juliet

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Finished! Eventual figures:
1001/1001 days, 76 completed, 2 still in progress, 23 didn't happen.

That's not too bad, I reckon. Some of the things I did do were genuinely useful (building the fixie that I now ride daily, and the weekly O'Reilly blogging that was instrumental in getting the freelance stuff going, being obvious stand-outs); many of them were much fun (writing letters!). I found the monthly check-in that I did to be a useful reminder of Stuff I Want To Get Done. I almost certainly will do this again, but with a bit more built-in flexibility; there were several things on the list that in the end I just didn't want to do (and so didn't).

( This month )

(today is the day for many postings...)

Only one more book to go on the list! This one was recommended by envoy, and it is about BIKES. Specifically, about couriers (the subtitle is "Bike Messengers and the Cult of Human Power") & Chicago.

The blurb describes his prose as 'poetic' - this is kind of true, but sometimes it gets a bit much. It's almost frenetic sometimes: you get the feeling that he's the sort of person who's always on the move. And of course this links in nicely with the way he talks about riding as a courier: the focus on speed, the way in which it takes over your body and your life, that you almost can't stop moving even when you get home at night. I recognise that feeling: the muscle-twitch you get after a long ride which along with the time it takes the adrenaline to disperse makes falling asleep incredibly hard[0] right until it suddenly all gives way and you collapse.

I could also recognise the way he talks about riding city streets, and reading the traffic. Obviously I'm not a courier and I don't do this full-time; but I've spent a lot of time over the last 7 years riding around London, and you do pick up a feel for how the traffic moves and how to put yourself smoothly into and around it. Which can also take a certain amount of nerve, but when it's working, it's an amazing feeling. (I am going to stay away from his take on the Red Light Argument, other than to say that it's interesting, that I can see his point, and that of *course* couriers are going to jump lights when they can get away with it, they're on pay-per-delivery and not high pay at that.)

He talks a bit about Critical Mass, as well - he was involved while the Chicago police decided to crack down on CM by arresting everyone in sight, and of course that wound up upping the activism. I was interested as well by what he says about the tension between his activist involvement & his courier job (or more accurately, his colleagues): that the couriers weren't all that interested, in many cases, in the activism side of things. (Although I think in most or even all cities where there's a CM, there's tended to be at least some courier involvement.)

In the end he quit & went back into art gallery stuff (and got more heavily involved in bike activism) - mostly because he seriously wrecked his knee. Couriering is the sort of job that tends to do for you physically, one way or another.

Fascinating book: definitely recommended to anyone who cycles or is interested in bikes. (Hard to get in this country, so let me know if you want to borrow it!) And in particular to anyone who enjoys traffic-jamming :)

[0] The canonical example of this for me is trying to sleep at the 400km point of the BCM. twitch twitch twitch.

One of my 101 things is to review some old albums. (While I have internet.... who knows if the might of Telstra will reach Agnes Water?)

( in the ambient hutch )

I am plugging away merrily on the old-albums bit of my 101 things list, but there's also something on there about new bands, and about getting recommendations from my friends. Obviously, this is an excellent opportunity to merge the two together.

So: anyone suggest me some bands I may not already know/know of? (For those unfamiliar with my existing tastes: the 30GB of music I have on this laptop is heavily biased towards indie (esp of the mid/late 90s variety), with a fair chunk these days of minimal techno, psytrance, Scooter & other similar silly rave music, musicals, 60s rock 'n' roll, 80s pop, some gothish stuff (Covenant: goth happy hardcore!), & classical of various sorts. But I will listen to most stuff at least once.)

Time to pick up the 101 things again (though I think with about 8 months to go it is a safe bet that they aren't all going to happen. Ah well.). Anyway: one of them is about reading & reviewing books, so I got Morality Play, by Barry Unsworth (recommended by thekumquat), out of the library yesterday, and sat up on the roof this afternoon to read it. (I like it up on the roof - Elizabeth Bay is one of the highest bits of Sydney, so there's a great view, and it's lovely and quiet.)

I found the actual story (a group of mediaeval travelling players who are caught up in the aftermath of a murder, lots of stuff about justice and power and so on; don't want to say more for fear of spoilers) less interesting than the background stuff. Specifically the idea of the move from acting morality plays to using more modern material - the ideas about what 'acting' could and could not convey, and the beginnings of change in that. Also the ideas about one's relationship to meaning, and whether meaning is given to you, or can be self-constructed. Barry Unsworth also makes some fairly unsubtle points about gender relations.

It's fairly short, and it's a decent enough read, I guess, but I wasn't really that impressed. Faintly surprised that it won the Booker (in 1992) - I certainly wouldn't have rated it as prize-winning. I found it a little clunky and shallow. (And homophobic, in a fairly thoughtless "stock Evil Character" way.) Having said that, it wasn't a total waste of 1.5 hrs or anything :-)

ION: I am trying to switch to a Dvorak keyboard, a project which is progressing, but it's bloody frustrating. So I shall stop typing now.

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Have just finished making vegan hot cross buns.

Conclusion: not bad, but despite doubling the recommended quantities of spices, could still do with a bit more; also a pinch of salt (I was surprised at the exclusion & should have just put it in anyway). I'd put a bit more dried fruit in, as well, although marnameow disagrees.

Also: sachet yeast != dried yeast, so the first go at rising didn't. Mixing in some more actually activated yeast solved that problem, though.

Also to get the tops looking smoother I should have done the thing where you spin the balls of dough before their final rising, to pull the top tight.

I need a baking icon.

Made roasted sweet potato and leek pasta last night, which was v tasty.

Today my neck has seized up again (I kind of knew this was on its way), so I have a stinking headache and am working from home so I can apply heat/ice/whatever. And have a nice lie down when required. It has just occurred to me that ibuprofen might be a good plan. Tomorrow: the osteopath.