I guess it is back to normal now, working (to not get any song into your head..) 9-5, an ever incoming deadline of delivery coming at me at 85mph, and a huge feeling of “it’s going all right..” - I’ll keep you posted.

What did I enjoy:
I’ve been wanting to go to Haworth forever, and finally managed to blag the family to go, they will never doubt my trip ideas ever again. What a lovely place. I could not recommend it for a great little Sunday out, really interesting shops, a great vibe, the view is killer and the pubs are dreamy.
One of Yorkshire’s finest.

Chasing the dream, doing emailers, planning campaigns, just eating up podcasts, and videos and speaking to inspiring friends - surround yourself with knowledge and pushers. Get you the friends that’ll shove you towards the sun and then keep them friends forever.

FCA-wise, we are on the home straight, the design system is looking the part, the code of it is looking ok (always wary of saying that) and it’s now in the hands of a colleague for testing and seeing if it does the do. I am also going to do a live build-a-service in the prototype kit demo this week, crikey - that’s when you know it’s starting to get real.
I think this alone is a blog post, but the aim is to showcase how simple it is to build a thing in half the time of a Figma mock-up (and also include little tips about pre-meeting the team, running ideation sessions and having a thought-out journey before you load the kit), it’s going to make a great case study!

Did I mention I’m a cat owner now? We called him Mouse (to the confusion of my 2-year-old) and he’s perfectly crazy enough to slide into this family, couple him with my dog Ralph and it’s all cosy and noisy.

What am I looking forward to next week?
Testing out the design system with an FCA colleague, whilst I’ve presented it every Wednesday, it’s time to throw it into the wild and let the team use it - I know their feedback will be valuable, useful and also thoughtful for scope - bring it on!

More emailers, but these one have a plan, a strategy behind them - bobbin and bumble is getting serious this year!

Watch of the week:
Instead of just listening to one video, I thought I’d list some of my favourite retro gaming YouTubers, start 2024 with recommendations, so here we go:

  • Kim Justice - one of my favourites, an absolute powerhouse of fantastic documentaries (highlights are Tresspasser and anything Sinclair Spectrum related)
  • John Hancock - taught me all I need to know about Atari and tons more!
  • Slopes Game Room - if you haven't, watch his Amico breakdown of the past couple of years.
  • Patman QC - a great historian of games
  • Retro Game Corps - this single channel has helped me buy VERY GOOD handhelds to play games on the move (personal recommendation is the Retroid Pocket 3+)