Chapter 120 - December 31, 2013 - So long 2013

Hi everybody. Happy New Year's Eve! Another year goes by. I'm gonna get right into it and tell you a couple of Fashion Confessions. Remember, this blog is about now and the past. Mostly about the past because I feel bad about some things, well kind of.

You know, in my business I worked with a lot with art directors. I remember one time, I went up to Germany to show my book around. It was when I was living in Paris. Anyway, I went up to Germany and went on a few appointments. One time I went int o see this art director who was having lunch, Roast Beef and Mayonaise, I can tell that because it was all over my book. Anyway, she started looking at my book and going through the pages very fast. And while she was eating her sandwich she said to me, "I've seen all these pictures before Und der are so many people who can do this. I see nothing new." Then she stopped at a photo I did and said, "Und Dis is YOU. Dis is very personal, und dis is you." And she started pounding on my book. She was crazy, but she was right. It was a test I did for myself. I still remember the image.

Another time, I was in London. I was shooting for a British magazine. I was at the magazine meeting up with a fashion editor. Well, the art department came down to get me. He said, "You have the cover. It looks great. Come by and see a mock up before you leave." So after my meeting with the fashion editor I stopped by the art department. Well sure enough, there was my photo and it was the front cover and two thirds down the front cover it said in big words, "Vaginal Health." I mean, come one, give me a break. How am I supposed to put that in my book without laughing. It was a good shot though.

Another time I was in Italy. I'm going to go off on a tangent here. I just remembered something. My agent there didn't pay me for like two years. I'd done a lot of editorial, but they just took their sweet ass time in paying me, so one day I just sat on the agency couch until they paid me. I sat on that couch from 10 am until 8 pm. The owner finally cut me a check. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, I met up with an art department at a magazine I always worked for and on the way out I remember one of the world's top fashion magazines was on the same floor I was on. Well, I went to the reservation person at this top magazine and I said, "I have an appointment with the art department." They looked at me curiously and they said, "Oh really?" and they called the art department. They said, "There is a gentleman here who says he has an appointment." Well, there was a bit of a talk between the art department of this magazine and I said, "Oh! My New York agent must have made the appointment. Either way, I remember you said - no problem." Well, the head of the art department finally said, "OK, OK," and I went down there and saw them. It was a good meeting, but I never saw them again.

You know, I worked with some great art directors. It's amazing when it clicks. 2013 was a good year, but let's toast to 2014. Hope there's a lot more clicking going on. Anyway, have a good night and a good New Year. Love, B. Nice

Chapter 119 - December 18, 2013 - Way Back When

Hi everybody. I'll call this blog, Way Back When. I guess I call this blog way back when, but it kind of applies to how I am now. You see, I've got to adapt. I'll talk about that in a minute.

Let me tell you about a fashion confession first. When I was shooting in Australia, I got a job to shoot on a sailboat. We went to the Wit Sunday Islands, just north of Brisbane. I carefully picked out a crew of people to go on the shoot. I say "carefully" because I had to spend a week with these people on a 31 foot boat. Check all weapons at the door. Anyway, it was a great shoot. We spent a week on the boat. I slept on the deck, under the stars. It was a great shoot. At one point I remember we were trolling for fish. I caught a Spanish Mackerel. We pulled it in, the captain dressed the fish and we cooked it right there on the grill. You can't get fresher than that. Another time, I went scuba diving with the captain. We were scuba diving and spear fishing. I was in charge of all the fish and lobster we caught. The bag of fish I had was on a long tethered line, and I looked back and I saw the blood coming out of the bag and then I saw a big shark following me. Well, I decided to drop the bag. When we got back to the boat, the captain said, "Where's our catch?" I told him what happened and he went back for the catch. Funny, I never did see him again... just kidding. He got back and we had a great meal. Oh yeah, that reminds me. One time I was scuba diving from the boat. I looked down real deep into the abyss and there was some shimmering light coming out of the darkness to me. It must have been a big school of fish angling their bodies to look at me. The sunlight was glimmering off of them. Very cool. 

I guess my shoots always introduce me to some animals at one point. I remember once, I was horseback riding. I got off to have some lunch, sat down on a dead tree and started to have my lunch, and all of a sudden these animals came out of nowhere. Like squirrels, chipmunks, they were all over me. I guess they weren't used to seeing humans. Pretty crazy. I felt like Dr. Doolittle. Another time I was looking for locations and I looked up. There was a bald eagle nest right above me. A feather came down and landed right at my feet. That was pretty cool. Another time I was horseback riding and my horse was really nervous. I looked over to my left and there was a giant bear standing up smelling the air. I got the hell out of there pretty quick. The point is, it always was an adventure shooting. I never knew what to expect.

Before I mentioned about adapting. One time I was on a photo shoot with a famous model and she took a sweet ass time getting ready. Well, by the time she was ready it was dark. So I said, what the hell am I gonna do. I talked to the fashion stylist and she went to look at the clothes. This is when you know you have a good fashion stylist. So check this out. I was supposed to do swimwear on the beach. The stylist changed the whole story real quick. She pulled out all the black swimwear and we went down to the beach and we shot everything at night with a strobe. It looked real cool. So, you see, you can't freak out, you have to adapt.

You know, it's just like what I'm going through now. I just have to adapt, not freak out. Easier said than done, right? Lately I've been kind of depressed. I mean, come on. Who wouldn't be after everything I've gone through? Anyway, I have to remind myself to think about the future and positive things. My friend here who's writing this for me brought over another DVD of images and seeing them makes me happy. They are images from the trip we took. Anyway, this is B. Nice signing off. Have a good week. Love, B. Nice

Chapter 118 - Sunday, November 17, 2013

Hi everybody. My friend here came over to visit so I thought, what the hell, let's do a blog. You know this blog is about the past. I often would think about the past when I was in a bad way. I would often think about stories that happened to me. For example, here's a story about Thanksgiving. I thought I'd do this because Thanksgiving is coming up. My friend in western Australia might remember this one.

