Day 29 March 31

Wednesday March 31 Day 29

I went down to see about getting money from the ATM gods. I was unsuccessful. I will need to hope that my new ATM card arrives from the US soon. I am not anywhere near out of money like the last time. I am in much better shape. I went down and back up without dying but I was NOT carrying anything including by back pack. Without a load on my back I was not dripping with perspiration.

I started logging my tape from yesterday afternoon. It is not going well. I will get the system down the longer I do the logging. I expect to go out and tape another trail the afternoon (# 49). I nearly ran out of battery poser yesterday on my still camera. The process I have devised appears to be working well. I just need to refine the logging process. It will come in time.

I headed out at 1:30 pm with clouds building overhead. I was able to tape a few shots between cloud cover but gave u at 3 pm. I have been here for 29 days and this is only the second time that there has be significant cloud cover. There is thunder rumbling outside so I guess it is not just innocent clouds.

While was out shooting the postman came up to me and asked if I lived at Kilmarnock. He had my ATM card sent to me by Annie. I am on my way to the internet cafe to get the card activated. The rain and hail won and I am back to home. We ended up with a lot of thunder, wind and some lightning and most of the time the lights were out. It is interesting to prepare dinner with a flashlight as illumination. I held the light as the cook prepared a rather tasty but bland meal.

Day 28 March 30

Tuesday March 30 Day 28

I was headed down the hill to attend a rehearsal of the Advance Chorus when I realized I had on my dirty working jeans and would not be suitable dressed. I turned around to go back up the hill when I decided to look over the dorms in detail. I wanted to see if the “walk by” set up would work at Ridgewood and to get a closer look at the renovated Hostel. The camera set up will work at Ridgewood and the Hostel is beautiful from the outside. Now I need to get permission from the school administration to tape the buildings and hopefully to include interior shots of hallways common areas and, if possible, a demonstration room.

It has only taken 27 days to actually start shooting the trails and today was the day. I have recorded about 48 minutes of rhododendrons in the last couple of weeks.

I left my house at 1:30 pm and returned at 4:10 om. In 2 1/2 hours I captured 29 minutes of tape photographing a trail near the top of the hill. That is about what I expected to capture, time wise. I expect to fill one tape every 2 to 3 days if I go shooting each day. Each tape is 63 minutes long. I use a Nikon Coolpix camera to take a still shot of the trail. This camera allows me to make notes on a copy of the shot. I identify the number of the trail and the sequential location using the letters in the alphabet. The first shot is 44 (trail number) A (First part of the trail) D (looking downhill). I then shoot 44 A U (shooting up the same area). This indicates that I have gone to the end of this segment of the trail and shot back up the trail. I got all the way to U today, 21 segments of the trail. This evening or tomorrow morning I will log the tape into my video log listing the location on the tape, the length of the recording and its location on the map plus other stuff.

Sunday March 28 Day 26

Sunday March 28 Day 26

This morning has been an adventure. I had the lowest blood sugars of my time in India. There is not rhyme or reason to the fluctuations of my blood sugars. Earlier in the week they were to high so I increased my insulin. Over night they plummeted giving me wild dreams and scrambling my brain. I eat an orange around 3 am, tested by blood sugars at 6 and took a sugar pill to get me through to breakfast. Around 8 am I got very cold and this lasted until 11:45 am. At 11:30 I was still freezing but by 11:45 I was perspiring and it was time to get up. I had started listening to a new book on my Ipod and will have to go back and listen again because it made no sense. The biggest problem was that there was no one here to check on me to see how I was doing. There is nothing more pathetic than an old fart who is not feeling well and he not have someone to whine to. What is interesting is that after the cold is gone I am ready to get up and get to work immediately. It as if a switch were thrown in my body and I am suddenly feeling good.

