Author: John Otter

I’ve returned from travels. Caught up on some sleep this morning. Still don’t quite feel as if I’m back. My mind is processing way too many things, experiences, bits of knowledge. The weekend ahead looks full and fun. I’ve posted some camera-phone pics of my trip onto Flickr – wish I had a better camera with me on the trip. I suppose I’ll start saving for a new digital camera, mine has a busted LCD screen so I can’t see what I’m shooting. Shooting from the hip is OK, but I still can’t see the results until I get them downloaded to a computer. I’m on a mission to sell a few paintings to make up some of the money spent in New York and for some new art supplies. I’m thinking a new large commissioned painting could be in the works. I’m also looking forward to matting and framing a bunch of my recent works on paper, eventually show them together. Maybe rent a space, buy a ton of liquor, hire a band, etc. Off to see my friends play a schoolgirl-punk show soon, should be fun.

I returned from camping last night, today I’m getting everything in order & packing for New York. I’ll be there a couple weeks – might not be checking e-mail much (I don’t plan to, but you know how that goes) – I’m back in California Oct. 21st & then fly to Mississippi on the 22nd for a two day conference on digital image collection management. I return the 24th of October, then its right back to work. I’m sure I’ll be exhausted but refreshed when I return. I have a digital camera with a busted LCD screen that I’m taking as well as a camera phone, so this will be an adventure of poor quality pictures for me. I hope everyone enjoys October, I know I will.

Its called Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) & its fabulous (well, not really). At first I was quite concerned, it causes pretty intense vertigo and I had no clue how serious it was. Drastic things race through the mind when you’re suffering from some unknown ailment. I just returned from the doctors office and they assured me it was nothing to worry about. I asked all kinds of questions and basically there’s nothing they can do, it clears up with time and it has no serious consequences. They even gave me an information sheet with some excercises I can do to try to cope with it better. The sheet recommends “games that involve stooping, stretching and aiming, such as bowling or shuffleboard”, and say the goal is to “practice head movements that cause giddiness and thus overcome the disability” – I wonder if they meant dizziness instead of giddiness, but I’ll take their words for it and practice being giddy, especially now that I know its nothing serious.

I just booked my flight to New York – I’ll be there for the middle of October, when the weather should be nice. I’m going on art-related business and to have fun & catch up with old friends. After I return I’ll have one day of rest & repacking and then I fly to Mississippi for a professional development opportunity. October looks to be a bit frantic but fun. I need to save up a bit more money or sell some paintings before New York so I can really have fun, I know all too well what fun costs in New York.