I used to live in a suburb of Sydney called Manly. Anyway, the week before Thanksgiving I had a small dinner party. In my drunken stupor I promised my friends I'd have a Thanksgiving dinner. Most Australians didn't know what Thanksgiving was. Anyway, as I woke the next day I remembered I promised I'd make a Thanksgiving dinner. I don't like to go back on my promises so I set out to start my Thanksgiving dinner. But man, in the late '80's it was next to impossible to find a turkey in Sydney. I looked everywhere. I couldn't find a bloody turkey, so I called the US Consulate. They said, "Oy mate, we ordered too many turkeys. There's one extra one in Double Bay if you want to go get that one." I went to the butcher shop. I said, I was there to get the turkey for the US Embassy. I was standing there and I heard a squeaking noise and the sound of a big cooler door opening and closing. The squeaking noise got louder and louder as it got to me. I looked over to my left and it looked like a huge Emu was on a dolly. I said, "That's a turkey?" He said, "Yeah mate. Here's one turkey for you." The thing was huge. It also cost me about $250. Anyway, I managed to get it into my small car. Got it home, looked at the bird and the oven and thought Oh my God. No way is it going to fit. Well, I tied up the legs, took all of the racks out of the oven, got a few bricks, put it in the oven on a tray. The oven wouldn't shut so I went out and bought some tin foil. I roped the door shut and wrapped the whole oven in tin foil. My friends came over and we did something unusual. We started drinking. It was about 6:00 pm. We drank until the bird was done, which was about 2:00 am. Hell, we were so drunk our shoes would have even tasted good. Anyway, we served up the bird and it wasn't bad. I still say it was an emu. Anyway, after we finished what we could, my friends left and I threw the carcass out into the trash. I woke up at about 4:00 am to a bunch of noise. There were tree kangaroos fighting over the turkey carcass. I couldn't really see them so I tried to look out the bedroom window with my hands up against the glass. I heard a noise and I looked up and there was a tree kangaroo against the glass looking at me. I screamed and fell back against the bed. The tree kangaroo screamed and fell out of the tree. The rest of the tree kangaroos grabbed what was left of our Thanksgiving dinner and ran into the woods.

OK, so I'm going to go off on a bit of a tangent here. I don't know what made me remember this, but I'll tell you anyway. Maybe it was because my niece had a big send off this weekend, a sendoff for her soccer game. Her team made the finals in the State Tournament. Anyway, way back in the day, I was a pretty good cross country runner. Our team made it to the State finals in Upstate New York. We got there early and started to run the course. A cold front came through and it got really cold. Our coach said we had to wear nylons to stay warm during the race. So after dinner we went to the local Seven Eleven. So imagine this, there were about 6 of us. We went to the counter with a case of cheap beer, six pairs of pantyhose. 3 cherry flavor chapsticks, also a cassette of Led Zeppelin, and that's it. We didn't say anything but just looked at the guy. The guy looked at us and that was that. Anyway, this is B. Nice signing off. I hope you all have a good Thanksgiving. Talk to you later. Love, B. Nice

Chapter 117 - November 13, 2013

Hi you guys, I'm back. Welcome to another week of recovery. If you want to see what's going on, here's the link for the new blog: http://wp.me/p2M6Kl-gY (mypointofviewproject.wordpress.com)

I'm going to name this blog "Women of Power." You know, in my business, there was a lot of exploitation of women. In what business isn't there? Anyway, I saw a lot of exploitation. However, I also saw a lot of women exploit men. I remember there was this one woman who was doing your average "modeling" work. She said to me, "I'm going to get rid of my agent and hire a PR guy." She reinvented herself, and they came up with a plan. She became one of the world's top models. I saw her bring men of power to their knees.

There was another time when I was an assistant photographer. A girl came in with some family polaroids. The guy I was working for recognized her talent and booked her on a big editorial. The guy had an eye for talent, and he was an amazing cook. Sorry, I went off on a bit of a tangent there, but I did learn a lot from him. 

Anyway, back to women of power. There was this one time in Australia I had to shoot a commercial of a girl riding a horse in the ocean. I don't know if you've ever put a horse in the ocean before, but it's not easy. I said to the girl, "Have you ever ridden a horse before?" And she said, "No worries, Mate. What do you want me to do?" I said just ride the horse slowly towards me and I'll get a few shots. She went all the way to the end of the beach and came at me like 40 miles per hour. There was water going everywhere. She scared the shit out of me cause she was heading right towards me. At the last second she turned the horse away from me just by inches. The horses right foot barely missed my right foot. It would have killed me for sure if it had hit me. She stopped the horse. The horse reared up a little, and she said, "Like that mate?" I said, "Oh my god, where are you from?" She said, "Oh, just outback you know. On a sheep farm. I grew up riding." Once again, I checked my shorts.

Another time I was shooting in Miami. My assistant was hungover. Gee, how unusual. Anyway, he left some very expensive equipment on the beach. Some dude in a pick up truck stole all the equipment. Well, the assitant stylist ran down the beach and stole the equipment back. I bought a bottle of champagne and deducted the cost from the assistants day rate. I've got lots of stories like this. The point is, you don't want to mess around with these women. They are pretty powerful.

One of the last shoots I did, I was in Brazil. The woman from the fashion magazine and her assistant had to drive overnight to get a flight. Well, our local guide said, "No way! You can't drive on these roads at night. There are bandits." I was in a bad part of Brazil. She just said, "We'll be all right." And I saw her and her assistant drive off into the night. See what I mean. Don't mess around with these women.

You know, I'd often think about stories like this when I was in a bad way. Hell, I had 4 years to think about things. I just check in once in a while with this blog. It's about stuff from the past. To see the new blog, you know, stuff of the present, click on the link above. It'll take you to the new blog. Talk to you later. Love, B. Nice

Chapter 116 - November 5, 2013

Hi you guys! I'm back. I'm keeping this blog going so I check in once in a while. You know, my fashion career has been amazing. It's brought me from the Vice president's desk (the vice president of the United states - his desk) to Riker's Island, maximum security prison. My personal life has brought me from witnessing my daughter's birth to witnessing my own possible demise (an out of body experience). The point is, I've gone through a lot and I really believe, and I've said this before, I really believe all the things I've gone through have gotten me ready for this event. It all doesn't seem so scary.

Anyway, I'm gonna make a couple of fashion confessions. I guess I do this to get it off my chest. I always feel a little guilty about the things that have happened. Here's an example: OK, so one day I show up at the location van. My assistants are furious. I said, "Hey guys, good morning, what's wrong?" My friend, the French assistant, in a very think French accent said, "They ate all the food. I have nothing but coffee." My other assistant said, "I can't believe you're doing this." I looked at them puzzled. I said to them, "Here hold my stuff. Let me see what's going on." So I walk in the van and the first thing I notice is I'm shooting a plus size catalogue. I look down at breakfast and there is a silver plastic platter, a white doily, some seeds and some saran wrap. That's it. Mind you, the caterers usually don't leave much breakfast, but there was nothing. The models ate everything. I'm surprised the curtains were still there. The platter looked like a small village attacked it. Anyway, at least the girls were happy. Now, I'm not one to pass judgement or make any comments, but believe me, when lunch was served, me and my guys were in the front of the line.

