Sandy

A hanging crane, hovering high above,
trees hugging concrete,
Cars floating by like rubber duckies,
My sister has no power,
drinking coffee from a BBQ,
I sit on a bed far away,
And try to remember the lyrics to a song,
from Grease.

Nr 153 in the list of unexpected topics of conversation

Judith Butler. These past weeks I have spent more time talking, thinking and arguing about Judith Butler than I would ever deem necessary. Today she came up again. I went to a performance (or rather what seemed like a spoof by comedians ridiculing the art world. If they had promoted it that way, I would've had a much better time. Unfortunately this was not the case. It included a bunch of cameras, projection screens, a guy singing a children's song in a microphone, a guy telling some confusing story about going to a museum, and a bunch of dancers doing typical modern dance movements to a loud migraine inducing soundscape which was so penetrating it seemed like a subway, or tube, could burst though the walls at any time. In the artist description, the artist referenced 'performative impulses' as an important part of his art. I noticed a friend had circled the world 'performative' on the flyer they handed out. He said this world (basically coined by Miss Butler) was used wrongly and could not have been placed in a more inappropriate context. He was not a great Butler fan, but felt the need to point out this brazen misuse of her word. I'm not sure how circling the word helped, but I suppose it's the least he could do. My sisters roommate studies art history, and gender roles in art in particular. I told her to dress up as Judith Butler for halloween.

Food

Indian. Tayabbs. An enormous queue (someone told me today that in England there are queues for everything. Perhaps they get distressed or uninterested if there isn't one.) but thanks to the company of my Indian friend and her sister we got VIP seating. The food was excellent too. Turkish. Also a queue, but that was to be expected. Spicy eggplant with yoghurt. Vietnamese. Little Hanoi. Pho. Was so hungry I also finished one of my friend's dishes. Prepackaged sandwiches. I had something with tuna. Someone else got the one called 'just ham.' I didn't trust this. They must've added something and lied about it. Spinach roll. The british love everything with turnover dough. Or so it seems. Vinegar and salt crisps. Bananas. I think I might get a potassium overdose if I keep eating as many as I am.

A French girl

Today 15:30, Tate Modern: I don't know anyone in this city I decided to come here for three weeks but I have no idea why. I'm staying with a friend of a friend and he goes to university and has two jobs. I only saw him once when he came in to take a shower. I miss everyone in Paris. When I arrived at the airport I just wanted to get back in the plane. Why did I come here? What am I doing here?

Field trip

Things said during visit to the Schwarzwald with my boss and his employees: If Heidegger's hut is more than a kilometer from here, we shouldn't go.* Do we have to do the performance? I bake bread and sell it to the people in Ilpedam. They didn't have a bakery there. Since we only need twenty percent of the people who currently have essential jobs for our survival, why are we working such long days? I spent some time with her parents on her birthday. She had a party to attend. They were very quiet. You don't think there's a big group of women who have sex with their boyfriends when they don't want to? I think there's a big group of men too. Women never ask if their ass is too small. When I worked as a caterer and a man asked me to come to his hotel room for 2000 euros. That's when I decided not to become a prostitute. What's the name of that political analyst on TV? Her I find attractive. There's something vulgar about being sexy. I was sitting at the bar, and there she was. Of course she had to break up with her boyfriend first. He's a dentist. We are currently negotiating about an open relationship. It's not my hipbones, more my calves actually.

*We didn't end up seeing Heidegger's hut, although we were very close.