Not right now

I just realized something. As eager as I am to do so, I cannot tell my David Alan Harvey Loft story right now. I know there are many fans of David and Burn who have been waiting to see what I might post and will be disappointed, maybe even let down.

I have thought it out from beginning to end. I have composed words in my head. But the circumstance is just not right for me to tell it right now. It will just have to wait for another time.

It was a great experience, with many highs and lows. It began excellently, then I careened through one calamity after another, headed for what looked like disaster, but, at the very last moment, it all came together. The finish was excellent for me and I believe for all those who I shared the experience with.

Thank you, David Alan Harvey. Thank you, Michelle, Thank you, Michael and thank you, my fellow dozen students.

Pictured are two of my fellow Loft workshop students, Mark Bennington, who, if things work out right, I might get together with in Mumbai in the not-distant future, and Isabela Eseverri from Caracas, Venezuela.

I doubt that I will post at all tomorrow. Too much to do in too short a time. It would be nice if I could get some real sleep.

I wonder what that would feel like?

A ninja, cat, and absent-minded dog, met one week ago today on my way to The Loft

This is one week ago this morning, taken at a train station in Newark, from where I launched myself toward David Alan Harvey's Loft in Brooklyn. 

Right now, it is 11:15 PM and I have settled down into the home of my westside Uptown hosts, Tom and Susan Nicholson, former Alaskans and parents of the filmmaker Zac Nicholson who loves to come to Alaska and especially to Barrow.

I am exhausted. Too exhausted to do any kind of picture editing or blogging.

The only reason that I am not in bed right now is because after sweating profusely throughout this past week while walking mile upon mile, sitting, riding the baking subway and trying sleep in the sultry heat, my supply of clothing had gone bad and so I am now doing laundry.

I shared an apartment with three other workshop students. When I arrived, I found this cat just outside the door. Seemed to me like a good beginning.

Then, a bit before 5:00 PM, I joined my temporary roommates in a cab ride to The Loft. Something was wrong with the elevator, so we trudged up the stairs to the sixth floor. This dog followed.

I didn't think much about the dog until it suddenly said, "say, can you tell me if this is the stairway to The Loft?"

"Yes," I answered, "but why would a dog want to know that?"

The dog looked at me like I was stupid. "I ran here all the way from Texas just to take part in The Loft workshop and I would hate to find out that on the final stretch I had gone up the wrong stairway," he answered in irritated disgust.

"It's the right stairway," I said, "but where's your camera?"

"My camera!" the dog suddenly screamed. "I forgot my camera! I left it at home in Texas! I better run back and get it!"

With that, the dog turned, leaped and bounded down the stairs and charged out the door on his way to Texas.

I don't know what happened to him, because the workshop is over now and he never made it back.

Too bad. I would have liked to have seen his portfolio.

The image of what I faced; fixed now, blog about to rise again

My laptop computer is fixed now. I took it to the Apple Store by the Lincoln Center and for a very tidy sum but much less than the $1800 or so a new laptop would have cost, they replaced my screen and connecter cable.

This is a picture that I took of the screen before I took the computer.

You can see how hard it was to try to edit photos.

It is much better how. I will start blogging again this weekend...

...after tonight's slide show and party, plus a good night's sleep.

A few technological difficulties

Last night, I settled down on this couch that serves as my bed here in Brooklyn at 1:00 AM. It was too damn hot and I melted and sweated from then until 6:00 AM, when I got up to put together my blog post for Monday. But when I sat down at my computer, for some unknown reason,  I could not connect to the internet.

I fussed and fretted for awhile and then, when there was just barely enough time to squeak something in, I got an internet connection. But when I tried to come to this blog so I could make a new post, the blog would not load. I fussed and fretted and fretted and fussed, sent off support memos to Squarespace and received suggestions back, which did no good.

Then it was time to go to The Loft of David Alan Harvey, so I just had to forget about the blog.

Now, my computer is going haywire again and I can't work with photos on it. I had planned to buy a new one before I left Wasilla, but then Lavina spent 26 hours in labor with Little Lynxton, followed by all that followed, and I never made it to the computer store.

I downlaoded an ap to make my iPad serve as a computer monitor, but it is a nightmare to use, so I have given up on it.

As for this picture, it is the last one I shot today. As it is so hard to view on my screen, I checked it out on my camera, then put it in this blog.

Tomorrow, I am going to see if maybe I can break away at some point and buy a new laptop. This is maddening. 

I have much to blog about.

The time marked for this posting is 9:06 PM - but that's Wasilla time. Here in Brooklyn, it is 1:06 AM.

Transition: Wasilla to New York

I am two days behind on this blog and furthermore, I am very tired. So I will keep my words brief. Here I am, on the plane, just leaving Anchorage, sitting next to a very smart guy who is reading the Wall Street Journal. The news is grim.

These don't care if the news is bad or good. Either way, they just keep standing there. These are the Chugach, a bit north of Prince William Sound.

This is Bob, from Colorado, the guy who was reading the Wall Street journal. Now, he is overtaken by the view out the window. Bob works on road slide repair.

Now we are coming in to land at SeaTac, buzzing Seattle as a ferry pulls toward the dock.

The flight out of Seattle had been delayed by five minutes and was now scheduled to leave at 3:10. This was plenty of time for me to wander down to the main food court and order a rockfish sandwich, which I did. It was excellent. 

I then went back the gate but now saw, in big numbers, 4:00 o'clock. "What time do I need to be back by?" I asked the gentleman behind the Alaska Airlines Counter at the gate.

"Not until 4:00 o'clock," he answered in a derisive, sarcastic, tone of voice.

It was then that I looked more closely at the smaller letters posted with the number. "Next update," they read.

"Oh, I see," I said, "I had misinterpreted it to mean 4:00 o'clock."

"No," he sarcastically replied. "It says next update. Check back at 4:00 o'clock." 

So I went back to the dining area and watched airplanes take off for awhile.

About 3:40, I decided I had better go back to the gate anyway.

I returned to the "C" corridor and I had not walked far down it before I heard a voice on the intercom read the names of a number of passengers on my same flight - including my name. "Last and final boarding call," the voice said.

I still had several gates to go, so I started to run as fast as I could with my camera gear and computer.

I saw a couple of other people running as well.

As I approached the gate, the arrogant fellow saw me and turned away.

"You told me to come back at 4:00," I told him as I puffed past. "You almost made me miss my plane."

"I also said to stay in the area," he spoke in the same arrogant tone as before.

"No, you did not say that," I answered.

He didn't either. He was just trying to cover himself.

Had I have lingered in the dining area for one more minute, I would have missed my flight to Newark.

But I didn't. It all turned out good - that's Newark, down below, as our jet comes down on final.

Now I am on the shuttle going from the airport to the hotel I had booked for one night near the airport, becauuse it would be cheaper - MUCH cheaper - than a New York City hotel.

This is John and Maureen. They stayed in the same hotel and were outside when I went out to catch the shuttle back to the airport so that I could catch the train into New York City. They hired a cab to take them to the train station in Newark and invited me to join them.

They insisted upon paying for the whole thing. They are orginally from Burma, but now live in San Francisco, where she works at Macy's and he drives a cab. Burma, they said, is a beautiful place with warm, friendly people - but a horrible government, one of the most repressive on the planet.

They had come so she could attend a Macy's convention. The convention was over and they were going to do some sightseeing.

So we rode the train together into New York.

When I walked out of the train station and onto the sidewalk, I saw that New York is a city where people and balloons freely mingle on the same street.

This gave me new hope for the future.