November 7, 2014

Hi you guys. Welcome to my blog where I talk about the present.

I think I mentioned in the previous blog that I went to my brain surgeon's seminar. He had a talk with doctors, students. It was a cool talk. One thing he talked about was meditation. When you're like I am now, meditation is very important. It was cool. The other thing my surgeon talked about was the brain can repair itself. They thought before that the brain, once it's injured, that's it. But the brain can actually repair itself. It takes time and a lot of work, but you can do it. The whole lecture was kind of fascinating. I guess it's cutting edge stuff that he was talking about. Even I could understand it, and look at me.

You know, I was thinking that my daughter has inspired me to survive. I remember being in the hospital. It was an effort just to take one step, but I would just imagine her being at the end of the hall. I think when you're like this, you need something like that to get you through the rough stuff. Who knows, for you it could be religion, another person, I don't know. The other thing is, photography and art have inspired me to live life whenever I get bummed out or down, I turn to photography or painting. It inspires me to live.

I'm going to include some photos I've been taking. I'll put one at the front and the back. Here's a link to my blog where I talk about the past. I'm keeping it short this week, cause I'm kind of tired. Talk to you next week. Love, B. Nice

October 31, 2014

Hi you guys! It's Halloween. October 31st. Boo.

Welcome to the blog where I talk about the present and the future. You know, I was looking at my previous blog and I talked about my road trip to Rochester. Along the way, I wanted to do pictures. It was beautiful. All the leaves were turning. It was peak season of Fall foliage. But, you know because of my condition I can't exactly grab a camera and start shooting. My camera wasn't set up and well, it's difficult to hold my camera. And then it got me thinking, well, I'll just be in the moment and enjoy it. So many of us nowadays feel the need to photograph anything that catches our eye. We no longer just enjoy the moment. We feel the need to photograph it. So this whole thing that's happening to me has forced me to just be in the moment and enjoy what's going on around me. In a way, it's kind of cool, and it takes the pressure off of me as well. I still remember the beautiful moments plus I don't drink anymore so I won't forget them.

The other thing that is cool was that I went to my neurosurgeon's speech. He gave a lecture to about 2000 teachers and doctors. He wanted me to be there because he was showing part of the documentary I did with Adam Hall and Erin Hall. They took pieces of the film we made and he talked about some other things too. It was pretty cool, but it took a lot out of me. I'm still feeling yesterday, you know, the day it happened. I swear New York City has gotten busier than before and the energy there is crazy.

OK, so check this out: The Dalai Lama came to New York City. He went to Time Square. He looked at the signage, the people and felt the energy. He then saw a hot dog stand. You know, a typical hot dog stand with the umbrella and the steam. He went over. The owner of the hot dog stand said, "How can I help you?" The Dalai Lama thought about what the owner said. The Dalai Lama bowed his head and said, "Make me One with everything." That's my joke for the day, and by the way, it's a true story. Just kidding.

You know, I'm gonna finish up this part of my blog because I'm super tired from yesterday. I've been having more and more what I call moments. They seem to happen when I'm tired and stressed out. I'll include a couple of photos of what I've been shooting. Hope you have a good week and don't forget, Boo.

Love, B. Nice

Oh, here's the link to the blog where I talk about the past.

October 24, 2014

Hi everybody. Man, I'm having a bad day today. You know, you have ups and downs. Today I feel really irritated, but we won't go into it.

The cool thing I did was I went up to Rochester NY to see my coach. It was my 35th anniversary of my run across America. That, and my coach was being inducted into the RIT Hall of Fame. It was a great day. But I drove 7 hours to get up there, then, well, met my teammates at a place, how can I say, that was not the best place for me. You see, there's 5 things that will trigger a seizure for me: low light with high lights, lots of noise, busy patterns, and stress. So what did my friends do? They brought me to a bar. But, you know what? I dealt with it pretty good. No seizure. My friend here said, "You're cured!" I wish. I spent the next day at the induction of my coach and then drove 7 hours back. Actually, I didn't drive. My mom drove. The whole thing's kind of ironic because about a month before, the doctors cut my coaches leg off due to an infection. Imagine, a runner with just one leg. He took it all in good stride (no pun intended). Actually, he looks better because his complexion looks better. It probably saved his life having the amputation.