I went part way down the hill and checked out trails to start taping. I was planning sight lines and angles for taping and checking out the light in early afternoon. It is great. There are enough trees to shade the lens and give a dappled effect to the lighting. All of the trails I will be taping are on the mid day and afternoon side of the hill. That means the sun is overhead or coming into the trails from the west. If I tape before the sun clears the top of the hill, I can get exposed areas without the sun looking directly into the lens. I cannot have the camera pointing toward the sun and get clear pictures. I will have constant sun flares on the lens. Ah, the problems of the artist.

Saturday March 27 Day 25

Saturday March 27 Day 25

I had insulin problems early this morning and was up at 3:30 am. After 2 oranges and a banana things were in good shape. I was doing my early morning thinking time and wrestling with the problem of using my Glidecam to do a “walk by “ of Ridgewood, the elementary boys dormitory. This would involve walking down the length of Ridgewood side ways. That could lead to the great possibility of tripping myself as I tried to walk smoothly. I suddenly thought that if I turned the camera side ways on the Glidecam post it would be easy. That would depend on whether I can see the monitor, and I would not be able to. I thought maybe the little LCD screen could be turned to accomplish this. Upon getting up I grabbed the camera and sure enough the LCD screen will rotate completely around and become a monitor on the side of the camera. While looking directly at the monitor you could walk straight ahead and get the “walk by” effect. Now all I had to do was reconfigure my Glidecam. I needed to get all new bolts and nuts because I would be removing about 4 pounds of weights from the top of the Glidecam post. The other problem was the threads of the camera quick release mechanism. I know India is on the metric system and all my bolts threads are on the US non metric system. I head down to the bazar and find a paint store that also has some nuts and bolts. I get the 4 I need and then get out the quick release base plate and check to see if the threads will match. They DO!!! Evidently India still uses the old British non metric screw threads. I had visions of having to send Terry an email and have him mail me a single screw. The total cost of 5 bolts and 4 nuts was 7 rupees or 16 cents. I have spent much of the afternoon trying to balance the Glidecam post and I may be close. The camera looks to the side as I walk straight ahead. What one must do to get a single shot. I can use this for “walk around” shots of many of the buildings on the Woodstock campus.

I continued on down the hill to the ATM machine and it will not accept my Debit card as yet. I think it is still digesting my last withdrawal, I hope. I will try again on Monday with my card expiring on Wednesday and I still need to get more money out.

Friday March 26 Day 24

Friday March 26 Day 24

My day consisted to going down to the ATM machine only to discover that the bank had not completed yesterday’s posting and closed the day. The ATM would not allow me to take out additional money until later in the day. I shall be going back down there in the morning. I need to get extra money in case there are problems with my new ATM card.

I have transcribed a letter given to me by the young Italian language student. He is leaving today. He is a very special young man and I am using my blog was a record of my trip, I need to make certain that his letter is in my digital records so I thought I would share with all of you. He is writing in english, something rather new for him, and I have not edited the letter at all. It is very interesting to see what others think of me and are willing to do it in writing. So here it is!

Thursday, 25 March 2010

Dear Leon,

How are you doing? I’m writing to you now that the time for to go for me has come ... yep! I’m leaving this awesome paradise, I’m leaving such a great and caring people.... And I am leaving you too! Well, I’m writing to you basically because I want you to smile at these words every time you read them and I want you to keep remembering those beautiful evenings spent together talking about almost everything. Those nights have meant so much to me. It’s been so interesting to talk with such a person, wise and respectful, incredibly funny and really great: so pleasant for me hearing about your life, your experiences, all the many thing you know, your anecdotes... I’ve been so honored to share with you a part of my life, my ideas, thoughts..... through our words and photos... you know, it’s been like halving you enter my life, my heart.

I won’t forget your laughters neither will I forget your care towards me... you have kinda been like a “granddad” to me... maybe and uncle! You’re not that old, honestly! And indeed your age simply does not fir with your spirit! Well, you know about your age and you get along with it quite well, I would say! And this is a good thing! You’re a vial man, strong and so righteous, coherent with your thought, still completely respectful and open to the dialogue. I was honored to hear about your wife... she must have been so great! You have been lucky indeed to find such a person, and she was too! When you talked about her, the first time, I was really moved... (my eyes were full of tears...) It meant very much! You shared with us such a precious pearl of your life.... and it is so rare too meet a person who finds the strength to go one and “digest” such difficulties... you’re a great man, Leon! Indeed!

