Hi everyone. Since this is my last post of this year, I wanted to wish you a happy New Year. Be nice to each other. I'll continue with more next week. Have a good one. Happy New Year. Love, B. NIce
December 28, 2013 - Almost a New Year
Happy Almost a New Year everybody. So I went all the way to the west coast, you know, my road trip. I ended up with my cousin in Hermosa Beach on the west coast. We went for a walk on the boardwalk, and someone wrote on the wall, "When you're going forward in life, don't trip on things behind you." I thought that was kind of cool. Then someone wrote a very intellectual word right behind it. They wrote "Fart." Anyway, I like the previous quote better. It's kind of ironic. I felt like I drove all the way across the country just to see that phrase. Not Fart, but the other one.
You know what's kind of cool, my friend here dropped off a dvd of all the images I shot on the trip. The light was so different between the east coast and the west coast. For example, the light on the east coast was very soft and golden. The light on the west coast was very white, contrasty and blue. In between, it was like a combination of the two. It was pretty cool to see.
I'm really excited because my little one will be here soon. I get to see her for a few days. It will be fun. It always lifts my spirits to see her.
You know, the other blog I did (click here) was more about the past. This blog here will be more about the here and the now and the future. For example, I see myself doing more landscapes. I gotta work with what I got. I love photography but I can't see myself being a fashion photographer, so for now, in the near future, I'll do landscapes. Who knows what I'll be doing way down the line. My friend here said maybe I should combine the two. It's a good idea. But for now, I have to stick to landscapes. People can't really understand me. I can see a model looking at me thinking, "What the hell did that guy say? I can't understand him." All the images would be of a person with a head tilted to the side with a curious look on their face. Hey, it could be kind of trendy. It's the "new" pose.
I'll tell you though, I'm getting pretty tired of the way I feel. It's not fun. I feel like hell, and it feels like I've been run over by a truck. Not that I would know what that feels like, but I imagine it doesn't feel good. Physically, for the new year, I feel like I'll be walking with a walker. I've been working hard, but it's so weird when it's so foreign just to stand. I need help just to stand up. Pretty crazy. But it's getting a little easier each time. You know, everyone's different so I've seen different results from different people. But I'll be walking again one day.
That's about all I have to say for this week. The only other thing I can think of is my personal life. I said it before, but my personal life is like a latin soap opera, daytime. It's unreal. Never a dull moment. Hey, it's a character builder.
Anyway, this is B. Nice signing off. I'll talk to you guys next week. Love, B. Nice
December 24, 2013 - Christmas Eve
A guy I know works on the New York Times website. Google - lens blog brian nice (or click here). He works with a girl who does a blog, another blog. Anyway, she came by to interview me. Let me tell you something, there's nothing worse than interviewing an artist and his father who have self-exiled themselves at home. We analyze everything from the meaning of art to why dogs lick their balls. Question: Why do dogs lick their balls? Answer: Because they can. Anyway, she probably left all freaked out. I hope she gets a good blog going. Check it out: click here.
My sister has a therapeutic equestrian center (www.myfeettakewings.org) She had her Christmas party the other day. I discovered something. Low light and Christmas lights are not my friend. They kind of give me little mini moments or maybe mini seizures. Either way, I didn't feel good. It could have been that or the guy who was interrogating me about my condition, and the horse breathing on my head. I mean, the horse was going to town smelling my head. Between that and the low light and the Christmas lights, I had to leave a good party. She did a great job. It was a good party. I wish I could have stayed longer. Then I came home to my parent's house that was dark. The Christmas tree lights were on and the Christmas lights were on above the mantle. All of this made me feel sick. I guess, you know, you find out what's good and what's bad for you. Who would ever guess?