You know, I mentioned that my mom drove me up there. She's been a great help. You know, one reason why I'm getting better faster is becuas of my mother. I think when you are like this, you know, traumatic brain injury, you really need a wing-man like my mother. Your really need someone to help you out. I guess it could apply to any serious illness, but you definitely need an advocate to help you. Otherwise, game over, as my doctor would say. My doctor said to me if all this happened in my 70's, it would be game over. Lucky me, my friend says, and I agree. See all this takes time. You'll get out of it what you put into it. You can't just sit around. Believe me. I guess that's why I'm irritated today, because I haven't really been working. I've been recovering from my mini trip. It's either that or my reaction to try to build a fire. I almost became the fire.

I'm gonna leave it at that and include some photos I've been doing. Hope you guys all have a good week and remember how lucky you are.

P.S. Here's a link to my blog about the past.

October 17, 2014

Fits of rage. Now that I've got your attention, my medicine said that one of the side effects is "Fits of Rage." Well, after a few fits of rage I decided maybe I should switch medicine. At least I think it was the medicine. Anyway, I'm off the medicine that causes the fits of rage and I'm on some other stuff. It's better. The other thing I did was I put all my strenuous workouts in the morning. It seems to prevent small seizures. I do anything like the bike workout or weight strength building through weights in the morning. It seems to help a a lot. Then I do stuff like painting in the afternoon. Remember, I work out from sunrise to sunset. When you're like this, it's like going to work, you know. Life becomes therapy. My friend here said, "It's a good thing the days are getting shorter," and I agreed!

The other thing I've been doing is working on my photography book. I've been working on images from my trip coast to coast. I could only stare at the computer for about 2 hours. It seems the computer seems to trigger a small seizure. I guess it might be the flickering of the screen. I don't know. Above I mentioned small seizures. Mini seizures. I call them moments and you know, I tend to try and meditate when they come on. I always think about surfing. Something else might work for you. Religion, friendship, a dog, another sport. I don't know, but I prefer thinking about something than medication. It's weird but I think about one specific wave I caught in the fall. I re-play the ride of my life, over and over. It was a great ride. It was a wave from a hurricane swell. Hard to describe unless you're a surfer but it was unreal, like riding a mountain.

Anyway, I'm gonna end it here. You can visit my other blog where I talk about the past. My friend here will include the link. Have a good week. Oh yeah, here are some current pictures I've been doing.

Love, B. Nice

October 10, 2014

Hi everybody. You know, I want to say thank you to my friend who's sitting in front of me because there's no way I could do this myself. She's typing for me. I mean I'm messed up. I can hardly hold a towel. But I am improving. There's no doubt, but it is slow, I'll tell you. I set a goal to be walking by 2016. You see, that's when I'm going to take a trans-Atlantic ship to London. LIke I said before, it's good to set goals. I've been having a therapist, a physical therapist come once a week. I get on the floor and stretch out. We practice things like sitting up and learning how to crawl. Believe me, it's tough. You know, I'm used to doing things like marathons and surfing big waves. You know, stuff like that. But that's nothing compared to this physical therapy. You gotta really tough it out. It's not easy but the reward is worth it. You gotta just keep working hard. Remember, it's your job. I've been doing things more like water therapy. It's so important, although my mother scares the shit out of me. When I go underwater I can just hear her laughing. Its a bit unnerving but it's all worth it. You know what's a drag, I've been having more and more mini-what I call moments. I guess they're mini seizures. I seem to have them at the end of the day when I'm tired. I've mention before that I'm on anti seizure medicine so it seems to work. It keeps the mini moments from turning into a big seizure. I wanted to mention something. It's kind of a flashback. I remember I had what I would call an out of body experience. I was standing behind the ambulance watching myself get loaded in. Then I saw my mother over me in the back of the ambulance and the driver of the ambulance shutting the door. Then it ended. It was bizarre. There was no feeling. No emotion. It was just an observation. That got me thinking. Did I really have an out of body experience? or is my imagination really good coupled with lack of oxygen to the brain. I don't know, but I know that having my mother hold my hand brought me back to my body, so it's good to have someone there holding your hand. That is, if you want to come back. Just thought I'd mention that. Anyway, I'm gonna keep it short this week because my little one is gonna be here tonight and I gotta stay rested. When I do these blogs it really tires me out. It'll be great to see her. Have a good week. Love, B. Nice

Oh yeah! I'll include some new photos I've been doing. My friend here said, "Nude photos?!" and I said no NEW photos. Believe me, you wouldn't want to see me nude any time soon.