And what about Sat Atima? (So you won’t forget her name anymore!,) (Note: Sat Atima was a Dutch lady Sikh who is a trainer of Yoga teachers) Wasn’t she a great Lady?! When she used to say “hey, man!”. And what about her look and life style?! I would say: amazing!

Well... I really wish you all the best, ear friend! Really! And THANK YOU! You’ve been so important to me! You helped me also to understand better myself, to accept the diversity and to appreciate it! So useful to me comparing my thoughts and beliefs with Sat Atima and you. I’ve been so glad to talk to you about my girlfriend, Siudhu! And I was so happy to see your interest! I’d like to make her meet you... we’ll so how our path will cross agin! (if they ever will). This time it’s been simply great, next time it will be incredibly awesome!

It is obvious that whenever you may come to Italy, just tell me that we arrange to meet! Ann you will be my guest of honor!

Thank you Leon, my Best-Old-Goat-Friend! Take Care! See you!

Jacopo

PS: don’t forget to tell me about your video! I’d really like to watch it!

Day 23 Mar 25

Thursday March 25 Day 23

This morning I went on a trip to the ATM machine. It was the usual 2 hours of walking there and back. The trip back was a little easier because I did not take my back pack. I now have enough money to pay 2 months rent with a little left over for daily expenses. My daily expenses are averaging about $2.90 a day, not including rent and cook. The rent and cook cost $11.15 a day. So I am living on about $14 a day or about $425 a month.

My major task this afternoon was the laundry. It is now 5 pm and I am going to bring the partially dried laundry in. If I leave it over night it will get wetter.

The other excitement was that the British lady who is staying here was headed for the hospital as I returned from my money hunt. She has been having the trots since she arrived a week ago and was on her way down the hill on foot. I suggested very strongly that she take a taxi since she has not really been eating for 4 or 5 days. She agreed. I checked in on her a while ago and she was very glad I recommended the taxi because it was a much longer walk than she realized. She also had not thought about how she would need to walk back up the hill. She figured out the entire trip to the hospital including taxi, prescriptions and doctor fees was about $15.

Day 22 Mar 24

Wednesday March 24 Day 22

Last night I was so tried that I almost could not eat dinner. I had done my first journey down the hill carrying my tripod and a pair of video cameras. No single piece weights very much but added together it totals around 8 to 10 pounds. Of course, the first day I carried this equipment I went further down the hill than I normally go to get the shots of the rhoddies on the hillside. The journey back up the hill was excruciating.

This morning I attended a rehearsal of the Advanced Orchestra. It was supposed to be yesterday but the entire school was shut down for “Curriculum Development”. In other words, writing lesson plans that don’t work. The orchestra was in decent shape and there is evidently a recital this afternoon after school. I shall take another trip down the hill to attend. On my climb up the hill I was stopped trying to catch my breath, when I heard an american voice asking if I was alright. It turned out to be one of the nuts of the hills. This man is working on an invention that will increase the efficiency of gas powered engines by 40%. I have found out that people who leave the US and come to live in the hills of India to be “interesting”. They all appear to suffer from delusions of one kind or another. I, of course, do NOT suffer from any delusions but could be viewed by someone else as having some of the same afflictions.

At 4:10 pm I attended a recital at Woodstock. It was a student recital which happens on most Wednesday afternoons. The music department is very strong and the music was rather delightful. Several of the students were giving their very first recital performance. I remember so well my very first piano recital given at age 9. I played a piece by Beethoven, simplified for beginners, but remember the terror and excitement of actually finishing the piece without having to start over again. I now know I am in better shape. I climbed back up the hill in 23 minutes. he long timers here told me on my 5th day that this particular trail was a 20 minutes climb. It took me close to 40 minutes to do it the first time.