Pen Paradise

I set off for work hilariously early to beat the traffic and instead the traffic beat me. Over an hour of driving later I landed and dove into my work. The big thing at the moment is the amount of birthdays we have coming up for friends and colleagues so we're cooking up plans and gifts for them. Speaking of gifts, I've had my eye on a rather nice pen for a little while now and a saw our base was a stones throw away from a stationery shop. Low and behold, they had my pen, not even behind a cabinet so I could try it out and get a sense of it. Better still, they offered to sell it to me with a blue ink cartridge inside - I was prepared to drop some more money just so I could write in my signature colour. Just in time too, I had plenty of Birthday cards to sign...

On Turning 25

Deary me. I finished up my to do list before lunch time and nothing really emerged to stack on top. I'm not used to lulls in the action as it turns out, but the mind does start to wander when it's not occupied. I honestly think I spent more brain energy being the office DJ, a usually thankless task but when it helps everyone around me lock in then it's all worth it. 

A coworker is lamenting the fact they're turning 25 soon, pondering and getting stuck up on the fact 'they haven't accomplished much with their life'. That kind of thinking bits hard, especially at that age. I remember working at coffee #1 and telling my 30 something colleagues exactly the same thing when I was turning 25. Despondantly they remarked how they'd give anything to be that young again. Well now I'm empathizing pretty hard with that sentiment. Still, I hope we can knock them out of their funk.

Run Rebecca, Run

Rebecca and I went out on another run together, this time we smashed her personal best. First time we went out last month she was wheezing her way towards the finishing line (not a far cry from how I was doing the first time I got back into the swing of things), but today she took it all in her stride. Slowly but surely I'm convincing her that it's a fun hobby.

Our lazy Sunday's have also given way to a new part of our routine: a mid afternoon movie. Often these are mid 2000's chick flicks that Rebecca is enlightening me on and so far we haven't hit a stinker. It's just funny going back through my film history to see well regarded 60's French cinema, Silent era masterworks and cheese ball Rom Coms all lumped in together. 

Padel 2

Keep getting Saturday headaches. Probably a combination of catching up on sleep and not having caffeine in my system at the appointed time of pre-6am. I push through it every weekend though, I suppose by the time it goes away symbolizes how rested I am. It didn't effect my performance during some sports though. Mark and Lucy invited Rebecca and me to go play some Padel together. It had been a hot minute since I last had a stab but racquet sports do come back to me pretty quick. Padel is an odd one though because you need to unwire your brain a bit from classic tennis rules as there's always more options to keep the ball in play - the most common being smashing the ball against the wall for a bounce back. Literally every one of us that played got offer that opportunity in a game, ran over to strike the ball, then had a physical hiccup as our brain and our arms didn't communicate properly. That made it all the more fun though - we're all at a similar level so the match was dead close but always a hoot.

11 Years

Although today was meant to be a bit shorter for everyone, I still found myself running around trying to facilitate everyone. I got the Friday feeling though, around lunchtime I started to twinckle knowing that two whole days of rest were incoming. But that feeling was slightly stolen away as the post work requests came flooding in. 'Hey there, sorry it's after hours but...' is the prefix from hell, especially on a Friday. But I got away smooth and managed to enjoy a date night out with Rebecca to it's fullest. 

Not just any date night though! It was our 11th anniversary of getting together tonight so we hit the town, visiting a swanky wine and pasta place which was stunning. We're talking crab, clams and the silkiest panna cotta I've ever had. We crashed back down to earth by  sauntering into a kooky board game bar smack bang in the middle of Friday Night Clubbing Central. It was a little slice of us and a little quieter than most places so it was Ideal for us. The whole time we spent playing games I couldn't believe 11 years had passed me by - I'm so very lucky to have Rebecca in my life.

Plied with Pancakes

My colleagues noted my thousand yard stare on occasion today. I was running out in the rain a lot, juggling multiple requests on emails and WhatsApp which managing several expectations. It can be quite draining that but I didn't want to make a thing of it. Yet to make me feel better I was plied with pancakes from catering, which I would have enjoyed more if I wasn't constantly getting up to sort out more problems. That said, I wore my many hats well and showed a lot of people I wasn't just a Prod bod. Even the director made a remark as he saw me loading a camera truck.

A busy day requires some fun in the evening though. I nipped out for a quick run before Louis and Rachel popped round to try the new Mario Kart game. Louis likes the new cow character and shouting cow puns when he does something hype as it turns out. 

Tray 9

Attended another round of teeth shaving with my dentist. I asked him if it was as ropey for him as it was me and he just smiled while giving a tired look. Another set of my trays went in too, markings my 17th week with these things in my gob and I'm still not halfway yet. The results are starting to be a bit more pronounced though, just have to let that carry me for now.

My one hour at the dentist unexpectedly put me in the backdoor for the rest of my work day. I played catch-up til about 4pm, then coasted for a couple of minutes, then got hit with a bombshell that I had to untangle a bit too late in the day. I think it's all sorted but I certainly earned my money today.