March Madness

I feel like a post is overdue so I am sitting down to write but as yet, I'm not 100% sure what I should write about. First thing that springs to mind is I recently experienced jury duty for the second time in my life. I wouldn't say it was fun but I think it was a rewarding experience. It was interesting to see all the changes implemented for COVID; the masks, PCR tests every 2 days but especially how the jury sat in the public seating area with individual seats seperated to provide space. It was a great bunch of jurers to discuss the case with and I really enjoyed the interaction. I can't say that I have run into anyone since but it wasn't that long ago and its a small town - I think its interesting that 12 people can be so involved in something for a week or two, have this intense shared experience and then suddenly disperse. While it is difficult to be listening to all the horrible things that may/may not have happened, and having to ultimately make an increadibly serious decision with potentially life changing consequences (along with the guilt afterwards), I really have to say that it was a very worthwhile experience.

In other news, I signed up to play field hockey again this year. I enjoyed last year, we were doing really well but we unfortunately missed out on finals due to COVID restrictions. While COVID is still around, restrictions have eased to the point where it just feels like it's no massive deal if you test positive - you stay inside for 7 days and its back to normal life again. I'm hoping that it doesn't affect sports as much this year as last year. While I have been doing some weights over the past few months (and I like to think I have put on some muscle?), I feel like I need to be doing more cardio so Hockey is a great excuse to get out and run around for a few hours a week.

Entertainment wise, I started reading some sci-fi fantasy during my jury duty stint - a lot of sitting around waiting for direction from judges, sherrifs, COVID tests, etc so I remembered to bring a book along - the Demon Child series by Jennifer Fallon. Other than that I have started listening to 'Snow Crash' by Neal Stephenson (audiobook) - I don't really get much of an opportunity to listen to audiobooks at the moment so my monthly credits are accumulating faster than I can read/listen to books. I was reading somewhere that 'Snow Crash' is a sci-fi title that a lot of tech giants of today cite as a great novel so it had me intrigued as I had never heard of it before. Still early days but I am enjoying it so far. I recently got to the cinema to see 'The Batman' which I really enjoyed. Very dark, gritty and more of a noir detective film than the superhero action films that have been all the rage over the past few years. While there is absolutely action, it wasn't dominating the film which was good. the new Dune movie just came out on DVD so I'm super excited to be getting that. Games wise, I have been playing Horizon Forbidden West which has been really great. Graphics are phenomenal but I have been really enjoying the narrative and lore involved. I also just found Montezuma's Revenge which was a platformer from when I was a kid. Loads of nostalgia value there and the game has a 'modern' version with updated graphics which is really fun to play.

I also recently invested in a Wacom pen tablet thing for my PC so I am enjoying playing around with some Pixel art, mainly modding existing games but there has also been some Blender projects. Nothing I would share publically at this point but maybe one day down the track. We shall see...

In terms of visuals from the past few months, I don't really have much except this is one of my favourite pics from a recent trip to the Mt Tomah Gardens in the Blue Mountains. I was there to pick up my daughter from a stay in Sydney (meeting half way) but I was a bit early so I decided to wander through the gardens for a while. It was raining, foggy, I was feeling pretty horrible/nauseous at the time but walking through the gardens really perked me up. At the time I told myself that I should go on more bushwalks but that has yet to happen. Maybe when the youngest is a bit older and can we can all go camping together.