This week has mostly been spent getting on with background work. I’ve been waiting on a payment, so when the transfer came through I sorted out a new Kiva loan & reinstated my d.school quarterly subscription. I thought I’d missed out on a bunch but my sense of timing is obviously slightly skewed as I’ve only missed one. Once I’ve completed the projects they’ll be written up here. What else? I went to see Sutra last night. It was fantastic. When Brighton Festival + Brighton Fringe come around I always imagine I’ll be out all the time, filling my brain with cultural detritus and other people’s germs, but in practice I’ve seen maybe one or two things each year max. This is ok! I forget how much I like being at home. My brain can only absorb so much at a time anyway, and there’s a fine line between stimulation and overwhelm. I’m working on some words about Sutra;  huge amounts of impressiveness were very apparent and the physical skill was awe-inspiring.

I’ve started keeping a vocabulary column down the right-hand side of notebook pages, for any words which are either totally new or that has a meaning that I can’t easily articulate. I don’t remember when I last I did this (a few years ago? definitely in junior school) although I’m used to researching things, reading “above my level” so at least 25% of my search history involves the word “define”. It’s interesting; a deliberate habit and also what I’m asking students to do. It’s not automatic yet but it’s getting easier.

The first five from my vocab list:

∞ equilibrium
∞ cadence
∞ synthesis
∞ interplay
∞ mixed-initiative command & control models

I might as well start a glossary of all of these things I can’t-quite define, as the quickest way for me to get something is to write it in my own words. It’s also nice for all of the further reading/research I want to do to be in one (relatively) coherent list rather than scribbled across square metres of tree mush.

Life is ticking along.

This week I’ve been revamping my client processes and offerings, and working on exclusives for my mailing list subscribers. Sign up for video discount offers and secret project updates! I’ve been backing up old work and playing with more loops. I hit a high today, 17 new clips with a focus on layering. They need further work but I’m having fun; they’re loud.

I’m thinking about inverse luma keying for the white areas (basically, erasing the brightest parts so that another video clip shows through underneath). I’m enjoying being back with formulae and my maths brain. I’ve started a video maths post but equations will have to wait.

My hobby for the entirety of May is going be be essay construction. I have a month to write my modern art Pollock-Richter EMA. Back to the art books. I think this might be the final art module that I study; I love the reading but enjoy pontificating much less. I’m psyching myself up for a research slog, digging out and revising materials. Experimental study methods are coming to a head; a deadline means that I can’t drag out the planning phase as much as I tend to, so I am practising concise+goodenough-ness.