Now, back to Traumatic Brain Injury. I'm just recovering from my road trip. It was good. A big challenge, but I believe it helped me get a little better. One thing it did was it made me realize how messed up I am. I've still got a lot of work to do. Anyway, that's it for now. I'll include a photo from the shoot. Hope you guys have a good week. Love, B. Nice

Chapter 115 - September 24, 2013

I have a friend. He likes to play in the dark. I watch and I listen. Is he narcissistic? I don't think so. It all makes me claustrophobic. I had a friend. He liked to play in the dark. I didn't listen. Was he narcissistic? I don't think so. It all makes me claustrophobic. You guys are probably wondering what the hell is he talking about? Maybe they left something out when they put his brain back. It's actually a little benchmark for me.

Hi everybody. Welcome to another week. I'm gonna say a few things that will make my friend here squirm. You see, she has a couple of boys. These are some childhood memories I have. Let's just use a few words and feel free to use your imagination. OK, let's start:

Spinning cars, burning airplane, crashing buses. Shooting guns, burning soldiers, and sharpening sticks. Big black Newfoundlands, screaming monkeys, and white faced hornets. Bag of rocks to throw at a hornets nest, a burnt out cabin and running away.

That's about it for this week. I just wanted to share a few things maybe I left out of the blog.

I'll talk to you guys later. I just wanted to keep this blog going.

Love, B. Nice

Also follow us on the new blog for the trip: http://mypointofviewproject.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/september-24-2013-almost-gone/

Chapter 114 - September 17, 2013

Hi you guys. Just checking in again. We were talking about friends, I forgot to tell you a story. There was a family friend coming into town. He was from the midwest. Anyway, I was showing him around NY before we went out to dinner I suggested we stop by and see some of my friends to have a drink. Anyway, we went to one of my friends apartments and on the way up I was talking about how amazing the apartment is. But the guy from the midwest said, "Hold on, wait a minute! We're going to go to a gay person's apartment?" I say, "Yeah, so what?" The guy from the midwest said, "I've never met a gay person before much less a gay couple." Well, being the demented person I am, I said to him, "Well, there's a first time for everything. Look, there's a couple things you should know. If the younger guy comes up to you he might grab your crotch. If you accept his advances, you, I repeat, you grab his right, I repeat, HIS right nipple, and turn it firmly to the right. If you disagree with his advances, you grab his left nipple and turn it firmly to the left. That's HIS nipple. And for god's sakes, don't get it wrong or you might wind up in the back room. And for heaven sakes, don't let his partner see you because you might end up in a threesome in the back bedroom." Before I could say, I'm just kidding, we reached the floor and my friends were there to greet us. We went right into the apartment. The guy from the midwest was freaked out. He stayed in the kitchen the whole time with his back to the refridgerator. Hell, I couldn't get a beer! Anyway, I told him when we were both in the kitchen, I told him, "I was just kidding, just relax." He kind of laughed nervously. I just thought I should share that story with you cause I thought it was kind of funny.

I'll talk a little bit about traumatic brain injury. I've been swimming a lot, doing swimming therapy. It's so great. You can actually walk. Feels fantastic. I highly recommend it. You know, when you're like this, you get ups and downs. Seems like the weather really affects me.

I'm gonna keep these short. I'll check in with you later. Love, B. Nice

Chapter 113 - September 10, 2013

Hi you guys. I'm BAaaaccck! I bet you thought you got rid of me. You know me. I'm always living in the past. I'll check in once in a while to keep this blog going.

I was inspired to write again because an old friend wrote to me the other day. He reminded me of something. I was staying at his family house in LA. His family graciously opened their house to me. Anyway, the timing was always weird. I would say, "I'm going to LA, " and he would say, "I'm leaving." Is that a hint or what? Anyway, I would arrive in LA and he would leave for a trip somewhere. I moved into my guest room and every morning I'd go outside in my pajamas with a cup of coffee to get the paper. The neighbors came out the same time to get their paper. The point is, I think I got the whole street talking. My friend would leave, I'd move right in. They would always do a double take when looking at me. It was pretty funny.

My friend was a guy I talked about in previous blogs. Anyway, that's it. I just wanted to share that with you and keep this old blog going. I'll check in from time to time.

Oh, I'll talk a little bit about traumatic brain injury... I forgot what I was going to say. I guess brain surgery will do that to you. I'll talk to you, I don't know when, soon. Love, B. Nice

Chapter 112 - July 30, 2013

Hi you guys. I'm just gonna jump right into it. A few fashion confessions. I used to shoot all the time in Miami. All of the location vans would be lined up outside the hotels. One day I went out, got into the location van, grabbed a coffee, had some breakfast, got the New York Times, sat down, started reading. The models came in with hair and make-up. I said good morning and continued reading. then I looked up and was getting coffee I thought, that's not my assistant. Then looked around. I thought, I don't know any of these people. I said to the van driver, "Who are you working for?" He said, "I don't know. It's some German catalog." I thought, oh my god, I'm in the wrong location van. I quickly got up, got my stuff together, oh, and I grabbed my coffee. It was good coffee. Grabbed the NYTimes and went out to my location van.

Another time I was working in Napa Valley. The producer said that breakfast would be downstairs in a conference room in the morning. Well, I went to the conference room downstairs. There was a great breakfast set up. I thought to myself, this is fantastic. They had blueberry waffles, a nice chef there to make omlettes. You get the picture. It was a great set up. Then people started coming in. I said, "No no, this is a private function. I'm sorry, this is not for you. This is a photoshoot." And then the producer came in and said to me, "Look, you're in the wrong spot. Our breakfast is down the hall on the left." I said, "Ok." I got my stuff together, went to our conference room. Looked at the breakfast. It was box cereal and bad coffee. I thought, this must be the spot. At least they had Captain Crunch.

You know, our shoots did bring us to some amazing houses. It was fun going to new locations and checking out some of the houses. One time I was in Santa Barbara, CA. We were shooting in a big celebrity's house. Anyway, I decided to have a look around. I was shooting outside only, so I looked through the window of the kitchen to see how it was decorated. Well, I looked through the window and it looked like the decorator threw up. It was so tacky. I said to the art director, "Oh my god. You'd think someone famous like this would have at least a little taste. It looked like shit inside. Come and have a look." And then I looked through the window down to the right, there was the famous actor reading. He didn't look too happy.

Another time I was in Hawaii looking at houses. One house I went to was amazing. Apparently, Frank Lloyd Wright designed a house for Marilyn Monroe, but before the house could be built she died. So basically, someone found the plans and built the house. It was pretty cool. It was like a big boat. Not many people can say they saw a house like that. Anyway, it was pretty cool. I got to see some pretty cool stuff.

I guess I'll talk a little bit about Traumatic Brain Injury. These past two weeks, my daughter has been here. I hadn't seen her for like six months, so it's been amazing to hang out with her. It's amazing how quickly kids grow up. She's only 7 now. Just the other day she asked me for my car keys. Just kidding. But it does put a little strain on me. Between her and what I'm going through, it's kind of tough, but I manage.

