The Perfect Date

Method Performance Wiki Art

Welcome to the Perfect Date, a wiki art project by [iippo]. For the duration of one full year I will write a note (think micro-blogging) every day of why the date of that day is the Perfect Date. Despite of being based on wiki-technology, this is not a collaborative project. Instead it will be an exploration of performance and space, this wikipage being an anchor that the performer will return to day after day. The project will take advantage of the wiki's unique system of recording (past versions) to preserve its course.

The Premise: The concept of "date" has lost all meaning for me. Time does not go around, the seasons do not repeat themselves, dates do not return the next year. They are all fabrication, which we use to mark the passing of time. Time is a never-ending line, it's one-way, and this very date will never come back. So I think this project's name should be more like "The Perfect [date]". Sort of like "The Perfect November 7th, 2011". Since if there is only one of them ever, then surely it is the best - yea, even perfect - at being that thing. Perhaps there is something we can learn from this given/assumed perfection of dates.

This project has started.

January 1st
January 2nd
January 3rd
January 4th
January 5th
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January 7th
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January 10th
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January 12th
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October 28th
October 29th
October 30th
October 31st
November 1st
November 2nd
November 3rd
November 4th
November 5th
November 6th

November 7th

The perfect 7th of November and the perfect start for a year-long project about perfection. The beginning of a year is yet another arbitrary date, so it might as well be any date. And how perfect it is indeed that I forgot to edit the wiki on the date itself... -_-; Perfectly ironic. Perhaps by the end of the project, perfection is attained also in execution. Though the 7th is not yet over all over the world. The line that divides the 7th from the 8th is also perfectly arbitrary.

November 8th

The perfect 8th of November as experienced by an imperfect observer in an imperfect space. Nothing was amiss. The 8th of November, as far as could be observed, was perfect. Beyond that which was observed, it is safe to assume, it was also perfect. Or does. Did. Is perfection an action or a state? Is one stuck with being perfect, or can one do perfection?

November 9th

The perfect 9th of November happened between the perfect 8th and the perfect 10th in one fluid swoop such as cannot be recalled accurately. Perfection is so unnoticeable. It is the little flaws, mistakes and inaccuracies that make life and the things it contains noticeable and memorable to us. We would forget all about time, and we do.

November 10th

The fluid swoop swooped across the blurry lines of dates straight over the 10th

November 11th

the 11th

November 12th

and the 12th. Yet the memory of these perfect little arbitrarily divided instances is there, imperfectly perhaps, and note can be made in hindsight that it was the perfect three-day period.

November 13th

On the 13th I recalled that these lines between the dates have been missed. But we humans have developed wonderful ways of keeping track of our times with calendars and clocks and diaries and other forms of recollection. I knew that I had been and experienced and observed the perfection of the perfect 10th of November, the perfect 11th of November and the perfect 12th of November. Can perfection be seen from within? Does it not take a distance, a step back in order to take it in, to see it clearly? The universe is all one colour if observed from far enough, and a perfect colour it is.

November 14th

The perfect November 14th could be defined as so many different things by observers observing it from so many different angles, so that attempting to give it any kind of signifiers would be futile, as such a hopelessly incomplete task would in every case be nothing but a huge short-coming. Though no one would hold attempting against you. So instead of saying what is so perfect about something, it would be more sensible to say what wasn't. Our imperfect language is better bent to discussing imperfection. Yet fortunately our experience has no such limits.

November 15th

The perfect November 15th left me wondering whether it wasn't really some other little slot of time in November ((I got mixed up whether it was the 15th or the 16th or the 14th)). Why do we always use numbers to distinguish between only barely distinguishable entities (dates, addresses) when names are so much easier to recall. Didn't every date used to be named after a saint (were they perfect people?), so one could say "on Michael's Day" instead of use a number? This practice is slightly still in use in Finland and Sweden, Greece too I believe, and some other countries too surely (there are certain names given to each day, but they are not the same in the different countries). Yet there is something strangely pure about numbers...

November 16th

November 16th as a day would not inspire me to ponder upon the peculiarities of life and our search for perfection, but as a date it was perfection in a pure, condensed form. What is the difference between day and date? My bold uneducated guess at this very moment is that day is the things that happen or don't happen or could happen, and date is the frame in which they happen. So your day might not be perfect, but just like you never actually have less time (since it is constant), you never have an unperfect date. Unperfect is a word!

