I've been thinking a lot about my daily documentation practice recently. I can't see myself stopping my visual diaries, but I also feel like, somehow, the more interesting my 'work work' gets, the less interesting my visual diaries get. I originally started doing them to make sure that I was getting some freeform creativity every day, even where my job was a bit dull or uncreative (plus to gain skills)... But maybe it's still important to force myself to think about my days in interesting ways. (I am thinking of stopping my photo a day project at the end of the year, though that will make it 9 years and I feel like I should push for 10, ha).
In part it's because I feel like I'm working so much I'm barely doing anything interesting outside of that, so maybe I should draw a bit more about my work, I don't know. Or maybe I should actually try and get some work-life balance so that I can have the energy and time to go places and see stuff again and then draw about that... Who could say :)
Something that I also like though, is staying at home and eating tasty food, which luckily I DO get to do often.
I've been finding it hard this month to keep up swimming as much as I'd like to. My local pool only has early morning sessions (as established here, NO), one single lunchtime session from 12 – 1 which is when I usually go, but doesn't work on my teaching days as it's too late for me to get to uni after, and evening sessions (don't wanna swim after dinner)... This is kind of annoying as it's the only meaningful exercise I really do (increasingly realising I'm deluding myself to think riding an electric bike is meaningfully 'exercise' which is probably why I like it so much)
I got to do some super fun teaching about designing speculative futures, which is an area I've been lucky to just dabble in previously. It FELT like I delivered some really good content, I guess I'll only really know when I see how good the students outcomes are at the end of this project though?!
Treated myself to some stupidly shaped trousers from Cos as I slide ever more into art school teacher cliche
I volunteered months ago to travel down to Brighton as a 'responsible adult' on an away weekend for Quaker teenagers. It sounded really fun when I signed up, but teaching is tiring and the thought of not really having any downtime at the weekend was really stressing me out. (Not to mention I didn't know when I signed up that there were to be NO SHOWERS OR REAL BEDS, hell)
Anyway, at the last minute one of the other responsible adults let us know that his wife had COVID, and what did he think we should do. My response was 'well I'm not hanging out with you thankyouverymuch', but everyone else felt absolutely fine about it, so I ended up dropping out (with everyone's blessing). It made me feel kind of silly for being so petty, but like, I still really don't want to get COVID?! I know I'm almost certainly going to get it again because I spend three afternoons a week in a room with 50 students, but like, I'm still gonna go out of my way to avoid spending time with someone who has a known contact. I felt pretty guilty about it, even though skipping the trip did make my life a LOT easier.
My partner got this Monstera a while ago and it's suffered a number of mishaps since then, but it's still soldiering on.
Still feeling guilty for skipping out on that trip, I decided I should do SOMETHING worthwhile with my weekend. I wanted to continue with my capital ring walks, but I've been struggling to get to the starting point of the next one because every time I try, there's either train strikes, or rail replacement buses or something. So in the meantime, I started walking the length of the Wandle river, which is a lot easier to get to from here, and really enjoyed it.
Having said that I'm enjoying cycling, I am still extremely not enjoying the experience of dicing with death on every trip, in fact, it's making me really not want to go out on my bike. Between cars, other cyclists, and London's surprisingly potholed roads, every trip feels like taking my life in my hands, and I hate it. Because of where I live, I often have to navigate around Vauxhall's huge intersection, and though it's far from the worst place for cyclists, it's also far from the best. There's also a number of different ways to tackle it, and I did manage to find a slightly less perilous route through.
Was nice to see an old friend visiting from up North! Especially nice to have a chat with another 'creative practitioner' who recently started teaching at university level. Still feels like I'm just winging it a bit sometimes, but reassured after chatting about it all that maybe I actually do know what I'm doing...
