Well, well, well — look who it is! Me, that’s who, with this rare-for-2023 mid-month post. Whatever’s going on?

Not much, actually — and that’s the problem. You see, as I mentioned in my August review, I’ve just left one job and am about to start another, with (to quote myself) “a small amount of time off in between”. That was 11 days, to be precise, which are now coming to an end. My plan for that time (as has been my plan for most of my times off in the past 17 years or so) had been to “cram a bunch of films in… I’ve certainly got plenty that I want to catch up on.”

Dear reader, I have not crammed. In fact, I have watched… just checking my notes, adding them all up… one (1) film.

Look, for once it’s not my fault. Yes, sure, I have been spending some time on Twitter X… no, let’s keep calling it Twitter. And yes, that site is often a drain on my time — but that’s not what happened here. Rather, I’ve had an eye infection. It’s actually been rolling on for months, waxing and waning, which is why I haven’t really had it treated (I got over-the-counter stuff, which didn’t work, which in itself is surely a factor in it being a longer-term problem). Now, I’ve battled through this affliction on other occasions — it was present to some extent when I made all those cinema trips in July, for instance. I say “battled” — it’s often been ‘not that bad’; a minor nuisance rather than a choice-limiting irritant. But last weekend it spread to the other eye, since when it’s been a right pain; and getting appointments and whatnot… well, anyone who’s had to deal with the NHS in recent times will know what a palaver that can be.

Consequently, I haven’t wanted to watch any films. Sure, I could’ve tried; but anything in 4K or 3D I wouldn’t have been able to appreciate fully, and anything with subtitles throughout would have been a headache; and while those were the most rule-out-able, anything else would’ve been compromised, and I don’t like that kind of compromise if I can help it. So, I’ve not watched anything this week. I’ve tried to put my time towards other forms of entertainment that I sometimes overlook in favour of films: reading books and comics; listening to audio dramas; playing games. (Of course, some of these are also vision-based, but I find them less bad than films at the moment — if my eyes begin to become a problem, I can take the time to clear or rest them before continuing. You can pause a film, obviously, but I find it less convenient to do so when it’s required frequently.)

And that’s how we come to this: a week wasted… although not completely wasted; but I still feel a bit wasted, because it’s meant I’ve fallen further behind on my Challenge when I had hoped to stay caught up, and possibly even get a bit ahead, before I start this new job, which itself may have a negative effect. Damn.

Plus, I’m going to further self-sabotage my film-watching efforts over the next couple of months, thanks to planning a personal celebration of Doctor Who for its 60th anniversary. In the run up to the venerable sci-fi series’ birthday (23rd November), which will bring the broadcast of three new episodes (probably throughout November, but the airdates haven’t been confirmed), I’ve plotted out my own series of viewings, readings, and listenings to mark the occasion — a collection of episodes, audios, books, comics, and the like that covers every canonical Doctor, and therefore is going to take some time to get through. All fun and exciting, and I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t want to (and maybe I’ll post some more about it here at some point, although there are no films involved so I ‘shouldn’t’ really), but it’s not conducive to catching up on a stalled Challenge. Oh dear. Well, maybe I’ll just cram ’em in throughout December instead…

Oh, and back to the eyes: I’ve got a hospital appointment on Tuesday. Hopefully they’ll give me some stronger antibiotics or something that’ll get it all cleared up, allowing my comfortable film viewing to resume before too long. Whether the whole of September becomes a washout or not, I’ll let you know on October 1st.