This entry makes three straight years of weeknotes since my first entry in January 2021. I’m pleased with that achievement.

I didn’t succeed in this goal, however:

I don’t intend to take on any more web development work ever.

Me, hopelessly optimistic, in January 2021

On the other hand, we bought a house later that year, and having work was helpful with that.

I didn’t do much over the Christmas week, and it’s been restorative to relax without feeling guilty about it.

It’s not the most festive of songs, but I worked out a mandolin arrangement of Hurt by Nine Inch Nails, probably made more famous by Johnny Cash’s cover. A couple of people asked to hear the arrangement, so I made a quick recording. I used just a single microphone, and the balance between mandolin and voice isn’t ideal, but it gets the idea across.

There’s a bit of fret buzz in the first few bars, but there’s a bit of fret buzz in the opening bars of Cash’s recording, too. I let it be.

Happy New Year! It’s already 2024 somewhere, and soon will be here. In the year ahead, I’m looking forward to an end to Tory misrule, and at least ten months of being able to hope that Donald Trump is not going to be US president again.

Some links for your edification and amusement: