I walked 14 Kilometers today, to and from Westerland, Sylt's main town. Most of the journey was along the bike path, but I did take a detour through the dunes so that I could walk along the beach for a while. It's all quite gorgeous. And once in town I took a stroll down the main drag like any other tourist. eventually I found Woyton's the local, semi-funky wifi equipped coffee shop. I have the homing instincts of my tribe. that being the tribe of louche caffeine-swilling screen gazers. I didn't have the laptop with me, but as I sipped my latte and ate my sandwich I saw my fellow patrons intently pecking out their various communications. The laptop has replaced the blackbound artist's book that so many of us regarded with great seriousness in previous decades. Then the joke was that we were all working on masterpieces of solipsism, projects so twee they would never be published. Now everything is published, and to what effect?

This post could have been written there, while I was looking out at the encroaching storm clouds, but instead it's being written here, back in my tidy apartment. I managed to beat the rain back and I'm about to grab some dinner.

As a side note - I've decided to take this journal friends only from here on out. Those of you who look in on me here from outside of LJ, can continue to follow me at http://naylandblake.net/wordpress/. There's no dramatic reason for this, it just feels right now.

Tags: cafe society, friends, sylt, walking

Made it on through. Got here safely and all things considered with a minimum of fuss. I've been recuperating and adjusting a little. Reports that Sylt is "like the Hamptons" or "P-Town" are pretty on the money: it's got dunes and tourists and beach and marsh. It's far enough north that the sun sets around 11pm this time of year. My sleeping times are still screwed up from the traveling.

All the anxiety in my last post was due mostly to the type of traveler I am: from the second I get underway to when I arrive in a place I can deal with any of the conditions that I encounter with equanimity: I'm unruffled by road delays or anything else. But before I leave I get easily wound up by not knowing what the conditions are. It's silly and never any reflection on my hosts.

So it all is quite lovely here, and I'm sure that there will be more to say on that. The one snag is that I came here to draw, and you know how I did all that frantic packing? Well somehow in the process of doing that, I didn't pack the six new pads of drawing paper I purchased for the trip. It's less of an issue that If I had forgotten the colored pencils, but still, it means that i have to locate some supplies on this end.

Tags: daily photo, sylt, travel

Okay, here I go: off to Germany for an entire month. To say I'm nervous is to employ understatement. Only half of my sweat is due to New York's humidity.

Tags: vacation

One evening during the trip to see Dad, we went to "the Nation's Largest Gift Shop" aka The Gay Dolphin and while they had many, many delightful things, all displayed in the same vertiginous manner, I had the same experience I've had for most of my life:

The section isn't quite in the frame, but trust me, there's no "nayland" plate.

In all truth, I'd be a little worried if there was one.

And now on to more frantic packing. I'm going off on an extended trip, and today I said goodbye to Lehigh for about a month. Longest we've been apart, and I'm already a little saddened by it.

Tags: daily photo, lehigh, names

I've been going to this event for something like ten years. Originally I wasn't going to be attending this one, but circumstances intervened. Spent two hours volunteering at TES' table, which was a good spot to be during the two by now obligatory downpours, since we had a canopy. I saw so many friends, old and new, from out of town and local, expected and surprising, that it made my head swim. Literally: after about four hors, during which I made it down to the end of the block and back maybe twice, my agorophobia come on so strong that all I could think about was getting out of the crowd and into some less stimulating place. A couple of friends could read it on my face, and nicely sent me off.

The was much hotness to be seen and much smooching occurred. For once, the only thing I bought was a copy of david stein's new book. He graciously consented to sign it for me. And now I have to turn my attention to everything I need to get done before July, when I will be heading out for a month on my own.

Here's me and my Dad. Last week my sister and I went down to see him. For me it was the first time in fifteen years. I'm very glad we did it, even though it was and remains, complicated.

Tags: dad, daily photo, family

Here's something I've learned how to do today: to go from the above scan of a sketch in my moleskine to the image below, which was made in Illustrator, Photoshop and ArtRage a very interesting and cheap painting program.

I know some of you on my friends list do this sort of thing all day long, but this is the first time I've figured out how to make this happen. It makes me very happy when I finally have a clear system for doing something.

It's a lot of messing around along the way, but it puts forth some interesting possibilities, especially when I was thinking that my computer and other equipment was too poky to do much with. I could probably use a new scanner though. The current one is way slow.

Tags: computer, drawing

...even if they cut away from the money shot. I've written about stuff like this two years ago, but once again I was somewhat teased with a hot scenario on the idiot box the other night: Stephen Colbert is broadcasting from Iraq this week, and one of the running gags is that he is enlisted and going through basic training. On Monday night his guest was General Ray Odierno. When Colbert made a couple of cracks about the Odierno's baldness, the general responded by saying that Colberts hair cut wasn't regulation and that something should be done about it. Colbert tried to weasel out, but was interrupted by what was supposedly a live feed from the White House, in which Obama proceeded to order Odierno to shave his head. Clippers at the ready, the general started (quite tenderly to my eyes) buzzing Colbert's head. After a couple of passes, they cut to commercial.

