All posts published to the journal on Declan Byrd's personal site.
Two basketball sessions this week, and I gave myself plenty of time to warm up before each one. Not that warming up made any difference to my jump shot. I seemed to go through streaks of makes and misses, where there were more misses than makes. Frustrating when for large proportion of those shots I'd been left wide-open. I had some new noise cancelling headphones and earbuds arrive this week.…
Basketball was a struggle this week. I did three sessions - two of which were back-to-back. The last session of the week was the worst one. I didn't get a chance to warm up and my body was very eager to remind me of that. Lesson learned. Been doing lots of learning about a topic that I need to be able to understand sooner or later. I think I've worked out enough to be able to have a plan of…
Lots of processing this week. I didn't appreciate how much writing helped with that and giving my thoughts somewhere to go instead of bouncing around my head like a game of pong. I had two basketball sessions. The first on Monday was more about showing up than a desire to play. My head was elsewhere and it probably showed when I was on the court. I was in a much better head space for the second…
Content warning: pet death. Starting with the sad part. Had to say goodbye to Bruno on Saturday. He came to visit on Friday morning and despite being all smiles and wagging his tail a lot, he didn't seem his best self. I feel fortunate that I was able to spend that time with him when 24 hours later a scan at the vets resulted in the decision that no pet owner wants to have to make. Shocked,…
Content warning: pet death. We had to say goodbye to Bruno yesterday. I can't really explain how much I'm going to miss Bruno. There's empty space that he would normally occupy. We had him since he was a puppy and we could not have loved him more for the 13 years he was with us. I'll miss all the times he would roll over to have his tummy rubbed, the speed at which his tail would wag when he saw…
A total of four basketball sessions this week. After mentioning in my notes last week that the rims were not perpendicular to the backboard, they replaced the rims at both ends of the court in time for the back-to-back session at the start of the week. So much better when the rims aren't being held to the backboard using cable ties. The other two sessions on Tuesday and Thursday were the most…
Due to sports hall availability there was only one day of basketball this week, so I decided to do back-to-back sessions on Monday. Three hours of basketball in total. I've been complaining a lot in previous week notes that I have been having trouble scoring the basketball. It was slightly better this week, but there should be an asterisk associated with that. Neither of the rims at both ends of…
We thought we'd finally fixed the root cause of one of the problems around the house that we mitigated a couple of weeks ago. Nope. Somehow the problem persists and we're back to the drawing board to decide what we want to do about it. This has been occupying more head space than I want to allocate to it. I had two evenings of basketball this week. Didn't warm up properly because I was late…
Had a better time at basketball on Monday. It was a fairly low bar, so after a made a lay-up off the first possession I'd already surpassed my own expectations. Was slightly concerned that the sports hall might have been a furnace with high temperatures throughout the day but there was a very pleasant cross wind created with all the doors open. I also had Monday off work, but didn't really make…
No injuries at basketball this week. Instead, my frustrations centred around my own inability to get the ball in the basket. I had Thursday and Friday off work. I didn't have concrete plans for the time off, but I'm glad I took it. I'm not sure how I would have coped this week otherwise. Finally got to the source of two different problems around the house. They weren't the easiest to trace but one…
The basketball scrimmage that I had at the start of the week threatened to put me in bad mood. A sharp sudden pain in my ankle put an end to my session and my first reaction was that it was not good. I seem to have got lucky and only rolled it which was a relief. I would have been incredibly annoyed if I had done any further damage. I'm really struggling to hold an interest in the world cup. I've…
Started the week with a basketball scrimmage. The intensity levels seemed to fluctuate quite a bit throughout the session, which also meant it was difficult to find consistency. I've been sporadically playing Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga on the PlayStation. I'm not a big fan. The open world has too much going on. But like most of the other Lego games, they don't require intense levels of…
