Wow, it's been more than a year since I've posted to this thing. Add insightful comment here.

I just got back from NCOR (the national conference on organized resistance) on Sunday night after spending the whole weekend down in DC attending workshops there. It was a decent conference, but I already know the drill well enough that these kind of things just make me feel old. This is the third one I've been to not to mention that I skipped the '03 and '04 conferences. Knowing more than the person running a workshop makes my knees swell up.

A bunch of members from a community in rural Virginia called Twin Oaks were there which was probably the best part of the conference. Crystal, myself, and three of our friends from up in Toronto went down and stayed there for a weekend back in September and it was as close to paradise as I'd ever seen realized in my days walking this troubled earth. They setup shop in a different building than the rest of the conference running workshops on 'radical intimacy' 'alternative menstrual solutions' and 'memes' of all things. God bless 'em. I think I'm going to go live down there for three weeks over the summer to see how well those shoes fit.

I also have plans to grab a jet to brazil for a few weeks for this .

My youngest brother is stoked about it and wants me to use his experience there as a subject for a film. Looks like I'm going to need all the cash I've been saving up for airfare.

Finally got my film for advanced documentary figured out. Going to do it on the rising adoption of alternative energy sources by academic institutions. It'll have a local focus though as they're working on getting a photovoltaic system setup on top of Norton Hall and Williamsville North high school already has a similar installation I'm sure they'd be more than happy to show off. Finally something upbeat and forward thinking with enough momentum behind it to make a decent film. If things keep going this well I'll be laughing.

It's hard adjusting to the pudding-like thickness of this town. I just got back in from Toronto a few nights ago and coming back here after travelling so much during the break is like running full speed into a giant glob of molasses. A giant glob of molasses that is so thick that not even light can escape. In terms of climate, opportunity, and general cheer Buffalo has almost nothing to offer so I'm going to crown Buffalo most vortex like city 2004. Why people stay here defies explanation so it really must have some kind of yet undiscovered gravity that keeps people from escaping. Maybe it's the cheap rent...

As for Toronto I went up with Crystal on a whim. We stayed at the Hilton and went out to Fressens for dinner (best quinoa avacado salad ever) then spent the next day just walking around Toronto together. It's amazing how much life there is on the streets of a functioning city.

I'm excited about both of Sarah Elder's classes this semester. I'm thinking for Advanced Doc I might do a promo spot & documentary for a puppetry group back near my hometown. Can I really stay interested in puppeteering for an entire semester? Only time will tell.

The days here are starting to drag on a bit. Just waiting for my youngest brother's flight to touch down on monday so I can grab him and leave the city behind for a while.

Winter in this town makes me too claustrophobic for words sometimes. All I'm looking for is a taste of family, a dash of the country, and a hint of roadtrip.

Going to visit a cousin of mine who does videowork for an ashram down in VA for a few days. Course he won't know that till I tell him at the family xmas eve bash down in erie. Then all I've got to do is talk him into starting an e-public access station for alternative communities so I can drop out of school and move down to the blue ridge mtns near asheville... Did I mention the entire thing will float on a cloud? And have government funding?

Maybe I'll just do a documentary on this . It just doesn't get much better than teaching others your passions so why not film other people doing it? Plus I've always wanted to take a course in sustainable hole digging.



Speaking of holes I never thought grad school would be quite so unrewarding or painful for that matter. Hopefully I'll learn to strike a better balance between getting useful feedback from professors on my work and getting the life sucked out of the things I'm most passionate about next semester. This town just doesn't have the right outlets for keeping your spirit charged.

At least the new slingshot organizer has instructions on how to make a dildo harness out of rope. Those goofy radicals always cheer you up when you're down.

Dammit. The dysfunctional holiday show starts in 5 minutes and I'm running hours at Access. I knew there was a reason to not be the one keeping the place open this wednesday. Too bad. Crystal will have too much work to be able to go anyways I guess.

I've only got one more project left for the semester. Or maybe two. The only thing I really have to do is somehow fake being a regular poster on the forum for my on-line interface design course, but that just happens to be impossible...

Break is coming and I can smell it.

My father's probably already working on the course list for new years day. Heck he was able to rattle off the thanksgiving menu over the phone two weeks beforehand. Having a vegetarian father definitely has its benefits. I asked him for wool socks and a few recipes for christmas.

Not to knock my mom's food of course (she makes much better pies). Then again her fridge is still full of moose sausage which I find kind of disconcerting. It came back with her partner from his last trip up to algonquin.

And my first coolest house of the week award goes to:



How cool is a solar powered grain silo insulated with straw bale? This cool.

For more info on how it was built go here: