Long Day Yesterday

Well I caught the bus ok, but it was a long day. I went to...

1. Wallsend Library, returning a book that I thought I'd lost;
2. the Employment Agency, where my key worker agree with me to put me on hold until my mental / physical health is better;
3. the Regional Gallery, where I saw an exhibition of digital portraits (including a work by Stelarc);
4. Civic Library, where I spent 90 minutes just sitting on a chair and browsing through a large book of traditional games;
5. Maroba Nursing Home where I saw Jenny for maybe 15-20 minutes;
6. Jesmond Stocklands (where I got a sandwich), hoping to catch a connecting bus to;
7. Wallsend, where I was dropped at the wrong spot and ran down the road just in time to catch the last bus home.

Long day doesn't describe it. I got home, fed the pets and collapsed in front of the TV for a bit. Mentioned all the above to Kevin, who said it was a good day even if a busy one. Maybe he's right. I wasn't quite "all there" yesterday at times, but I did get stuff done (see the next few posts).

Face to Face

One of the good things about yesterday was visiting the Newcastle Region Art Gallery in Laman St (the library's next door, sit it's a good location). In particular they have an exhibition called Face to Face, which is there until 26th October.

This is a collection of 11 works of different type and presentation. They varied from the passé Heroes (two models posing to an old Bowie tune?) to the intriguing time and motion study. I was fascinated how it built up images of the viewers from discrete positions in time. The whole thing exists in a 3D environment and you can scroll through this to see the whole thing (see image at right). There's a facsimile of movement here, but what really got me was how distant overlays seemed to merge to become clear images of the self.

Much like memory perhaps?

I had to laugh at the Prosthetic Head by Stelarc. The viewer can interface with it via a keyboard and it moves and responds in an AI way, very similar to chat bots and the like. I can remember testing out an open-source program a few years back that presented a 3D head in various poses and expressions. Seems "old hat" after things like Second Life, but here it's ART (why? because Stelarc put it in a gallery). It also has a few biographical facts about its creator, but just don't ask it to sing!

Jenny

I finally got to see Jenny yesterday, after a gap of over a month.

There was not point going in to a nursing home while I still had Bronchitis, and everything seemed to get in the way otherwise. But I got to see her for about 15-20 minutes late yesterday. Because it was so late, I had to leave soon in order to catch a bus to Jesmond where I could catch a bus to Wallsend where I could catch the last bus home (which I did, but only by running for it). Not the best circumstances for a visit, but I needed to let her know that I hadn't forgotten her.

Not a pleasant visit, if what she told me is true. Earlier in the day she'd had to have an enema and they hadn't finished the job. She shat herself while she was waiting for two nursing staff to come in and shift her in bed. Also, it seems she has complications after the removal of in-grown toe nails. One was removed from each foot, but because of lack of after care, the replacement toenail on one has grown back and the the skin has grown back over it! Huh? I gave her my home/mobile numbers finally, and the number to our old G.P. (the one I missed the bus trying to get to Tuesday). She can call him and get a second opinion, and/or some sort of action about it. Not a good thing for her either way.

I feel a little guilty, but I was glad to leave. I love Jenny as a friend, but just find her circumstances hard to cope with - imagine how she feels?. Oh, and I also told her about Bobby being attacked and his recovery. Tough little bugger that one.

The 18th

OK - I finally got through to the Octapod earlier today. Due to stuff ups and lateness, there's no point in going ahead with the event there. However I will monitor things for next year and maybe the Octapod can run one then.

So it goes.

However, I am still keen to participate in one of these because the bloody thing's on my birthday (and also, I enjoy 24 hour comic events)! I'm sent an e-mail off to the folk organising the one in Sydney.  It's at Twenty10 in Newtown, which is a support venue for GLBT youth. The e-mail I got last weeks said that "the venue has cooking, sleeping and bathroom facilities" - you bewdy!!!

The event starts at 11am on the 18th. Ideally I'd want to get down there tomorrow, staying at a friend's place overnight, and go there first thing in the morning. Otherwise I can just get there about 11:30am if I leave early enough (leaving here at 7am).

 

So, any of my Sydney LJ friends want to put me up for a night?

New Stove

Well, not that new. In fact it comes from across the road and was going to be tossed out for community clean-up. However, I asked for and got it last week and Kevin installed it this afternoon. It's clear and has all the elements working, so that must be good. I put the old one (which, when we unplugged it, discovered a dead rat inside) on the verge where it promptly fell apart.