November 17th

November 17th was perfect.
"There is nothing neither good or bad but thinking makes it so" - it's always dangerous to quote from Hamlet, because one can never know for sure whether the sentiment in the sentence is meant or whether it was meant to be outrageous and proof of Hamlet's madness. Perfection is just like that. It is not inherently good or bad but thinking makes it so.

November 18th

There is nothing atmospheric that contributes to a date (no matter how much I like the concept of the traditional blizzard on a specific day according to Swedish tradition). I wish I were an astronomer and could understand how the position of this planet relevant to other celestial bodies is the defining aspect of our dates. For surely every planet has its own dates? Perfect, just like this November 18th.

November 19th

Apart from the fact that November 19th was perfect, I forgot my thought. I remember where I had it first: I was biking up a hill in the middle of the night and had this interesting thought about this date. Then I went to work and didn't think of it, and then on the bike ride home from work I remembered that I had had a thought and tried to force it back to memory, and remembered some of it. But now I can't remember any of it. This is very frustrating.

November 20th

There are multiple systems at play here. We have our string of pearly dates, 365 of them in a row, with a spare one thrown in every four years (how long did it take them to figure out we needed that one in the system? Or is the entire system actually inherently flawed, and when they realised this it was too late to start changing it, so they did a botch-job fix of it with some duct tape, WD40 and a leap year day?) and then you have a shorter string of seven days, and these two circles rotate around and inside one another. We give special significance to a few of the units in each system: certain dates are special, and one in seven days is special too.

November 21st

My activity or inactivity does not influence the perfectness of the date. In other words, there is nothing I can do or say to change something that is perfect, nothing can happen that would change that. That's pretty obvious and applies to all things perfect, but what about things that are on the quest for perfection? Can perfection be attained by action? Is there any point to perfectionism? Or is that just a word for "trying to make it better all the time and never settling" and in actuality doesn't have anything to do with real perfection?

November 22nd

Perfection aside, what is the significance of a date? Why is it so important to be told that you are thought of on a specific date? Why can't we just open the presents which ever date we want? On distant observation it seems so... small, so superstitious, like some tribal worship of the great unknown god that tells you when you are allowed to bring roses to your wife. If we rebelled against the tyranny of the calendar, then who knows but we could have Christmas twice a year?

November 23rd

Mondate Tuesdate Wednesdate Thursdate Fridate Saturdate Sundate.

November 24th

There's something utterly perfect about this November 24th <3 That aside, the meaning affixed to dates is to do with something significant happening on that date, something that we wish to remember, so we remember the numbers. But sometimes the numbers are wrong. Jesus Christ wasn't born in December, neither does December sixth have anything to do with Finland's independence. The most interesting are the annual commemorations of events, that move around in the calendar. There is something more real about them, this attitude of "nevermind about the numbers, we are counting actual passage of time to determine these celebrations".

November 25th

In Finnish the names of some of the months (direct translation: summermoon, haymoon, harvestmoon, autumnmoon, slushmoon... Christmasmoon) tell you a lot about that month. It's kind of strange how we could be bothered to name the days of the week, and the different months, but not the weeks of the year or the days of the month. Just replace every number with a name, have 31 of those, and hey presto you're done. And you could make them somehow relevant to their position in the month. It would be much cooler to say "I was born on payday of February" or "we were married on so-far-so-good of August." Words have more meaning than numbers, and dates should have more meaning than they do. I shall make a calendar like this, where I replace the numbers with names like that.

November 26th

I wanted to go into the goodness of day in comparison to perfectness of date, but the more I thought of it, the more pointless it seemed. Because it's all in the mind, like a cartoon George Harrison would say, I can have a good day today and have the exact same conditions be met and have a bad day tomorrow, and nothing's changed but the way I feel about it. And who am I anyway to deem a day good or bad? They're all good. Once I heard a story of a guy who would always greet you with "are ya happy?" and whatever you said, he'd then say "suits you right." 

November 27th

I completely forgot this project again. I wonder how it happened this time. It probably started with Sunday. I tend to not get on ET on Sundays. Sundays are the day apart when I try to have a different experience of life. Rest from the weekday cares. But the project isn't unrest-ish, and might actually be really worth the different perspective to do on Sunday. I simply forgot. Admittedly it was also kind of a stressful day in a small way. It's like the teeny tiny Moon that covers the gigantic Sun during an eclipse. Small things can prevent us from seeing the magnificent, or the perfect. 

