w/e 2024-03-17

Hello. Very little to report this week. Did a tiny bit of work, which was a bit frustrating thanks to MySQL, cPanel, Python and, you know, computers generally. I guess I did some other stuff too because apparently a week’s gone by.

§ One thing I did do, just over a week ago: I started replaying Red Dead Redemption 2 on the PS4.

Since finishing The Last of Us 2 ages ago I’ve been trying to find a big new game I can settle into. I’ve tried Death Stranding, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Generation Zero, and Days Gone which, respectively, I found boring, confusing, motion-sickness-inducing, and too grim.

So it’s back to RDR2 and a few hours in I’m wishing I’d done this sooner. Like re-watching a TV show or movie, there’s so much that I’d entirely forgotten. And it’s a beautiful space to spend some time and, battles and set-pieces aside, there’s so much scope for gentle ambling around looking for things.

This week though, I’ve spent more time creating a spreadsheet to keep track of my progress than I have playing the game. There are a lot of spreadsheets out there already but they’re either too complicated for me – tracking things I’m not bothered about – or too simple – not tracking things I am interested in. And none of them have gone to the slightest effort to make their spreadsheets look vaguely RDR2-ish:

A screenshot of a bar chart with items like 'Cigarette cards', 'Hunting requests', 'Rock carvings', etc. Above it is a big 4.8% — The summary sheet of my 12-sheet spreadsheet. That percentage will probably go down as I’ve got a few more things to add yet

Nothing says “fun” like a spreadsheet.

Anyway, I’m trying to pace myself, rather than potter around in there for hours every day. It’s a real diversion from the here and now, pretending to live in a historical place and time when, while things weren’t perfect, life somehow seemed simpler and, with the benefit of nostalgia, happier.

I am, of course, talking about London in 2019, the last place and time in which I played RDR2 lol etc.

§ On telly we watched Spaceman (Johan Renck, 2024) on Netflix, which was fine. Perhaps not as deep as it wanted to pretend to be, but I still enjoyed the dreamy pace of it all.