Weeknotes 75

Some weeks nothing happens.

It’s already a bit too warm. Last year I didn’t start complaining about the heat until the end of June so this trend doesn’t bode well for future years. I have so far resisted wheeling out the air conditioner though.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is pretty fun. I’m still at the beginning because I’ve chosen to wander around the open world having adventures instead of following the main story, but the freedom is refreshing and I’m not in any hurry.

The controls feel clunkier and less responsive than the last Assassin’s Creed game I played (Syndicate) but it’s visually impressive and there are still enough covert murder opportunities to outweigh the soporific RPG feeling. I’m particularly enjoying all the climbing now that there are mountains and waterfalls and all that majestic Norwegian stuff. (I suspect there’ll be less of it once I pull my finger out and sail to England.)

The main downside of playing a cross-platform game is that I die a little every time I have to use the analogue stick to move a pointer around a menu screen that was obviously designed for a mouse. I’m really looking forward to some proper platform exclusives before too long. 🤞

The distraction of Valhalla probably means I’ve given up on Returnal for now; I haven’t touched it this week and I don’t feel like I can face playing any more of it soon. It’s possible I’ll pick it back up in a few months once the tedium of the first level has faded from my memory a bit. This is more likely to happen if Housemarque makes it possible to suspend a run and take a break — they are “looking into improving” the current naff situation. We’ll see.

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of The Elements of Computing Systems. I’m rereading it at the moment and working through the projects at the same time as Maple does so that we can discuss it and compare notes.

It’s a joy to revisit the material and be impressed all over again by how carefully each of the pieces is designed and how neatly they slot together into a complete system. The clarity of exposition is inspiring and I get so much pleasure out of reading and tinkering with its ideas.

A few aspects of it feel a bit dated, especially the very peculiar GUI tools they provide, so I’m hoping the upcoming second edition will be more modern. It’s meant to be out in “June 2021” which feels fairly imminent.

My bike has been to the bike shop and is finally roadworthy again after having fallen into disrepair. I haven’t been for a ride yet but it’s sunny outside and the prospect is tantalising. Bring on the short summer weeks.

Speaking of which: work has inexplicably given us the union of Canada Day and US Independence Day as holiday, thereby expanding the previous three-day weekend into a glorious five-day break. Just two more full weeks to get through.

9.4kg down.