Today is the start of a 3 day study marathon, by the end of which I hope to have completed (a decent draft at least) of my first assignment.. if I get it finished it will be almost 3 weeks early.. but I have so many appointments and meetings this month that if I don’t get it finished by the end of these 3 days it might not get finished in time.. which is crazy..

Seems like I’m going to have to be the one to reach out to other group members to start talking about assignment 2 as well since no-one else has.. I really think group assignments and distance learning are an awful match but we are where we are..

The last couple of days at the brewery have been pretty physical and I didn’t sleep well last night so today’s study session is proving to be quite the challenge!

Covered the material from the lecture, just need to get through the additional reading and maybe make a start on research for my first assignment..

.. but currently I’m trying to work out if I can use a Cornelius keg as a portable continuous coffee ingestion system..

Just watched “Everything everywhere all at once”, what a profoundly excellent movie that was.

Today, I will start studying my latest uni course on “Cereals, Malting and Mashing” which started this week. Will be learning all about the structure of a barley kernel.

I may also start researching my first assignment on climate change and it’s impact on barley crops.

Last night when taking our dog out for his walk in the pitch black rural neighbourhood, we were stopped in our tracks immediately upon leaving the confines of our house by a booming bark. My best guess was that it is a wild boar and carefully retreated.

My wife and brother-in-law (the latter being somewhat of an expert on them) confirmed this morning that we do indeed have a wild boar living about 5 metres from our house.

Going to try and convince it to leave this morning before my brother-in-law takes more.. terminal.. actions. Can’t have a wild boar living quite so close to my daughters.

I was seemingly a cameo on NHK’s spot on the brewery I am interning at, but I missed it as I opted to help out for an extra 4 hours today at said brewery.

My daughter saw me on TV though and is seemingly very proud.

Instead of perpetually skipping through my unorganised music collection, I’m going to try to listen to brewing related podcasts on my drive to the brewery today..

.. lined up are “troubleshooting acetaldehyde”, “fundamentals of CIP” and “yeast stress”..

Rode an electric kickboard for about 24km today on a trip into the mountains to harvest some hops.. easily the most fun I have had in a very long time.

..seriously considering buying one.. I’d far prefer to travel by an electric scooter for short errand runs than in a car..

.. I had, I seem to recall put aside some money for a steamdeck.. can get a kickboard for about the same amount.. hmmm.

Holy shit! Vegan pizza (and soup curry) available at a food court in Kochi city.. accidental find.. my other options were onigiri or potato, result!

A couple of interesting things happened today..

.. we were travelling over a local mountain on a rarely travelled road and I saw my first wild boar, a young un, was very cool.

.. was told that some of the snakes around these parts are venomous.. tonight’s dog walk in the pitch black, unlit rural neighbourhood was a shade more edgy than normal.. yon lass from encanto with the super hearing had nothing on me.. I heard EVERYTHING!