Tuesday, March 11
A306, Arcada, 20:00
I spent the morning with the XML Foundations group. It was the start of the final week of the XML course and we began to look at transformations. This is always a tricky point because if the students don’t get confused then I do. The morning went well, the explanations all made sense, and then I improvised a final problem because they were doing so well.
I had fish fingers and mash for lunch, and then a good part of the afternoon disappeared in trying to find a solution to the problem I had set them. By 16:00 I had a working version, but it had involved several concepts that are well outside any kind of “foundation” course. I will explains it to them on Thursday.
Going to the toilet involves walking past the online media lab and so, after a quick burst of random help and assistance to whoever was in the studio waving their arms or shouting, I settled down once more to start reading my thesis and this time I actually read a reasonable amount. I also phoned Irma to see how her first day back at work had been. She said that she would see if it got any better tomorrow.
Now I am looking over the room at the whiteboard. Someone has moved some posters, or taken something down, and they have revealed the remnants of a large drawing that Auo did on the board at some point last year when she was with me at work and bored. Much of it has disappeared because there used to be a gang of girls with bodies, but I am surprised to see any of it still remaining.
Seeing it makes me sad but it doesn’t upset me. I can vividly remember her doing it, laughing and asking questions while she was drawing – and then borrowing my keys to wander into other rooms to try to find a better marker pen. I remember having lunch in the restaurant too. She always used to like that because she claimed it was much, much better than her school food.
Soon I will pack up and leave for home. The view of Auo’s art will serve to put an end to my reading, and I will race home to have a shower and get ready for tomorrow. Later, as I am falling asleep, I will cry. I will be drawn back to the final two days in India, and wish I had had more time to talk with her in the moments she was conscious.
When I fall asleep, though, I will sleep peacefully until morning.