Ottawa, Nov 16, 2018, 8:16 pm (action for arriving; after a long drive through the snow)

Action notes: Arrived at the S & A’s place in Ottawa, tired in that way that happens after a few hours driving in a snowstorm, but also discombobulated a bit. This place sounds bigger than C’s place in Montreal. No other families sharing a ceiling or a wall. It is also a newer home — fewer creaks at the level of walls and floors, no old appliances whirring. At first, it seemed that the only sounds I would be able to hear were human, but after a bit I heard a background drone, with a slight rhythm. There was also a kind of buzz that I have been noticing around fluorescent and incandescent lights. It seems to hover between hearing and feeling, just under the sonically perceptible but somehow unmistakable.

Action constraints: I am wondering, this second week into the project, about the “action for” structure…thinking back to things I’ve read and heard — and even assigned! — by John Cage on “sound as sound” and wondering about the diagnostic/prescriptive structure I’ve gravitated toward. Wondering: do I commit to it fully or switch the structure up from week to week and see how different orientations will configure the listening experience differently?

Electricity