Friday, February 22

I left the house in bright sunshine and, as I neared the bus stop, I wondered about a noise I could hear. I stopped and looked around and saw two squirrels running round and round a tree, chasing each other at the same time. Ah, Spring, I thought.

I got onto a completely empty bus and then into an almost empty metro. Ah, Friday, I thought.

Jutta, Mirko and I spent the first half of the morning watching Bandersnatch, using Jutta’s Netflix account. We watched it for an hour and a half and saw at least two very different ends. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. It maintained a solid 80s atmosphere and a consistent mood no matter what choices we made. It maintained consistency through a clever overlay of references, from detailed nods to the eighties in terms of music, through to the Ubik graffiti on the apartment wall. It holds together as much through aphorism and atmosphere as through plot.

After this we sat and did some important course planning until Jutta said that she would faint from hunger any minute, at which point we continued over lunch in China Flavor. We finished in the mall with me going to K-Market to try and get some tea that Jutta had given me and I had loved: Higher Living organic cocoa and chilli infusion, in fact; not really tea at all. Jutta had bought it in Citymarket but, to my surprise, they had it in K-market as well.

I wrote a note to Aga, Ilpo and Oliver pointing out that the experimental fund at the Ministry would suit Social Tools much more than the project I had had in mind. I then started setting up my application for a Fulbright travel scholarship.

At 15:00, and one tram and train ride later, I sat in Stoa with Irma and Kipa supervising them updating the Buddyschool website. I decided I did not like the way the WordPress multisite had turned out. I have updated the MakeSomeNoise site a lot more than this, and that exists as a perfectly compact 3 page Foundation site.

Hmmm, I thought; undecided as to whether I should forget this thought or find a space in my diary to remake the site.

For the hour or so that Irma and Kipa worked on the site, asking occasional questions, I did some project planning in Todoist. I understood some more of its hidden power, and began to like it even more. I planned and sorted all the myriad mini-tasks involved with starting the two new courses in Period 4.

Moving gracefully out of planning mode, I look out of the office window down at the library and catch it empty. Five minutes earlier I looked and saw young people doing homework. In another five minutes I will look and see people reading magazines and playing a board game.

Once Kipa has left, and Irma has finished her work, we will leave Stoa and drive to Kerhotalo to see Marja. We will meet Jens, Mikaela and Robin there, and all sit in the indoor jungle chatting.

On the way home Irma will ask whether we should have wine tonight or tomorrow night. We will agree on tonight since a) we feel like it, and b) we have nothing planned for tomorrow morning. We will stop at Prisma for some sparkling wine and some vegan chardonnay.

At home we will drink it.