I think I've mentioned this before, but I go through phases where I absolutely CANNOT face sitting at my desk. At the moment it's proving particularly hard, given that three days a week I'm only working from home in the morning... It's like... well why WOULD I get up and get dressed and sit in a real chair if I'm just going out at 12?! I know it's probably not good for me, and yet it feels so good :)
Talking of potholes, my absolute least favourite stretch of road to cycle (that I've found so far) is the stretch along past the US Embassy and the fancy rich-people towers with the 'sky pool'. It's an absolute death trap of grit, wonky manhole covers, gigantic potholes and uneven surfaces, and I HATE IT
In a rare turn of events, my partner wanted to go see some art (they normally hate leaving the house and have little interest in art). It was a show of work by turn of the century Lithuanian painter MK Čiurlionis at Dulwich picture gallery, and we really enjoyed it! He was working in an almost 'fantasy' style using surprisingly cheap materials, and he died incredibly young, so despite having prolific output in his lifetime, it was hard not to feel that he hadn't really reached his full potential.
We also enjoyed griping about Dulwich Village, the poshest place in South London (?)
Pleased to report, it's tea season again! (For me who only drinks herbal teas for half the year when it's cold)
Please?!
Payback for relaxing morning is STRESSFUL AFTERNOON
Me and the dog are united on three things. (Actually probably more things if I really get deep into it)
Been doing this silly series on my instagram where I take self portraits in convex mirrors, here's a drawn one. (Digitally, as I was away!)
An unflattering double chin drawing of me cuddling my sweet sister (went to visit my parents and their dog Fern) We have both got a bit pudgy tbh, but my parents won't admit the dog could stand to lose some weight :)
Swung by Worthing on my way home the next day to see Heidi and Harriet, eat great bunch and look at the sea!
Was getting repeatedly confused by the layout of the tower block at LCC before realising there are two staircases RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER running side by side in opposite directions, but never intersecting. It is hard to explain and I have never seen anything like this before in any other building.
Had a very efficient day and was heading briskly home on the northern line when I realised I'd left my bloody charger at LCC. Raging. (Karma for the other day when a student did the same and I thought 'I would never be so irresponsible, those things cost like £70)
Arrived early for Samaritans night shift and realised I'd forgotten to do my visual diary.
I just think it's kinda wild that for a month or two every year the public can just buy explosives and set them off wherever and whenever they want with pretty much no consequences. (I am mostly pissed off because Chase is terrified of them, and if I take her out to go to the toilet and she hears even a distant bang she gets too scared to go... It's becoming increasingly hard to find a five minute window when someone's not setting one of the damn things off)
Managed to carve out a day for errands/self care. My beloved Brighton hairdresser retired and I am devastated! Every other hairdresser I've ever been to fails to understand my slightly weird hair type (Very coarse! Very thick! Holds a lot of water! Dries unpredictably!) and gives me a mediocre haircut because of it. Most hairdressers also wanna style me a bit more femme than I entirely want, so I decided to give Open Barbers (the queer hairdresser in East London) a shot. They were LOVELY, everyone there is really hot, and even if they still probably didn't entirely understand my hair, they did a decent job and didn't just try and give me a bob and a fringe like everyone else always does. (Also the way they structure their service is super consent based, so they're like, constantly getting out a mirror to show you the back, telling you what they're doing and why etc, which is really nice.)
I also took my bike to the bike shop, gave blood, and did some other bits and bobs I'd been struggling to find time for!
I am extremely un-green-fingered but I love plants, so I feel very lucky to live with someone who takes such good care of so many plant pals that I get to enjoy too!
I was going to have a lazy Sunday at home, but my housemate Camille was going to Kew Gardens for their Mexico event, and she was able to get me a civil service guest discount, so I decided to go along too! Saw a Mariachi band in one of the glasshouses and got some early Christmas shopping done (plus lots of walking). A lovely unexpected treat.
Spent this afternoon doing my first session of one-to-one tutorials — 9 x 20 min tutorials with students to chat about their current project progress. Was really fun and felt like I did good, but by the end I felt like DEATH. Just draining doing a long talk? Didn't drink enough? Or have I finally succumbed to an autumn lurgy? (Kind of amazed to have held out this long tbh, as I assumed I'd immediately catch something in Freshers week). I guess I'll leave you on that cliffhanger of 'is Emma sick or not', ugggh
