A Week Without Blogging

Having an almost full-time job and volunteering has impinged upon my blogging time (as well as cooking, cleaning and shopping time—but I don't miss those as much). Last week was additionally busy as Monday after work I took part in a four hour perception study for an autism research project, Tuesday I had my penultimate "Intro to Film" class at the Arts Picturehouse and Wednesday M* and I went to dinner at Bangkok City with James and Manuela.

Thursday M* and I decided that we were going to jointly make dinner—something we enjoy and have not had time to do this year. We decided upon sushi, and M* was going to make the special sushi rice and I was going to pick up the other ingredients after work. Our plans did not progress smoothly, and we felt as though the universe was conspiring against our efforts. First, M* forgot to put the rice on until just before I arrived home at 6pm. Since the rice takes one hour in the steamer and we needed two batches, we almost put the sushi off for one night. Instead I started one batch on the stove. Right before the rice in the steamer was done, I noticed a container of risotto sitting by the rice cooker. M* had used risotto instead of the sushi rice. Instead of giving up, we made another pot of sushi rice on the stove. We also got past the unripe avocados, the knocking over of the organic vegetable box which spilled dirt on the flour, the discovery that the beets we were going to use were actually just small swedes covered with a lot of dirt and the falling salt shaker which spewed its contents everywhere. We are very happy that we persevered and manufactured excellent, though not always the most tightly rolled, sushi.

Friday was also a busy as I volunteered the full day for Shape East at a meeting entitled "Delivering High Quality Public Art In Cambridgeshire," hosted at the SmartLIFE Centre at Cambridge Regional College. The morning only required me to work check-in and usher people back to the meeting room after coffee breaks, and I was able to hear the four speakers: an art consultant, a developer, a public arts officer and a member of a visual arts development agency. In the afternoon I recorded the discussion of a break-out group which contemplated several questions: what is public art, how do you achieve success and what do developers pay for. The group I was with was made up of two artists, one architect, a retired city planning official, two urban planners and two people involved with public art (not sure of their exact roles). The discussion was lively, thought provoking and unpretentious.

The SmartLIFE Centre; sustainable features include the wind turbine, ground source heat pump and solar thermal hot water heating.

I made a few contacts and found people willing to talk to me about their experiences in the field. M* and I have both found the Cambridge community to be inclusive and non-competitive. If I don't continue with my part-time job, I will be increasing my time with Shape East. Although I am not getting paid, I am learning about sustainability, development, architecture and related issues, which will help me decide if this is an area that holds a viable career option. One thing I know, the crafting of policy is not a path that I want to pursue.