Off to New York City

computer.JPG
Originally uploaded by stevenjude

We're off to New York City

See some friends
Buy some clothes
Visit some old haunts
Get scanned for possible cancer

You know the score.

trouble with scans every 12 weeks is that you get scanned, wait two weeks for results and then relax for a bit - knowing that all is fine. Until BAM it's week 10 and you need to start the whole insurance clearance thing again. Every cough becomes evidence of a tumor. Every twinge a sign of internal organs being forced aside by something malignant.

Doesn't help that both Jude and I are having really vivid dreams about my being positive this time and needing to go back into treatment. And I don't really have vivid dreams. It's pathetic how deep my subconscious is buried. Really sad.

Still I'm here. We have New York, Las Vegas, Miami, Montreal, Mexico City and Buenos Aires on the trip calendar. Jobs we like. A place we love. And an expectation of a summer that will be outdoorsy, glamor filled and unlike anything we've ever done before.

Cool times ahead ---> and I really didn't think I'd be here in 2008 to say that

Rash

day 30: googly
Originally uploaded by estherase

So today I woke up with my eyes dry and flaking, with an angry red rash at my elbows and with the urge to scratch until bleed. It's really annoying as I know that all I need is a decent steroid cream and the whole thing will be fine. But being the US I need insurance clearance, a doctor's referal and a note from a specialist. All of which takes time and money and energy. Oh for 'socialized medicine'

Of course socialized medicine is one of the big "It's communism!" no-nos here in the US. Never mind that the US is slipping down the health leagues and that close to 1 in 6 people have no coverage ---> the thought of state control of the system fills people with horror and has lobbyists shaking in their tassled loafers.

Of course nobody minds 'socialized firegfighters' or 'socialized elementary school teachers' - it's just the medicine bit that frightens. Which is a crying shame. Especially for those who spend their lives in fear of illness and the bills that it might bring.

Now lots of the people running for president are paying lip-service to health but they're also being funded by the healthcare and insurance company industries (at least those with enough money to win are anyway) so the chance of real change is slight.

And "change" is the word of 2008 so far. Hillary is a proven agent of change. Obama hopes for change. Romney changes positions on change every 20 mins. You're either an agent for change driven by a personal agenda or you're dead in the water. Even Guilliani (the man who pretty much destroyed the nightclub scene in NYC with his dancing regulations and who placed the command centre for disaster response in the world trade center despite cries not to do it) is now an agent of change.

It's ridiculous. It's as though the electorate are bums and the people we have to choose from are offering loose coins. I for one am for the status quo - until the Bloomberg - Schwartzenegger challenge - at which point I'm for the billionaire and the nazi groper

Photos and stuffn

Slumpy (o.0)
Originally uploaded by trance.field

So it feels as though things are ramping up here. Whilst at an exhibition of the rather dull pictures of Arthur Miller (yes, THAT one) I got talking to a guy who invited me to go with him to the most derelict sites in Detroit "when the light is right" to try a 'photo safari'

Then I have a photography class starting in a couple of weeks. Plus an invitation to a meet of a group of Flickr photographers. All rather splendid and I'm sure rather enjoyable (when the weather gets above -15c)

I do love taking pics, though it's been a while since I've ventured out to take any. It's what I do in the absence of spatial or visual awareness. Oh and talent. I do lack talent. Jude has an eye for composition, I have a mind for technical detail. I'd be a great assistant. She'd be a great 'artist'

Still I am still getting out into the world and new people always come with such possibility. I just might like it here.

Auto show fever

So the Detroit Auto Show is in full swing and while it's probably the 2009 Ford F150 truck that's the most important new vehicle in terms of the industry (it's the biggest seller in the US) most of the buzz has been around the new, bejewelled, Lincoln. I have to say that is is a looker and the video makes it look like a Miami Penthouse on wheels but I'm not sure that I'd actuallyu drive one. It's all a bit too conspicuous for me.

Interesting to see lots of energy around more sustainable cars but while people are talking about how in the future their Tank like SUVs and slinky sports cars will be run on the smiles of children and on the pollen that makes you all hayfeverish there are a couple of actual advances already available. They have names like EcoBoost which in a country with a mania for 'more' isn't bad at all. It's the Pepsi Max vs. Diet Coke thing - you want more or you want less?

Car I've pictured is the concept for a baby Hummer. They're calling it HX but it's really an H4 - designed to compete with the smaller jeeps. Beats offsetting the bad you do with a 'Hummer Helps' campaign asking drivers to show up when disaster strikes. Actually that was clever - talks about capabilities and ruggedness while looking like it has a heart.

Not sure I've seen anything that I'd kill to own this year - though the European Verve looks interesting

More on Thursday - after I've been given a guide walk through of the whole show (!)