There was no chance to see the results until last night and while I'm unimpressed physically with the look, I'm still blown away by the hotness of the idea of The President of the United States ordering another man to shave your head onstage in front of hundreds of soldiers as well as on national television. Of course I would have liked to see a bit more struggling and such, but still, that's a humiliation scene!

Tags: daily photo, head shaving, kink, stephen colbert, tv

By which I mean sit down and type, merely type.

Type answers to emails. Type search engine terms. Type evaluations and recommendations and answers to questions and requests for funding and resumes and regrets and tags and summaries and hopefully something in the midst of all that that touches on a feeling or two, that connects one thought with another, or that at the very least makes a dent in the towering inbox.

I despair of finding my continuity in the mass of cotton batting that has taken up residence in my head.

Tags: daily photo, disctractions, writing

Just made it back from the premier of Pornography, a film that should have an lj credit line, given all the talent from our little digital backwater both in front of and behind the camera. The screening was packed, so much so that an extra screening has been added. So congrats David and Sean: it's a thoughtful twisty thriller. I'm sorry I couldn't stay for the Q&A.

Around the house, much work was done, by me. The work desk is in better shape than it has been in months.

Tags: clutter, daily photo, movies

Pals for Sunday poker and cigars. Kerry, Boymeat, Scotty, Scot, Thor ad Lolita. We played the usual silly dealer's choice games. Everyone brought very responsible snacks, including the unpictured kathryntact, who brought cupcakes that were delightfully tidy as well as tasty.

Eventually I will forgive Boymeat for winning so much money all the time, especially since I managed to come out a few buck ahead myself. Lehigh is glad of the company and attention for a while until the smoke gets to be too much and she retreats to the other end of the house. She gets treats from the visitors, but even so I can tell that there are times when people get to be to much for her. Not unlike myself actually. But afterwards, once everyone has left, she is eager for cuddles and kisses from me. A little bit or reassurance.

We are in the full force of summer. People walking along the block, taking it easy. The windows are wide open, to aid in clearing out the smoke. The air that flows in through them is luscious.

Tags: daily photo, friends, lehigh, poker

After many big thanks to blog mommy, I've managed to get naylandblake.net back up and running in a certain form. At this point it's basically a new version of my wordpress blog, but I've come to the realization that it's easier to get that going than to to a complete rebuild. There's a lot more that I need to learn to really give the site character, but for now I'm happy to get more of the content up there. The new plan is to mirror this blog over there, and probably to let the wordpress.com blog go. I'll have to break my addiction to wordpress stats however.

I do find myself inordinately proud of the little bits of fiddling I've been able to do with the code, even though there are certain things I'm stumped by.

I've done a bit of movie viewing this week: Drag Me To Hell and Up. Both quite satisfactory. Drag inparticular was a reach back to the monster movie as a scary fun house ride, as opposed to the recent trend in putting the audience in the position of unwilling torturer.

I'm reading Lydia Lunch's Parodxia. About halfway through. I've never been much of a fan, and this isn't serving to change my mind.

Tags: daily photo, website, wordpress

In anticipation of poker this weekend, I went out and picked up some cigars. I have to say that I haven't been smoking as much lately. It's just something that I've been forgetting to do. The fact that I can type that sentence probably means I'm not an addict.

Last night I got some stellar help from the Sainted Blog Mommy and moved one step closer to recovering from last years big crash. Today I'm picking up some risque undergarments for a certain someone. Yeah, it's a good life.

Tags: cigars, daily photo, friends, shopping

Bye bye Danny La Rue. I loved "Life is a Drag"
Bye Bye Koko Taylor. You recorded my favorite version of "Nothing Takes the Place of You".

Tags: obits

Doing laundry makes me turn out my pockets. Turning out my pockets reveals micro-clutter, the scraps that I don't take the trouble to shift from pant to pant, the dribs and drabs that I unconsciously accrue.

The stuff that truly drives me nuts.

Here's one culprit: drinking straw wrappers. I am forever finding these rolled pellets of paper about my person. If I don't catch them before the wash, they emerge as paper mache' rabbit turds. Or i find them as I'm out walking around, trying to get change out of my pocket. Why is it that they anger me so? Perhaps because they represent a problem that I never seem to be able to solve. I like cold drinks and I like to drink them through a straw. Straws have wrappers that must be removed. One solution is to tear one end of the wrapper and use the rest as a projectile, blowing it at someone else. But I hate to litter. I still feel responsible for the wrapper. The six-year-old's solution doesn't work for me. So I pick it up and roll it tight and then look around for some place to dispose of it. In New York, the problem is compounded by the fact that many garbage cans on the street are open mesh types, meaning that I can't throw something as small at a rolled wrapper in there, because it would just pass through. It's at that point, while I wait to find an enclosed receptacle, that I often forget that I still have to deal with the wrapper. When my fingers come across it later, I'm annoyed and dissapointed. It's like finding out that I forgot to pay my phone bill: a responsibility deferred.

