Disc Golf

I took a lunchtime walk today through a park that also had an 18 hole disc golf course.  If "hole" is the right word for the metal nets that catch the discs.  It was a sunny day, so even on a weekday lunchtime I saw plenty of people out on the course.  I wish this was a thing when I was younger, because this is something I could see myself doing - after all, who doesn't like throwing around a frisbee.  But I think it's a young man's game - all the people I saw carrying backpacks full of discs were under 20.  And how many discs do you need?  Is it a bit like golf where you have different discs for different distances?  I could understand having a few spare discs, because I saw plenty of people chucking their discs deep into undergrowth.

SNL

I've seen a few clips of SNL: UK online, and was kind of curious how it was doing.  After all, SNL is an American institution.  Admittedly it's not one that I really care for - I don't think I've ever seen an episode in its entirety, just some of the better known sketches.  That's always been the problem for me - SNL is very hit or miss.  And I suspect that is probably the same problem with SNL: UK.  Which is why this kind of show is always going to do much better with online views - where you can be selective in what you watch - compared to actual viewership ratings.  What I've seen is funny enough, but not particularly memorable.  I was never quite sure whether this kind of show would work in the UK - so it will be interesting to see whether it lasts beyond its inaugural season.  

Random Song

Why did I suddenly start singing this song this morning?  I was doing absolutely nothing to jog some long lost memory.  I probably haven't heard the song for 30+ years, and I didn't even know it was a Rod Stewart song until I found it on YouTube.  I simply don't understand how my mind works.

Endorsement

I think there is a very simple way that we can get Nigel Farage and Reform UK out of British politics.  And that is to get J D Vance to publicly endorse them.  He might be one of the most reviled politicians ever.  I think even Trump doesn't like him.  To get an idea of just how unpopular Vance is, just look at what happened to Orban in the Hungarian election.  I think he could do the same to Nigel Farage in the next general election.  What a joy that would be.  I don't think even the current Republican party could consider Vance as a presidential candidate in 2028.  But frankly nothing in American politics would surprise me any more.   

Anzac Day

I'm a day late, but Happy Anzac Day!  A day that I wouldn't know existed apart from seeing it honored when I was watching some recordings of Aussie-rules football games over the weekend.   I know that it occurs on the date of the first Gallipoli landings in the First World War.  Yet another tragic campaign in that war that resulted in heavy casualties, despite the heroism and sacrifice of so many.  And obviously not being from Australia or New Zealand and never having been there (though I hope to go one day), I do not commemorate it nor do I really appreciate it as much as I probably should do.  But if Anzac Day is not well known in the UK, then it is practically unknown in the US - especially since the US didn't enter WW1 until well after the Gallipoli campaign.  But apparently a special dawn service was held yesterday at the Museum of History & Industry in Seattle, close to where my office used to be.  I don't know how many years they've been holding such an event, but I've never heard of it in all my time here.  But then again, why would I...     

Conspiracy

It wouldn't surprise me if this most recent shooting incident involving Trump is staged.  It feels like it.  Just like his "assassination" attempts.  The timing just seems too suspicious.  And even if it was "real", I don't believe anything Trump says and I certainly have no sympathy for him.  He only has himself to blame - he is the boy who cried wolf.  

Relentlessness

The only thing more relentless than my workload right now is the media coverage of Trump.  It feels like he hasn't been out of the headlines for a single day in about the last 10 years.  It's unceasing and thoroughly deflating.  Trump Anxiety Disorder is a real thing, and a real problem.  And I imagine I don't suffer from it nearly as much as an awful lot of other people.  There's a certain irony in talking about mental illness caused by Trump, when Trump himself suffers from narcissistic personality disorder, malignant narcissism, delusional disorder and cognitive decline.

