Bike Accident of the Week! (BAWWWW)

I've decided, from now on this blog is devoted to exciting wipeouts, accidents, and other ridiculous shit that happens on my bike! Check back often to find out how long I can go without reflectors or a headlamp! When will I finally get the helmet that Nate has promised to me?! When will a car finally run me over when I skid along these super busy city streets!? Check out the awesome photos of Leipziger Str embedded in my elbow! I really love my bike, and I've even written "Ode to Torpedo."

-~How I love thee, let me count the ways. Three weeks I've had thee. You are shineless and black as night, and so make me invisible to the speed demons who scour the lonely streets at night looking for prey. Without reflectors you emanate your love for me. Twice, today marks, you have thrown me from your grasp as your pumping chain skips a beat from the tenderness of my touch, which arouses your gears to spin free. You get on your weakened knees and you beg me to take me with you, when you break down and squeal. I know I've let another nurse you back to health, and it cost me. Still I try to pull you back together, stretch the boundaries of hesitancy that keep us from exploring. Yet when even all fails, you give me golden wings to make believe I am flying with you.~-

E bandaged-strictly

Trippins

This deserves a post on its own, since it is post-dated. Here are pictures from the trip to Budapest and Transylvania, by my friend James Wetzel and some guest shooters. Particular subjects may be somewhat biased, but he's a good photographer and captured some of the great sights which I was unable to.

Parts that work, and parts that don't

This is the first collage piece I made this semester, recently reworked and edited. My idea is that I collect pieces I can make a physical collage from so that I can have one original piece and then more fancy editions on the computer. Something about there being a difference between original works and.. original works. I realize I'm stealing material to begin with.

It's self-titled.

In other news, I've been recovering from a crazy bike accident from which I'm intensely lucky to have come off relatively clean. A few scrapes and bruises, but I'm astounded I didn't have a concussion or at least a broken nose or some misssing teeth. My wheels have have granted me the freedom the get around town above ground and breathe the air and take in some exercise time. On the negative side, I lost my wallet a few days ago while I was riding; it just slipped out as I was pumping my butt muscles along. Fair? No, I don't think it's a matter of fairness, but I feel fairly stupid. That incident has been subjugated to the immensity of my luck. Two days ago I was riding and my chain came off the gear, I completely bailed, my bike went sliding across the cobblestone road, I hit the ground and my face slammed into a concrete pole sticking out of the sidewalk. I got up with a short headache, checked to find out the situation of my face, no bloody nose, no teeth missing. I hit on the bone just under my right eye, barely missing any more serious part that might crack easily.

Take things in stride. I'm not being hasty, but I'm not going to waste my time.

Cram it

Springtime welcomes me back to the dismal city of Berlin. Two months of relative sunlessness are over and everyday shall be in celebration from now on. Until it starts raining. Ah but I had a nice break from city living while traveling through Romania. With the whole crew of Lexia students from Berlin, and the addition of the two students from Krakow, the trip started with two days in Budapest. A short time to see such a beautiful city, yet full of great sights of the hills rolling around the Danube river, the parliament building on the bank of Pest and the royal palace atop the hills of Buda. Yes, once it was two separate cities. I could try my best to give a history lesson about Eastern Europe but that is not wholly my intent. following Budapest we spent a week bussing through Transylvania (which makes up 50% of Romania, and no, Dracula does not have a castle), traveling the Carpathian mountains to stay with Hungarian families and experience traditional life in small farming villages. Seven days on a bus was tiresome, and bumpy, especially for me in the backseat, but the view was unsurpassable. I spent most of my time looking out the window or giddily drinking a two-liter bottle of beer (the thing was too ridiculous not to buy!) from one of our frequent gas station stops. I'm sure I saw no less than a hundred churches with copper or silver roofing. We visited a good number of churches ranging from the 1300s to more modern and reconstructed ones. Mostly the population is Orthodox so it's very traditional and some of these places have amazingly fancy ornamentation, mosaics, silver chandeliers and huge altarpieces. Some terrible misfortune of poor overseeing led me to leave my camera at home, so my only evidence can be found spread throughout various cameras of my friends (I have to gather those), or in the souveniers I bought. It was kind of a relief though, just to be able to take in the surroundings, but I wish I'd been able to capture some of the striking views. I bought local specialties like hungarian salami with paprika, and

My favorite moment of the trip was staying in Torocko, an old village set in the valley of some beautiful mountains. This morning of the day after I arrived I woke up at 5 from a dream about waking up at 6 to go walking in the mountains. It was a surreal experience because just before I awoke I was watching magnificent colors shooting over the peak of the mountain as the sun refracted in the sky, with the night's expectations of what I was going to see in the morning. So I woke up and it was still dark, and I set out on my journey. I'd spotted a nice outcropping of rock on the way into town the day before, but I didn't stop just there. It was so rejuvenating to keep walking, to keep climbing, to breathe in the fresh air and listen as the town came to life further and further away, the sounds of the roosters and sheep echoing off the treeline on the mountainside. Conquering nature early in the morning makes the rest of the day seem humbled.

Each day was bookended with home-cooked meals, fresh jams and wines made by the families, and copious amounts of sumptuous soups and meats. I'm terribly saddened at the loss of a half-liter jar of rosehip jam I bought from one of my hosts, as it was confiscated at the airport at the end of the trip since I didn't think to check it. Jam is a pretty suspicious substance, I'll admit. Most of our events and group meals were welcomed with shots of Palinka, high-proof alcohol. Maybe no-proof. There's no proof it won't kill you. This stuff is moonshine and it burns. Even though I couldn't really speak with anyone they were so gracious to share their homes and their food. I had some help in translation from the group's guide Haigny, and the driver, Laszlo, who spoke some English.

In the end I'm only glad to be back in Berlin because it is nice here, everyone is outside in the park and the cafes are overflowing into the streets, and people start taking their clothes off. It's time for progress and activity, time to have fun and get work done and find a confluence of the two. I have a lasting niceness from my vacation from this larger vacation which is life in Europe. I don't agree with this word though, which takes root in some absence. To vacate? Get the hell out of here!? No, it's nice to take breaks though, to change scenery, to breathe air you've never tasted before. Then again, I miss some familiar sweet tastes that are far away across oceans. Oh, my Jersey produce, the kind that grows in my heart.

I bought a bike today.

~Elijah, On the other side of the woods.

Babylegs

I've been making collages lately with collected images. It's fun to organize them on the computer before setting down the actual pieces. That way I have a physical object but I also have endless possibilities after the fact. After gluing down, sealing some definitive edition. Also reusing pieces has it's benefits. I like building up materials and constructing from parts.

This is a piece about sharing. Sharing is Sexy.