You know, everything I say is kind of redundant. I kind of keep repeating myself so I think I might stop this blog on this final chapter. I'll do another blog with my friend here. She'll include my next adventure. (http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/my-point-of-view--3 - Feel free to contribute.) But, I think it's about time to put this blog to rest. Just a few things; when times get really tough, I remember what Winston Churchill said, "When you're going through Hell, keep going." Remember what Chuck said to me, "Do what you love." And I remember what my father says to me, "Attain childhood. Life is like a big circle, and follow your intuition." And I remember what my mother says to me, "But you're still alive. Do what you can do." And then, I listen to myself. Life is short. Do what you want to do. Go for it.

Anyway, this is B. Nice signing off.  Follow my next adventure, My Point of View. Hopefully it's a round trip. Love, B. Nice

http://mypointofviewproject.wordpress.com

Chapter 111 - July 15, 2013

Hi everybody. I'm gonna call this chapter, "Perverts," and I'm going to dedicate it to my photo assistants, (they're one and the same).

Hi everybody. Welcome to Chapter 111. I was reading the previous blog and we talked a little bit about fashion confessions. Well, since I mentioned the word 'pervert,' I'll tell you this one story. I've a couple stories.

This one time, I was shooting in a house I used to use all the time. The owner was a weird guy. He was there all the time. He actually cut a hole in his wall to watch the models change. Anyway, one of the girls saw the hole and went ballistic. The guy picked the wrong girl to have a perve on. I thought she was gonna beat him up. She basically left the building.

Another time I was working with this beautiful girl. She was beautiful but tough. I mean, the girl once got in a bar fight. Anyway, we were shooting swimwear and my one assistant there kept going on and on about her chest. I had a chat with her and she agreed to play a little trick on him. She said, "Just get ready, put the camera on me, and get ready to shoot." I had no idea what she as getting ready to do. I put the camera on her. She was standing there in a swimsuit. I could see her ask for his glasses. She put them on. Then she asked for the light meter. He came to her. He gave it to her. And then she grabbed his ears and pulled his head into her cleavage. All I saw was his arms flailing, his legs flailing and then she let him stand up. The guy looked like he had been sleeping for a year. Had a big smile and didn't know what the hell was going on. It was pretty funny. I guess you had to be there. So you see what I'm getting at. I'm always around perverts it seems.

On another note, we had a big party at our family house. A lot of my photo assistants came. It was good to see them, and it was good to see all my friends. Good party. I want to share something with you. The party was on Sunday. I kept waking up on Thursday morning, Friday morning, Saturday morning thinking I already had the party. I couldnt' remember who was there. I was confused. I attributed this to old age or brain surgery or a good fucking party. I got so drunk I didn't remember. Then I realized the party hadn't happened yet. It was a good fucking party.

I mentioned before, when you have a traumatic brain injury, it'll affect people differently. we've had another heat wave, and boy the heat and humidity really affects me. I've been going from the bedroom to the kitchen. This one girl emailed me. She said that she had a similar brain injury and she has a hard time breathing. Another guy emailed me said he has extreme vertigo. So I just wanted to reiterate that everyone is affected differently. When the heat happens or high humidity, I also have little mini seizures or the beginning of a seizure. I get like a smelling sensation. Burning rubber. And then it goes away. It only lasts a second or less, but I'm always tired after. Fun right?! Anyway, the medicine seems to work. It keeps big seizures away.

I notice this chapter is 111. I don't know why, but when I had my home, I always would seem to look at the clock at 1:11. It was bizarre. So whenever I hear the words 111, I always think of my home in Montauk. Just a little side note there.

I don't have much else to talk about. My daughter's coming for a 2 week visit. I'm very excited. It will sure be great to hang out with her. That's it for this week. I hope you can check on my project. My friend here will include the link. The party we had with my family was to announce to the local community what I'm doing. I guess it was a launch party. Anyway, my friend here will include the link. Please share it with your friends if you want to. Have a good week. Love, B. Nice

http://igg.me/at/point-of-view

Chapter 110 - July 10, 2013

Let’s see, what was I going to talk about? Oh yeah, I wanted to talk about Traumatic Brain Injury because it’s so hot and humid. Man, this humidity really kicks my ass. It’s difficult to do anything in this weather. When you have a TBI it will affect everyone in a different way. This heat and humidity really kicks my ass.

Today I’m really tired, not just because of the heat and humidity, but I just started water therapy. It was kind of bitter sweet going there because they noted I made a big improvement and they started telling me where I’ve improved. But the difference is so small. I worked so hard all year. I’ve worked hard and just to get the small improvement is frustrating, but at least I’m moving forward. At least I haven’t plateaued or moved backward. I guess it’s a good sign.

You now, when you’re like this, you’re gonna have ups and downs. I mean, I’m improving but I definitely have my off days. I just wish I could get through one meal without biting the inside of my cheek or biting my lip. I yell so much the dog freaks out.

I was going over blogs from the past like blog 108 and I mentioned in the blog that I’ve never gotten in a fight. I’m going to take out my soap box and make a little announcement: If you can avoid it never get in a fight. There was this guy on my floor in the hospital. He was at a local bar. He started talking shit with someone. He picked a fight with the wrong guy. One punch to the head was all it took. It changed his whole life. The guy is a mess. He can hardly talk. But one thing that’s kind of funny is there’s a girl 4 doors down and he keeps screaming at her to shut up. She screams back at him to shut up and then he says, "I’m sorry, I love you." And she goes, “I love you too.” They should get married.

One time I was coming back from a friends house. My friend lived up in Spanish Harlem. Oh yeah, this is the early 80s. Spanish Harlem back then was pretty rough. Anyway, I was walking to work with a nice brief case. A Halliburton briefcase. I walked around the corner and I ran right into a gang. They surrounded me, then some guy stepped forward, must have been the leader. He looked at me and said, "Hey cream puff. What’s in that case?" I looked at him, and I looked at the case, and I looked at him again, and I started running. Man, I ran really fast. It’s amazing how fast you can run when you’re scared. Anyway, I ran from 126th street to 57th street.  My friend here asked what was in the case. It was my lunch. A banana and a peanut butter sandwich.