Concerts

I was having a look at the Coachella lineup this year, and it shocked me how bad it looked:

I only recognize a handful of the artists who performed, and even less of those that I would actually have been interested in seeing perform - especially of the headliners.  Is this a case of Coachella really declining in quality, or simply a case of me getting old and out of touch with current music?  I honestly don't know, probably a bit of both.  Now I have been to Coachella once before.  It was a long time ago - and indeed I tried to work out when it was based on who was performing.  I think it was in 2008, though apparently it wasn't particularly memorable because I barely remember it at all.  And this was the lineup that year:   

I'm fairly positive I went on Saturday because I would have wanted to see Portishead.  And this would have been when I was living in California, so it would make sense to go then.  But when you compare headliners between then and now, it was so much better 15+ years ago.  And I certainly recognize more of the artists 15+ years ago, but not as many more as I thought I would do.  Perhaps I've never been up with current music trends.

Soundbar

I somewhat spontaneously ordered a new soundbar for my tv over the weekend, and it got delivered today.  And I'm wondering whether I've been too hasty.  It doesn't support DTS audio - and I own quite a lot of physical media that plays DTS.  Admittedly it supports other audio formats that to my untrained ears probably sound just as good, and it plays Dolby Atmos which is better (but not available on most of my physical media), but still wish I'd known this before.  I'm worried.  I'll probably still set it up (or try to set it up) with my home entertainment system this weekend, but I may have made a mistake.  If I can't get it working satisfactorily over the weekend, I will have to consider returning it.  And besides, I think my priority should be buying a new telly rather than a new soundbar - so I'm not quite sure why I even ordered this.  D'oh. 

Ice Hockey

As I was watching some of the Stanley Cup playoffs, I kind of wished I had played some ice hockey when I was younger.  After all, I played field hockey and wasn't a bad player - and I think maybe the inherent aggression in ice hockey may have suited me.  But there was, and is, one major drawback - I cannot skate.  Yet another activity to add to that long list of things that I have never been able to do - roller skating, skateboarding, skiing, etc.  I remember at secondary school there were a couple of times when we played a form of ice hockey indoors (and obviously not on ice) - and I was really good at it.  When I Google it, it says it's called "ball hockey".  I wish that was a bigger sport.   

Bad back

After 2 weeks of having a bad back, I rotated my mattress back round to how it was - and had the first comfortable night's sleep for a while.  I can't stress enough how much better one feels after a decent night of sleep.  It's not just the mattress, we're also at that time of year when we have perfect temperature.  Warm enough during the day to enjoy the outdoors, cool enough at night to help you sleep.  Unfortunately, it's also the time of year when insects reappear.  Perhaps I was a bit too hasty in killing all those spiders I've been seeing inside the house.  My legs have already been ravaged by insect bites.  Thankfully it's not quite shorts weather yet.     

Playoffs

A good weekend for sports.  The (ice) hockey and basketball playoffs started.  Though I cannot say that I approve of playoff games being shown exclusively on streaming networks.  And we had some good action in the Premier League as we come to the business end of the season.  I must admit to immensely enjoying Man City beating Arsenal and making the title race a lot more interesting.  It's not that I care for Man City, I just really hate Arsenal.  Which also makes the plight of Tottenham Hotspur kind of confusing - because my hatred of Arsenal means that by default I quite like Spurs.  But it would be refreshing to see a big club get relegated, so I'm looking forward to seeing how the run-in plays out.  And I'm glad that Palace are going to have a strong say on both the title and relegation battles - we have got games against both Man City and Arsenal, and if West Ham beat us tomorrow then Spurs are in real trouble.  And I think there is every chance that might happen, since our focus should be on Europe and winning the Europa Conference League rather than the Premier League.     

Star Spangled Banner

Could you please stand up and remove your headwear for the playing of the American national anthem (a special cover of the anthem, appropriate for Trump's America).

 

Tornado

There was an unusual weather event on the water just outside Seattle earlier this week:

Yes, that is a tornado.  Well, technically, it is a waterspout.  But tornado sounds better.  I wish I could take credit for the photo, but I cannot.  I wish I lived somewhere with a water view.  But we had some unusually stormy weather that caused this phenomenon.  The weather is nuts - around the same time there was a tornado west of Seattle, if you headed east then I think Snoqualmie Pass was closed due to heavy mountain snow.  Very uncommon for mid-April.        

