June 2, 2015

9.00 am. The proofs for my chapter on the R R B V E Ǝ T N Ƨ O A project have arrived. It’ll be published by The Courtauld Institute of Art, London in a book on Revivalism. The proofs will require my attention for most of the morning and some of the afternoon, possibly. First task: explain ‘pink noise’ to an art historian:

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Once I’d responded to all the copyeditor’s comments, I made a new set of high-resolution figure images for publication. Afterwards, I discovered that the original captions file was lost. (‘Stuff happens!’, as they say.) My consolation was that in writing the captions a second time, they might be done better. However, the file eventually turned up; apparently, misplaced in a subfolder. But amendments were necessary in the light of new instructions regarding the formatting of captions, recently issued by the publisher. Then, on with the 150-word biographical statement. My policy is: keep it short and to the point. Err on the side of modesty. (You aren’t as good as others believe you are, and far worse than you think.)

55-year old men (and I am one) will pause to reflect on the death of Charles Kennedy today:

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Death is appalling. It robs the dead of everyone and everything. Sudden death, the more so; in that moment, their ambitions, aspirations, and anticipations are, alike, rendered null and void. Early death, the greater still; it severs what they were from what they might have become, with the force and finality of a guillotine.

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2.15 pm. Having completed and dispatched my chapter et al, I looked to the bigger picture: the vision for what I’m hoping to achieve in the next few years (with the caveat that one doth not know what the morrow may bring forth, either for good or ill). The exercise is something of a tradition at this time of year. Stocktaking, as it were.

3.00 pm. A distraction. (But not unrelated.) Off the top of my head, at one student’s/musician’s behest — my eight desert island discs. Too many are left out. I’m free to change my mind, of course! What do they have in common?

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An inventory of stock for June 2, 2015:

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Commentary-upon-commentary. The above is neither a spider diagram nor a mind map. Those type of schematics only outline themes and their possible relations. They commit one to nothing. More often or not, in my experience, they’re an exercise in prevarication masking as preparation. My approach enables me to hold a fruitful conversation with myself. I can change, expand, criticize, delete, expound, fuse, and divide ideas with each successive revisitation (of which there are three in this instance). The process can go on for a very long time, or at least for as long as it takes to crystallize understanding.

7.15 am. I cajoled myself into reviewing some of the PhD monitoring forms and draft thesis submissions, until 9.20 pm. Thereafter, I un-bolded the easy emails in my inbox — the type for which either ‘OK!’, or ‘No’, or ‘See you!’, or ‘You’re kidding!’, or ‘Over my dead body!’ is a sufficient response.

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June 3, 2015