Frank
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Weeknote - Main Character Energy
Published: 12 July 2024
The Weekend
The post-election sleepiness followed me into the weekend. I remember volunteering at parkrun, but everything else is a blur. I did spend a fair bit of time tinkering with this website. I had an idea prompted by this post to roll my own static commenting system for the blog.
I planned to create a simple form that would trigger a cloud function in Firebase (where I host this static site) to append comments into a JSON file in my GitHub repo, build a component to render these comments as HTML on the page and then trigger the GitHub action that rebuilds the site. Simples!!
It’s not so simple when you have my hacky coding skills. After faffing about for several hours, I decided I would be happier handing the job over to a 3rd party service for the moment. I tried a couple of different solutions and ultimately decided to try JamComments.
It’s a lightweight solution, respects people’s privacy, and adds comments to pages at build time to help maintain performance and security. It lacks some configuration options, but I’ve got it close to functioning as I envisaged using CSS to hide some faff. I seldom get blog comments, but it’s nice to give people the option! Give it a try, and let me know if it sucks.
I also played with the site’s RSS output and got distracted by webmentions for a bit.
This mindless geekery might feel pointless, but I learnt some new tricks, and it was a great distraction from the life stuff I wanted to ignore.
Monday
I woke up feeling lousy, so I logged into the virtual work world, spent some time planning things for the week ahead, and then booked the afternoon off as leave to prioritise some self-care. I went to the pool for a swim and went into town to hang out and have coffee at my favourite spot.
The weather was pretty miserable, but in the evening, I plucked up the courage to join my local running club for their easy, inclusive Monday run. I’m not usually a social runner, but pending life changes[1] have me thinking about new ways of increasing my social circle closer to home. Neither the running nor the social interaction came easily to me, but I’m proud of myself for giving it a go. Only five of their number had braved the weather, and they were all fitter than me. Although very awkward at first, things felt better as the session progressed, and I was grateful for the efforts these strangers put into making me feel welcome.
Tuesday
On my morning walk, I listened to stompcast, a regular feature in my Podcast feed. I enjoyed the recent few episodes, which included an interview with Fats Timbo. She has a book coming out called Main Character Energy. Something about this phrase struck a chord in me, and I’ve been mulling over how I might channel some more Main Character Energy in my own life.
The rest of the day was spent in kick-off sessions for a new Local Digital cyber project. By the end of the day, the team felt better aligned on the goals, got to know each other better, and had documented and committed to a plan for the first sprint. It was a pretty good day.
In the evening, we went to keep our Daughter company, who is staying nearby, dog-sitting for family.
Wednesday
I managed another run early doors. It was an interval-style session that got my blood pumping and endorphins flowing.
Work involved a little bit of everything: client project work, internal project chats, sales stuff, and team time. Team time involved some interesting conversations and food for thought. A few knotty problems are currently being unpicked, but I’m struggling to understand how I best use my skills and experience to help… and, at times, whether that’s even appropriate. I’m trying a few things and I’ll continue to reflect on the results.
The pending life changes[1] became very real very quickly late on Wednesday afternoon, putting me into a bit of a funk. The funk cleared a little by ending the day with a sea swim and a portion of fish and chips at Weymouth Harbour. The views were accompanied by an exciting soundscape of cheers and moaning from the surrounding pubs where the football was being shown. I’ve been led to believe England had a good result and ‘it’s coming home!‘. I have no clue what this all means, but I’m happy that others are happy.
Before I slept, I watched Living on Neflix. I found it to be a beautiful film. Bill Nighy and Aimee Lou Wood are fabulous, and it’s just a lovely story about life, death, people and public service.
Thursday
I got up early to catch a train to London. A few of us had the pleasure of spending a whole day collaborating with the sharp minds at Local Digital. It was great to spend a day in person with people I’ve built virtual relationships with over the past few months. I also met new people, learned new things, and enjoyed our very own Jukesie talk about working in the open. I went to the pub before getting the train home. Both the cider and company were good and needed.
The train ride home was busy, and the internet connection was sketchy AF. This has meant I’ve had to push a couple of tasks that I couldn’t finish into next week, but that’s ok.
Friday (today)
This morning, I took over Robyn’s dog-sitting duties as she needed to attend a hospital appointment. I’ve taken three crazy hounds for a walk and have been drafting this post with them curled snugly around my feet.
We waved goodbye to our family car this afternoon and returned it to the dealership. I’ll rely on my feet, bicycle, public transport and taxis for a little while until I get something sorted on the EV front. I hope we get more summer weather soon, and I don’t go too crazy without instant ‘on-a-whim’ access to countryside drives and beach trips.
Daughter Robyn received a nice high mark (equivalent to a 1st) for her most recent university work. A research proposal titled ‘Siloed Services - Is service design the most effective solution for fragmented data in our healthcare systems?‘. She’s one very smart and lovely human. It is a proud parent moment, and it is nice that her passions continue to follow both sides of the family business 😂. Although she’s tried hard to line up design work for her summer break, she has had little luck. If, by chance, anybody reading this has any leads for paid design or transformation experience over the summer, let me know. She’s amazing (Yes, I’m biased!)
[1] Pending Life Changes
It’s been on the cards for a couple of months, but after 24 years together, 20 of them married, my wife Chloe and I are separating. We’re parting on good terms and as good friends, but it’s a massive change to process and full of complex emotions. Chloe will likely move out of the house in the next few weeks.
Over the next few months, I need to establish new routines and start thinking about what I now want from life. It feels overwhelming and often quite depressing. Still, I’m forcing myself to see that this could include exploring opportunities I wouldn’t have otherwise been open to or had previously ruled out.
Calling back to my earlier musing, I’ve got to figure out how I shape myself as the main character in my story rather than focus on being an excellent supporting cast member of somebody else’s. I may just be kidding myself, but for now… one day at a time.
Noteworthy posts
This month note from James Higgott is a good read and this is an excellent example of how to publish a public service roadmap
Stef W’s post on Planning Reform is a great read. He’s very smart and also just a lovely bloke!
Another smart post from yet another smart TPX colleague - What to expect (when you’re graduating) from Alex Deschamps-Sonsino. I only properly met Alex a few weeks back, primarily cos’ she admired my taste in t-shirts! Proof I might not have the smarts but I’ve got the looks 🤣 - FASHION DARLING!!
Onward ✊ x o x
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Stuart Mackenzie
Apparently not Frank! :(
Sorry!
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