Weeknotes 2025 W03: Thank you, Mr. Lynch

January 13​–​19, 2025
1000 words

Quick bits:


I am mostly back to health. Still low on energy, and with a persistent cough that is only slowly disappearing.

The throat ache makes it harder than usual to speak, and swallowing is also remarkably uncomfortable. This sickness has done a number on my vocal cords; near the beginning of my illness I could barely speak at all.

Also, during my sickness I distinctly remember having a headache, which I only realized afterwards could have been caused by foregoing coffee for an entire week. Caffeine withdrawal headaches are real! Mistakes were made.


I’ve started a new acting course!

I had to skip the first class due to sickness, and by the time the second class came around, I was so low energy that I would have preferred to stay in and veg out for a little bit more.

But as soon as I arrived in the acting studio, the familiar smell of the wood flooring and the voices of my fellow students immediately brought back the excitement and the desire to put my weight behind it once more. And so I did, and I think the effort that I put into it yielded a decent performance. I’ve got a couple of notes from my teacher which I can’t wait to incorporate.

Still, my vocal cords aren’t quite okay. Speaking is an essential part of acting, and I’m not quite able to speak as I used to. The scene I did was quite intense and required a good amount of vocal energy, and I’m regretting going as far as I did; I strained my vocal cords and now I can feel it. Ugh! I can’t wait for my health to be back to 100%.

Also, it turns out to be quite tricky to practice your lines when you have no voice.


RIP David Lynch. I was not expecting his death to hit me the way it did.

I’ve seen almost all of his work, many of it multiple times, and it continues to draw me in, every re-watch providing a fresh experience. His work is deep, human, and thoroughly meaningful. Certainly not impenetrable, but it definitely needs a re-watch and careful observation.

Lynch’s work is profoundly human, relatable, emotional. Not many other directors get close to having that sort of impact.


My interpreter book is making slow progress. My priority is finishing the implementation of the DELI interpreter before I continue with writing the book itself.

I’ve rewritten the test suite of the interpreter to be implementation-independent. The test suite can now be used for other implementations of the DELI interpreter, which I believe is quite valuable.

I’m still toying with the idea of rewriting the DELI interpreter in an entirely different language. I don’t think I will, for now, but I’m particularly curious about writing the DELI interpreter in DELI itself. This has two specific advantages:

But if I want to go the route of writing the book with DELI as both the host language and the guest language, then I need to finish DELI first and put the work on the book to the side for now.


My season of writing seems to be inadvertently on hold. This month has been the month I’ve written the least in a long time, going entirely against the point of the “season of writing,” which I proudly announced two weeks ago.

I am still recovering from being quite sick, so that is my excuse.

Perhaps I’ll shift my focus back to fiction writing, at least until the DELI interpreter (see above) is in a better state. Now all I need is some inspiration. Or perhaps just time to sit down and write.


Entertainment:


Links:

Tech links:


  1. Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, directed by F. W. Murnau, written by Bram Stoker and Henrik Galeen (Jofa-Atelier Berlin-Johannisthal, Prana-Film GmbH, 1922). ↩︎

  2. The Straight Story, directed by David Lynch, written by John Roach and Mary Sweeney (Asymmetrical Productions, Canal+, Channel Four Films, 1999). ↩︎

  3. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red, 2015), published by CD Projekt. ↩︎

You can reply to this weeknotes entry by email. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
If you like what I write, stick your email address below and subscribe. I send out my weeknotes every Sunday morning. Alternatively, subscribe to the web feed.