closing in

 where do i begin? it's approaching midnight, and i've spent hours trying to configure nginx and this web portal i've been working on to play nicely together. and JUST as i typed this, i checked again and it freaking worked! i'm so stoked right now it's ridiculous.

*stops posting to defensively commit the code, backup all related configurations and document everything*

right. *phew*.

where was i? oh, yes. so i was supposed to deliver something to my client, who's been waiting very patiently for half a year now, over the course of the past few weeks... but it was only last week that things had settled down enough for me to actually get my head back into the game. over the course of the weekend i completed the backend half (the "real" half, at least emotionally), and made a lot of progress on the frontend but *just* couldn't quite get over the finish line. we've now pushed the due date to thursday, and while it's far from polished it's functional and i've just managed to deploy it, so that's a great weight off my shoulders. now it's small fixes and improvements and then i'm hoping they'll feel ready to install the app (via expo) and we can start working on serious features.

that's work. the day-job's been alright, i'm making slow and steady progress but i'm hardly feeling motivated these days... i'm certainly not unhappy, though.

family-wise:

mr smear's been really hard to deal with the past few weeks - primarily because he just doesn't listen without heavy "encouragement" and he reflexes says "no" to everything - but the last couple of days we seem to be getting through a bit better / more effectively / more positively. we were as surprised as his teacher when, during our term 1 feedback session yesterday, she informed us that not only has he decided that he wants to become a veterinarian when he's older, but that he wrote the word "vet" on one of his drawings, unprompted, after figuring it out itself. i think we're doing alright with the literacy thing!

gd's back has been giving her trouble, some days better than others. i'm never sure any more what's "normal" and what's not.

the two of them have been seriously getting into rayman: origins and mr smear and i have been digging ratchet & clank: all4one, and we're rewatching hunter x hunter again and loving it.

my fitness:

i've been really struggling to do any kind of exercise and my knee still hasn't healed. a few days ago i had a revelation, and i've now twice put in my headphones and spent 10-15 minutes walking up seven flights of stairs on the one side of the building, then down the other, and following that up with a walk to reset. it's tough (two stairs at a time), but i'm already feeling a difference.

there's a lot i'm forgetting, but i'm tired and i'm going to bed now. i'll just try one more time to get audible to understand that i've already signed up for one trial and i'm not interested in another.