November 28th

But for Monday I have no excuse. It was just a perfect day and date and I didn't pay any attention to it. I feel like i have missed out on something, like I've lost something important and irreplaceable. Time is irreplaceable. It is not a cycle, nor is it a line. I don't know what to compare it to.

November 29th

So what brought it into remembrance today? It just suddenly came back to me, while I was doing something unrelated. Memory is a curious thing. How it can fail so easily, it is fascinating. There is a promise in my belief-system that eventually we will have perfect remembrance of everything. That is kind of a scary thought when you get deep down into it.

November 30th

Today I didn't forget, but I was held back by technology. Is technology a gateway to perfection? If not, why do we keep inveting smaller, slimmer, faster, etc... Don't we have anything better to do?

December 1st

Christmas month! I don't care how commercial it is, I don't care how culturally indoctrinated it is, I don't care about anything that the cynics say about it - Christmas is important. December is important.

December 2nd

Does the counting down of days (or other units of time) make the object of waiting come quicker or slower? Obviously neither, since time doesn't speed up or slow down based on people's desires (or does it?) but the perception of it. This probably depends on the person. I find it that it speeds it up. December is the shortest month to me, it just flies by, since it is all geared towards the end of the month. The time that got skipped over before the 24th is then used up at the last few days of the month to make that part feel really long.

December 3rd

Back in the day when the state church had a greater role in peoples' lives, the entire calendar year was turned into a narrative about the life of Christ. It was a carefully constructed and a balanced way to keep the folks remembering God with regular big important holidays and every day made into a day of a specific saint. Currently I'm reading a book which is turning the month of December into a narrative, with 24 chapters about a boy who opens a door on his advent calendar every day. The TV-show 24 turns one day into a narrative in the same way.

December 4th

The Jews consider Saturday the Sabbath, being the seventh day of the week. The Spanish word for Saturday (sabado or something like that) means Sabbath. Sabbath means 'day of rest.' The Spanish word for Sunday (domingo) means day of the Lord, in reference to Jesus Christ rising from the dead on the first day of the week. Most Christians consider Sunday the Sabbath, day of rest. And to me, Monday has always been the first day of the week. Nothing escapes the flux. 

December 5th

The human being is an exceptional creature - and not in a good way. So self-centered, so imperfect. Take a look at the universe for once, and feel small and insignificant you twat.

December 6th

December sixth is a special date. Or maybe not. Depends on who you are and what you care about. Despite that, it is perfect. In spite of its perfection. Perhaps 'perfect' doesn't have synonyms.

December 7th

Yet another gap in remembering the project.

December 8th

December is a strange month to lose track of time like this, when everything from advent calendars to radio programmes to billboards all remind us of the one date we are all looking forward to.

December 9th

I've been toying with the idea of making an advent calendar for myself, in advance for a future year, full of things that I would find exciting.

December 10th

There is something very interesting about the thought of an advent calendar. It's not like a regular calendar, because it doesn't actually tell you what day it is, it can sort of imply by the amount of unopened doors how many days til Christmas is it, but that isn't its main function either. Is it to make the wait longer or shorter, is it rewarding patience or countering it, or is it simply a reminder that you are in fact waiting for something, so that you won't forget that Christmas is indeed coming? Or is it just for a bit of fun, just another small thing that creates a Christmas magic.

December 11th

So what would be an all-year-round version of an advent calendar? Or any other Christmas related things? Because in my opinion, that Christmas feeling doesn't have to end in January, it doesn't have to end at any point in time. You can feel good all year round (shocking). It has nothing to do with the date. Sure, it's easier to remember light when the season is dark (yet December is not dark for all people: half of the globe has summer at that time of year).
^{And yes, I'm working at the cultural assumption that Christmas is a happy time for people. I realise that individuals have different experiences, but I also do reckon you can make your own happiness: if traditional Christmas doesn't do it for you, say "bah humbug" and do something that will make you happy. That's my entire point here: people do things at Christmas that makes them (and their loved ones) happy, so they can do same or similar things in other times of the year.}

December 12th

Alright, caught up. I don't think it's cheating to do the dates that I missed after the fact. I would consider it cheating if I did them in advance. Curious, I wonder what's up with that?

December 13th

What kind of an emotion does perfection evoke? Awe. Fear. Respect. Disdain (when viewed as perfectionism). Giddy joy. Warm glowing feeling of success.