You know, this blog has been for the here and now, and the future. I've been thinking about the future a lot. Where I'll end up, who knows. I'd love to go back to Montauk, back to surfing and windsurfing. But the way things look now, I don't think I'll be doing either. Wingback chair and a fireplace in my future. My friend here said, unless I go to Hawaii, and that's true. I could always go watch people surf and windsurf. I remember in Montauk, there was a great bay I would windsurf in. I would then shoot out into Long Island Sound between sand dunes. Once I got into Long Island sound, now imagine this, the outgoing tide went from left to right. And then the wind-driven swell went from right to left. The results were awesome. You would have a standing swell. Well, I used to play and windsurf on those swells all day. It was like magic. Sorry, I went off on a bit of a tangent there. It was just fun and I miss it. Well, let's get back to TBI, traumatic brain injury. You know what? It's not so bad having traumatic brain injury. If you go Christmas shopping, you get great parking. If you go out to lunch with your friends, you get great service. And you know what? I don't have to shop. People do it for me. If there's any holiday parties, I have a good excuse to go home early. So, you see, it's not so bad. It's all how you look at it. Although, I will tell you something. I went out to lunch with my friend, and it made me realize once again, man, I'm messed up. I can't even put a napkin on. You see when you're home, you develop a feeling of comfort and security. When I go out, I'm in a foreign place. Everything's new and different. I guess you just gotta take it slow. Let people help you. Don't freak out. Just adapt to the situation. Hey, guess what! My power chair is here. It's only taken two years to get it. Amazing. By the time I get fitted for it, I'll be walking. It's crazy. You know, they haven't even called me to pick it up. They just called me to let me know it's arrived. It really is crazy. You know, what the sticker price on this chair is? Only $18,000.oo. I think I should trade it in for a car. No wonder why this country is in trouble. Anything in the medical field is inflated.
When I get kind of bummed out I look at the DVD that my friend brought over. Remember, before I told you she put all of my images on a DVD. I play it on the TV to edit the film. It's kind of like a running slide show. Anyway, it's all about the images I did on my cross-country trip. Cool stuff. I'll include a couple on this blog.
Well, that's about it for this week. Tomorrow is Christmas and today is my mom's birthday. Very cool. You know, if it weren't for my mom, I'd be in some box somewhere. You know, like an institution. I hope you have fun with your families, and remember how lucky you are. And if you're a photographer, keep shooting, every day. This is B. Nice signing off. Love, B. Nice
Oh yeah, one other thing, speaking of B. Nice ~ Be nice to each other. See you later.
Core Sample - December 11, 2013
Hi everybody. I'd like to dedicate this blog to Al.
OK, so imagine this: I'm in my kitchen, looking out the window. It's a beautiful day. I'm holding in my two hands a water bottle that's made for cycling. Oh man, I've got a nasty cold. All of a sudden I cough. My head goes down my arms go up and all of a sudden I impale myself with the cycling bottle. The nipple you drink out of takes a core sample of my forehead. I now have a third eye. The third eye of knowledge? I don't think so. I look like a freak. Like my health aide says, I'm a wreck.
Man, having traumatic brain injury is a real drag. Everyone's affected differently. My injury causes me to be physically impaired. You know, like I have to have people feed me. That sort of thing. Getting fed is turning into a real drag. I get so frustrated because you have to eat at the pace of your feeder. In other words, if someone's in a hurry, you might choke to death. You know, stuff like taking a shower is horrifying. You might fall. That would suck. Anyway, what I'm getting at is, I'm over this shit. I'm not giving up and I'm just tired of it.
I'd like to go on vacation or something. Just step out of my body for a few minutes. That reminds me, I should do mushrooms. I'm just kidding. You know, any alcohol or drugs just make things worse.
You know, I mentioned it before, but I'll say it again. Anytime you get a cold or you get sick, it's multiplied ten times over when you have traumatic brain injury. For example, right now I'm so sleepy because I'm taking medication for bronchitis. Just the common cold can be a real drag. I guess you gotta just hang in there.