I don't cope well in warm weather, so wasn't surprised that I struggled through the heatwave this week. I was very grouchy, didn't sleep well, and not sure how I functioned throughout the week. We had Bruno staying with us for most of the week. He also wasn't too keen on the temperature. I was very grateful for the Meaco Sefte fan that I ordered a few weeks ago in anticipation of warmer weather…
I had a basketball scrimmage to start the week. The sports hall was very humid so it was a challenging environment to play in. It took me a while to get going and then started making shots. I didn't stay for the whole session and left early to try and get home at a reasonable time. The Professor Layton games were some of my favourites on the Nintendo DS. Because they designed the game for it to be…
The basketball season may have ended, but I had a scrimmage to start the week. It's unusual for these sessions to continue past the season's end as the sports halls are normally set up for exams. Seemed to be a real mix of age groups that attended which meant there was a lot of misunderstandings on the court. Becka and I went to Into the Blue for dinner on Wednesday, which coincided with the 9th…
A shorter working week due to a bank holiday. Not that the additional day off work was used to be "productive". It was like the late hours of a Sunday evening expanded out into a day. I attended a basketball scrimmage that evening, but I was deliberately putting in the minimum amount of effort required. With only one game of the season left to play the most important thing was to not get injured.…
Felt like my week was overwhelmed by work. Had extended working hours for most of the week due to deadlines and then had some work responsibilities over the weekend too. A big basketball game on Thursday, as I played for Worthing D&D White in the second leg of the Basketball Sussex/Surrey Basketball Plate semi-final against Oxted Rhinos. We had a 13 point lead from the first leg and won the second…
I had two evenings of basketball. Monday was a scrimmage. The court was available earlier than usual, so it was a 2 hour session instead of 90 minutes. I was enjoying my basketball in that session and making shots. Thursday, I had an away game for Worthing D&D White at Oxted Rhinos . I tensed up during the hour long drive to the game and couldn't get loose. I shot the ball terribly as a result and…
I had two basketball games this week with mixed results. The first game was the second leg of the plate quarter finals against Worthing D&D Hustlers, where we had a 23 point advantage from the first leg. I didn't get on the court until the fourth quarter but still managed to make two three-pointers to finish with 6 points as Worthing D&D White won 90-76 . That has set-up a two legged semi-final…
With a shortened working week, I sank a lot of my free time into Ghost of Tsushima on the PlayStation. I think I'm getting close to the end of the game now because the PlayStation trophy notifications started to appear more frequently as I completed objectives around the map. I've accumulated over 49 hours of game play in total and I've not finished the story yet. I learned my lesson from last…
Having not taken any time off work since the turn of the year, I decided to take this week off. I had no concrete plans when I booked the time off, but I knew that I was in need of a break. It was a welcome change of pace that meant I didn't need to rush anywhere. I was even happy to wait in a queue for an hour to get my hair cut because I was able to read on my Kobo while I waited. Normally I…
I spent some time this week trying to make these notes seem less repetitive. The last few weeks I've been publishing my notes later and later on a Sunday because I felt like there had to be more I could write about, but I would end up staring at the screen for hours without actually writing anything. That defeats the point of these being brief notes. I realised that my perception of the week…
A couple of weeks ago during a physio appointment, I was advised to manage my expectations when it came to playing basketball again this season. Yet after a lengthy, internalised debate with myself about whether or not I could attend a session this week, I decided to go. How I had missed it. It took me a bit of getting used to jumping off the previously problematic knee without subconsciously…
Bruno came to co-work on Thursday. He mostly slept, but occasionally felt the need to interrupt me working to inform me that he was in need of belly rubs and back scratches. Becka and I had lunch at Efes in Worthing on Saturday. I realise that when I make note of places where I have eaten at, I often call it "good food" and throw in a "really" every now and again. Anyway, I enjoyed the food that I…
I was at the American Express stadium on Wednesday to watch Brighton lose 1-0 against Arsenal. This was like watching football over a really slow internet connection that needed to keep buffering every couple of minutes. It was no surprise to find out afterwards that the ball was only in play for 60 of the 90+ minutes. Brighton didn't have their best game and overall it was a terrible game of…
