May 3/Turtleneck. Coaster. Impact.

Marcus asked why I was wearing a tie to the office. I told him it was a dental emergency. I was in fact at a networking event for Creative Professionals, which is what people call themselves in Berlin when they want to charge more than a tradesman but can't quite explain what they do.

I was the only person in a room of fifty wearing a tie. I felt like a government inspector at a poetry reading — technically present, functionally invisible. I handed out three business cards. Two were used as coasters. The third I found later in my own jacket pocket, which I must have given to myself.

The dominant conversational currency of the evening was 'digital impact.' I don't know what digital impact is. I suspect nobody does, but saying it with sufficient calm gets you taken seriously in this city.

I told Anja about the coasters. She said: 'Maybe get a rounder card.' This was meant as comfort. I received it as design feedback. I am now researching round business cards, which cost twice as much and are harder to file. Progress.