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Journaling June - Day 1
1st June 2026
 I
typed this all up on my trusty
AlphaSmart 3000 it took a
while... I'll highlight a few things
and leave some placeholders because
I haven't got time to add in things
I want to add:
Journaling June Day 1
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I slept outside in my tent last
night. It was a dry evening but
it had started to rain by the time
the alarm on my phone woke me (I
switch it off at night but it has a
wake function with the alarm - to
anyone who keeps their phone on all
night: don't.)
I had a vague recollection of what I
had been dreaming about but nothing
by way of a tale to tell.
I crawled out of my tent and headed
back indoors, collecting my wildlife
camera on the way; it had caught
site of the neighbour's cat
wandering past a few times, but not
the other moggy who had been making
an appearance in recent weeks.
My morning routine then
involves plugging in my solar panels
to my Power Oak (I unplug
them in the evening so the system
stays off when I power it down,
otherwise it will switch on again
with the vaguest hint of sunlight
and start consuming the power it has
stored in the batteries before there
is sufficient solar energy).
I then put the kettle on, spoon some
tea into my little teapot for one,
and head to the bathroom.
Up until recently I had been using
my microwave to head water for
tea/coffee since my main kettle
pulls a little too much power (+2KW)
for the Power Oak but my mum gifted
me the small 'travel kettle' she had
been given after her main kettle
needing replacing, and that pulls
less than 1KW.
[image]
Back from the bathroom I decant the
now boiled water into the teapot and
prepare my array of daily
supplements [I have
a page about this which I need
to update]; first a Vitamin C tablet
that I have with the cup of tea, and
the rest that I have a little later
with what I class as my breakfast.
I pour my tea and then either head
back to bed to slouch, or, as I tend
to encourage myself to do during the
warmer months, sit at a table with
my little laptop (and cup of tea)
and partake in a number of language
lessons I have on the go on
Memrise [I created
a page for this but haven't
updated it since last year I
believe]; Russian, Polish, German,
and Welsh.
I used to record me reading stuff,
and that formed the section of this
website called
Brian Reads... but I haven't
done any of that for a while; it's
no longer part of my morning routine
as it used to be.
Whenever I consider even mentioning
this I bundle with it the side-note
that "I'm not good at learning
languages". I realise it's not good
to put myself down and that to speed
ill of my efforts is probably
self-supporting, but I can't help
but know that when it came to
learning French at school, that I
struggled, and barely came away with
a grade.
This is probably partly why I
persist in 'trying to learn these
languages', at least choosing ones I
fancy having a crack at, for
whatever reason beyond, I think it
amuses myself to know some words and
phrases in foreign languages,
foreign languages sound interesting
to my ears (in a way that
mathematics is interesting to my
brain, even if that too I struggle
with), and it's impressive to me
when I come across someone who can
speak multiple languages (beyond
people like the Welsh for whom it is
normal).
Anyway, on Memrise I delver into
each language in turn and either do
a short 10-word/phrase practice
session, or if I have less than 10
words waiting to be practiced, I do
a 100-word quick practice session
which are of the multiple choice
variety.
I think partly the reason why I
struggle with languages (and maths)
is because I'm lazy-minded. Again, I
don't mean to speak in a negative
manner, but it does feel like my
brain is lazy compared to those of
people who seem to 'learn with
ease'. I think it's something to do
with upbringing or having "learned
how to learn" in the correct way, in
conjunction with me, in childhood,
getting away with "doing things that
are more fun", like playing outside,
and building dens; all that good
stuff.
Anyway, as I 'subject myself to'
these lessons I find myself still
self-sabotaging by choosing easy
options or avoiding putting in much
of the work necessary to progress,
at least at a reasonable rate. Such
things include not even speaking the
words/phrases out loud like I'm sure
I did at first, and not even trying
to recall the phrase needed, but
instead just looking for a key word
from the four options presented. All
very lazy.
Anyway, if I pass a 100-word/phrase
round (it's a 'three strikes and
you're out ordeal), then I permit
myself to click the Learn button to
add more words/phrases to my
repertoire.
There are some other aspects of
Memrise, such as AI conversations
which are pretty helpful but I
generally avoid these, again #lazy.
In my defence, I might still be
waking up a little, although this is
the time of day I've allocated to
this task and I pretty much always
stick to it.
Next up are things I don't
always stick to: either going for
a
jog, or doing some yoga.
Since it was raining this morning I
elected for yoga, and partly because
I had the added pressure of knowing
I would be sharing my efforts today,
I did indeed succeed in doing some.
I basically follow along with
different yoga routines of my liking
on Youtube, which I have downloaded
to a file on my little laptop (to
minimise data usage and avoid myself
of having to scroll for something to
follow along to). I have the files
categorised by time length, so if I
don't feel like doing much I can
pick a short one. During weeks when
I manage to do multiple days of yoga
I will maybe start with a short
routine and then work my way up, and
then maybe repeat the same routine
if I feel some challenge that would
benefit from more practice.
After this period I make
myself a cup of coffee
(instant here) and prepare my
breakfast which consists of a
variety of nuts (cashews, almonds, 4
walnut halves, sometimes some
peacans if I have some) and 2 x
brazil nuts). I also down those
supplements I arranged earlier. Some
ones to note are Vitamin D which I
take each day in the winter months,
and Zinc and Copper which I only
take on Monday, Wednesday, and
Friday, but I take the Copper later
after a meal otherwise it's rough on
the stomach). I also take Ginkgo
Biloba which I suggest anyone with
ADD or bipolar look into*,
along with Korean Ginseng which,
IIRC works in conjunction with the
former. The Ginkgo Bilopa, I feel,
isn't a "magic fix" but I sense it
does help with focus, but only as
long as you actually make the effort
to get on with things; I feel like
it helps to cut down on that
'flitting about' of attention we can
have. Part of the reason for me to
be doing this Journaling June thing
is because that flitting about of
attention seemed to have crept back
in lately, even though I have been
taking the Gingko Bilopa daily, but
recently I had to buy a new batch
and this has made me a bit sceptical
of this one (without having our
supplements tested we cannot be
certain they contain what they say
they contain...)
*please don't just follow me,
actually look into it if you're
curious
Anyway, it's summer so I've
been typically sitting outside to
consume my coffee and nuts but this
morning, due to it raining, I
elected to finish watching a Musti1
video where he has been fixing up a
1973 Dodge Challenger [video
1,
video 2]. He has been
encountering some issues similar to
what I had with my 1978 Ford Capri,
and so that, couples with the
Comments section has been
interesting. I need to update my
Capri section of this here
website, and I also think some links
to related videos and useful
websites/products would be good to
include, even if for my own
reference, but I don't think I have
time right now...
In addition to living alone,
which I'm sure would have been
apparent from the lack of mention of
anyone else, I am self employed
and these days I don't have much
actual work to do so the "working
hours" of my day can generally just
revolve around whatever I want to
get on with, but I try to actively
make myself get on with things, lest
things go neglected. To start today
I had actually sold an item on
ebay so I prepared the postage
label for that and a little later on
I boxed it up.
A few years ago I got into a
habit of routinely scouring
certain sections of ebay, of which I
have saved URLs, for computery items
I might purchase to tinker with, fix
on, and resell. I'd managed to cut
down on this habit as it had become
too much and I'd quickly found
myself acquiring things without
doing with them what I'd told myself
I would. But recently, and again,
partly the reason for this
Journaling June thing, is that I'd
found myself back in habit, and I'm
not sure why. Anyway, true to form I
had "a quick look around" and I also
received an offer on an item I'd
looked at over the weekend; a
docking station for an old Dell
laptop I have. I finally relented
and accepted the offer, after all
I'd recently gotten hold of a couple
of spare batteries for this laptop
and a nifty rotating Dell screen I
might use with it (building up quite
a kit you see) which would make good
use of the dock... So who knows,
next week I might be using that
setup to work on this website
offline...
After that session I elected to
wash my car, since, well, it was
raining and that seems like the
perfect time to wash a car... it's
wet already and therefore dirt comes
off more easily, and the heavens
help me to rinse it down too.