I had extended working hours for most of this week so not much downtime. By the time I'd finished work and had dinner I had no enthusiasm to do anything but sleep. I had another physio session this week. There is a high degree of confidence that it was the last session I need for my knee and that I can start running again very soon. Still unsure if I'll return to basketball before the season ends.…
An unplanned phone upgrade to start the week. My Pixel 6 Pro started crashing and then immediately restarting, but it would get stuck on the Google logo during the reboot. It would occasionally reboot successfully but then crash minutes later. I'd had no problems with that phone for nearly 5 years and suddenly touching the screen was enough to panic it into a reboot. There were no guarantees that…
A mentally taxing week. I had another physio session, which I thought was really good. It was the first time my knee had felt close to normal since the end of December which was encouraging. Still not ready to start running or go back to basketball yet, but there are signs of improvement. One of the few things that I felt I had some element of control over this week was dinner. I made pasta with…
I played lots of Ghost of Tsushima on the PlayStation this week. That included most of Saturday where I got a bit engrossed in the game and time passed me by. I only completed one of the main story objectives and spent the rest of the time exploring the map. I watched my Worthing D&D White teammates play against Eastbourne Neptune's third team in the basketball Sussex and Surrey basketball cup…
I had another physio appointment this week. Progress is very slow and there's not a lot I can do to speed up the process. Timelines were discussed so I have a rough idea when I can start to run again but it is very much dependent on being back to 100% first. I took part in a virtual escape room with work this week. It was more of an internet scavenger hunt with a couple of puzzles, so not really…
On Monday, I was at the American Express stadium to watch Brighton draw 1-1 against Bournemouth. I don't think either team did enough to win the game. Bournemouth should have made the most of their momentum just before halftime, and Brighton put a lot of crosses into the box that could be easily cleared. Charalampos Kostoulas looks like they could be a really good player. The overhead kick was a…
Thanks to a week of abnormally high stress at work caused by stressors beyond my control, I didn't do much with my evenings. I did get to watch to watch my Worthing D&D white teammates when they played Angmering Tropics this week. They had a much better game than last week and also had to manage increasing levels of condensation on the court as the game progressed. Worthing D&D White won 78-45. I…
I'm a bit slow with publishing my 2025 review post. I would say it's because I needed additional time for reflection, but that's not close to the truth. I didn't know where to start. I got promoted at work, asked Becka to marry me and she said yes , and we bought a house together. So I guess that all makes me a responsible adult now? They didn't all happen at once but they were distributed weirdly…
A return to work for me this week. It was a bit of a shock to the system. Trying to get back into a routine was proving challenging, and I would find myself mentally exhausted in the evenings. I went to watch my Worthing D&D white teammates when they played Worthing D&D black this week. They started the game very well and were only down by 2 points at halftime, but then ran out of energy in the…
Played more Ghost of Tsushima on the PlayStation this week. I'm still on the first thread of the main story and seem to be accumulating side quests while doing more side quests. It did mean that I have cleared locations only to find that a near-by quest was to clear the same location but with all enemies respawned. I think that is called "loot farming" but without big rewards. Rounded out the year…
I spent most of this week doing my favourite thing - being ill. Whatever illness I had last week that I thought I was over, seemed to come back with a vengeance. So much so that a 20 minute walk at the beginning of the week, resulted in an unplanned and unexpected reboot. I fainted. And so the rest of the week was focused on not repeating that. It had never happened to me before and it wasn't…
This week was my last working week of the year, and it was a shortened one too. Despite my best efforts, there was still a rush to finish some work before I set my out-of-office status. Very much looking forward to a break and putting the work laptop away until January. The fence got fixed this week. It only needed a new post, but it looks a lot more sturdy than it did previously. A big bonus to…
