Weeknote 24/2025
The matcha and raspberry pastry depicted above was one of the highlights of my week. Thank you to my wife, Hannah, who bought it for me. Contrary to last week's claims, she apparently does read these posts.
This week, I mainly worked on, and finished the draft BBC AI Literacies report. I wrote a related blog post about AI Literacy vs AI Literacies. In addition, Laura and I got some work done in preparation for the Digital Credentials Consortium Summit, as well as finishing the data report for the Amnesty International UK community platform project. I started preparations for the summer WAO infrastructure project. More on that in July.
A few days ago, I received confirmation of my Postgraduate Certificate in Systems Thinking, so I now have even more letters after my name. Not that it makes any difference. I'm no closer to discovering things that do matter, such as finding out what's wrong with my heart. Apparently, though, I haven't got a "heart condition." That's the good news. The bad news is that there's something causing the symptoms, and my GP somewhat casually told me over the phone on Friday that they could be caused by an autonomic system issue, or blood clots in my lungs. Joy. Further tests incoming.
Yesterday, I watched my son's under-18s basketball team finish second in the end of season playoffs. These were his last games as a junior player, so it's the end of an era. Unlike football, which I introduced him to as soon as he was able to walk, basketball was entirely his idea. When he was about nine years old, he saw a team practising on the other side of the sports hall where my daughter was doing karate. The next thing I know, he's down there asking to play. The rest is history.
It's been Fathers' Day today, so we went round to my parents' house. My mother cooked, and we went for a walk afterwards at Druridge Bay Country Park. I received a bar of Toblerone from our two teenagers, as well as some stuff from the Truffle Guys, which was nice. I've enjoyed starting to watch Money Heist (aka "La Casa de Papel") with my daugher as she's just started her GCSE in Spanish, and it was recommended to watch a Spanish-language TV series. I've seen this before with Hannah, and enjoyed it, so it's the perfect fit.
Other than that, I've been so tired. I've been to the gym every day apart from one this week and my heart rate is all over the place. I'm "keeping on keeping on" and trying my best, but find some Stoic teachings, such as these from Epictetus' Enchiridion quite difficult to follow:
Don't demand that things happen as you wish, but wish that they happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.
One of the problems I have is that, while I'm good at planning and being prepared, sometimes my anxiety gets the better of me and I think of a million different things that could happen. It's not helpful when my brain does this, and I can't turn it off.
So, instead of getting something cringe like Carpe Diem on the wall of my new-ish home office, I might just get a big vinyl sticker printed that says TODAY. That should help focus me a bit.
Next week, if everything goes as planned, I'll be in Manchester on Wednesday for a BRAID community gathering. Then, after returning home, I'm heading to Nottingham with my wife and daughter for the ACES tournament. The week after that, I'm in The Netherlands for the DCC Summit. Why does travel always bunch up together? Weird.