I wanted to say something, on a creative level this has been pretty wild, the whole traumatic brain injury thing. It's opened the doors to a whole new perspective. I never in a million years dreamed I'd be doing the stuff I'm doing now. I've been drawing and painting. The images are very abstract. They're very much like a Jackson Pollack painting. I'm not at all saying I'm like him, but I was just trying to give you a visual. It just makes me feel good to draw. You know, it's like, I guess you could say, it's pure art. You don't care what people say. It just makes you feel good to produce it. I paint every day at 5:00. I do a heart for my daughter, a star and a circle. I do these symbols with help from my dad. He's a painter. I always look forward to 5:00.
My friend here put all my images on a DVD. I play it every day. They are images from our road trip. Every single frame I did. It's kind of cool cause I remember the strong images and when I go to edit, it will be much easier. My friend made it a slide show and I just sit there and watch it. Each image stays on the screen for about 5 seconds. If it were to be shorter, like 2 seconds, I might have a seizure. Not a good look. I watch it on the TV so the images are big. It's cool.
That's about all for this week. Remember how lucky you are. It's kind of a cliche, but take time to smell the roses. This is B. Nice signing off. Talk to you next week. Oh, by the way, my dog is talking to me. Just kidding. See you next week. Love, B. Nice
Big Hairy Monster - December 4, 2013
Hi everybody. Welcome to another week of recovery. My daughter was just here. I forgot to tell you. She was here for Thanksgiving. Man, what an appetite she has. She ate everything. Her cousins were here. She was talking, eating. She finished the whole thing. That night, she came over to my bed. She said, "Daddy." She looked right at me and threw up. Then she threw up all over the floor. It was turkey surprise. What a mess. She said, "Daddy, I ate too much." I wanted to say, "Yeah, no shit." Anyway, that was the end of my Thanksgiving. I just wanted to share it with you. OK, so I'm gonna call this blog Big Hairy Monster. I'll explain more later.
This week my friend had a great dinner with all my high school and grade school friends. It was a nice dinner. She did it even though it was a sad day for her, for everybody. Anyway, she made a great dinner. What a great cook. All my friends from grade school and high school were there. One of my friends was talking and laughing and all of a sudden I had a flashback. It was as if I was back at school, grade school. You know, like a little kid. OK, hold on. I'm going to interupt this reading session and edit this blog. Let's just say, kids will be kids, and end it at that.
Me and my friend used to always be in trouble. We would have little adventures all the time. For example. He had a big newfoundland dog which at my age, back then, looked like a horse. Anyway, we would take the dog and go on a camping trip. Imagine that, a little kid going away camping for a couple of days. Crazy. We would do things like ride dirt bikes, drive go carts that went about 80 miles an hour, go skating on ponds that were covered in scary ice. One time we went in my friend's parent's BMW. The father was driving. A car came out of nowhere. We locked up the brakes. The BMW spun around and around on the dirt road. Next thing you know, we're in the woods. We pushed the car out. It had a lot of scrapes and dents. We managed to start the car, get it back home and on the way back home the father said, "Don't tell your mother." It was crazy growing up with them.
So I went off on a bit of a tangent there. What was I talking about? One other thing I'd like to mention is we were all sitting around the dinner table. This is present time. We were all sitting around the dinner table and we came to the conclusion that kids are all labled nowadays. For example, a kid might be a little hyper and we call him ADHD, medicate him and pigeon hole him. Back when I was growing up, (listen to me, I sound like an old man), back when I was growing up, we would pick up a stick and go outside and play. How times have changed. Anyway, that's just an observation.
Speaking of observations, I did notice I'm so tired at the end of every day. I guess it's because every single movement is thought out and executed. For example, if I want to pick up a water bottle. I have to think about where my hands go. How to hold it, etc. The world of Traumatic Brain Injury makes you really tired. It's a drag. But, you know, it depends on how you look at things. My friend brought over a CD of my images. They look real cool. See you next week. Love, B. Nice
