Week notes #4

Sunday again. I'm writing this with a background soundtrack of Hakuna Matatta while the boy watches The Lion King. After a few weeks of ups and downs with work, things are looking a bit more positive...

I have a new job! I'll be working for a start-up as a Front-end Dev & UX Designer which is a good mix of what I want to get from work. Doing FE for nearly 16 years, I wanted to move into another area. Aside from some IT/proxy issues to get over, this week has mostly been spent researching, prototyping and starting work on designing basic elements we'll need to build out the onboarding process.

Drawing-wise, it's slipped off the radar somewhat. My mind has been all over the place with work recently and I've struggled finding time to draw. I've also really struggled with motivation, whenever I try to draw, I find it hard to produce work I'm happy with which then leads to not feeling motivated to keep going. It's a horrible cycle but I need to get myself out of it.

I'll be working remotely for the next few weeks so I'm hoping the time saved commuting I can put to good use getting the motivation back for drawing. If I report back with nothing in next week's notes, you have my permission to give me hell on Twitter.

Yesterday we went over to Hesketh Farm to see all the new-born farm animals. We got to feed the lamb and calves, held some day-old chicks and had a lovely picnic in the sunshine.

Until next week, good night, and good luck.

Reading

I haven't read too many online articles this week but I've been working through a trinity of Mindful Design, Sprint and Make Time.

Listening

I've spent a lot of time listening to podcasts but forgot to note down any I found particularly interesting. I'm slowly working through this Elon Musk interview which is worth a listen.

Watching

Our wind-down time in the evenings have been mostly spent watching programmes on iPlayer. The Repair Shop has become an annual favourite for us. Seeing master craftspeople taking old, worn possessions and restoring them is pretty incredible. Though I keep falling asleep watching Jack the Ripper - The Case Reopened, it's a pretty interesting look at the Whitechapel murders.