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Mark's Daily Weight Update: 93Kg.
Last night's ORG party was an absolute stonker, despite a slightly shaky start - I got down to Bar Kick to find absolutely no evidence of the event, and when I asked one of the bar staff about it she had no idea. Convinced I'd arrived on the wrong day and feeling fairly stupid (especially since my mate Gerry was already on his way down to meet me for the party), I got an overpriced Corona (okay, yeah, I did breach my new detox plan just a little) and stood around wondering what to do next.
Fortunately I was quickly reassured by the influx of guys in tech slogan t-shirts wielding enormous smartphones, and after a brief chat with some IBM guys who were equally confused we looked downstairs and found the whole ORG party already in progress, with signs and everything. Happy days.
Had a great time milling and chatting to a whole bunch of different people - we speculated near the beginning about what a party composed entirely of geeks might be like - everyone standing in the corners maybe? But in fact everyone was friendly, relaxed and open, and I had some great conversations. There was that nice quality of being surrounded by people who are very similar in mindset and experience, so you can very quickly slip into shorthand and common assumptions - it's a really pleasant and low-stress social atmosphere.
The aforementioned digital rights champion Danny O'Brien was speaking, and gave an excellent, very funny and rousing talk on a very similar subject - the feeling of loneliness you experience when there are issues that really wind you up, are of huge importance within your world but which you very rarely share with other people you meet day-to-day. He summed up the current state of affairs, the recent big wins (the Gower Review being probably the biggest, and getting the biggest cheer) and coming challenges (most noteably ORG's role in overseeing the e-voting trials later this year). And as is his wont, he made everyone laugh until beer came out of their noses.
I did get to have a brief chat with Danny after the talk, and with a mighty exertion of willpower I think I managed not to come across as a complete stalker fanboy. I didn't even ask him to sign my Hipster PDA. I was that in control.
All in all it was what I'd hoped - a great opportunity to meet face-to-face a bunch of people to whom I feel very connected, while I still had the chance. And it was just a great time too.
There's a quick summing-up by our lovely and esteemed Executive Director Becky Hogge, along with photos, on the ORG Blog entry for the evening.
Kind of a striking moment - as I walked back down Pentonville Road to get the train I saw two huge tower blocks under construction on the other side of the street, up beyond the tunnel of light the streetlamps make. They were all dark grey stone, just shadowy shapes against the night sky, and all the floors had the walls on except the top two (about 120 feet up I reckon), which were double-height and just vast open spaces, with faint light shining out from somewhere inside, presumably where the work crews were. On top of one block was a massive crane, with a single spotlight striking the arm from somewhere below. Really odd magical sight.
As far as all the other stuff goes - I can't deny I'm still in a bit of a slump of non-activity, but I think I bottomed out (and figured out the problem) today. I woke up feeling fantastic, and set out to do all kinds of stuff, get my diary together, plan my revision schedule - and ended up sat on the computer for hours. And I've realised that I'm getting back into a really old bad pattern that I haven't had a problem with for years, where I get locked in on the computer and just can't seem to leave it alone, even though I'm bored, frustrated, not finding anything of interest and developing a headache.
It only takes 5 minutes away from the screen before I start to feel better but I just can't seem to think of it when I'm in that state. Today I managed to break up the pattern and get some cleaning done, and I'm going to start putting more structure back into my days and reintroduce the rules that managed to break the cycle before, like having a strict ration of internet time every day to read my comics and emails, and keeping anything else for one evening a week. As of tomorrow I'm going to re-gather all my idea lists and try and get a better "big picture" of where I am and where I want to be.
A short list of some of the things I want to be doing but am not: Sorting out visas, getting some work, camping practice, physical training, reading three books related to the trip and dozens not related, making a decision on the 45 records and selling my own possessions practicing the didgeridoo, cooking, dumpster diving, exploring my environment, photography, learning edible plants and survival techniques...good God I wish I hadn't started writing them down now...but it's getting my blood pumping to get life back on track, so it'll be for the best in the end. Hopefully exciting new plans will be in tomorrow's blog entry. Nighty-night all.
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