Chasing bugs

Here is the Hair before and after shots. So much better, I think. Inspiration!

After the talk last night, several of us met up at a bar on the beach of Lake Ontario. It was very fun with only minor bug bites from the sand. After, J, Lisa, Pants, Marleen, Tammy and I went on an adventure to hunt Fireflies. This may seem a simple and childish thing, but the whole existence of fireflies is crazy (they're bugs that light up at night!) and they are unique to the east, south, and midwest. I guess that means they aren't that unique, but they weren't in Florida, they aren't in California, and I never saw them in Hawaii. Ergo, they are amazing. We drove to this remote trail, walking way off the main road, into the dark (a few drinks to the wind), and marveled at their twinklings. I am sad to say, the evening was cut short by mosquitos attempting to carry me away. (I swear I have had more garlic this month in an attempt to be less appealing to them. I guess that doesn't work.) Even so, what's a few bug bites? Thank you guys for such a wonderful last night in Rochester!

Last Day

Today is the last day and night at the residency. This evening, I will give a talk on my work, followed by a restaurant celebration, then off to Indiana in the morning. I was sad for it to be over, except that Saturday-past marked (unbeknownst to me) the last day I would have a hot shower. I have made three attempts at the cold shower since then, but today I just couldn't make myself do it, public speaking engagement or not. I have been meaning to get my hair cut, so today, I will be paying someone to wash my hair.

Public speaking engagement rule #3 will be broken tonight: never do any drastic personal hygiene/appearance adjustments within 48 hours of an event (or job interview). These include facials, waxing, hair-dying, sunbathing/fake tanner, and new haircuts. It probably includes other things I would never do, like plastic surgery, giving birth, and becoming a nudist. I got my eyebrows waxed 36 hours before a job interview once, just long enough to have a really good, self-consciousness-inducing rash in time for my spotlight.

I have been planning this haircut for months, and because I don't trust salons in Indiana to not give me a mullet, I was saving it for New York. (Not to say that is what salons in Indiana WOULD do, but I do have trust issues.) I am really excited about my haircut, but if it turns out to be a disaster, I will be dealing with my emotional fallout from it in front of a room of gaping faces.

That said, I hear you asking what rules #1 and 2 are. There are many rules to public speaking, but for your personal growth, I will give you the first two. #1 is show up early, but do not announce your presence until under five minutes before the engagement (if you have to set up equipment and sound check, fine, but then leave and don't come back until the five minute mark). #2 is to be nervous, then do ten to twenty jumping jacks right before, so your blood is pumping, your checks are healthy, your nerves are slightly diluted, but not so you are out-of-breath. Sounds funny, but trust me. #3, no crazy spa treatments, like I said.

Yes, I did mention the hot water problem to the building folks. No, the problem wasn't fixed.

*Update* Apparently, the gas was shut off, and in old buildings, sometimes you don't turn something off because it might not turn on again! Parts had to be tracked down, and the morning after-- a hot shower!

At Work

Interesting Facts

Interesting facts about Indiana:

• Oldest surviving Revolutionary War soldier buried near Crawfordsville. (Most likely was a fraud-scroll to Fruits)
• Indiana has sever rock formations and lakes caused by Ice Age glaciers
• In 1891 in Crawfordsville, a monster or UFO was spotted twice in the same week (though never again)
  
• The most prolific American female serial killer was from Indiana
  
• One of the most famous crystal skulls (think Indiana Jones) is in Northern Indiana
• People from Indiana, as well as race tracks, trailers, and cabinets are called Hoosiers
• Famous Hoosiers include Michael Jackson, Orville Redenbacher, Jim Davis, William Henry Harrison, and Dan Quayle
• *update* also home to the second tallest woman in the world, and the oldest person in the world!!
  

Interesting facts about Rochester:

• Buried here are: Frederick Douglas, Susan B. Anthony, and the prime suspect for Jack the Ripper
• The lakes near Rochester were formed by receding glaciers
• Famous Rochesterians include: Angelo Buono, Jr., Kristen Wiig, and John Jacob Bausch
• Rochester is transected by the Genesee River, with a 100-foot waterfall in the downtown area. In 1829, a man who had successfully jumped from the Niagara Falls (twice) died jumping off this waterfall
  
• The nineteenth century Spiritualism movement began in Rochester with the Fox sisters
• Kodak was born in Rochester

Good eats

Grocery stores have such wonderful things.

Blogging is back-seated

Blessedly, I have been spending time with locals this weekend and feeling more like a human than a metaphor. There was a delightful art walk type thing on Friday, followed by late night conversations in parking lot and hidden workrooms, a gallery shopping spree on Saturday followed by live music at the pub. It seems like the right amount of distraction for the weekend and I am ready to get back to work!

Here are links to the awesome folks I have recently met:
Kris
Lisa
Robyn
Kirby

There are more, but I haven't found them on the internet yet.

Room Escape

Here is the slide show of the apartment. Make sure you read the descriptions and look at them in order! (Click on the little picture to the right to move on, not the arrow. Not an easy interface, I know.)

Blogging

To be clear, there are some posts I feel belong here, and some on my website blog. It's confusing to decide what goes where, but if you check both places, you should see some awesomeness.

