Update 17: bye bye social media

Week nr. 17 … went from an absolute standstill to running at full speed. Last weekend I was sick and mostly sleeping, but a single massive dose of antibiotics beat the baddies into submission. I am back on my feet and at full speed ahead.

Where I’m at

This is my last month at my current employer. I will go back to Europe for two months and then start my new job, which I am super excited about. More about that in a later update. I am househunting in the city centre so I will live close to work. I am really looking forward to enjoying everything the city has to offer, after a year in the beautiful but boring suburbs.

I got my ears pierced. When travelling by bicycle you can’t buy many souvenirs. Usually I buy either something useful, a badge to stitch onto my cycling cap or a length of beautiful textile. A pair of earrings will be another small, light and beautiful object, to serve as a tangible memory of a place.

Ear bling
Ear bling

Doing good

I donated to MIMOA, an online crowdsourced modern architecture database. It’s a beautiful community project, a good database and quite handy if you want to make your own architectural tour at any place in the world. If you have a little bit to spare, consider giving.

Reading

I read Kazuo Ishiguro’s An Artist of the Floating World. The book captures the tensions between the generations after WWII in Japan. The narrator is a reactionary artist who is in denial about the wrongs committed by himself and his generation. It is not about China but the cultural norms such as loss of face and revering elders that are at the heart of this book are much the same in both countries.

Finally

I am fascinated by the Dark Mountain project and their idea of uncivilisation. The Situationists and the Frankfurter Schule are back on my mind, and I’m hugely inspired by Iain Sinclairs Lights out for the territory. I’m hopeful about the pushback against the corporations who own all our intimate data and I can’t wait to untether from some unhealthy capitalist constructs.

As a consequence, I’m experimenting with a weekly blog post format as I don’t want to use Facebook and Instagram anymore, for obvious reasons. Less social media, less screen time, more of life experienced on the ground. I’m considering a weekly update, plus the more researched blog posts about topics that interest me. Let me know what you think of this, in the comments below or via the contact form. I don’t want to spam you with inane drivel, but I do want to stay connected.

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