Friday, November 23

 

 

Yesterday Irma got my winter jacket from the shed and gave it to me when I got home. This morning its weight surprised me when I put it on. This, I thought, explains why I have felt cold this week. With the temperature at 2 degrees, and the sun set to off, I cycled to the metro with all my lights on.

I spotted major traffic congestion by Alepa and remembered the wisdom of Reidar Wasenius: always do one thing differently every day. I therefore stopped at Alepa and did my shopping for lunch. I then had an unnecessary logistical problem: how to get the shopping into my little basket. I managed; making two different things I did before I even got to Puotila.

My morning consisted of a lot of little things performed in rapid succession, with little or no thought.

I wrote to Arlene, replying to her reply. I explained how our technical set-up worked, and agreed with her that her iPhone should work as a recording device. I wrote to some students. I explained what we will do tonight to those MA students not planning on attending the session. I uploaded today’s episode of Miaaw to Soundcloud, added the post to the website, and then tweeted to announce it. I accepted an offer to attend the mince pie and mulled wine event next week at the British Embassy, making sure to invite Irma too.

At lunch time I had a long conversation with Maria about the new Active Work Space that Arcada plans to put into action. A kind of twenty first century hot-desking, it will involve removing all the desks, filling the rooms with sofas and beanbags and scattering bookable hot-desks and private meeting booths around the building.

Hmmm, I responded, I will like that.

At 15:00 Vera, Hafdis and I had the world’s shortest meeting. It took me longer to write up the minutes, for the sake of people who didn’t turn up, than to attend the meeting. Despite its brevity, it covered everything that we needed to discuss, including a task list and a date for the next meeting.

I get up and go for a walk, to practise for my forthcoming Active Work Space. I wander downstairs right to the basement in search of somewhere I have never seen. I find the spot where the stairs just abruptly end in a blank wall. Next to this I can see two vents of some sort. I photograph them to avoid having to come back here again.

At 16:30 I will begin the second session of this week’s block of Digital Mediascapes. I will have a lot to get through today, and a desire to get home sooner rather than later.

I will actually get home at about 20:55.