August 2025
Life…
The last day of July we ended up heading down to Washington Campsite for our usual Summer Camp with friends. It was so good to get down there and see so many people from all over the country, reconnect, catch up, and just mingle. We had great weather for it and it gave August that kickstart into a strong month.
Back in 2022 I took my child down to Southsea to do some mini-golf, use the arcades, and some of the rides, they suggested that we go and do it all with Min one day, and for every Summer Holiday after, that was the intention — that we finally got around to do! It was difficult before now as Min wasn’t living with me or wasn’t even able to visit me for a period, on the odd chances that the times worked the weather didn’t play ball, but today all the planets aligned. We had a fantastic time going on a couple of rides, playing all the 2p machines, as well as a few other games. For mini-golf we tried the hard course which was a great laugh and we all came out quite evenly matched. I’m so glad we did this, but we all came back rather exhausted from it!
I connected and met my first person on FEELD which was a really nice experience, although I was very anxious about it to begin with. I had a lovely walk along the beach and drink at Coffee Cup in Eastney, then a long chat. It was really great connecting with a new person with the same sorts of interests, who is also local. I know FEELD is technically a dating app, but it’s working quite well as a like minded people finding app. Saying that, I probably won’t keep it running after the subscription expires.
A Mighty Fine Summer Shindig is something I’ve been sorting for a few months now, a summer get together with friends at my house which went really well. I had a large group of friends over, it was really nice seeing the different circles of friends connect and get to know one another. Hosting things like this has always been something I’ve wanted to do, but been unable to in the previous stage of my life, so this was a massive achievement for me. I spent some time at the bottom of the garden watching everyone chatting which gave me such a high and made me feel so happy. During the day we had BBQ, a lot of chatting, people doing poi, and learning to juggle, and a few enjoyed the hot tub. Come the evening we had 6 people stay over the night, I got the firepit out and we toasted marshmallows, got merry, and watched one friend performing with glowing poi balls which was fantastic. On a whole it was a great time and I look forward to hosting again next year, I’ve learnt a lot from the first and already have plans for next year.
A drawback of the Shindig is that Min’s health has been significantly hit and they took a long time to recover from it. It has given them the kick to get themselves a wheelchair though which will hopefully help them with their pacing in the future and give them the ability to go out and enjoy trips without it massively knocking them back. They’ve had the usual chronic fatigue set in, but the brain fog has been quite bad and significant pains in their legs which has had me quite worried. We took the wheelchair out a few times to test it and it’s so good for them as it means they aren’t expending energy getting to the place, so they can enjoy where they’ve got to. It’s also shown me a different aspect of accessibility for people, especially when pushing around the local area and how often we have to deviate to walking along the road due to parked cars.
Last year we did Amsterdam for a holiday but this year the idea of going abroad felt like a lot of faff so we ended up staying local to tick off some of the things that we had been accumulating on our list of things to do.
Day 1: We used this day to chill as the past few weeks have been rather full on. I took Min in their wheelchair to see the sunset from the nearby bridge, but continued on and visited Casemates in the evening for a drink and some live music. It was good to get over there as it has been far too long.
Day 2: We visited the nearby garden center and had a good look around, then ended up coming home with some new plants (I’ve an olive tree in the garden now) and some autumnal decorations. I then took Min in their wheelchair to the local pub to check out their access and what the place was like - not the greatest of places.
Day 3: Visited Kingley Vale and the Ancient Yew Forest which was lovely. Min got to do quite a bit of walking for them, then settled in at the ancient yew forest to do some drawing and whittling, while I went for a bit of a hike up a steep hill. So great getting out into the country and to be blessed by some fantastic views after the slog up.
Day 4: A trip to Portchester Castle to check the place out, it has been on my list for many years now so it felt good to tick that off. It’s a lovely spot with some great views, especially on top of the castle itself.
Day 5: Date day where we went to watch The Roses at the cinema followed by a fantastic meal at Koh Thai.
Day 6: A much needed rest day. I spent the day playing Darktide, finishing some jobs that needed doing, and preparing for the return of the child.
The front garden has been bothering me for a while, it looks a complete mess and is just too grey, so I had all the slate chippings taken away then had some new top soil and turf put down to give myself a new lawn. It’s much nicer having some green in the spot and will hopefully help with these hot summers we are getting these days, once the grass is established I’m hoping to add some plants (my Mum’s rose) and possibly a tree. It’s nice after the work I’ve had done to the front of the house as it now finishes it off and makes the front look much tidier.
