Thinking about overloading and under-loading this week. I have a piece of group coursework nearing it’s end. We’re figuring our way through it, but it’s a lot of work. The question is who’s under-loaded and who’s overloaded. That obviously brings tensions up. The great thing about doing this as a university course is the stakes are ultimately very low, it’s a grade on a course, so at most a speed bump in life if it doesn’t go well. There’s enough at stake that we’re all invested, but not so much that anything would be ruined if it all went truly wrong. I’m trying to get to the stage where I can enjoy it as a learning experience, still finding that a little hard but we’ll get there.

I’m watching the countdown until the end of the semester when I fly off to see my partner. Until then I’m just completing the steps for this semester. I feel a lot more organised about Christmas than I have been in the past. This is my first Christmas away from my family in 24 years, and I’ve got a good early deadline to meet for organisation. Everything needs to be sorted in three weeks. There’s nothing like an unexpectedly early deadline to get you to focus. I’m chewing through the items on my to-do list. After this weekend I should have just four pieces of work in my way. My flights have both been cancelled and rebooked by the airlines, I think that’s a common theme with everything that’s going on and the reduced volume flying. The plan is in place, it’s just a case of how smoothly it goes now.

Had a nice evening following along with a guitar tutorial from Laura Marling earlier in the week. So nice to have these moments of sharing and communion with artists that go some way to replacing the gigs that we’ve lost for now. Although there is the weird thing about seeing people almost at the end of a video call, speaking at you. The parasocial feeling of it. It’s nothing compared to the streamers and Youtubers but it’s weird. Connection without connecting. That was part of the audience/performer dynamic before but it’s just weird negotiating that shift. Thinking about that a little.

—

Reading list