So I got sidetracked there. Anyway, I’ll go back to the water therapy. It’s so important. They really do a good job. I showed up for my water therapy and the people at the rehab hospital said my insurance company rejected water therapy as a form of therapy. The supervisor of the insurance company didn’t recognize it as therapy. It’s not enough that this huge rehabilitation hospital has a huge swimming pool for therapy. I mean come on. Give me a break. It’s enough to drive you crazy, I’ll tell you. If a supervisor would walk in my shoes she’d see how important it is. I mean I’ve made huge strides because of water therapy. It’s really helped me a lot. So when some idiot does not recognize it as a form of therapy, I go ballistic. Sorry about that, I get a little animated. I should be a little more politically correct and gentleman like. What I should say is, what a fucking idiot! Anyway, I won’t go any further. I mean the person is probably just doing his job. It drives me nuts. Thank god my mom was there. She has become an expert at dealing with situations like this. She sprang into action and solved the problem. I got my water therapy and the day went on. Thank goodness for mom. The more I think about it, the more I realize she should write a book. I mean, this has been going on for like 4 years now. She’d be an expert in writing a book. It might help someone.

Anyway, enough about this TBI stuff. I have a few fashion confessions to make.

When I lived in Paris, I was introduced to a man that runs a lab for film. He would process all the film by hand. The guy was a little eccentric. But the results were really good. The only way you could use his lab was through an invitation. I got invited to this lab by the owner. I had to meet him first though. I showed up to the lab. It was a big industrial room with grey floors and a grey wall. There was one light box in the middle of the room and one light bulb hanging down. There were 2 chairs. One for him and one for me. It was all very surreal. He came out of a door wearing a white apron, and asked me to sit down. Well, the interview went well and I was allowed to bring my film in. I think I kind of freaked out my clients because it was very very very expensive. One time I said to him, "Can I see your lab?" And he said to me, "But you’re in my lab." Another time I was in Paris, I went out to dinner by myself. Oh yeah, I went out a lot by myself. Anyway, as I was leaving, I put on my jacket. All the wine bottles for the evening were against the wall. I put on my jacket and knocked over a wine bottle. The first bottle that fell knocked over the next bottle and the third and the forth. Next thing you know, I knocked over about 30 bottles. The owner looked at me. I looked at him, and then I started running. It seems to be a common thing. right?

Anyway, that’s about it for this week. I’ll talk to you guys next week. Love, B. Nice

P.S. Don't forget to visit this site about my latest project! http://igg.me/at/point-of-view

Chapter 109 - July 2, 2013

Hi everybody. Welcome to Chapter 109. I'm going to call this chapter "Bugs," and I'm going to dedicate it to my friend, Bugs.

Let's start with my friend, Bugs. I've no idea how he got his name Bugs, but I think it's slang for "crazy." I think it's French for crazy. Anyway, it fits. One of my fondest memories of him is at a ski resort in France. We were in vacation. We were skiing. He stopped at a fence called "Avalanche Area." We stopped, looked at the fence. He lifted the fence, went under it and said, "Come on let's go." So like a young idiot, I followed him. Good skiing. I would follow this guy everywhere. One time we were windsurfing in Hawaii. He just took off towards the horizon. He said, "Come on let's go." We went out to open ocean. It's kind of scary out there. Imagine a wave the size of a house rolling towards you. That's what it's like out there in the open ocean. Anyway, we went back to shore. So, you see what I'm getting at. Yeah, his name is Bugs.

I'll tell you about the other thing I was saying was "Bugs" and that's the insect Bugs. Man, there were a lot of those in Australia. That reminds me. I have to tell you guys one more story about my crazy friend. I was staying at his house and he asked me to help him plant a tree for his wife's birthday. It was going to be a surprise. I said, "Yeah sure, no problem. Just wake me up when you want to get the tree." Well, the tree was being delivered. I heard the sound of an 18 wheeler truck outside my window. I looked out and there was a gigantic tree on a flatbed. I looked at the plates. The guy was from Queensland, and it looked like the truck had been on the road 48 hours. I said to myself, "Man that tree is huge." He came to my door and sheepishly he said, "The tree's here." We went out back and, oh this is the best part of the story. We went out back and the driver said to us, "Well, mate, your tree's here. Where's the crane to plant it." My friend said, "Oy mate, that's not the tree I ordered," and he pulled out a photo to show the driver. I said, "Let me see the photo." I said, "You ordered a tree from a photo? Did you have any indication how old the tree was? Look at what they're wearing." The farmer who had the tree was wearing clothes from the 1970's. Anyway, my friend Bugs had to go up the street to a construction site and borrow a crane to plant the tree. The driver of the truck said, "I'm gonna turn the rig around. YOU AND YOUR SON (ha ha ha) can start digging a hole for it." Anyway, we dug all day. We called all the people we knew to help dig a hole. We just missed a power line. We spent the whole day digging. They lifted the tree over some power lines and into the whole. We filled the whole up just in time for his wife to come home. My friend Bugs said, "Surprise! Happy Birthday!" Her reaction was, well, "Oh I love it Bugs, but isn't it too big." I exited stage left to the local pub.

Back to the creepy crawly bugs. I forgot to tell you, after we planted the tree, these huge spiders came out of the tree. I guess they wanted to check things out, but they were huge. Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you.

Another time that freaked me out was in Manly, Australia. It was a suburb of Sydney. Anyway, one of my friends took out a lease on a storefront property. The store used to be a butcher shop so it had some things in it that had to be sold off. One of these things was 4 foot by 8 foot mirrors. they were all along the wall and very valuable. Anyway, we had the construction workers slowly pry the mirrors from the wall. They slowly would lean them down to the ground. On the first mirror, they lowered the mirror down and it hit the light on the ceiling, the light was swinging back and forth. All of the shadows around us were moving. One of the construction workers stopped the light from swinging, but the shadows on the wall kept moving. One of the workers said, "What's that all about mate? And he had a flashlight and he pointed it at the wall. The wall was filled with cockroaches and palmetto bugs. 4 feet by 8 feet and 2 inches thick. All the bugs freaked out and scattered. Now imagine this - Imagine, 4 big construction workers in shorts and high top boots wearing tank tops looking very macho, but screaming like old ladies and running off into the dark covered in bugs. I went to the pub.

My friend here who's writing this for me said, "Oh at least it wasn't spiders." Then I thought, "Oh, I have a story about spiders." I was on Heron Island with my first wife. We were ready to go to bed when I noticed a huge mulch huntsman spider on the wall.

Well, I threw my shoe at it. It looked at me and ran into the air conditioner. I said, "Well, I'm gonna take care of this guy." I called the front desk. They gave me a can of insect killer which I promptly sprayed into the air conditioner. Well, the spider came out and looked at me like "You bastard, you just sprayed me." I sprayed him again. He looked at me and just ran back into the air conditioner. I thought, "You little shit, I'm gonna get you now." So I sprayed the whole can into the air conditioner. Well, he came out, his friend came out , his other friend came out. The whole family came out. The whole room was filled with hunstman spiders. I ran out of shoes. I changed rooms, needless to say.

