trouble in the air

the past 24 hours have been pretty intense. The bus ride went as expected - twelve hours on a greyhound isn't much to write home about. I did manage to get about 4 hours of sleep on it, which is good I guess. We arrived in Columbus at 7:30am. Steve and Beth picked us up and we had a tasty breakfast at Waffle House while we caught up on our musings. From there it kind of went downhill. I found out that I am deathly allergic to their 2 cats. I tried to ignore it at first, then I tried to pretend like it would be OK. I took a Zyrtec and hoped that would solve the problem, and it kind of did, at least a little bit. By mid-afternoon I actually had a good 3 hour chunk of VJing where I had a slight epiphany about the ability to mix the opacity of effects instances, and the subsequent implications for controlled feedback. Much light was seen. It forced me to take a walk to shake off my excited energy. Steve had some work to do, so Hubs and I went with Beth to a coffee shop where a design group was meeting to discuss creative projects to help raise awareness of issues in the community. Good times, but by then I was realizing how much of an effect the cat dander/misc. allergens were having on my airways. I was having trouble breathing because of inflammation/constriction. So, I ultimately sent up tent in their backyard to camp for the night and probably the rest of the weekend, which is where I sit now. What another crazy day.

Dense space-time

For good reason, It has been awhile since an update. I've been really busy, running around everywhere! Yesterday I got my first tattoo courtesy of my good friend Bruce Gulick. Last week I attended Gaian Mind, a 4 day Festival on a Spiritual Sanctuary/campground, Four Quarters, in South Central PA. It was totally awesome; I found 1000 other like-minded people to build a temporary community and space in which to celebrate all that is special to us. Highlights included a Sweatlodge, VJing and meeting/seeing lots of other talented VJs, dancing in both the Psytrance and Downtempo stages, workshops discussing topics such as sustainable living and the Mayan Calandar, and most of all, connecting with so many kind and interesting souls through every step. The festival as a whole has re-energized, refocused, and refueled my motivation to continue on this path I take.
Today is a turning point in my Journey. Tonight we take a bus to Columbus, OH to stay with the Project Ruori before continuing towards Minnesota to meet Hubcap's family.

more doomy doom

SO, I'm at the Emergency room...again. This time, Heather broke her arm. We were riding my parents' bikes and she used the brakes and just kinda flew off the bike onto the pavement. I blame the bike; the brakes are all rusted up and they stick down in the clamped position. She wasn't expecting such a sudden stop. At any rate, I'm in the waiting room, and she's probably getting X-rays. The funny thing was that we were talking about going to the hospital BEFORE we ended up going on the fateful bike ride. She has been feeling kinda sick and probably has caught the same infection bug that I have been recovering from. Hopefully she'll get an antibiotic for that while we are here. All I hope for is that we're both well for the Solstice festival- Gaian Mind. We've already paid $280 for the tickets and a meal plan, so theres no going back.Speaking of, I'm hoping I'll get a chance to VJ at the festival. I've been workign on a new bank inspiring by the beach and the ocean. We are ride-sharing up to Four Quarters with a VJ we met through tribe.net. He seems to have a good visual style. I look forward to journeying with him and exchanging style techniques.
Weather here has been pretty poor this week. Overcast everyday and lots of drizzles. On Tuesday we met some random kids who had jsut graduated high school and partied with them at their beach house. Heather played beer pong for the first time, and we won! Overall it was silly, but thats what the Dewey experience is all about.
Heather has been taking lots of pictures - hundreds! I need to set up a flickr account so I can easily share some of my favorites.

up and down with the sick

the past four days have been a battle with infection. It made its way into my lungs, and last night it also became apparent it was causing an ear infection. The pain from that got so bad I had to rush to the hospital this morning. The Doc gave me antibiotic, vicodin, and eye drops for suspected pink eye. Hopefully within 4 days I'll be rid of this.
Between resting, I've found enough energy to play with some music and get out at least a little bit. We biked to Rehoboth the other day and played some skeeball on the boardwalk. Multiple people approached us about our hair, which I have redone to a vibrant swirl of green and blue. Pictures will be here eventually.

Dewey Beach

I've been feeling pretty heavy the past couple days. By that I mean I've been sick with something since I've been at the beach house, so I have plenty of time to sit around, think, dream, and feel the weight of my life as it stands. At first I thought I had a sinus infection, which may be true, but it isn't that simple. This morning I woke up with my eyes covered in gooey gunk as if I had conjunctivitis. There was also one other time I got a strange eye affliction, within the span of 15 minutes my eye went from completely normal to caked over with gunk to the point where I could not open it. I think it was some sort of autoimmune funkiness.
What that said, the beach is nice, and if there is any good time to get sick, it is now because I don't have any obligations for awhile.

in teh Delaware

Yesterday I woke up outside on the porch of my sister's apartment. I was allergic to something in her house, probably the excessive amount of pet dander. As the sun lightened the sky, lazy clouds unveiled their shapes, birds sang all around, and distant traffic built up to a consistent din. Then I fell asleep again and woke up some hours later when my sleeping bag became heated from the Sun. We spent the morning playing with my sister's roommate's Flavia machine, and Heather realized she had the ability to make a good omelet. My sister was nice enough to let us borrow one of her cars for the day, so we took a trip to center city. After getting really irritated with city traffic, we stopped at South street and walked from 12th St. to the Riverfront. We also visited the Rodin Museum (the guy who created the 'Thinker' sculpture). My sister has in a relaly nice mood and offered to make us dinner, so we obliged, and it was damn good too. Then we decided to end our stint in Philly and drove down to my parent's house in DE. All was well at first. Heather met them and we talked for awhile. The trouble started when it came time to go to sleep. More allergic reactions. Yay. My eyes burned and became red and inflamed, my lungs closed up, and my nose was dripping and stingy. I took an emergency Zyrtec, and then finally I fell into a drug induced slumber outside on the screen porch.

56 hours of bussing.

The bus trip was greusome and fun, an exercise in patience. Next time I take a bus trip that far, I'll be taking a break somewhere in the middle. We were thinking of stopping in Columbus, OH on our way to MN in July to visit the Project Ruori crew, one of my favorites from the Electro-Music regulars.

So, we got into Philly and made our way over to Vytear's residence, and everything from that point until now has been a blur of complete fun. In between the relentless audio-visual-social bombardment that is Electro-Music 2007, there was lots of greasy chinese food, The Dark Crystal, preparations for my own audio-visual set, and walking around the city and forest with Heather.

I think my set went well enough, I only heard good things about it. I also heard very positive things about my visuals for other artists. I think I one-upped my Vytear video performance over last year.

If all that wasn't enough to make me tired, I was woken up by Heather last night telling me she needed my help. She walks me into the bathroom where I saw pools of blood everywhere- the sink, the floor, the toilet, bathtub, walls...all covered in blood. If anyone had seen that, the first thing they would say is "Where's the dead body?". Luckily, it wasn't death, but still pretty scary. Her lip piercing had started bleeding and wasn't coagulating properly. It must have been 25 minutes before the blood flow stopped. By the end her skin was a pale grey, she almost fainted, and I spent 2 hours cleaning Jason's bathroom.

At any rate, I've had enough excitement for a little while. Today is for reflection, rest, and dinner with my sister.