December 14th

One of the best ways to depict perfection is absurdity.

December 15th

Perfect timing is, of course naturally obviously a personal perception thing - but when you get home and into bed and then hear the rain begin to beat really heavily on the roof of your house, and you think of how you are dry and warm in your own bed, and not wet and miserable outside, it doesn't even matter, that's pure perfection right there. :)

December 16th

Anticipating an event or a time can make one giddy, unable to sleep or relax, anxious... Time can make you high.

December 17th

Here I left for an excursion, a field trip to explore whether time/date was perfect in a slightly different time zone (this explain why I'm catching up, almost two weeks behind). Time zones are so much fun. I got on a plane at 8am and landed at 8am. There are time zones that have several hours and forty-five minutes difference to Greenwich Meridian Time. What is up with that? :D

December 18th

Okay, so maybe place can be perfect too. Norrland <3

December 19th

Traveling is one of the best ways I know of to experience time and place in a way that blends them together. Are you 60 miles away, or an hour away? And if the train is late, are you still 60 miles away, even though you are two hours away, or did the distance increase as well?

December 20th

It is safe to say, after a few days of observations, that dates in Sweden are also perfect. We could be cautious and say that it is all the same in Scandinavia, or reckless and say that it is universal, in every country.

December 21st

Someone claimed that you have to do a thing n times in a row and it becomes habit. Yet this does not seem to become habit to me. Either I can't perform very well, or I'm not very methodist. But I can't seem to keep up the steady pace. Yet there is something very me about coming back later to fill the gaps. I live in the past. The thoughts I have today are only relevant to last week. And while I think the wiki as a material lends itself well to this idea of place and space and performance, I may be the wrong person to explore it. 

December 22nd

Winter solstice, the shortest day (daylight-wise, not time-wise since even the winter solstice has 24 hours). It is one of those observable, interesting phenomenom in the world that causes us to wonder, to search, to... do. People do stuff on the solstices and on the equinoxes (equinoxi? What is the plural of this silly word?), what other day/date has such power across the board of eons and cultures? I must admit here, I know very little about solstices. It's not always on the same date, is it? :/
<3>December 23rd</h3>"All this holiday cheer. Heaven knows where it goes but it returns every year." This is one of the more baffling aspects of the Christmas season. Why is your cheery happy mood so dependent on the date? All the delayed travelers in the bus behaved themselves exceptionally, even I felt completely calm and peaceful, even tough my plans were thrown by eleven hours (in the wrong direction).

December 24th

The last door of the advent calendar. You know, I kept off from reading the last chapter of Jostein Gaarder's book "The Christmas Mystery" until the 26th, because I just didn't want it to be over. Made me think of the guy who had read all Shakespeare plays except one, because he couldn't bear the thought of a world that had no more new Shakespeare for him to read. I should make an advent calendar, where the last door is something awful, some horrible, terrible thing, a secret you don't want to know. So that opening it would really be as bad as it really is.

December 25th

I would like to repeat something I heard on the radio. About how on this day all of us are like ourselves, only more so. About how this date - not unlike a crisis - brings out the real you. And how we are all given the same ingredients or props to an experience, and we have such high expectations and we desperately try to put it all together to achieve that somehow magical experience. The more I ask myself "is Christmas somehow magically special" the more I come to the conclusion: yes. But not because Christ was born on that day (since he wasn't). I wonder do other cultures have a day like this, when it's just... a ridiculously big deal. 

December 26th

Somehow Boxing Day has nothing to do with the sport. What other completely misleading names for holidays are there?

December 27th

Work is one of those wonderfully routinising things about life. Something special going on? Well you can forget all about it by going back to work. There is a wonderful battle between the holiday and the everyday. Some people complain about having to celebrate a holiday in a certain way, having to do Christmas or New Years, the traditions and all that, why not just do away with them all... But most people would still gladly take the public holiday, the guaranteed day off work. Maybe those traditions we do is the price you have to pay for your free day. (And really, no one has to anything.)

December 28th

December 29th

December 30th

For Samoans, the 30th of December does not exist this year (2011). The entire country decided to skip Friday. They went straight from December 29th to December 31st. :D They decided to move the International Date line and be on the same side as Australia and New Zealand, instead of being on the side with U.S.A. I thought this was the most wonderful, disturbing news I had heard all year, possibly ever so far.

December 31st