Over the past few years I’ve had some issues with my gums, so I’ve been looking after my teeth more, introducing interdental sticks, a pointed brush, weird picky sticks, and such. Initially she thought it could be down to stress (GOSH and divorce stuff) but although it started to stabilise it wasn’t improving. Next step was to rule out diabetes which it turns out I don’t have, so that was peace of mind either way. After that was out of the way she asked if I’d like to be referred to a specialist, which I said yes to. This month I went in for my consultation which went really well and the gum disease isn’t as bad as I thought it was based on what my dentist had told me, but I’m scheduled in for the actual work next month. I’m rather anxious about it, but also looking forward to getting it done as it feels rather frustrating that the time I put into my dental hygiene isn’t doing ‘what it should’.
A big thing that has been on my social media this month is people putting up the Union Flag as well as painting roundabouts with the St George’s Cross (which I find hilarious as St George never visited England, was born in Greece, and currently rests in Palastine) in an act of patriotism, however it’s under the guise of patriotism but seems to be an act pushed by people who want to remove people who don’t meet their criteria of what a Brit or English person should be; in other words it’s being used to threaten those who aren’t white christian people. Seeing the tacky slap-dash job of painting people have been doing, the tatty flags all over the place, it actually makes me feel ashamed to be British. The comments that I see from people who are acting ‘patriotic’ by slamming people of different backgrounds is not what this country is about. However, among all I’ve seen and read, I did find a few nice posts. One about a Mosque that had the Union Flag and a threat hung outside their doors, instead taking the flag and hanging it in their Mosque - because they are British and that is their flag too. Another I saw was somebody commenting on rather than spending half an hour and a tub of paint to very hap-dash cross on a roundabout, offer your help in decorating for somebody who can’t. Or spending an hour picking up litter, rather than an hour tying flags to lamp posts, which will most likely end up blocking gutters or causing problems in due time. Be a part of a community to help one another be better people rather than spewing hate.
Next Month is looking to be a busy one with a lot already scheduled in; Dental stuff, Hatsune Miku movie at the cinema, a trip to GOSH in London, returning to school for my child, Mabon/Autumn Equinox, camping, a music gig, a few social events, and the run up to hitting 40 in October! I feel grateful for all the people I have in my life and the plans I have going forward, but especially grateful for having Google Calendar in my life!
Gaming…
I tried the Warhammer 40,000: Darktide demo a long time ago but forgot all about, however it was recently brought to my attention and I have found myself hooked on. Back in the day I played 40k as the Imperial Guard so my first character was a Veteran, however the Ogryn have always been close to my heart so I created one of those and have loved every second of smashing skulls. I’m getting to grips with the game, but would prefer it if it had a single player mode so I could actually have an explore of the maps and do things at my own pace. I’ve made one of every class and this is my list of favourite to least favourite; Ogryn, Arbiter, Zealot, Psyker, Veteran. Obviously this may change as I level them up though, but I am finding a melee focus is more appealing to me.
Played some Deep Rock Galactic to work through some assignments and for games night with Mike, however I haven’t played much more beyond the games night as I’ve been rather taken by Darktide and am utterly enjoying the therapy that comes from being an Ogryn with a bully club!
I ended up grabbing Mafia: The Old Country and initially I was a little frustrated by it as when entering cinematics from gameplay, and leaving cinematics to gameplay there was a lot of screen stutter, however I eventually found that switching to DLSS in the settings fixed the issue and from there it was smooth sailing. I did initially try live streaming the game but I was focusing more on what people could be watching more than enjoying the game so I stopped that.
The game has taken some stick from people for being such a short game, but for me it took just under 18 hours to complete the full story, without going into achievement hunting or collectibles. Once complete you can play in Exploration mode which I jumped into for a short burst and am grateful that such a thing was included as it would have been a shame to have not been able to go back and explore.
The story itself was very linear but back to the roots of the Mafia games; linear story in an open world that isn’t sandbox. The writing was fantastic and I felt fully immersed in what was going on at the time with an element of urgency when there was no real urgency. I found the knife combat to be a bit of a pain in the arse if I’m completely honest, but it was a nice touch. The gunplay was good fun and I didn’t feel at any point that I could ‘Rambo’ my way through things, cover was needed, the enemy weapons did hurt, but my weapons were equally as dangerous. Stealth was fun but basic, it was my chosen method of play. I paid about £30 for the game and didn’t feel like it was a waste of money for playing on day one, however, I’d probably wait for it to drop to around the £20 mark.