Kraken

It was the last game of the season for the Seattle Kraken today.  They blew their chances of playoff hockey with a pretty dreadful second half of the season.  They've still only made the playoffs in one season of their existence - which is rather sad.  And perhaps even sadder, I still haven't been to see them live.  That has to change.  I did look into getting tickets earlier this year, but was quite surprised at how expensive tickets were - especially for quite a mediocre team - and didn't really pursue it further.  I suspect I might get better value if I try to get tickets at the last minute.  Next season.

Lapidary

In a clear sign that I am getting older, I was looking at lapidary saws online today.  Yes, I am seriously considering buying one.  I want to be able to smoothly cut through agates, rather than smash them into bits via a hammer.  And then perhaps I can get into polishing rocks.  Is this all rather sad?  I don't know.  But I've always been kind of interested in geology, and this is just a continuation of that.  In much the same way that I regret not studying history beyond GCSE, I think I can probably say the same thing about geography.  The main difference being that I only got a B in GCSE geography, unlike the As I got in history and the sciences, so I never seriously considered it.  But then one of my biggest life regrets is studying subjects that I was good at, rather than ones I enjoyed.  Something I wouldn't recommend.  That feels like the kind of good advice I wish I could pass on to someone. 

God Complex

Should we be more disturbed that this is how Trump sees himself, or that this is how other people see Trump?  Incidentally, this is also another reason why we need to put the kibosh on AI and AI-created imagery. 

 

HBO: current shows

I've been watching quite a lot of HBO recently.  Here are my recommendations of what, and what not, to watch:

Worth watching: DTF St Louis (highly recommended - quite weird, highly watchable, should win acting awards), Rooster (charming, Ted Lasso-like), The Pitt (outstanding), Born to Bowl (a great documentary on professional bowling) 

Not worth watching: The Comeback (critically acclaimed, I tried watching but just couldn't tolerate it), Euphoria (nope, not my thing)

And, somewhat disturbingly, HBO have started airing adverts for their Harry Potter series.  Already.  It doesn't air until Christmas.  This is going to get a LOT of hype.  

  

Boring

I've never been the most interesting of people.  But I think I've become really boring.  Even more boring than ever before.  I don't do anything exciting, I don't go anywhere exciting.  I live a very plain and uneventful life.  And I don't like it.  I'd like to do much more and make much more of my life, but I'm really not motivated enough to do anything about it.  I've become even more introverted.  I've become incredibly reluctant to step outside my comfort zone.  In all aspects of my life.  And that's a real shame.  Is this an age thing?  Partly.  Are there other factors at play?  Partly.  For example, I think working from home has ruined my work life balance.  I think if this was 10 years ago, I would have done more about my current situation - quit my job, relocated, etc.  But things are very different now - the job market for my kind of position is nowhere near as abundant as it used to be, I think I'm a lot more fussy about where I live, and I've just kind of settled for what I have.  Which is not necessarily a good thing.  I know this is not a particularly positive blog entry, but I like to speak the truth.  And I've been feeling quite down recently.  But my depression tends to be quite cyclical in nature, so I hope I can pick myself up sooner rather than later.        

Statue

They recently revealed a new statue outside the ballpark of the Seattle Mariners, to honor one of the best players to ever play for Seattle - Ichiro Suzuki.  See if you can spot anything wrong with the statue:

 

Arc de Trump

Trump has asked for a budget of $10 billion to spend on Washington DC projects, like this planned eyesore:

That is four times the proposed budget for the National Park Service.  Which is a disgrace.  In the meantime, Operation Epic Fury is costing the US about $1 billion every day.  And who is paying for the war and Trump's stupid vanity projects?  Why the US taxpayer of course.  The cost of living is rising, led by the significant increase in gas prices.  I'm going to have to start filling up exclusively at Costco gas stations, which are generally the cheapest around.

Bad Back

You're supposed to rotate your bed mattress 180 degrees every 3 to 6 months.  I rotated mine last weekend, and now I'm suffering from a bad back and lack of sleep.  What a mistake.  I think I'm going to rotate my mattress back to how it was this weekend.  This is not the first time this has happened.  I don't know why one side of my mattress is so messed up compared to the other.  I've even tried sleeping on the other side of the bed, but that hasn't helped.  I think I've just created that perfect, comfortable depression in the mattress on one side - and nothing else will do.     

