2024/02/12

Today was my first day of "Engineering Excellence level 3" training. Started at 8:30am, and it was a real struggle to get to office in time! Thankfully, this week is some sort of school break, so there was far less than usual traffic. The day went great, training was really engaging, and I'm looking forward to 3 more days, before I'm back to work as usual! Did groceries on the way home (basically was supposed to buy 5 things I had missed out yesterday, but ended up buying a whole bag of stuff... story of my life!), cooked dinner for Shruti (Paneer masala), ate my own "Lunch" for dinner, because I wasn't hungry during my lunch break in office... and finally did some odd jobs around the house. Have to sleep early, my eyes are already burning from sleep deprivation, and I have an early start tomorrow as well!

2024-02-11

Continued my spell of feeling under the weather by sleeping in today. I got out of bed at literally noon, made myself a cup of tea, and before I knew it, it was 1pm. I wanted to meet the cavehill walking club folks at cHill, and the walk there was painful thanks to the corn. I put myself through it though, instead of doing the easy thing and cycling or taking the motorbike, as I had been using the corn relief plaster for a week ad wanted to see if it had helped. It hadn't. Painful as ever, if not worse. Spent an hour at cHill with the walking club, all of whom were glad to see me aftyer my hiatus of about 2 months. Walked back home, loaded the motorbike with empty bottles and cans, and headed to refill quarter for a much-delayed zero-waste shop. Then did the rest of our grocery shopping, rode to the city centre to pick up Shruti from after her German meetup, and headed to hey boba for bubble tea. Hey boba had been shut for renovation for the last few weeks, and it was nice to be back! Also, Shruti ordered something different from her usual "roasted oolong" milk tea - something called "honeydew melon", which I found a surprising choice as she doesn't like honey. It was good - much better than my favourite "thai milk tea". I think I'm going to head there and order a whole large one for myself very soon! Picked up some random chicken handi masala and cooked chicken handi, initially following the instructions, but then just did my own thing. It turned out super spicy, but great! Showered and went to bed, super tired and in anticipation of tomorrow's training. Big week ahead!

2024/02/10

This week somehow felt me feeling very drained, for reasons I cannot fully put my finger on. I think the lack of activity due to the corn in my left foot is taking its toll on me. Anyway, I slept for pretty much the entire day. After lunch, I was back in bed as I did not have the energy or motivation, and has a splitting headache. I was supposed to go for Bill Bailey's "Thoughtifier" show in the SSE Arena in Belfast at 6:30pm, and my initial plan was to take the bus (so leave at 4pm), then switched to cycling in (so leave at 5:30pm) and finally I took the motorbike at 6:15pm for the 6:30pm show! Made it on the stroke of the minute, but all in vain as the show did not still till about 8pm! This was my first ever big ticket comedy show, and I didn't know what to expect - at least some sort of opening act? There was none. Even the seating was cramped and uncomfortable, with my fingers going cold from the alcohol-free beer I was sipping on as there was no arm rest on the chair, let alone a cup holder. It was pretty much a filding garden chair, and I was shoulder to shoulder with the people on either side. Bill Bailey lived up to expectations, although I must admit there were bits where his performance kinda fell flat. Few and far between, but still. Definitely not making it to the special DVD, in my opinion! Rode home in 1 degree with my summer gloves without my thermal undergloves on because I wanted to pee and also wanted to get out of Titanic quarter before the traffic leaving the parking lot clogged the road. Feels kinda irrational in retrospect! But yeah, Bill Bailey! Given a slew of bad luck that usually surrounds big ticket events I've paid fair sums of money for in the UK, I was half expecting something to go terribly wrong, (I even spent 3 quid on event insurance!) but it all went off without a hitch.