Electricity

My mom told me two days ago, that since the big storm on Boxing Day, there is still some 50 000 households without electricity in Southern Finland.

Hang in there guys!

THE Operation

On 19th of December I went under the knife. I had been waiting for this for a year or so. Ever since I broke my arm two years ago, it's been stated that the titanium plate they inserted to support the fracture, has to come out. After 12 months, preferably. But since the people at Universität Spital Basel are lame-asses, it never seemed happen, until I realized that probably I should ask the surgeon, who put the plate in in the first place.

So I called the Spital Schwyz and everything started to roll immediately. They actually asked me when I would like to schedule the operation. Cool. Asap.

So there I was, at 7:15 in the morning of the 19th. In a hospital surrounded by snowy hills. Landscape pretty. Me jittery.

The anesthesiologist  was cool. He said to me that I have two options. They can knock me out completely for the operation or I could choose the local anesthesia. This would mean, that they squeeze the blood supply to my arm shut with a cuff and then inject the stuff that makes the arm go numb only to my arm. I would be awake for the duration of the surgery. "Can I get some music, so that I don't have to listen to the surgery?" Yeah, sure, music was available. So I chose the local anesthesia. Thought I might be at least more interesting of an experience.

In the OR, the nurse who was taking care of me asked what I'd prefer for music. Choices being classical, classical, classical, classical, classical, Bruce Springsteen, classical, classical... "Hey, what'd ya said about Bruce?" So Bruce it was, to accompany me to the surgery.

The operation itself was a strange experience. I somehow was aware of my arm, but couldn't feel anything real. Some nipping and tugging, but no pain at all. Could hear the surgeon cursing about lousy screwdriver =) And they had fancy lamps there in the OR,  a cluster of bulbs in warm white, cold white, green and blue. Sad thing that you cannot take a camera to OR, so therefore no pic. I could use that kind of clusters in some performance, they would look great. -Well, this is what you get if you roll a light designer to a OR, I guess.

The whole thing was over in little bit over half an hour and thy rolled me back to my room. Around 13:30 in the afternoon they said that I could leave. Cool. Over in a whim. Not so bad at all. Now I have to keep a bandage over the stitches for two weeks and then I'm good to roll again. The stitches will dissolve on their own, so no post-op procedures necessary.

Was it real? A tag on my bed post...

It'll take a while before my arm is as good as it was before the whole ordeal, but nonetheless, I'm ever so happy that the stupid metal is finally out of my body.

2011 Recap part 4: Braunschweig

In the beginning on December we went with "Turn the Page" to perform in Braunschweig, which is located some 200kms west from Berlin. I had really stressed with all the paperwork during the previous week, but managed to finish everything in time. My work really paid off, since there was again an accident on the German Autobahn, so we greatly delayed on our arrival to the Lot Theater.

The technicians of the house had started setting our show up even before I got there, which is always bit of a gamble, because one needs to see the space and make some adaptations, even in the best case situation. This time it all turned out perfect, because my papers were pretty exact and the stage somewhat similar to Berlin. So everything went like song and dance. It was absolutely fabulous!!! Its good to have this kind of experiences once in a while and it's definitely a perfect way to end the touring year. A big thanks to Matze and all his colleagues on Lot!!

My team mates told me that they suspect that Braunschweig is bit of a dull town with not much going on there. So I was greatly and positively surprised as the town presented itself to be very pretty and cozy looking place. It reminded me much of Oslo, as strange it might sound... The architecture is beautiful and distances are easy to handle even on foot. I enjoyed our short visit to this town!

Christmas Market downtown Braunschweig

Another view to Christmas market

Cartoon clad building near Altstadt

We were booked at the Hotel Meyer, little bit outside the immediate downtown. A very cute place, seemingly owned by a an old couple. All the furnishings and interior is somehow a mish-mash of variety of styles, but the general feeling it emits is very homey. Shower and toilets on the corridor, but no biggie issue.

The thing that amused the most me and Alice, who I shared the room with, was the remote control of the TV. First of all, we weren't supposed to have a TV, because it would have cost extra, but who cares. There it was anyway, sitting on the corner of the desk, boasting generous 14 inches or so and very blurry picture. And the darned remote was as bit as the TV itself. So no chance of slipping it into your pocket by accident =)

THE TV

Alice and THE remote

2011 Recap part 3: Turn the Page

My biggest design job of this past autumn was "Turn the Page" for bigNOTWENDIGKEIT. We were working on a theme of self-narration and the documents and momories people leave behind them. 



"Turn the page" brings five performers on stage to explore diaries, letters and pictures and the documentary traces left behind by five other lives. Out of these they try to create "ideal biography". Through the stories, they explore the strategies and mechanisms of self-narration and thus throw questions of self-construction, self-presentation and the ingredients for a successful thing perceived as life.

One of the early sketches

The first explorative phase took place in Zürich in October and from there we moved to Berlin in November.

All photos © Gerhard F. Ludwig / fotofisch-berlin.de

 

2011 Recap part 2: Schnecke renn

Aka "snail races". This was the most peculiar experience of the latter part of 2011. I witnessed snails running for trophy. Some people had brought their own snails, but should you lack one, no worries, your can rent your racer =).

The consumption of beer and other beverages was wayyyys faster than the proceeding speed of the animals. They were well taken care of though, there was a designated vet to check each contestant before each round. Highly professional and proper.

The deal is that you put your racer to the center of the table and then you're not allowed to touch it anymore before one of them has crossed the finishing line. To better steer your racer, spraying teeny weeny amount of water is allowed.