back in business

Oops 1) I forgot about the previous post because I missed the bus and forgot to continue with the draft. Also 2) I’m doing this on mobile again but it seems like the previous post that was done on mobile got screwed up so I’m gonna have to go back and fix that and hope this one is fine.

Jeremy just came back and he was so nice to get me souvenirs like an old postcard the local artist painted on and a cloth they dyed with vegetable dye. He was there to make recordings and got to meet a troupe of musicians, like a nomadic village of old and young musicians who were descendants of court musicians, and recorded with them. Can’t wait to hear the recordings! I also asked him to explain the gear and how things work some day in the studio. I wanna learn how to use synthesisers and mixers too. Our band with Yutong called Terrapin didn’t use it last time during our gig at TAAC, but I’m eager to get on board the electro train.

I ran Jeremy thru what I’ve done so far with his studio and where things are. I also arranged days for us to come back to the studio to focus on specific areas to tidy and give homes and systems of storage to. While he was away I arranged for the New York gallery lady’s visit, which will happen at the beginning of August. I also contacted Terry to check with his collections that’s currently huddling between Jeremy‘s racks.

Last night, as part of my workplace’s fifth year anniversary, my boss let me hold a pay as you wish workshop and provided materials and venue for me. I decided to try experimental drawing, like what Jeremy has done with us in year one, and see if people that are not from fine arts can participate and enjoy it as much as we did. Jeremy was so kind and showed me all his reference books for his lesson plans (the Virgo on me was so excited to see the sticky notes and tabs and labels that persisted thru time) and he gave me so many suggestions and tips. Yesterday went well. I’ve still got a lot to learn and get used to but I’m really glad to have Jeremy guide me along.

One of my participants last night is from engineering, but he does project management like what I’ve done for Say Ocean. I only realised just then that it was really what the job was about, and not some random title Jeremy decided to give me on the quote hahaha. I also think that’s like my job for him now, scheduling things and sorting out the specifics to make sure that things actually happen. I do feel that doing that for Jeremy’s projects makes me approach my own life and schedules similarly, and I feel less anxious about all the things I have and want to do now, because I know I’ve got it all sorted and I’m giving myself enough time to do and worry and think.

Speaking of more projects, the upcoming one is the one with Urich in Tainan. I made a mistake but Jeremy was kind about it. He was away when he told me Urich gave us the schedule and we have to book tickets first. Jeremy was in India and the internet’s not very reliable so I thought I’d book it first for us. I was searching for flights and the budget flights were mostly booked. I went ahead and got them first and told Jeremy after. Thats when I learned that the college requires a quote to show it’s the cheapest option and I completely forgot that altho it is term break for me, Jeremy still has to apply for leave. He says it should be fine and I made him the quotation right away, but I still feel bad. Things could’ve gone so much worse!

Aaand I missed my stop again. I should really stop typing blog posts on mobile.

Those were from cleaning his studio.

We also concluded Say Ocean. Esplanade’s great, they deinstalled everything for us so quick and packed it so nicely. Hyrol and Tim did such a good job and they’re so professjonal too. I’ll need to arrange for another day with Jeremy‘s gallery to transport some pieces back to his studio for the visit in August, and also ask about the last tranche of payment from Esplanade. That’s also something new I learnt: how payment is done and how to budget for it. I’m lucky that Jeremy trusts me so much with it and let me do budgeting and a lot of the decision making. I think I managed to save him some money with it but I also think I could’ve done better. I kept track of all the receipts and invoices and scanned them and kept an excel sheet to track the where when how what. I think they’ll be useful some day in the future. It’s a little like children with pocket money; it‘s not my money but I get to practice handling it.

Another thing I learnt was the existence of Rhema and how cool they are.

We nearly forgot about the wood fixtures Luckily Hyrol’s so responsive and responded to my text right before Rhema had to drive away hahah.

It’s fascinating how they fasten and secure work and how things are made specially for this purpose. In my brain Aladdin’a whole new world song was playing.

Okay I’m gonna focus on walking now. Sonic Youth’s ‘Cross the Breeze is playing and I wanna listen to it properly. Bye! I’ll see you again when I fix the previous post.