I usually write a blog entry in one sitting and then update and edit over a couple of days if it is long. This one is a little different in that it will be written over a period of a few days and probably won't get much editing. If it sounds more disjointed than usual then I apologise.

Update:

First the update part of the post. I am happily working on a small game using a fairly minimal subset of C++ and SDL2. It is going OK. Will it get a public release is not something I sure about just yet, that decision is a little way off. I am just starting to look at TileEd importing to avoid having to write an in game editor. Fun stuff.

Learning Haskell continues. I am working thought the Haskell Book, not cheap and while I brought it a while back it has taken this long for me get round to studying it. I say study rather than read and I am taking notes and doing all the exercises. It is a big book and I am averaging only 30 to 50 pages a week so it is going to take a while.

It is a good book so far and currently recommended even if the price is quite high. I imagine their volume is pretty low so I don't begrudge the pricing.

Tech in the next year:

I am not sure where my technology interests will take me this year. It is a deliberate decision not the constrain this although I should really make a list and see what excites me. I would like to keep the rhythm/pattern of work I currently have. The mix of learning and coding seem right and I am getting time to play some games :).

I suspect I will eventually end up taking a look at either Zig or if gets to public beta Jai. Rust doesn't hit the problems I have at home so while a move to it would be a plus, Zig or perhaps Jai may be a better at home language. Rust would certainly be beneficial for my at work projects.

Either way no hurry, C++ while a little meh but is currently OK.

Not worrying about goals in this area allows me to focus on what I want to improve this year.

Health:

I am well into middle age and have piled on the pounds with each passing year. I don't feel to healthy. While Covid has at times felt hard I am well aware others have had it much harder but it has certainly taken its toll. Even though I have been overweight for a while I was able to train for an ultra marathon but ended up pulling out as I came down with an illness so I am not in a terrible situation.

So my "Goal" for this year is my health, both physical and mental. Now I am not going to set a lose 20 pounds goal or even run a marathon. Instead I am going to set up a number of process's or habits. That should reduce weight and improve health.

Trying to start them all at the same time is never a good idea. So I will introduce each habit once I have solidified the previous habit or decided it is not working for me.

The first three will be:

• Intermittent fasting.
• Massively reduce wheat intake.
• Sleep.

I suspect intermittent fasting should be pretty easy to get back into the habit of. At least with an initial 8 hour eating window. Ideally I would like to reduce this to a 6 or 4 hour eating window. Baby steps first.

Wheat intakes is something I noticed while training for the aborted ultra marathon. When training after a few days of high wheat intake my lungs felt less efficient at getting oxygen into my body. Intolerance to wheat is in the family. I could probably figure out how to get tested for it, or I could just cut down on it massively. I plan to do the later as reducing/removing bread is not a bad thing as wheat products are rarely nutritionally dense.

I am pretty sure I can also hear it in my voice, I get croakier if I eat a lot of wheat.

Sleep will be the difficult one, it is just too easy to stay up late coding or watching Netflix/YouTube. I know I need to increase the quantity or quality but as the least known aspect I will leave it until last. It may be the other alterations play a factor in increasing the quality of sleep. Sleep is a massive factor in mental health so if the first two don't help I won't be shy of hitting this one hard.

First step is get back into intermittent fasting.

There is more to the plan but I have become a believer in setting a general direction and figuring it out as you go when it comes to this sort of thing. Trust a process of small improvements to get you where you want to be.

Did I mention mental health. Nope, but the past few years have not great nothing major but certainly the magnitudes of the ups and down have gotten bigger. Not the easiest things to write about. I would certainly need to think a lot more on this to be able articulate much past that. I don't think anything is broken internally just situational stress causing oscillations. Just need some strategies to dampen the magnitude of the lows.

I don't plan on this becoming a health blog but I am sure I will mention from time to time...

Until then I will return to random musings about what I am up to and coding.

Oh my long Christmas break was pretty good. Not enough thinking time but when is there, I did get out up some mountains and explore more of the local area. Plus spent time with family but alas not friends.