February 21

How does the weather affect your mood?


It affects me a bit, but not so severely that it rules my ability to do stuff. It’s not so much the weather that can bring me down - although prolonged grey/rainy periods do make me feel sluggish - it’s the darkness. I use my full spectrum light a lot on winter afternoons. 


 

February 22

What would you change if you knew you could not fail?


Woo, magical thinking! If we’re talking about big-picture global-scale decision-making, I would make worldwide energy production carbon-neutral. I’d also end the massive disparity in wealth distribution.


If we’re talking about me, I would make it so that I stayed fit without ever having to exercise again. I don't object to doing so occasionally for fun, but being obliged to several times a week is a constant source of irritation.

One day it might be feasible for me to take up nightclubbing again and then I can use dancing as my exercise. Old goth lady at the club, yep. Anyone want to come with?



My last goal check-in was almost exactly a month ago. I stopped doing it because I was on holiday but now I reckon the advent of the pandemic has rendered most of the goals irrelevant. For a start, there’s no way for me to go to the gym for the next few months, and no way I’m going to get through this without the liberal application of booze. When examined in the cold light of covid-19, should any of them should be retained?

Individual assessments behind the cut. )

In summary, the only goal I’ll be keeping is the one about reading more than ten books that are new to me. I don’t expect this to be particularly challenging, given that I have at least ten on my bedside table and I won’t be going anywhere for a while. So, sayonara, weekly goal check-in posts. Maybe I’ll give you a whirl in 2021.

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Keiki and Humuhumu running up the hill toward Paxton’s Tower in Carmarthenshire, Wales, whilst pretending to be aeroplanes.

Goal Check-in 8/52: Mostly fail )
This was the view over the River Tywi at around mid-day on Saturday. We were up on the hill above it for all of ten minutes and were soaked to the skin when we returned to the cottage. You can see the silvery river snaking through the centre left of the photo.

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This is (almost) the same view 24 hours later. The river hasn't so much burst its banks as engulfed the entire middle section of the valley in a torrent of brown.

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Goal Check-in 7/52: Mixed success )
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[Telstar lording it up in the sunshine on our ill-kempt lawn.]

As I predicted last week, there was a downturn in success this week. It was mostly due to the need to devote a lot of the latter half of the week to clearing out rooms in the house that will be demolished imminently.

Goal Check-in 6/52: half and half )
I got through January and didn't fail at every goal! \o/

Goal Check-in 5/52: all success )
You know that feeling when you go to book a hotel for a short stay in Reykjavik, and you want to one that is downtown and gives you breakfast in the morning, so you book whatever deal Expedia gives you, and then you discover it is round the corner from a museum, which pleases you, and you look closely at the museum on Google maps, and it turns out to be the penis museum? I do.

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Goal Check-in 4/52: mostly success )
This was a busy weekend. Amongst other things, we went for a 6.6 km walk through a bog in Leicestershire (see photo).

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Goal Check-in 3/52: mostly success )
I’m going to be putting my weekly goal check-in posts behind a cut and tagging them, so you can easily scroll on by if they don’t interest you.

Goal Check-in 1/52: mostly success )
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