Only one basketball scrimmage this week. I had planned on attending a second scrimmage later in the week, but that was cancelled at short notice. It was probably a good thing because I was still recovering from the scrimmage earlier in the week. I had a four day work week this week. The day off work was well timed and I had a very productive day away from my desk. Becka and I walked around…
Two basketball scrimmages this week. I didn't shoot the ball well in the first scrimmage, and even when I did eventually make a shot it was too late in the session to find a rhythm. The second scrimmage only had 8 players so there was a lot more court time. That gave me more opportunities to shoot the basketball and I made a lot more shots than I did in the previous scrimmage. I was at the…
Two days of basketball this week. The first was a scrimmage, and the second was a team practice. We finally had a week where we were able to get more than 10 players to attend a practice! It was a good change to previous weeks where practice was a low intensity shoot around. I didn't have the best time shooting the basketball, particularly in the training session. I finished Thank Goodness You're…
No basketball games this week, but there was a training session instead. Attendance hasn't been great for training sessions this season and has become something of a controversial topic when team performances in games has been scrutinised. Despite this, we had 7 at practice which is a slight improvement on attendance numbers. It does restrict the tempo of the training session a bit as playing…
I had a basketball game this week, scoring 6 points for Worthing D&D White in a 53-65 loss to Brighton Cougars . I found it really difficult to get into a shooting rhythm in this game, and it wasn't until the fourth quarter where I made two three-point shots. I pre-ordered a Kodak Charmera from Park Cameras a while ago but had pretty much forgotten about it until this week. While I didn't…
No basketball game this week, but I did attend a scrimmage instead. I played awful and didn't make a shot throughout the 90 minute session. I played more Ghost of Tsushima on the PlayStation this week. I probably haven't progressed the game very far as I kept getting distracted by all of the "undiscovered location" markers on the map. Any time that I was near to one I would abandon the objective…
I had a basketball game this week, scoring 9 points for Worthing D&D White but losing 65-61 against Richmond Knights in the Surrey/Sussex cup competition . Even though we never had a lead in the game, it was always close and we cut their lead to 2 points with a minute of the game left. It was frustrating being so close, especially given how far we had to travel for the game. Becka and I finally…
Back to work this week after having the last two weeks off. I had a lot to catch up on and it wasn't until the end of the week where I felt like I was making any progress. I'm sure the novelty of working in my new office will wear off soon, but I've enjoyed being able to shut the door on my work laptop at the end of each day. One basketball session this week. Not the best basketball I've ever…
I was off work again this week so that I could organise a few things around the house. Managed to get my desk setup in my new office which I'm really excited about having worked out of the bedroom for the past three years. We also have our washing machine plumbed in which is a much better use of it than being in a box next to the sofa. I had a basketball session at the beginning of the week. There…
I took this week off work so that I could do some work around the house now that we've moved in. I had a completely different definition of "work around the house" prior to the move, and I now acknowledge that I had overly ambitious plans that were not achievable. I also managed to develop a cold which hasn't helped either. No paint brushes have been used, but we have slowly started to accumulate…
These notes will be published a little later than usual as I was late getting home after going to watch Brighton draw 1-1 against Wolves at Molineux on Sunday. I get travel sick quite easily so trying to write these notes on the journey home after the game was a bit difficult. A draw was a fair result in the football, but it's still frustrating that Brighton can't win against teams below them in…
The big thing that happened this week was the exchange of contracts on our house purchase. We now have a completion date which is very exciting. I spent a large part of the weekend packing cardboard boxes and planning for the move. I had two basketball sessions this week. The first was an open run which I thought went quite well. I started well and scored back-to-back three point shots from my…
Two basketball sessions this week. One was an open run, and the other was a training session for Worthing D&D White. I had a terrible time shooting the basketball in the open run and it wasn't until the last 5 minutes of the 90 minute session that I finally got the ball to go in the basket. I played much better at the practice later in the week. There were a couple more people than last week's…