Weeknote 01/2024
"All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well"
Verbs
Rereading: Moleksine 2023 day-to-page diary
Last year my wife got me a Moleskine day-to-page diary for Christmas and for all of 2023 I kept up the habit of spending 5 or 10 minutes a day just making a note of everything that happened that day. My main goal was to try and have a better recollection of the day to day stuff of life which can sometimes slip from memory. I’m hoping to carry the habit through into this year so have a brand new (green!) 2024 diary. Now that I have a full diary from last year I am also taking a little time every few days to read back to myself the entries from last year. Some days not a great deal happened, but there are also some difficult, even painful, memories from January 2023 that make for tough reading. I think, though, that in some ways that’s sort of the point. Seeing how time has passed, how pain or difficulty have been resolved, and that we endure and find new happiness in our lives. The quote at the top of this week’s edition is taken from a January diary entry, in fact, and speaks to the healing power of the passage of time.
Watching: The entire Harry Potter corpus (Fantastic Beasts pending.)
Over the holiday period my wife decided that she wanted a full rewatch of the Harry Potter movies. We’ve now done the full run with the Fantastic Beasts films up next, and they happily saw us through the new year. I think the allure of the films lies in the moments of delight that magic, as an idea, can offer us. It’s not so much Dumbledore swirling fire and Voldemort raining death that excite us so much as it is the Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, and the marvels of a magically animated Christmas. It seems to me that we love the sense of wonder that magic offers us. Perhaps the idea that we might use power beyond our own to bring joy and surprise into the world is very appealing - especially because, or maybe in spite of the fact, that we seem to use the powers offered to us by technology to do so much of the opposite. For what it’s worth, I think the run of Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, and The Half Blood Prince is the best in the series with probably number 6 coming out on top overall.
Using: Letterboxd and Serializd
Despite the dumb dropping of the last e in both their names, I’ve started using these two apps to track the films and TV we are watching. Along with Goodreads for books, I wanted to be able to look back over what I’ve seen and read and have a better memory of it all - perhaps there’s a theme developing along with the diary keeping. Too often I found I couldn’t remember the name of something I wanted to recommend, or just what we had watched earlier in the year that we loved or enjoyed. Once I remember the name of the thing I’m generally very good at remembering the plot or details, but my memory just won’t hold on to it otherwise. I think a lot of what I‘ve started doing over the last year or two has been about being more thoughtful and reflective about what I do, what I consume, and the experiences I have - all that comes together in my diary and notebook keeping, in this newsletter and my blog, and apps like these.
Inspiring: Natalie Lynn on YouTube (@nataliexlynn)
I’m a big fan of the output of Jack Conte - in his guise as musician, as well as film maker and YouTuber. As part of his Digital Spaghetti series he interviews creatives and YouTubers about their work in a really captivating and exploratory way. I’ve seen interviews with long-standing favourites on his channel, but I’m also often introduced to people who I’ve never come across before; usually because I’m not part of their primary “Gen Z” demographic. In a recent video he interviewed Natalie Lynn - a young film maker from the US who has started producing astonishing work, particularly in her series Borderless. The creativity, depth of thought, and sheer artistry she brings to bear on her film making is tremendously inspiring and she is producing work that is so far beyond the level one would think of from a) YouTube and b) someone so young - she’s only 22! There’s colossal talent here and I really can’t wait to see where she goes over the next few year.
Words
A dog who is definitely enjoying wearing reindeer antlers.
…And tomorrow is Christmas Eve. It still sounds so strange to be saying that as we’re already well in to January by now, but here in Serbia Christmas is January 7th so it’s time for Christmas II: The Christmassing. For those that have been following along, Teddy the dog is now fit and well and very much over the virus that had been laying him low for some weeks. He’s back on his feet, putting on all the weight he lost, and generally having an excellent time.
Over the last week we’ve been taking it easy at home and spending some time all together after my travels in the UK. We’ve also be planning for the year ahead and trying to figure out our travel plans for 2024. We’ve got some great trips in the pipeline and some more still on the drawing board but it’s shaping up to be a fun year for travel. I’m particularly looking forward to our next trip to the UK where we’ll be travelling down from the north-east through Durham and York to end in London. It will have been a long time since I was last in Durham, where I spent 4 or 5 years at university, and I’m really looking forward to revisiting after so long.
I’m currently also preparing for a work trip to Abu Dhabi where I’ll be leading another workshop for the International Baccalaureate, this time for the Theory of Knowledge course that is a core component of the Diploma Programme. I’ll be working with teachers to develop their understanding of the course, build their curriculum, and create some exciting and impactful learning experiences for their students.
Now, time to batten down the hatches ready for the final festive throw down of the year!