Weeknote 41

Oliver Hannan
Web of Weeknotes

The most significant thing is my good friend’s brother died suddenly in the last few weeks.

The news didn’t hit me that hard at first. Then, old memories surfaced and I struggled to work or even think clearly. My grief feels shallow: sympathy for my friend. I was stunned knowing this was nothing compared to what was the heaviest of heavy for him.

It also felt like finality, the absolute end of being obsessed with music and dancing in Glasgow clubs. It’s all I did, studying or working was always secondary. It was fun and wild but also hedonism too far, effecting my mental health. This was unrealised, I lacked capacity to understand at the time. I have no regrets but it feels like a foreign country.

As usual social media made me feel connected first then quickly alone.

Music helped with very happy moments reliving some mixes from those days. Thanks for the tunes! What a time we had.

Watching loads of films at LFF also helped and I felt blessed. What a cool job I have.

What went well

  • An inspirational chat with Iain made me realise we’re thinking the same things but need to do more to explain outwards and consistently. Nice to realise I do have something to contribute to technical conversations.
  • Automated testing started to come good, big up the ever modest and steadfast Prashanth.
  • I met with the BFI Player team, Annie and Laz were helpful and supportive. I fudged a couple of points but thanks to Annie’s thorough note taking I’ll be able to pick it back up
  • I shared a content brief style doc and I’m looking forward to working with Jem on it. He’s fun and smart.
  • I’m writing this about to return from Scotland. The coastline of Fife never fails in beauty but as always the trip was tinged with sadness. The sky was big and the food made me happy but I was missing family before I even left.

What could have been better

  • Death, grief, loss. Y’know, the usual.

Listen, watch, eat

Jackmaster Rustie 2005

Jackmaster Sonar 2010

Jackmaster numbers Xmas party

Charlie Bones classic midweek

My mate Andy

NY 2000–2005

Castle

30 years later one of my fave De La Soul songs got a video

Deep fried carbonara – a disgusting yet delicious Scottish fusion

LFF – respect to those who made this happen

I loved La Cocina ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Surfer, silly fun ⭐️⭐️

The Outrun was moving and intense. Not part of LFF but so what. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bury Your Dead was a bit gruelling ⭐️⭐️

I found Happyend impactful but also kind of gentle. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sign up to discover human stories that deepen your understanding of the world.

Published in Web of Weeknotes

#weeknotes are blogposts about our working week. for us but shared with you.

Written by Oliver Hannan

I write my personal opinions here, not those of my employer. I live and work in London as a product manager.

No responses yet

Write a response