Typically by mid morning I
get my inner calling for my
mid-morning cup of coffee which at
this time I make 'fresh' with my
trusty old Russel Hobbs. This
involves a whole 'side-routine'
(think side quest) of its own; first
I head a mug of water (now in that
little kettle the Power Oak likes, I
scrape out the previous day's 'puck'
of spent coffee into my recycling
tub (which eventually gets deposited
into one of my two compost bins),
and then I add in a fresh round of
ground coffee (I do grind a batch of
it that lasts a few days, rather
than somehow grinding just the right
amount so it would be super fresh -
I'm not that fussy, nor would I
think I could notice the
difference), I typically grind two
'portions' of normal beans, and one
of decaffeinated (the Swiss-water
method is supposed to be best but
I'm pretty sure I got scammed on the
present batch which was supposed to
be that but it doesn't actually
specify it on the bag), so I'm
basically using 1/3rd decaffeinated
beans, and I make quite a large cup
full, so this is ideal for me.
[image]
With the water already pre-heated I
decant that into the Russel Hobbs. I
do this so as to not to over-work
the Russel Hobbs since it's showing
its age and would be more expensive
to replace if the water in that
packs up, compared to replacing a
kettle (of which one was free and my
other cost me £1...)
As the coffee machine gets up to
speed I add some milk to a small jug
ready to start frothing with the
frother, and then, before you know
it (10 minutes) I have a nice cup of
coffee.
Again, if it was a nice sunny day I
would sit outside, I even found
myself doing that this past winter;
if it wasn't raining I'd put on a
warm coat and hat, and sit outside
in my deck chair.
I typically either read a chapter
of
a book I have on the go, or
work my way through some notes from
a previous chapter, sometimes
consulting with ChatGPT on those
points of interest and developing
discussions I might later share by
way of a vlog. Sometimes
I
record a vlog.
I did this today, basically and what
I'm writing about here, but I felt
it was too 'waffly' and when it came
to later I wanted to move away from
my computer and not be sat editing a
video. So insted you get a waffly
blog post instead!
After that I got productive;
I put on a podcast, played from an
old and out of date smartphone I
used as an 'mp3' player, and got on
with one of those previous ebay
acquisitions that I'm supposed to be
reselling, namely a perfectly
useable PC I got cheap. It had
Windows 10 on it but I thought I
might be able to get that "upgraded"
to Windows 11. That refused, so I
thought POP!OS would be ideal since
I have the version that includes
Nvidia drivers and I'd put an Nvidia
graphics card in the system... POP
told me that the card was too old
for the drivers it had, so in went
Linux Mint xfce, and all was well.
I can't quite list that computer yet
because, well, it's raining outside
and I thought it would photograph
best outside, if only the sun was
shining.
By now I was feeling restless. I
typically ride my bike "round the
block but I've become averse to
doing this in the rain unless I have
to, so I instead put on some
waterproofs, loaded up another
podcast, popped in my earphones, and
walked round the block in the
rain instead (5 miles).
That felt nice. Whilst I was all
"weathered up" I loaded the boot of
my car with some stuff I need to
take to the recycling centre. I then
stuck my head under my actual shower
and washed my hair ready for
tomorrow, as I have actual work
lined up.
Speaking of work. During the day I'd
managed to sell another item on ebay;
a motherboard I'd got cheap and
replaced some capacitors on a while
back... and then I bought another
that someone had sent me an offer
on, that also needs work - it's a
gamble as to whether I'll be able to
fix it, but for the price, compared
to what they're sell for when
working, I decided it was a
reasonable risk... Watch this space.
Anyway, I got my latest sale packed
and labelled up, ready to ship out
tomorrow.
I then prepared some food and
elected to watch another something
on Youtube - this time a
Cruising the Cut video. While
I've found I can sit outside with my
breakfast of coffee and nuts on a
sunny day, for other meals I can't
help but watch something online - I
consider this "consuming while
consuming" and probably not the best
thing to do, but most of my days,
like this one, are quiet, and other
than giving a couple of familiar
faces a friendly wave whilst I was
out working, I've had no
interactions with anyone, which is
pretty typical these days for me. I
wouldn't say it particularly bothers
me and I sort of just accept it as
the way it is, like I know not how
to change things or myself in this
regard, or even know if I want to. I
hang out with my neighbours for a
few hours at the weekend, I
sometimes meet up with my brother,
or I just make do with a bit of
work-based chit-chat. Otherwise it
is a case of chatting with one or
two friends online who don't really
know me, and here I end up wondering
where all my time has gone.
Speaking of... this has taken some
time to type up. Perhaps it will be
of interest to someone, or perhaps
it'll be a case of TLDR!
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