I have received requests for pictures of the apartment. I am working on them now!An organized desk is a thing of beauty. Everything in its place!

VSW in Rochester, NY

I am living in a two room corner of the laboratory/studio building of the Visual Studies Workshop. I do mean two room, and not two bedroom. But I am not here for a vacation, I am here to work. True, I had kind of hoped to have access to a pool and a gym, but no matter! And true, I realized I am completely addicted to the internet, but I do not have a signal in my sitting room. I have a little signal in the eating area (notice I didn't say kitchen), but it is not comfortable to type. So I am practicing writing without the instant gratification of seeing it online immediately as I edit it. Didn't know I did that, did you!

I have done 'shopping' since arriving last night. It's getting expensive, but cé la vie.

The grocery store is a chain called Wegman's, a regional store. I would like to their site and history (if it's online) but again, no internet as I type. Wegman's is a claustrophobic place, the facade of which has a distinctly 1970s look. Inside, I found myself in a different store than I have ever been in. Perhaps it is also reminiscent of a 1970s store, but I wouldn't know. The aisles were hardly wide enough for one person and were packed with more varieties of things than I could imagine.

There was a Deli section, complete with a service counter for your fresh cut deli meats. Next to that was a meat counter (didn't I just pass meat?), with all sorts of meat. I get nervous around sales people, and there were at least three butchers behind the counter. I didn't want to accidently make eye contact, so I don't know what kind of meat was in there, but it was a long counter. Then was the cheese section. It had a counter too, but no one there. There were three different kinds of fresh mozzarella. Several big rounds of hard cheese. Lots of cute, saran wrapped wedges of yellow and white cheeses. Then the yogurt section. Three different kinds of 'live' varieties, several kinds of soy-based yogurts (not just one!), and goat yogurt. There were two aisles of breads. They had my soy milk in the jumbo size.

I was overwhelmed. I bought some simple things, keeping in mind I would have to carry it through a building and up a flight of stairs, and jam it into a 3 cubic foot fridge.

This morning, I went to Target (oh, how I've missed you). I bought a new rug (to cover the scary-dirty rug in the eating area), new sheets (while sheets were provided, I couldn't help thinking they might splurge to replace them when they have become as stained as these), a new pillow (everything seems dusty), flip flops (didn't have any), a hair dryer (why did I think there would be one? this isn't the Holiday Inn!), and lint/cat hair rollers (I hadn't thought I would need this).

I went to a camera shop, intending to buy a camera bag I had seen online (this is a dealer-- not available in C'ville!), some negative sleeves, and maybe some film. The shop was in a converted fire station, a beautiful little brick building with the engine bay doors converted into windows. I had high hopes in the town that invented photography as we know it.

Alas.

They had no film.
No negative sleeves. ("We can special order them, but it will take three weeks.")
And the camera bag I wanted, was of course not there.

So I drove to Kodak. I needed hope. I thought of it as traveling to Mecca to kneel before my god!

Alas.

Kodak headquarters is a beautiful high rise in the art deco style. Across the street in the hole of what I assume was one of their factories recently torn down (I would link to the article, but I can't. It was a couple months ago). I asked the very nice receptionist about a factory tour. She apologized and said they stopped doing that fifteen years ago.

I left, again defeated.

I headed to the photo lab, Rochester Photographic, to drop off my film for developing. Remember, this is something that was a 120 mile three day epic in C'ville. It turns out the lab is several blocks from where I am staying-- potentially walking distance. I went in with my film. The young man who came to help me (it reassures me that a young man worked there, as opposed to the really old folks at my Indiana lab-- this isn't a dying art yet) even knew I would want "process only" and didn't flinch at the 120 film (I've heard "What's that?") and even said they would sleeve them for me (no three week wait). If that wasn't enough, they will be ready today. In the same day. The same afternoon, even.

This is why I am here, to get these things done, to make the work, to make more work.

I will have to mail order my film, I guess. I have to buy my Kodak film from NYC and have it shipped to Rochester. Do they know how expensive gas is right now??

Green Leaf

Route 90 through New York is a toll road. You get a card when you get on the freeway, with your on ramp marked with "xxx" and a list of subsequent off ramps and their prices. This means: potty-breaks cost money. But the states can offer you "free" off ramps with certain vendors, restrooms, etc. I think I mentioned this in December on the drive to Indiana. In that case, you could only eat at McDonald's.

So I was hungry, had to use the restroom, and was itching to post to 'twitter', when I saw a sign that said, "free exit", "free wifi", and "Greenleafs Grille" restaurant. Don't try to find it online-- it doesn't exist there yet (I know, who would have thought). The exit is in a town called Pembroke. The restaurant sounded like the same one I was in while in Denver (also don't bother searching for it on the internet), introduced to me by a delightful woman named, Angela Faris Belt. It had all kinds of yummy salads, so between that and the WiFi, I was practically forced off the road.

I also acquired a stack of brochures about New York and all the amazing things there are to see and do in the Finger Lakes region. The most hauntingly tempting for me, is of course the George Eastman house.

Niagara Falls

I went to the U.S. side of Niagara Falls last night. A huge, rushing river, then a cliff. No one in the water. This time.

The river is wide

I will re-up-load this soon, as the aspect ratio is wrong.
These are images of the upper rapids I took while walking across the bridge.