There are times in life, when everything decides to take a left turn whenever you think you are on track. This was one of those trips.
I left my car in Brooklyn the day before leaving to go north, in order to go to work, and my drivers side window got smashed in, and my GPS, or beloved LadyTron, as I call her, was stolen.
Ok, fine, brush it off, Stephen Stuart (videographer) and I called a repairman, and he was all set to bring a window, and repair it in an hour. He shows up, brought the wrong window, and we ended up duct taping some plastic sheets on, and away we went, snow, ice, and all.
We get to the border. Apparently, even if you are doing a fashion show at someone's house, and helping them for free, it is considered "work" that is being taken from Canadians. Hence, we were put through a stressful interrogation, and turned away, after being told to procure more paperwork.
We get the proper paperwork, go back the next day, and were told (albeit by a much nicer customs officer) that it would just be best if we went home, and trying to get through the border multiple times looks suspicious.
So, after some well deserved duty free alcohol was purchased and consumed, we decided to just have a small vacation in Niagara, NY, since we came all that way, and didn't want to have it all be a waste. After all, we have a jeep full of costumes, what better place to photograph than Niagara?
Long story short, we get snowed in to our hotel, making it difficult to go anywhere, and were even stranded at a Rite-Aid for 3 hours when the car broke down, and couldn't be jumped back into action. Eventually, after we stocked up on food items, as though the apocalypse came early, an emergency road employee came to our rescue and revived my poor frayed car battery with magic, witchery, or what have you, but at least we got to leave the Rite-Aid without being towed.
Finally, on the day we were due to come home, we wake up to a foot of snow outside, that wasn't there the previous evening, and it was a full out blizzard. We still had not utilized the costumes in the Jeep yet either. So we bit the bullet, and went out to Three Sisters Island, and had a photo and video shoot (in -3 degree weather) because by glory I was not going to leave this place after being completely unproductive!
Frozen, and at least feeling like we got something done, we headed home, through a blizzard, at 20 miles an hour.
Phew. I still haven't felt like I've had a break, and have been drained by the experience. Though I am very glad I got to see Niagara falls, and I came to some realizations about my work and myself, that I might not have otherwise.
For instance, though I have a couple shows a month from now till October, I think I need to focus more on having good shoots, selling my work, and expanding the way in which I think about costume. I feel a lack in fine art in my life lately, so new costumes might be more like wearable paintings or sculptures, in order to fill that void.
Ok, that was a longer more pessimistic post than my usual, but hopefully I will have some pictures to show from my trip soon! There were some good points, which I shall talk about when I can show pictures of them!
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