I ran into a poor soul last night, on my way home from constructive talks, and a wee drink at the local wine bar. He was so high, and so intent on getting to a certain clinic for help. It was heartwarming to see three out of five people on the subway helping in one way or the other. In the end, I took him there – it was around midnight, and the clinic is located in an area where I just wouldn’t have been comfortable having one of the older ladies walking around with a stoned person. I left the guy in a chair in the waiting room, where he proceeded to try to look serious. The woman working the reception, behind a plexiglass shield, looked tired, but she said thank you and wished me a good night. All in a night’s work for her, perhaps, but very much not so for me.

Everyone has things in their lives that are hard. Relationships, work, stress, family – whatever it is you’re struggling with – know that others do the same. We have our own demons to battle. Some are just more visual than others, and, possibly more lethal.

I didn’t get any sleep until a couple of hours later, and my dreams has been weird. I wonder what help he got, and how he dreams, if he got any sleep at all.

I think I’ll save my photo of the funny booze bottle I sampled last night for another time, and just get on with the day. I have my own demons to battle, after all. They just seem pale and infantile in comparison, right now.

Starting the day at home again, I’ve got an evening session planned. This allowed me to pick up a fun little package containing the Niid Decode. Yes, it’s another bag, possibly a new daily carry. We’ll see, I’m going to mix myself a Huel, and then I’ll pack it for the day.

Starting the week with a headache, and a slightly revamped schedule. The latter is pretty nice, not having to go to work until noon brings me back to simpler times, when the night was my preferred time to get things done. Today’s workday is just pushed some five hours, so not that dramatic change of pace, but it was nice to sleep in at least. Will, not counting said headache, of course.

It’s freezing in Stockholm today, but beautiful. I’d go for a walk and take some pictures if it wasn’t so bloody cold. Besides, I’ve got writing to do, so I’ll use that as an excuse to stay indoors. Enjoy your Sunday, it’ll be over before you know it.

It’s 10am, I’m on my second cup of coffee, and two day’s worth of Sweden’s largest newspaper has been put in the recycling bin. I don’t get news from printed paper, but I like to read cultural commentary, book reviews, and the like, while getting filthy newspaper ink on my fingers. At least I used to, more often than not I’ve come to just note that there’s a piece I’d like to read, and just open up the subscriber app to read or bookmark it there. It’s a shitty app, but it is decent for reading, with the type settings I like. Maybe my eyes are getting old, but since I have near-perfect vision, I think it’s because I’ve grown accustomed to a better reading experience. Why squint when you can be relaxed?

I think it’s time to lay the printed newspaper to rest. It’s not like it can keep up with the news cycle, and feature pieces – which is its only remaining strength, outside of having an actual editorial staff – work on all platforms. So print a magazine if you will, a readable one, once a week, but give your subscribers subsidized iPads. Their eyes will thank you.

Just poured a mushroom concoction known as “sprängticka” into my Huel shake. That sounds a lot more trippy than it is, but I really wanted to type out those words.

Started to properly break in my reservoir, or fountain, pen last night. It’s a Lamy Aion. I like it thus far. Writing by hand, in a notebook, has a nice feel to it. It’s much like handling a record, and playing it on a classic vinyl player – the experience is part of the value of the thing.

Have a great Friday.

Yesterday was rough. I need rest, so it’s me and my words today as well. Yes, that sounds almost counter-intuitive.

Most of the things I’ll write today will be WordPress-related yet again, and it’s all in Swedish. I’ll continue working on my Webbpublicering med WordPress 5.0 book, but I’ll also send out the first WPSE newsletter of the year this afternoon (do subscribe if you’re a Swedish WordPress user). I think that’s about what I can muster, so client work will have to wait until tomorrow.

The battery’s running low, I need to recharge soon.

It’s been a long time coming, but today’s the first day of the year entirely devoted to writing. I’m set to make major progress on Webbpublicering med WordPress 5.0, the Swedish book about web publishing with WordPress. That, and a few words on Project Ship, is what’s on my todo list. Oh, and a poem (in Swedish), because I’ve been contracted for that, and I’ve been pushing it for a few days. The poem is more or less done, I just need to give it a last look, and send it in.

That’s it, that’s all. Let’s do this.

Today’s all meetings with Divide & Conquer clients. I prefer to cram meetings into a day, rather than breaking up my workflow, but it’s taxing as well. I bet I’ll be very tired tonight. Wish me luck!

My place is a bit of a mess at the moment. I have so many cables to attend to. I hate cables, I really do, but until we have wireless electricity, and reliable wireless sound, that’s what we’re stuck with. At least I got my vinyls up on the new shelf, and today I installed Philips Hue bulbs instead of the Lifx ones. Nothing wrong with the latter, but they don’t do E14 sockets, and I needed that in my setup. All in all, a pretty nice day. Oh, and I went to work too.

I’m in a bit of a slump. It’s mostly because I can’t really shake this cold – I know it is – but it’s getting to me. I can’t get myself to dive into things I know I generally enjoy, like writing, fiddling with a site experiment, or sorting my vinyls into the new shelf that’s been sitting on my wall since Friday. That last one must worry people who know me well, but fear not, it’ll be fine. I’ll just drink my coffee, do my errands (or not), and vegetate in front of Skyrim.

It’ll be fine, I’ll be fine, much like the world. Hold on a minute…

Enjoy your Sunday. I’ll try to do the same.

In a weird turn of events, I’ve been out amongst people today, running errands and picking up things for the apartment. It’s definitely not my favorite thing to do on a Saturday, and it pushed everything aside as well, because now it’s late afternoon and I’m tired. So I think I’ll just reschedule all the things I had planned for today, fire up the gaming rig, and mix myself a drink before dinner. Maybe you should do something similar? Go on, treat yourself. You’re worth it!

I’ve been drawing confused looks from friends and colleagues, because I’ve not been wearing my Apple Watch this week. Funny how a piece of technology can become a part of what people expect of you. Granted, it’s quite a stunning piece of tech, black steel and black steel links.

I’ve got an unfinished thought about why I took it off, I’ll dive into that later. What I will say is that I’ve missed having an always on watch of the more traditional sort. The one I’m wearing is still somewhat smart, it’s the Kronaby Apex Steel, which I’ve mentioned before. Kronaby calls it a hybrid smartwatch, which is about right. Much less obtrusive, still gives me the most important notifications, and so forth. We’ll see how this goes.

My sleep isn’t playing nice at the moment. That’s unusual for me, as regular readers might remember, although it has happened before. Getting back to some sort of regular exercise will probably help, but I have to shake this cold first, and that’s going excruciatingly slow. Patience is key, as always. The problem is remembering that.

I’m working on two writing projects at the moment. The Swedish WordPress book, Webbpublicering med WordPress 5.0, is coming along nicely. I’ve got two manuscripts with editors, but I felt I needed something to nurture the brain, so I picked up an old idea – the second project – that I’ll call Project Ship for the time being. I’m giving it 20-30 minutes daily, so I’m about 3,000 words in. Not sure where it will end, it was meant to be a novel when I jotted down the idea, but I might cut it short. Maybe novellas are my thing?