Spiders

Do spiders hibernate?  Apparently they must do, because after a winter of inactivity I've been seeing loads over the last few days.  It really is quite unsettling.  Like they've been biding their time over winter until a certain temperature is reached again and they are reactivated.  All of them.  At once.  And not uncoincidentally we have had some nice weather this week.  Disturbing.

Balrog

It should come as no surprise that I've been building a Lego set to help deal with the current stresses of work.  I've just completed this one:

Happy Easter!

No Easter eggs for me this weekend.  Disappointing.  I'm teased by the presence of Cadbury Creme Eggs at the grocery stores - but I'm not tempted because the ones for sale here are made by Hershey and taste significantly inferior to the ones back in the UK.  Just like all the other Cadbury-branded products they sell here.  It's an absolute disgrace.  No wonder that whenever I come back to the UK, I'm forced to return to the US with loads of chocolate in my luggage.  Which inevitably doesn't last as long as it should.    

Sunday Roast

I had a really bad craving for a Sunday roast today.  Like I could drive a ways just to get one.  It's kind of tragic that there isn't anywhere in the Seattle area that I can go - at least that I'm aware of.  There are a few British/Irish pubs - but most of them are just British in terms of decor, and don't offer British food.  And the few that do, I don't see Sunday roast being offered.  They are the kind of places that offer shepherd's pie, but made from beef so they are not really shepherd's pie but cottage pie.  I just did a Google search, and I see somewhere in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle that offers a traditional Sunday roast.  But it looks to be a fairly high-end restaurant where reservations are necessary, and the price of the roast dinner is definitely on the high end.  Not exactly the British pub type roast I really desire.

Hummingbirds

I haven't been seeing, or hearing, many hummingbirds recently.  I didn't think much of it - it's that time of year when there are plenty of other food sources for them.  But they must be around because the levels in some of the feeders have been going down.  So I went to refill my feeders yesterday.  And was devastated to find a dead hummingbird on the ground by one of the feeders.  No idea what the cause of death was or how long it had been there.  But if this was the dominant hummingbird controlling the territory around my house, then no wonder things had been quiet.  It'll probably take a while for other hummingbirds to return.  And let me also say there is something fundamentally sad about seeing such a small and lifeless body of a hummingbird.  You realize just how fragile these creatures are, and what a privilege it is to have them around.   

Not So Good Friday

A rough day at work to end the week.  Or, to be more accurate, another rough day at work to end the week.  The usual culprits - too much to do, too little time to do it, blah blah blah.  I wouldn't say I'm suffering from burnout just yet, only that the job is causing me stress and I'm not handling that stress very well.  But I think I've said all this in previous posts, so I don't need to repeat myself.  I just hate the fact that Easter Monday is not a public holiday here, so it's just a regular weekend before back to the grind on Monday.  Sigh.       

World Cup tickets (Not)

It hasn't even started, and I'm already over the World Cup.  The last official stage of ticket sales is underway, and I just checked and there are no tickets available for any of the Seattle games.  It was first come first served, so this isn't really a surprise.  I tried checking when the window first opened, but I didn't seem to get very far in the queue I was placed in - so I gave up.  Not that I would have bought a ticket at the outrageous prices they are going for now.  So I'm not going to see a World Cup game in person, which is a bit disappointing.  But maybe not, because I think this World Cup is going to be a total bust.  Too many games, too many mediocre teams, an England side that I don't think is going to do particularly well, and the large unwelcome shadow of Trump and his policies lingering over the entire tournament.  

Dramas

There seems to be a preponderance of episodic biblical dramas that have come out this Easter.  Certainly more than I've seen in previous years, and with significantly bigger production budgets.  I'm not sure what that says about the people making these dramas, or the people that consume them.  I suppose one shouldn't be surprised considering the lack of original content being produced by studios.  I am no fan of faith-based content, so I haven't watched any of these shows and cannot comment on their quality - but I can't say I'm surprised at their popularity in the US.