Friday, October 7

 

 

I woke up having had a series of strange dreams including one in which I had a goat sitting on my lap. It could say “Monday” and it wanted me to teach it to say “Tuesday” as a step towards being able to recite the days of the week. It kept pointing out that it needed to know them in the right order.

I walked from Kalasatama listening to Field Recordings by the Bang On A Can All Stars. I had not listened to it before and, somewhat to my surprise, I found it riveting. I especially liked the piece where they play while John Cage reads from his diary, and the rhythm of the piece mimics his speech pattern exactly. This makes a good joke on so many different levels; and an interesting piece of music to boot.

As I approach Arcada over the grass I notice the first frost of autumn under my feet. Or at least the first frost I have noticed this autumn. I look up and see the bright blue sky and Arcada’s flags fluttering mildly in the slight breeze. I like the unique qualities of the light in Finnish autumns.

I will spend the morning reading background material that covers everything from WordPress action hooks to the discovery that apes apparently do have a theory of mind. I will have a very long Skype chat with Jutta that will deal with the thorny issues around the big project planned for Period 3. We will cover a lot of ground until I have to break off for a tutorial with an MA student.

Jutta would have had to have stopped anyway because she has to prepare for a newspaper interview about her role as slow-living, recycling Volkswagen fanatic.

At 14:00 I will have a lengthy but interesting first tutorial and then race to answer my remaining mails before the weekend begins.

At 16:15 I will walk to Kalasatama under bright blue skies.

The weekend will begin.