brief reflection on plan management

These have been very active days. Luka left on Wednesday, and that and the following day were very offbeat; it felt like everyone was still adjusting to being one person short, and the energy levels were not so high. We didn't do much work – we worked the mornings, and had plenty of time off to do as we pleased.

I had been entertaining the the possibility to volunteer at Floating Castle, apparently one very big highlight of Slovenia's summer, which we had first heard about from Damjan; with time, we came to realise that most of our acquaintances were either going to attend in the audience, or participate as volunteers. I was keen on getting a spot in the kitchen; maybe to learn a thing or two about preparing meals for, I suppose I heard, more than 1000 people – and in the dire conditions of a pop-up camping festival no less. Alas, they seemed to be already full in that area, and the other available jobs, like keeping an eye on specific areas of the venue or keeping track of instruments, didn't feel so interesting. The girls went there on Thursday; I'd stay behind and look after myself.

There was that, and I also feared for throwing Alex in another new, very active environment without having adequate time to process the rather emotionally eventful week that had just passed. All this rain, the storms, not knowing for certain how the days were going to play out; then there was the midterm evaluation of the project, which also implied putting things in perspective and being very honest and confrontational with my expectations and desires for the upcoming couple of months. So Alex wanted and needed a break, and was, indeed, planning for a break; until Alex realised that a dear friend of his would be in Zagreb for a day. So off to Zagreb I went.

My trip planning amounts to almost nothing. I have a chronic tendency to overpack – taking books I know I won't read, but just in case, and taking clothes I know I won't need, but just in case – and in the preceding night to the trip, I enjoy the meticulously packing of what I consider to be essential. Ever since the Vienna tupperware saga, I don't think I'll ever forget to pack some food with me, and my meal prep yielded some delicious quinoa which I had also shared with Danielle and Nataša on Thursday evening.

a sort of devastating end to the day

(later added on 2023-07-31-Monday)

On that Saturday, as I closed the computer for the night and very excited about continuing the Jane Eyre reading, I realised – it had been an awful while since I saw the book bag. Of course, I lost it somewhere between Jurovski Dol and Maribor, as it was strapped, but apparently not securely enough, to the bike.

This is a small disaster. There was the notebook I've been carrying for the whole of last year, the e-reader that aids me in devouring non-fiction books – the fiction I'd rather read in paper –, with pending notes on Second Nature and On Writing Well, that I had just finished the night before; and two other books I've acquired in Slovenia. Luckily, there were no pens inside. Losing good pens is almost as hurtful as losing good books.

I have made a poster and a sort of eulogy for a bag that I held very dear ever since my Lisbon times, and I hope at least somebody will make good use of it. For all of the things that I've lost on the bike, this is just another episode, and each was hurtful in their own way; but hopefully the lesson is learned for good, as I cannot be losing any more stuff, and I plan on longer bike rides in the near future. Just in case, I'll start putting my contact info on all my bags, and on all my books; and just assume my writing will always be public by default, pending only the street it will inevitably get lost in.