Weeks, and therefore weeknotes, are of an arbitrary duration.

The edited highlights for me over the last twenty days or so.

• I’m still catching up on email and Twitter bookmarks and other backlogs or overdue business development. I still think I’m “winning”, but also it’s all still still taking much longer than I envisioned… you’re familiar with Hofstadter's Law aren’t you? Looking at everything I’m working through, even when “necrobumping”, it all feels too interesting and useful just to declare a total “inbox zero” to start again. Especially as I’m working and thinking in varied areas, so I’ve no strict criteria to judge what I should or shouldn’t concentrate on.

• I’ve probably finally realised that keeping to a weekly schedule for these weeknotes isn’t going to work. Weeks are an arbitrary time period, especially when my life isn’t based around them - my work is very sporadic and asynchronous, and it’s the same for my personal life, more so in the last couple of years. So writing one of these every week doesn’t fit.

• I watched Synchonic and wrote up my thoughts here, it made me think.

• I watched the original Oceans Eleven - an interesting historical document in its own right, as well as doing a “compare and contrast” to the more recent version, but I agree with many reviewers in that it’s very much a vehicle for its stars rather than an enjoyable film; Terminator Dark Fate was fun to watch, and much better than expected; The Flight of Dragons requires some nostalgia to watch but is a more enjoyable historical document that original Oceans Eleven; I finished the current series of Foundation - loving the production values and sheer scale of the ideas; gladly finished The Book of Boba Fett, after a promising start it descended into Mandalorian bumblefuckery; started watching Queens - recommended, you’ll know pretty quickly whether it’s for you or not; and The Legend of Vox Machina- having watched this Dan Olson video on adult cartoons on the day of writing, I’m getting a lot out of animation firmly aimed at adults. That was a long paragraph… for someone who doesn’t think he watches a lot of media… I watch a lot of media.

• I played a role-playing game for the first time in years. With the right people, and the right setting… I’d forgotten how much I enjoy RPGs. As a roleplayer I’m very much “how would my character want to solve this problem with these resources?” rather than “I want to explore these feelings”, so playing in an Alien-esque environment suits me. This game is a one-shot, over two sessions with one session played… so by the time we play again I’ll have had a couple of weeks to try and figure out how to use a comms array as a rudimentary spear on the outside of a disabled spaceship while in zero G.

• As discussed last time I’m involved in an analysis of DAOs and NFTs and web3, particularly looking for the benefits. No idea of how involved I’ll be, but I particularly like the blend of skepticism and optimism present.

• I had some really thought provoking conversations with others working in exercising and training, and how disappointed we all are in organisations not taking advantage of the current times, both in terms of the pandemic and Brexit, to try proven but innovative approaches to staff development and training. I think there’s real opportunities for companies to make gains against their competitors, and to deal with unprecedented situations in new ways, but in the face of uncertainty they’re resorted to what barely passed scrutiny a decade or two ago. I increasingly feel that a once in a generation opportunity, maybe once in a lifetime, is slipping through our fingers.

• I helped as Control in a couple of runs of Nijmegen Assault, an operational megagames based on Operation Market Garden; one of which was at MegaCon 2022. A difficult but enjoyable experience, especially seeing teams of players who had maybe only just met, and only online over voice communications at that, become tightly knit teams within a few hours. I think there’s a lot more that can be done with the megagame format, and some traditions around introductions and pre-reading and format that need to be critically examined, but outside of all the other benefits of megagames, there’s something about being a small team in a larger and incomprehensible context that brings people together quickly and effectively.

• I also attended two games conferences: VCOW, and MegaCon 2022, over the same weekend. Time permitting, I’ll write-up detail on the MegaCon talks that were relevant to me.