Oh man, I could go on and on about stories of insects. I was a little scared of them. You know, things would happen like, you would put on your wet suit to go windsurf and after you put the wet suit on you'd feel some bugs crawling between your skin and the suit. Or you would go to sleep and just as you're drifting off to sleep you'd hear a big cockroach walk across the floor. One time I opened my cupboard door in the kitchen and it looked like I brokeup a party or something. All these palmetto bugs just looked at me. Like I said, I could go on and on, but I promised you, in the teaser, I'd talk about a topless girl.

Well, I was on an editorial job in Martha's Vineyard. The fog rolled in for like a week so the editor decided to relocate to New Mexico. Anyway, we used up all our money on tickets. We had no money left for locations so we did all our photos in places like the hotel parking lot, your local truck stop. That would have been fun except all of our photos were about skin, naked skin. Yup, the girl had to be topless in all the photos, so imagine this - Imagine a family rolling into a hotel parking lot and there's a naked girl standing there. I can hear now, the son going, "Look dad, what's with the naked girl?" And the mom saying, "Don't look at that." Or we were at a truck stop once and there was an old picnic table covered in really cool weathered wood. I told the girl to lie there. so all the truckers saw a naked girl lying on the table. Just another day. The best part of the trip, I think I mentioned before was the editor trying to tell a priest it's OK if a naked girl leans against the church. I could hear her say, "But she's god's creation." Never a dull moment.

Enough of the stories. This week has been tough for me because it's so humid and hot. When you have a traumatic brain injury, some things will really affect you. For example, humidity really affects me. It's hard to describe, but you know how you feel when it's humid. Well, increase that times 100. It's not fun. I did wake up this morning and had a moment of absolute clarity. It was weird. I was looking at my pool table and I thought, well, I'm just gonna stand up, walk over there and play a game. It was a good feeling, but it only lasted a second. Maybe it's a beginning of a pattern. Who knows. The other cool thing was I walk even more fluidly with my Up & Go walker. I was really tired, but the motion of my movements was more fluid. I guess over all, things are getting better. I had a friend over the other day. She was an art director I used to work for. I haven't seen her for about a year now. She noticed a big difference between now and last year. Pretty cool. It's good to get feedback from friends. Kind of like a pat on the back. She's helping me with the launch of my big trip. Here's the link. And keep checking back for updates.

http://mypointofviewproject.wordpress.com

Anyway, that's about it for this week. I hope you guys have a good week. You know, I think there's some more info at www.helpbriannice.com - like my surgeon and the good hospital I went to. Someone emailed me and asked for some more info. Anyway, I hope it helps. I'll talk to you guys next week. Love, B. Nice

Chapter 108 - June 25, 2013

Hi everybody. Welcome to Chapter 108. I'm gonna label this chapter "Man, I've got to get in shape!" and I'm going to dedicate it to my family.

Hi everyone. I hope you had a good week. My friend was reading me a few chapters and I remember Chapter 105. We were talking about my teacher, the one who taught me tae kwon do. I remember I was in amazing shape, probably the best shape of my life. The guy brought me to brown belt level. That's one step below a black belt. I'm gonna go off on a tangent here, a little lesson about tae kwon do. The white belt is the beginner and as time goes by, the belt gets dirtier and dirtier. In other words, you start out with white, and then it goes to yellow, and then green, and then brown, and then black. Hey, I was a brown and in good shape. Now my daughter comes up to me, grabs my belly and says, "Daddy, you're gonna have a baby." You see what I'm getting at? Man, I've got to get in shape! When you have a traumatic brain injury it's hard to do anything but sit in a wheel chair. I found a device called a "New Step." I talked about it before. I was in it for about an hour every day. It gives you an aerobic work out, without killing you. Anyway, the point is, you've got to keep working out. Don't use traumatic brain injury as an excuse to just sit around. You've got to keep working out. I may be over doing it. I work from 9 to 12, have lunch, take a nap until 2, and I work on my hands and balance until dinner. Remember, it's our job to get better. I keep repeating these things, but it's really important.

Boy, I'm really stuck for stories. I don't know what to tell you guys. One thing I really want to enforce, OK I'm gonna get my soap box out and make an announcement. You guys listen: You guys cannot use a cell phone and drive at the same time. I know you think, "Oh, I'll just make a quick call." Well, a quick call might land you in the hospital. Man if you could see what I saw, you wouldn't even bring the phone with you when you went on a drive. I saw some pretty horrible stuff. You can use your imagination, but I guarantee a lot of people I saw will never be the same. My friend here said, "It's easy to think, oh that won't happen to me." But like for example, I met an executive banker. She was on a conference call. She went from one party to the other. All she did was look down to change the call and next thing she new, she was in the hospital. So think about me. Don't pick up the phone while you're driving. That's my public service announcement for the day. It's a repeat from a few blogs back, but it's important.

OK, what's with all the dogs. I mean, the word must be out that I shake a lot. I guess the more I shake, the more I drop food. I've got every dog in the neighborhood hanging out with me on the porch. The next door neighbor's dog was over here the other day. And my sister's dogs came over here to hang out. It's like I'm Dr. Doolittle or something. I've got to get better, at least to get rid of the dogs. But you know, dogs played a real big part in me getting better. I remember, in the hospital, that would bring therapy dogs around all the time. I could have a hard time breathing., They would bring a dog over and I would immediately relax. They really work. I don't remember any of that, but my friends who where there said it worked.

OK, enough of the Traumatic Brain Injury stuff. Let's tell a couple of stories. I'll make it quick because my friend here has to go. You know what, I'm going to save my fashion confessions for next time. A bit of a teaser to keep the blog going. The teasers involve a topless girl, a church, some more sharks, an underwater eel, and an assistant using me as a shield. I hope you have a good week. Love you guys. Talk to you soon, B. Nice

Chapter 107 - June 18, 2013

I'm gonna call this blog "Good Food, Good Friends." Man, I have some good friends. I'm putting a party together and my good friends are helping me. It's gonna be a good party.

Hi everybody. Welcome to day 829. I miscalculated. I added a year before. I guess time goes by when you're having so much fun. (I said this sarcastically.) Anyway, welcome to another day.

It's actually been a tough week. I've been aspirating a lot. It's when liquid goes into your lungs. It's not fun. Who knows why this happens. But it makes things more difficult. You know, like talking, eating. Just another Traumatic Brain Injury moment. The good thing is, my walking is getting more fluid. I've been using my Up & Go device to walk. It's working out really well. Sleeping has been great. I sleep like 9 hours a night. I no longer have to sleep with a light on. What a big boy I am. Maybe the light was keeping me awake, and I finally turned the light off. All in all, things are moving along. When a doctor told me to be patient, I had no idea he meant this. It's been about 4 years now, but who's counting. You know, when I was in the hospital, the food was such a drag. I remember one day a friend showed up with a bunch of food. Her husband had a couple of restaurants in New York City, and a restaurant in St. Bart's The food was Italian. Anyway, I had a great feast. It really makes a difference. All this TBI stuff is getting monotonous. I'll tell you a few stories.

