Weekly Roundup - Lockdown Chips
Watched: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Reading: The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley (still)
Mon 4th May
10:05
Feeling SLUGGISH! It hits me late on in the day. What it is I was doing when I was feeling great that I’m not doing now? Meditation. Up until a few days ago I was meditating daily and mixing it up with the Wim Hoff practice. I was tip-top most of the time. I never learn. I know what I have to do to feel good and there is part of me that basically doesn’t want to do it. It’s akin to the person who knows they will feel better going to the gym and they don’t.
19:30
Sophia and I make a camp and watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire with treats and goodies. She’s all excited as I let her sleep in the camp.
Tue 5th May
11:04
Wake up on the sofa. Sophia is asleep on the floor in the camp. It’s 07:58 am. Man, that’s the middle of the night. We have another hour's sleep and Sophia gets up and makes me tea. I think the novelty of tea making is wearing off for her now. She’s not long been doing it. A few months. I showed her how I like it. Strong, two sugars and you have to squeeze the granny out of the tea-bag. Bless her heart. I reckon being able to make a killer cuppa for dad is gonna be a skill she regrets having. I drink a lot of tea. Sophia and Louis head off with their mum at around 9 am. They’re away now till the weekend. Spent the day working on the first main draft of the Heartless video.
13:00
Zoom chat at 1 pm with some of the Dare guys and it went on for around an hour and a half. Was fun. I have a moan on social about the government. At the end of the day, I know these guys are doing their best with the information they have and it is difficult to not say anything. I don’t want to put my head in the clouds and surely someone has to be accountable. Gorgeous day today but not spent much time outside. I want to tighten the reigns on my time blocking tomorrow. I feel a little behind schedule with the things I want to get done.
I’m reading The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley. I’m at that stage of the book where you can feel it’s gonna tense up and hook me and I won’t be able to put it down till the end. I miss the kids. and the pigeon. Who would have thought I’d have missed the pigeon.
Check-in on some tweets. Irvine Welsh has his ear to the ground and loves a bit of government bashing. I think all the characters in his books are possibly different facets of his own character. The craftiness of Renton, the heart of spud, the sickness of … well, sickboy and the ruthless psychopathic tendencies of Franco Begbie. I think Begbie is doing most of the tweets during lockdown.
19:40
I’m making ham, egg, and chips. I’ve perfected the art of lockdown chips. Basically wedges. I can’t get enough of them.
Wed 6th May
10:09
Up a little late. House is in a state. Struggle to work when the house is messy. Website work today. I want to upload Emma and Mikes's wedding on my new website. (this website). I’ve dropped him a message and asked if they’d be willing to do a little write up for me. Also want to shoot a YouTube video today. I’m introducing a new playlist to my channel - the YouTube diaries. I’m going to track my progress with regards to growing my channel and share what I find as I go. I think it’ll be of value and also it’ll be good for SEO purposes and bringing in subscribers. I’m also waiting on some feedback from the Heartless video as I need to tinker with that.
12:30
ZOOM chat today with Zoe and Catherine at Ruby Rock pictures re batting about the tweaks and changes for the Heartless video for the second single. This is the music video I did for the bands first single - Heartless. I started filming my next YouTube video which is kind of a re-introduction and also a little exploration of where I want to take the channel. Link here. 15:18 I’m working on being a little less frivolous with my instastories. Have fun for sure but I post so much that I need to make sure what I am posting is of quality. Otherwise folk just tune out. Added an old fav to the new website. Moroccan Bliss and it damn well was.
Thu 7th May
10:07
Up early today. Well, lockdown early. Want to make a dent in some stuff. I’m editing my latest vlog. Still waiting for some footage from Dom for the heartless video. Today is the day when the powers that be should be giving us some idea of when we’re coming out of lockdown. I personally am going to be taking my own counsel regarding when the kids and I come out of this thing. I don’t really have too much faith in a government that has overseen a country that has the second-highest mortality rate on the planet as a consequence of this thing. Shocking.
11:23
So I’m going with this new YouTube idea. A playlist, tracking my progress on YouTube and I’m going to call it the YouTube Diaries. I’ve checked the keywords for this for potential ranking and it looks pretty cool and relevant to my current content. What is important is that I slimline my thinking with regard to branding. Bring everything together so it feels confident and anchored to a particular kind of grading and search result.
20:11
It’s such a warming experience to be stood outside my front door and to be clapping the NHS and key workers at 8 pm. It is profound to think that this will be recalled in the years ahead as such a significant time. Hopefully, it will be looked upon that the majority did come together in an attempt to combat the disease, even if it is passively just following the instructions to stay at home.
Fri 8th May
11:00
With regards to my YOUTUBE channel. The last video I put out. It didn’t feel like me. It felt a little pretentious. I want the thing to be professional but at the end of the day, people are gonna be attracted to me (or not) and my content because I’m me. Not because I’m attempting to be something I’m not. It all felt a little too contrived and put together. You live and learn.
15:41
Had a lovely little chat With Emma on Zoom. We waffled on for about an hour or so and I’m a bit behind. I want to put out a vlog a day at least during lockdown so I need to crack on with today. I also need to tidy up this prose and post my weekly diary thingy on the site. Sun is spilling in I’m so lucky I’ve got the mac set up downstairs in front of the back doors. I can hear the forest life and the neighbors hosing the dogs down. It’s so special here. Finished my latest YouTube productivity video “Repurposing Content for Vlogs and Blogs” and the accompanying blogpost.
I’d give anything for a bag of Haribo's 😳