Movies & Shows…
West Wing, Season 2 - A fantastic season and Donna continues to steal my heart. All the characters are so rich and deep, the chemistry between them all is spot on, and the story itself is gripping! Mrs Landingham in particular this season made the show feel more ‘real’ in that anything can happen at any point in life, there’s no build up like you see in movies and shows, it just happens - such a sad episode though.
Happy Gilmore 2 - A fun movie that is true to being an Adam Sandler. Really enjoyed and had a good laugh throughout, it gave me some nostalgic feels with the flashbacks to the original movie.
Bad Boys - I remember this movie being amazing but… It’s so full of cheese and is only good in the last half hour of it. It was fun to watch it though. Very much a 90’s action cop movie.
KPOP Demon Hunters - I watched this with my child who believes this is the best movie in the world, I enjoyed it on a second watch, I must confess I rather like the songs in the show and do like the musical fight scenes.
West Wing, Season 3 - Still going strong and adoring the character development. I’m really enjoying how Charlie has progressed and grown in confidence.
Elfen Lied, Season 1 - I’ve started to watch this, it was an anime I really liked as a teen, but I’m finding it a bit of a slog to get through, some of the ‘sexual scenes’ in the show are really quite cringe.
West Wing, Season 4 - Nowhere near as strong as the previous seasons, however the last two episodes of this season really made it worth watching. Although I’m not enjoying it as much the episodes are still strong and have some strong scenes, although it’s not holding my attention as much.
The Roses (Cinema) - I feel most of the movie was spent building up to the conflict, the conflict itself was very short. I also felt that it was extremely tame and the fact the relationship blew up into such conflict over insignificant things seemed very forced, I also found it to be entirely down to the husband being bitter and resentful of his wife. There were enjoyable moments though, however, I’d wait until it came out on some streaming service.
War of the Roses - So much better than The Roses, it was all dialled up to 11 and the cast were fantastic (not that the cast of The Roses weren’t). It felt like they’d tried to do a role reversal in The Roses, but in my opinion the husband always came off as being the reason things initially got bad. Definitely glad I watched The Roses first as if I watched it the other way round The Roses would have felt even worse.
West Wing, Season 5 - Getting started on this and it’s already more enjoyable than the previous season, which I’m happy to see!
Podcasts…
Good Hang with Amy Poehler, Jack Black - A fantastic interview with Jack Black which I really enjoyed watching and listening to. I adore Jack Black so this podcast was special to me. I really liked his idea of listening to bands chronologically as a way of getting back to music, so I’ve started this.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd - This was so much fun to watch and listen to, they both have some fantastic chemistry and the podcast did make you feel like a third friend listening to the two of them chatting around a coffee table.
Music…
Wolf Alice, The Clearing - Bloom Baby Bloom, The Sofa, and White Horses have been fantastic sneak peaks into The Clearing album which released on the 22nd of August. These three songs were powerful and meaningful, and the rest of the album followed suit - brilliant album! Such a strong and powerful voice with so much range, and the band really compliment her voice and diversity.
Pet Shop Boys - This is my step into Jack Black’s idea of listening to a band chronologically, and the band selection is down to my child talking about Sin (a character in a show they are watching) which put the It’s A Sin song in my head. I never really listened to Pet Shop Boys so this is proving to be interesting. So far I’ve cleared One More Chance Single, Please Album, Actually Album,
Photography…
At the start of the month I went to Washington with my camera and managed to get a few nice photos of Chanctonbury in the distance after a storm, unfortunately I only took my telescopic lens as I planned on just doing moon shots. Not having all of my lenses at hand has however prompted me to get a new storage bag for all of my gear so in the future I can just grab it and have everything I need.
At the end of the month I went to visit Kingley Vale and ended up taking quite a few photos, you can find the entire album here. It was nice to get out and test the camera in some wooded and open spaces, I ended up using all three lenses in the end.
I also visited Portchester Castle with two of my lenses and took quite a few photos which I really enjoyed, I’ve always found taking photos of structures much more fun, the album for that is here.
I’ve also played with my GoPro a little to do some star trails when the sky has been clear (and I’ve remembered to set it up), with the removal of the pirate ship in my garden it has given me a much better view of the sky.