I could write a whole book on the assistants I had. Oh my God! It was unreal. This one guy I worked with, he was something else. Actually, I could write a whole book on him. When I got divorced the first time, I moved in with him. He graciously gave me a room. I mean closet. I mean room. I'm pretty sure it was a closet. Anyway, I was just grateful to have anywhere to stay. But living with him ranged from getting in fights with small people on stilts, to cats and dental floss. I'll let you use your imagination, but I can guarantee you I didn't get much sleep.

My friend here reminded me of a cartoon I did from Djurba. Djurba was in Tunisia, and it was an island where they stuck all the tourists. Anyway, this assistant and I used to always play tennis. He was French/Vietnamese and we would always kid around. I mention that he was French/Vietnamese because we used to sneak up on each other and scream "Whataaaa" like in Inspector Clouseau and the Green Hornet. Never a dull moment. Actually, I worked with that assistant for a long time, so I could do a whole book on him as well. Never a dull moment.

Sorry, I'm getting distracted because we're having a big lightening storm right now. If you haven't noticed, I get distracted easily. I could be shooting and someone might yell "Brian, watch out! There's a big truck about to hit you!" And I'd say, "What a pretty butterfly." Some people call that distractedness. I call it creativeness. Anyway, back to the assistants. Man, I could go on and on. It's bringing back bad memories, I mean good memories, I mean bad memories. Yeah, I could do a whole book on assistants.

I mentioned good food before. You know, in my line of work, I vowed as long as you fed everyone really well, they would be generally happy. I tried to do this as often as I could. Man, we had some great meals, at some great restaurants. One time, we were in New Guinea. The locals invited us over for dinner. This consisted of them digging a hole into the ground. Heating some rocks, throwing them in the hole, throw some ferns in, throw a dead pig in, throw some more ferns in and some yams, some more ferns and some more heated rocks. They would cover the pit and let it sit all day. At the end of the day, the locals would dig everything up, put it on the table and have a meal. It was, well, disgusting, but you know, I was polite. I finished what I could and one of the locals came over to me with a bowl. I said, "Oh, dessert?" She said, "No, it's dope." I said, "What?" She said, "Dope." And I said, "Dope?" She said, "Yes, dope." I said, "Dope?" with a question mark. "Yes, you've had a hard day. It's time for you to relax." And she rolled me up a giant joint. Well, I didn't want to be rude, so I smoked some. It was very strong. I passed it to the driver. He said, "No thanks mate. We've got to make it home alive tonight." Well, I started getting really paranoid, and then the same woman who gave me the dope, wheeled out a video player and a TV. She went to the back and started up a generator. She played a film of the first time the white man came to visit. It showed an old DC-3 landing. It showed the locals in amazement and shock. It then showed some people, white people getting out of the plane. The locals went crazy. Then one of the white people came over to the locals, grabbed a pig that was on a leash, took out a revolver and shot the pig in the head. What a lovely introduction. Anyway, that was the start of that relationship. It's been like that ever since. Where was I? Oh yeah, after she showed us that film I got really paranoid and started freaking out. I couldn't find the door to go outside so what did I do? I went through the wall. The house was made of grass. I immediately saw a campfire and went over there to sit down. I sat down to get some air. After a while, my eyes adjusted to the darkness and then I noticed the whole village was there staring at me. Just another day. It was a beautiful place. It was the first time I saw rain forest come down to the water, and then coral reef go down into the water about 100 feet. The water was so clear. It was an amazing place. I'll never forget it. 

Anyway, that's about it for this week. My friend here will include some more cartoons and the link to my next project. Remember, if you're going through a TBI, stay positive, and don't set any time limits. Talk to you next week. love, B. Nice

http://mypointofviewproject.wordpress.com

Chapter 106 - June 11, 2013

Hi everybody. Welcome to day 1201, four hours, six seconds, but who's really counting. Anyway, my friend here was reading my last blog. I mentioned the word "tired." Man, at the end of the day, I get so tired. You know, the thing that makes you the most tired is just talking to people. When you're like this, you'll find it affects people differently. So just talking makes me real tired.

I guess I'll benchmark where I am at the moment. It really helps to look back and, who knows, it might help someone who's going through something similar. You know, that's why I do this blog. It's to help anyone that might be like me. Right now, I'm starting to walk with a bracing and the Up & Go. I still need assistance, but I'm getting better at walking. I think I mentioned this before. I'm feeding myself with 2 hands. My eyesight is still double, but it's getting better. I mentioned all this before, but it's good to benchmark where I'm at. At the end of the day, I still get little, I call them "mini moments." I get real tired, but as time goes on, this gets better. I'm gonna tell a few stories because it really helps me remember things. You know, I've been on my back so long, it's good to think about what I've gone through in the past. Some things I can't tell, because I don't want to freak my friend out right here. She has 2 boys. I did some pretty crazy stuff when I was young.

When I was living in Australia I felt compelled to, well, let's say, have a laugh. for example, when my friend was shooting on the beach in front of me, I'd break out my 6 foot long mirror and just as he was about to take a light meter reading, I would reflect it with sunlight. It drove him crazy, but I did have a good laugh. Another time, I took the skin of mulch huntsman spider. It's about the size of my hand, and I put it in the film case. I told my assistant to get some more film. He screamed like an old lady. I got him pretty good. I would do stuff like this to pass the time. One of my favorite things to do was to make my assistant wear a fart machine. When he'd lean over to get some film, I'd activate it. It was very amusing. I could go on and on, but I'll talk about some other things. Mom, if you're reading this blog, you might want to stop here. I'm gonna talk about some really gross things.

One time I had a rabbit named Andrew. I think I talked about Andrew before. It's a few blogs back. Andrew was a great pet, but a little wild. One day I called him and he didn't answer. he didn't come to me. I started looking for him, calling out, "Andrew, Andrew where are you?" I walked into my roommates room and I saw Andrew's legs sticking out from beneath the bed. He was convulsing. I grabbed him by the legs and pulled him out. A red satin rabbit is big. Anyway, I cradled him in my arms. He was continuing to convulse. I was saying "Andrew, Andrew, what's wrong?" and I noticed he had a little string coming out of his mouth. He couldn't breath, so I pulled the string. What was on the end of the string? A used tampon. He started breathing, shook his head and ran away leaving me standing there holding a used tampon. I guess my roommate brought some girl home and she just chucked it under the bed. How charming. Anyway, I nailed it to the door by the string with a note saying, "you hang out with some really classy girls. You almost killed Andrew." Well I guess I started a bit of an argument because the girl was my other roommate's sister.

