You know how Trent Reznor said that Hurt was Johnny Cash's song now? I feel like The Arcade Fire needs to give My Body is a Cage to Peter Gabriel.

We've been watching loads of gameshows this week. The Airbnb we stayed at didn't have great internet and I had dreadful reception on my phone. We've been into: Tipping Point (I don't know why I love this; it's so stupid), The Chase, and Pointless, but the winner by a wide margin has been Richard Osman's House of Games. There are so many fun games, and the Answer Smash round is something I do in my head all the time anyway.

Why do I feel like this ends with me making a fool of myself on some daytime TV quiz show?

Tabitha, Monday: haha curling is so stupid
Tabitha, Thursday: I hope there's curling quarter finals on highlights today!

I feel like I've ranted about this before but I searched and couldn't find it so maybe I just thought about it and then didn't.

I am absolutely sick of having to eject USB hard drives before undocking my computer. Obviously this rant comes with a complete lack of awareness of the low level implementation of hard disks over USB but I am utterly sick of needing to move my laptop, and having to sit and wait whilst my computer fails to make this happen.

When I grudgingly disconnect hard drives, that is the last I want to hear on the matter. I'm not interested that Time Machine is in the middle of something. Time Machine had better stop what it's doing right now and get with the programme because I have other plans. I am not going to force eject via software, I am going to force eject by yanking the cable out and I will accept the consequences (of which there should be none because it's 2022 and if we can land on the sun, I should be able to unplug a hard drive as I see fit).

Here's what I want:

If I don't use a connected external drive for a little while, then go into some sort of brace mode where you're functionally ejected but if I decide I want a file on you, you spin right back up and get on with it. If I pull the plug you don't complain at me.

If you're some sort of backup drive then you had better always be ready to pull the cord and eject and deal with it. Everything you do should always be immediately resumable if I decide to pull the plug because I'm done having to care about this. Always know where you are, and you'll always know how much work you have left. The fact that you're not done is not my problem (OK it is but it shouldn't be).

And that's it. If I yank a drive and there's an app open still accessing that drive; show me an error telling me that app needs to quit or something. If I'm stupid enough to pull the plug when I'm actively using it, there's probably a reason (even if that reason is I'm an idiot and I didn't realise).

Honestly I am so sick of "oh hey I know you tried to eject this drive but are you really sure because there's a backup running - there's only two hours left are you sure you don't want to wait?" obviously no I do not want to wait I'm trying to leave my house stop being difficult.

And that is why I hate hard drives.

We're listening to Placebo. I used to adore this band in my teens. I would bring a copy of Without You I'm Nothing on Minidisc when I was on shift at Subway. That sentence perfectly encapsulates about four years of my youth. I don't often get nostalgic for that time, but singing along to "You Don't Care About Us" whilst putting dough on to prove and slicing tomatoes on a Saturday morning is a very happy memory for me.

"You're too complicated; we should separate it"

Being an emo kid never leaves you.

I think I might hate wireless audio more than anything. I am listening to music on headphones and someone turned on a speaker (in the other room!) that my phone also knows about. My phone decides this must mean that I am no longer listening on the headphones that are in my ears, and must immediately connect to that speaker and resume playing what I was listening to full volume. Do the people who design these things even use them at all?

Sometimes I hate this future we've made for ourselves.

Next year I want to review every vegetarian and vegan Pigs-in-Blankets product. This year we have had some great crisps from Tesco and M&S, and some lovely actual fake Pigs in Blankets from Sainsbury's. Next year I want to make it official, and do as many different products as I can.

I have noticed in 2021, we're beginning to see an increase in the American tradition of sausage wrapped in pastry/croissant/bread, and this is not acceptable. For a country that largely treats bacon as a religion, substituting it for pastry at such an important time of year is tantamount to heresy and I will not stand for it.