new sensation

While I was waiting for the morning drugs to kick in, I decided to pull up a tuffet and write a while. Surgery yesterday went off without a hitch (that they told me about while I wasn't completely unconscious anyway). They got me a doctor cap to wear in teh operating room so that "I now look like Dr. Gray herself" (sans McDreamy) they laid me down on the table, danced with joy for finding a box of tourniquets, turned on the IV and I mentioned my hand was falling asleep, one of the nurses said it wa because I was probably holding it funny. Then I remember nothing else.


healer © Laura Kicey

The time thereafter has been a snoozy adventure in trying to keep my limbs under control and myself upright when necessary. I've been given a little pink sitzbath, which I fondly refer to as my ass-bucket and lots of percocet which makes me very itchy and dizzy. I called my mother to ask her if the itchiness is normal and her magical book of drugs lists pruritus in the side effects, which she then looked up to mean: a strong sensation of the skin which leads to the desire to scratch, also known as itchiness. Thanks for the directness. Why we need a confounding word to explain something simple in the world of medicine I do not know.

Last night after I snoozily whipped up a Pasta Roni (I always get the urge for it when I am unwell) and ate it while falling asleep on the strong shoulders of Mr. D, I took a nap and forgot how long it had been since I had eaten and unwisely took another regulary-scheduled itchypill. I was told that the anaesthesia might make me throw up, but if I threw up more than once that was bad and I should call the doctor. I also made an agreement with one of my friends that I wouldn't throw up at all. Well, while I didn't make it to the need to call the doctor, I broke my promise. Sorry Shannon.

Last weekend was planned to be a much better adventure than it ended being. Mr D and I drove up towards Sugarloaf, PA and decided to take Rt. 118 west towards Williamsport. Much to our gross disappointment Rt. 118 which looks like it should be remote and full of our brand of thrills. Instead it was blandly woodsy and dotted with overly well-kept houses. Dammit! The Trevorton Community Yard Sale did not leave of empty-handed though. And I feel the drugs creeping into the system now. And my ability to type leaving me.


piques © Laura Kicey

I found a great silver filigree flowery necklace for $4, Pan's Labyrinth on DVD for $1. Dust pocketed a bundle of toy dinosaurs for free (don't ask) and the Godfather trilogy for $3. We walk/drove the entire town, avoiding mauling the many dazed pedestrians and took a few photos while inhabitants were on their best behavior.


plots © Laura Kicey

We headed southwest for my opening in New Cumberland on Saturday afternoon. Lots of foot traffic came through, having only invited the bare minimum, since I only know a few people in the Burg zone these days. I had one woman interested in buying a piece but not that very moment and I will be supplying prints to the gallery soon. Tomorrow the show comes down and Dustin's goes up on the walls. His opening will be on Saturday, July 14th, 4-8pm.


wide open © Laura Kicey

I have managed to sleep most of the day again, but have avoided eating and drinking entirely. And now that the drug fog has cleared, I think I can maintain an upright position long enough to whip up some beans and rice for dining.

O-neg

As is the custom every June, my friends from collegiate days of yore celebrate their June-ish birthdays with a massive, themed, gore-bathed bash. It is known as Camp Naked Terror and this year, the theme was circus camp (of the undead). So you had to come dressed as a circus character who died an awful death. Some of my favorite costumes included the following:

Heather, the knife thrower's daring assistant who met death on the job.


heather the knife thrower's assistant © Laura Kicey

Jason, the human cannonball whose flight made an untimely end by way of hitting a wall.


stinkeye stan © Laura Kicey

Mr. D, who was a lion tamer that was decapitated by the lion.


lion sleeps tonight © Laura Kicey

Rae, the sword swallower who took a wrong turn around the tonsils.


rae sword swallower © Laura Kicey

Eleanor, the cute sideshow faun girl who didn't seem to die at all. She also happens to be one of my favorite artists, and if I had more wall in my house I would have more than just the three prints up in the living room. Some things she has designed are also available through Keds and Urban Outfitters.


fauna © Laura Kicey

Embarrasingly, there was another bearded lady at the party, other than myself. But we got along just fine.


cordelia the bearded lady © Laura Kicey


tanya the bearded lady © Laura Kicey

The event, as always was a pleasure, filled with dancing, bleeding, copious photographing and creative networking.


gristle © Laura Kicey

I finished Sunday with some driveby shooting in the worst of Philly's northern ghetto. Daniel and I took a drive up and down American Street, studying the anonymous fortresses of illegal drug distribution in the unpopulated wasteland.


trade © Laura Kicey

How a place called C+C Poultry that can't possibly house one chicken can continue on 'with business' as the cops drive by numerous times an hour is quite beyond me.