Somehow, when it comes to questions like what am I doing with my life, my sang froid remains intact. But when I ask "what am I going to do with this little strip of paper", I'm trapped in an emotional vortex.

Tags: daily photo, emotion, freak, minutae

Creativity requires a void. There has to be something missing for us to want to see something new. When life is two replete, where there is no blank wall, no empty space, the urge to make anew flags and ultimately stops.

Early on in your career, you've made no mark on the world, it all feels blank, awaiting your voice. As time goes on it can feel crowded, choked with all too much stuff, or a comfortable, affirming mirror. Neither possibility leads to working.

The abundance of infostractions dumped in my lap by my computer keeps me from feeling what I need to be working towards in the studio. Click by click I move away from the unquiet thoughts of my own lack that prod my arm to move the pen across the page. I know so much about so many things that ungraspable, shifting bits. Why do I like to see where a show of mine is going to happen? So that I can begin to play with that blank wall in my mind. It's something to push against, so cozy up to or to reveal in an unexpected configuration. I have to make that something happen in my workspace if I hope to get anything done. I need to see a box to put the thing in.

Tags: art, daily photo, night, notes on practice, work

Typing at Cosi. Quiet strolling through Brooklyn has given way to the crush of post-work Union Square. Their coffee is never as good as I remember it. Spent a little time in Forbidden Planet, which has greatly expanded their independent/zine comic section. I'm struck by how much intriguing self published stuff there is out there right now.Didn't buy a whole lot however, given what my finances are like and also the fact that while I want to support their efforts I'd also like to direct some money to smaller stores like Bergen Street Comics which provide more direct support to the artists.

I also spent the earlier part of today adding some things to the Wordpress blog including this scan and a couple of links. Of special note is the one to the blog of the Annandale Dream Gazette, an enterprise initiated by poet Lynn Behrendt. Lynn and I were roommates for a couple of years while I was a Bard, and the gazette has an illustrious list of dreamer/contributers.

Because it's a Monday afternoon and because I'm in Union Square, it's hard not to fall into my reflexive, post therapy frame of mind. After all, I spent some ten years coming to weekly sessions in this neighborhood. I wonder what my therapist would say if I was telling him about my current situation and frame of mind. Probably something about the extent to which I castigate myself. Ugh, this chair is very stingy with the back support. And now I have a hankering for some fruit. Maybe it's time to head off to the greenmarket.

See how avoidance works?

Tags: comics, daily photo, musings, my block, therapy, vermin

So chef2b has been in town and yesterday he, I, his friend Karen, and lolitasir took ourselves off to five hours of liquid satisfaction at Spa Castle. Bliss is a well placed jet of water. If you're a New York resident or planning a visit, make your host take you there: it's like a civilized water park with immaculate saunas and a decent food court thrown in. You can get baked eggs. One note though: bring a change of clothes, because you end up so clean that putting your old duds on at the end of it can be a bit of a let down.

We also had two fantastic meals: before we submerged ourselves we had a very civilized brunch with thornyc at good. And on the way home we joined jd_trouble and redhead_sue at SriPraPhai (sorry Dan, I know we should have called you), which has expanded and remodeled and yet was still as delicious as ever. Then J was so very kind as to offer Mike and I a ride back to my place, where a not too disgruntled Lehigh awaited her evening walk. There was a little canoodling, and then the Sandman showed up for a three-way.

You could say I was satisfied.

Tags: daily photo, food, friends, spa castle

Especially hot ones!

Tags: daily photo, friends, gnome

These days, there are two billboard images that give me that special warm feeling down below to the point that I've bean developing a couple of crushlets.

Firstly, I'm not much into medical play, but I've been hypnotized by the above picture of sneering butch medi-dommme Edie Falco in her new series. Since I don't have Showtime, I'll have to just content myself with sighing every time I pass the shot from the campaign, Like I did yesterday when a double decker buss passed by with Edie's steely blondness shrinkwrapped around it, two stories tall.



Secondly, I'm spending time on the subway wishing I was the guy who gave Zach Galifianakis that sexy shiner and then stole his pants. Just so I could be the one he came staggering up to to make it all better. I'll admit to indulging in dirty thoughts about him since I saw him as The Snuggler on Tim and Eric Awesome Show. He just looks so pretty hurt.

Luckily I have a guest this weekend, so all this excess energy has somewhere to go!

Tags: daily photo, dirty thoughts, pop culture, sex