Back from NYC

I hadn't realized how long it had been between posts. I was under a deadline to finish a polished Part One (143 pgs) to hand over to a publisher in NYC on the 23rd. That was accomplished and now I need to polish Part Two. The characters are very much alive in my head so it shouldn't require nearly as many rewrites. I have posted some of my favorite chapters from part one on the www.NightInPositano.com I showed it to several people and they went bananas. Plus I already have one Independent Film producer interested in the book. It really reads more like a screen play anyway.

My primary mission for NYC was to attend the opening of the Paul Sharits solo exhibition at the Greene Naftali Gallery in the Chelsea district on Manhattan. The show is awesome and very tasteful. If you are able to make in to NYC go see it. We have two films showing, Third Degree Burn three projector installation and the single projector Axionmatic Granularity. We had a Champagne opening from 11am to 1pm and then a private dinner at 9pm in this fancy Japanese restaurant in midtown. I had two interviews with two art critique magazines and then a two hour video interview for the documentary which premiers this spring. I was burnt out on interviews so I made the film crew cram into my small hotel room. I literally did a John Lennon and did the whole interview propped up against my pillows in bed.

After the interview, we all went down to the Occupy Wall Street headquarters located on the second floor of a college again in midtown. It was kind of scary. For promoting peaceful protests, I wouldn't be surprised if they get violent. The graffiti that was covering the walls and some of the floor sounded pretty militant. I sat in on three different conversations and they all had different goals with two common threads; they wanted to keep "occupying" this school or move on to the next. The other thing that was in the air was the fear of being raided. It was around 7pm and there wasn't that many people in the space so I would think they would have gotten raided during their planning meeting at 8pm. We successfully left the building before it was raided, but we did see several police vans parked within a block of the space. I did collect OWS propaganda newspapers and various printed material including a rough blue print to interrupt the Macy's Day Parade. I couldn't believe they just had it sitting in the old protest signs. One thing is for sure; they don't have a central goal further than being pissed off and occupying things.

After that we took a taxi down to ground zero and we found that the visitors center was really a crowded gift shop. I found it revolting and we left quickly.

While we were there both the Whitney and MoMA were closed for Tuesday, but I have some power in NYC and Greg and I were allowed in with a curator tour. The museums were empty. It's a great way to see the art. I spoke at the opening dinner and it went very well. I have no problem with public speaking and I decided what to talk about in about 30 seconds. My speech was cohesive and well received.

We flew back on Thanksgiving and the airports were nearly empty. It was awesome. I went to the Macy's Day Parade and somehow managed to get a spot three people back in Times Square. By the evening we were back in Colorado and eating Thanksgiving Dinner at my brother's house. It was the perfect day.

The bottom line is that I weighed in at 333 which represents 77 pounds lost since my surgery on August 3rd. I should pass the New Years eve at 320 or less. I should be 280 pounds by my birthday on March 19th. The best present ever. I will be at my ideal weight by December 2012 at the latest.