This coming weekend is the opening which I have been going on and on about. While it will be too remote for most of my local readers to attend, anyone who lives out around Harrisburg, NO EXCUSES!


It will be at
Elizabeth Anne Interiors & Gallery
204 Third Street
New Cumberland PA 17070
Owner: Liz Miceli 717-991-4287
Official Arist's Reception
Saturday, June 23th from 4-8pm

I believe they are having a luau opening, though I am not guaranteeing a roast pig, there should be some great food. And there is always Neato Burrito across the street.

Next Wednesday I have been scheduled for surgery, and as it is nearly impossible to put a positive twist on that, I've been trying to have as much fun and be as mobile as possible beforehand in case I don't feel like moving for a while. I am hoping to take a few hospital-ish photos and post them when I come out of my Vicodin haze.

breaking and entering

islands © Laura Kicey

Unprecedented! Two days of blogging in a row. It can only mean one thing. Well, actually it could mean a lot of things, but this time round it means I am trying to not turn into a blubbering mess because I found out yesterday that I will have to have a surgery. The now-second "last ditch" attempt to put an end to the neverending ow that has haunted me since before frigging Valentine's Day. Yes, dear blog reader, the last four months have been exceedingly romantic. Seeing far too much of a doctor I hate who is interested primarily it cutting chunks out of me until I don't have anything left.


breaker © Laura Kicey

I don't know when this will all take place. So for now I will continue to be uncomfortable/in pain and marginally angry at all times. Upside: I will get pain meds. Meanwhile I plan on enjoying myself as a undead bearded lady at a costumed function this weekend. Hopefully the pleasure of having facial hair and breasts concurrently will take the edge off things.

placebo effect

Since the rise of my freelance self, I have been shying away from blog posts, even though it was on the list of things to really commit to. And seeing as it is summer and technically I am should be out 'doing things' I've been clinging to the air conditioner, while my body's clock tells me it thinks its early fall or an exceptionally hot winter.

I've mostly been preoccupied with mysterious health situations, sorting through my financial crap, and trying to figure out the source of a mystery smell in the bathroom. Both far too glamorous/titillating (i.e. way too much info) for bloggery. This being said, I know I am still not healthy yet (the thrill of having an infection resistant to the toughest antibiotic), but I am a Sole Proprietor! Ship. Yeah! And the smell persists, grows even. Now that you are up to speed, something to sink the teeth into...

I just had the following piece accepted into the Muse Gallery's show entitled "Words". Many thanks to Violet Hobaugh and her unsettling written verbigeration.


sentence © Laura Kicey

Now that my friend Daniel is with camera, the course of choosing locations at which to shoot might be taking a different turn. This occurred at approximately the same time as I discovered uwishunu.com, which has also started coloring our adventures.


creature comforts © Laura Kicey

We found ourselves in Philly's Polar ghettos, North and South last weekend, hitting Art for the Cash Poor and then sauntering down to the B-Boy BBQ. The latter featured breakdancing faceoffs and grafitti demonstrations on nearby pieces of abandoned structures.


the badlands © Laura Kicey

The former we offset with a miniwalk around a razed structure across the street from the renovated warehouse where AFTCP was being held. Getting to shoot on N. American Street without fearing for ones life is most uncommon.


mane © Laura Kicey

Mr. The Dust and I have been contemplating some photo journeys with particularly unusual points for destinations. Conventions of the kookie to say the least... the nearest in Scranton, the furthest in Iowa, including but not limited to Oh Yes and Quite Possibly. While the destinations themselves would be enough, to meet masses of people making extraordinary decisions about how they've chosen to form their lives, getting there would also provide oodles of its own entertainment value.


unnature © Laura Kicey