(November 19 – 25)

This week I’m reminded that working with people is very much like sharing a flat. When you’re in constant close quarters with others, it’s the tiniest things that can have the biggest effects. It can make things that you would generally ignore in a casual friendship turn into the hugest millstones around your neck.

It’s remarkable the amount of stress these tiny things can generate as well. It can completely distract from the work itself, and end up becoming the sole focus of your working day.

I guess it’s a good thing that work only takes up a third of the day …

Watching

Episode “I’ve Lost Count” of Doctor Who this week, aka “Kerblam!”

Again, a very decent, but largely unremarkable episode. I appreciate that the denouement wasn’t quite what we might have suspected, but otherwise there were few surprises. I worry that this season is going to end up filled with mostly unmemorable episodes; so far there’s been one highlight (“Rosa”) and a handful of perfectly competent episodes. It’ll be a shame if this is the case, as almost everything else about this season is perfect.

I also managed to dip back into The Haunting Of Hill House—just for episode 3. There was a brief moment when I thought I’d already watched the episode and forgotten about it, but that didn’t end up being the case. At my going rate, I’ll finish this show by next Easter.

Fridate’s horror movie was a superb Netflix offering from Indonesia called May The Devil Take You. It was a touch hokey in parts, but overall it was a tremendous tribute to Sam Raimi filled with plenty of genuine scares to balance out the frequent over-the-top gore. Much fun, and very much recommended.

Other weekend viewing included return visits to Super 8 and Highlander. Super 8 remains the purest of tributes to Steven Spielberg, and is always good to watch when you’ve recently been stuck into Stranger Things. Highlander, meanwhile, is never less than enormous fun.

Reading

I am taking an unofficial break from listening to It. This wasn’t part of the plan for this week, but on the drive to and from work most days I’ve found myself listening to music instead of … It. Clearly, It is no longer gripping me. It might be time for us to take a break from each other.

I’m also continuing to read Bird Box. Not totally sure about this one yet, but the premise is intriguing enough to keep me reading (plus I kinda want to get it read before the film drops).