Another gross story took place when I was in college. I was dating this girl. I really liked her. She was cool. We were sitting on the bed. We had just met and we were talking and then I went in for the kiss. She closed her eyes and got closer and then she vomited all over my face. All down my shirt. It was a mess. Then she went for round two. Picked up one of my boots and threw  up in the boot. How lovely. She was actually a nice girl. Maybe too many shots.

Another gross story was when I was a kid. My friend had a pet monkey named George. Anyway, one time George sat on my head. I thought, how cool, George is sitting on my head. Well, George peed all over my head. I said, George, get off me that's gross. I threw him into the curtains. Well, George didn't like that so George shit in his hand and threw it at me. I dove for the floor. I yelled at him "bad monkey" so what did George do? He started beating off. What a lovely creature. Anyway, my friend's father left the window open by "mistake" and George got out to explore the great outdoors. Never mind that it was February in upstate NY. We never did see George again.

I'll go back to Australia. I just remembered a story I forgot to tell you. One day I was driving home, I guess I pissed someone off. I must have cut someone off or something because in the morning I went to get my car and on the hood, someone used a screw driver to carve in the letters CUNT. I thought, oh man, this is really not good because I had to go pick up my client at the airport. Well, I went to go pick up my client. She was there. She got in the car, I drove off, we didn't say a word to each other. She looked at the hood, she saw the letters. She said, "Brian, is that for me?" I said, "I didn't even see that!" Actually, Australia was really cool. I've got countless great stories. I wish I could go back there. It's a great place. If you guys ever get a chance to go there, don't pass it up.

I'd like to say Hi to all my old friends there. I miss them as well. That's about it for this week. My friend here will include some more drawings I did. You know, I used to keep journals in cartoon form. I'll talk to you next week. Love, B. Nice

Chapter 105 - June 3, 2013

Hey everybody. I'm gonna call this blog "A Little Motivation" and I'm gonna dedicate it to Dr. Death. Dr. Death was my tae kwon do instructor. The guy was quite the character. He drove a vintage red Ferrari. He was a hand to hand combat instructor at West Point. He was at one time the tae kwon do champion of the world and he was 80 years old. At one point he came over to me, and this was in the beginning mind you, he came over to me and he said, "Punch me in the stomach as hard as you can." I said, "No way, I'm not going to punch you in the stomach. You're 80 years old." He said, "Try to punch me right there," and he showed me where to punch him. I punched him a little bit in the stomach. He said to me, "You punch like a little girl. Punch me harder." So I punched him with all my force. It was like hitting a sandbag. He said, "You still punch like a little girl, now get to the back of the line. We'll have to work on that." I was in the best shape of my life during that class. I never did get in a fight.

The only time I felt compelled to use my talent was at a party. You see, I went to a party with my girlfriend. We kind of split up and worked the room, you know, talking to people. This guy started talking to my girlfriend and a few minutes later the same guy started talking to me. He was in the same business that I'm in so we talked for a while. After a few minutes he said, "Come on man, let's take some girls home. See that girl over there. We're going to have fun with her." And he pulled out a bottle of pills and showed me the pills. I said, "What the hell are you talking about? That's my girlfriend." The guy looked like a deer in the headlights, a deer that just got busted. The guy disappeared. He quickly left the party before I could express how I really felt. I should have taken the pills and made him eat them and dropped him naked on the West Side Highway.

Did you guys ever see that movie, "The Royal Tannenbaums"? You gotta check it out. It's an older movie, but it's exactly like the family I lived with in the early 80's. You see, the people that lived in the city came to one of my parent's parties and we started talking. They're real patrons of the arts. They found out I had no place to live in the city so they gladly opened their house up to me. They gave me an address where to go. I got to the address when I realized they forgot to put the apartment number down, then I realized they owned the whole freaking building. I rang the doorbell, went inside and all around the place there were french impressionism paintings and musical instruments. I was a side door room that had, you know, your average decorations like Goya paintings.

One night, I came home, I was the only one in the house. I went to bed, Oh, yeah, I'd been drinking, imagine that. I went to bed and all of a sudden I heard a noise. I got up, I looked down the stairs and I saw a flash light and heard some noises. I thought, "Oh my god! They're being burglarized!" So what did I do? I went and hid in the closet. I sat under some laundry and I thought, this is ridiculous. so I got up and went to the top of the stairs with a baseball bat and I waited. All of a sudden some guy came around the corner with a flashlight and a revolver. He pointed at me and he said, "Freeze. Drop the bat." And I dropped the bat. He started laughing. The guy was from the security company. I guess I tripped the alarm when I went to my bedroom. The house was heavily alarmed. Anyway, all the security guards started laughing at me because there I was in my underwear, wet, and the underwear wasn't wet from the shower. They all had a laugh. I told them I must have tripped the alarm. We started chatting. The head security guy said, "Man, I almost shot your cat." And I said, "What are you talking about." He said, "Yeah, I almost shot the cat and then I almost shot you." The cat was quiet and it would just come over to you and tap you on the ankle. Strange cat. Strange tenant. That's me.

You know, every time my friend comes over I forget what to talk about. It's kind of like getting a stage fright, so I'll just tell you what happened this week. And remember at the beginning of the blog I called the blog "A Little Motivation." Well, I called it that because the "Little" is my little one. You see, she came to visit me this weekend. She is my motivation. Probably why I stick around. Anyway, it's been 4 or 5 months since I've seen her, but she's so grown up, it's amazing. Kids grow up so quick. Either that or I'm getting old. Anyway, it was great to see her. It's almost like therapy. I was pretty exhausted by the time she left, but it was good to see her. Now it's back to work. I've been walking and each time it gets more fluid and easier. I've also been standing on the hour. It's good to get vertical whenever you can. My eyesight is also improving. My speech is getting better. I know this because my friend here has a hard time keeping up with me when I dictate and she types.

I've adjusted to the increase in medication. I'm not as tired as I was before. Overall, things are good. I've been getting ready for my trip across America. It sounds simple, you know, driving across America, but believe me, when you're like this, it's going to be tough. I mean, just trying to lay in bed is difficult. Taking pictures and going across America is going to be like an Olympic event. A month long Olympic event. I'm calling the trip, "My Point of View." Many of my friends are helping out. My friend here will include the link. (http://mypointofviewproject.wordpress.com). I hope you can check it out. Oh yeah, some other people were saying they can't get to the main page of my website. So I'll give it to you. It's www.helpbriannice.com. Make sure you do just that. If you don't do the "www" it won't work. You could always google Brian Nice and go to the blog. Anyway, that's it for this week. Love you guys. Oh yeah, Hi Lisa!~ Talk to you guys next week. Love, B. Nice