Category: status

STATUS: watching NASA apparently fail to launch the Artemis moon rocket. It’s a weird thing to look at, the Artemis. An Apollo shape, in early 1990s orange, with a couple of old Space Shuttle solid rocket boosters stuck to it. I get that they want to use known, mature technologies. But for what is. in part, a PR stunt, it’s kind of retro looking, in that dated “I can’t believe your mum still has that wallpaper up” way.

MOON STATUS:

My newsletter went out yesterday: if you missed it or don’t subscribe, you can read it and sign up at this link here.

I have to start my rewrites on the next-to-be-announced project today, and work on the outline for the one after that in the evenings.

There are signs of autumn in the air. The sky has finally clouded over, and there are fingers of cold in the wind. Growing season is almost over. Now it’s time for the work.

The heat peaked yesterday, and according to the forecast that was the last heat spike of the month. I’m hoping so, because at this point I’m kind of fucked up and my eyes won’t let me put a mornngcomputer together. (The heat spike created a huge pollen allergen surge, and consistent high heat creates more vision issues than you might expect.) I actually had to take a screenshot of an email from my manager this morning and zoom it so I could read it.

But now we have a little rain, and a little wind, and in a little while I’ll be able to read well enough to close a contract, read a proposal and get back into the vast outline I have to write over the next several days. While also, hopefully, carving out some time to put a plan in place for this site for the autumn and winter.

I’ve never been a summer person. I need the autumn light. Back soon.

Listening to: all my Kodo Drummers records.

I should have declared a heatwave holiday. I’m grinding through two difficult pieces of writing work right now, and doing that in heatwave conditions seems to mean that there’s not enough left in the tank to do the writing I want to do in this space. Hell, I can’t even get into the garden for long enough to save all the plants the heat has been murdering and to do the sowing I really want to do. Complaining about the weather is, of course, an age-old British pastime, but I am simply not made for Bahamian summers in my little nook of old England.

The newsletter goes back to normal on Sunday. Hopefully, I will go back to normal soon after.

It’s a little warm here. Expected to spike at around 38 C. I’ll be abandoning the office sometime in the next hour. All I’ve done so far is review my email, make notes and start the newsletter for next Sunday. Thinking of updating my spring 2022 morning routine post, as I’ve made some changes. Always be moving. Unless it’s 38C in a place not constructed for 38C and in a house built to retain heat. In which case, sit still and read a book.

STATUS: distraction-free day required. Full deep work concentration mode.

Currently reading: THE WHISPERING MUSE, Sjon

Currently listening:

Status: outside.

Cloudy day, scattered showers on the way – once again, the big rain is missing us out here on the Thames Delta, due to the weird microclimate the estuary creates. I’ve done and filed two scripts so far this week, but July 4 looms, so they won’t get processed until next week, which leaves me at a loose end. So, if the forecast holds, I can spend Friday and Saturday clearing more of the garden and starting some more seeds.

I’ve already written this week’s newsletter – it’s free and it goes out on Sundays, and you can subscribe to it here but please check your spam traps for the confirmation email. I have something like three hundred attempted subscribers still floating in the system because their spam filters caught the confirmation email.

I think I’ve finally cleared my email backlog. And so, with America quiet and things in the pipeline, I think I can take my own long weekend to sit and think.

Currently listening: DRONE MASS.

Currently reading: the Housman’s Bookshop website and remembering the days I could spend a couple of hours wandering its shelves. And how there always seemed to be a copper outside when I left.

Out here on the Thames Delta, we are entering a one-day freak heatwave – something like 12 Celsius higher than yesterday, hitting 32C, dropping by 11 Celsius tomorrow. Yes, there are places in the world where 32C is nothing, but, ahem, this is England. Going from a pleasant 20C to 32C overnight is A Thing here. And this office is a hotbox at the best of times. So I’m shutting down as many machines as possible and going to the notebook.

Germination.

Deep work mode today. I have to attempt the first draft of a first script in a new and challenging project.

Related: currently reading BRITISH RADIO DRAMA 1945-63, Hugh Chignell (link)

Playing on my big monitor, for concentration purposes: the live streamed view from the ISS.

Listening: Hypnagogue Podcast, probably the best ambient/electronic music podcast in the world.

The newsletter is half-written, and it goes out on Sunday. You can read previous editions or subscribe at this link here. Please consider sharing that link if you like it, reader. (I assume there’s only one of you.)

My back garden has been allowed to turn into the Lost Gardens of Heligan over the last few years. Only much much much smaller. So I’m spending the next several days out there with implements of destruction and lots of dirt.

My free weekly newsletter, Orbital Operations, goes out on Sunday to 23,000 people, and you can subscribe or look at the new archives at this link here.