.  It is SO much better than House of the Dragon.  Going to prove that you don't need massive and expensive set pieces to make a show like this work.  Just like the best moments in Game of Thrones, this thankfully focuses on the characters as much as the storyline: with excellent dialogue, some much needed humo(u)r (something REALLY lacking in House of the Dragon) and some actual heart.  3 episodes in (and 3 relatively short and easily digestible episodes at that) I am really invested in the characters in Knight of Seven Kingdoms now.  I confess to knowing some of the story from the books, so the "twist" at the end of the third episode didn't come as a big surprise, but that hasn't stopped my enjoyment of the show.   

Padilla Bay Trail

A bonus entry, to make up for the missed one yesterday.  Here are a few photos from a shoreline trail I did earlier this month.  Managed to squeeze this one in between some rainy weather, though there was a serious breeze coming off the water.  I had to really tighten up the baseball cap on my head because it was in danger of flying away otherwise.  This is a trail I've done many times before, but not for a while.  Flat and about 4 miles there and back, it's not particularly challenging so makes for a pleasant trek.  And, as I hoped, I got to see a bald eagle - though too far away to get a decent photo (it's the blob in the tree in the photos below!).

Mistake

Whoops, I didn't do a blog post yesterday.  I definitely remember at some point yesterday evening that I was going to write something, but I guess I became distracted and then forgot.  Not that I had, or have, much to say.  This is when trying to maintain a daily blog becomes a massive chore.  I did try to stay up to watch the Australian Open tennis final - with a start time of 30 minutes past midnight for me - but I couldn't do it, and I guess that kind of messed up my evening.  And of course my mind is still frazzled by work.  I wished I lived a more exciting life and had more interesting stuff to write about.  I can only apologize.   

Late Night Work

It's just gone 8.30 pm, on a Friday night, and I've just finished work and logged off.  Very depressing.  But with so much on my plate at the moment, I had to finish this task before Monday.  And rather than work over the weekend, I decided to work on it this evening.  At least it's done now, so I don't need to think about work over the next few days.  Though I probably will.  And it's frustrating for so many reasons.  Certain people getting on my nerves for various reasons, the needless amount of pressure being put on us, and the lack of recognition I'll probably get for working my guts out over the last month or so.  I think I have one last really bad week ahead of me, then hopefully things will ease off a bit (though I fear it won't).  I wouldn't feel so bad if the work was rewarding, but it really isn't.  Sometimes I really regret my career choices.   

Redrum

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

I didn't actually know this was a 17th century proverb, I only knew it from The Shining.  And it seems particularly relevant to me right now.  To quote the meaning of the proverb from Google AI - constantly working without relaxation makes a person bored, boring and unhappy, leading to burnout and lack of fulfillment.  Yep.