Night

It's 2 am. I just got back from the diybio nyc meeting, tired and hungry as usual. While having a high rate of metabolism helps me stay in shape even when I'm wolfing down whole plates of sushi and pizza, it also means I get hungry rather quickly. Beats being worn out every few hours though, I guess.
 
I felt that I should be writing a post on the experience at the wsf, but then my tired neurons don't seem to agree with me on that, so I think I'll just jot down some stuff that randomly pops into my mind.
 
The diybio meeting itself was a planning session among close associates, discussing stuff on future direction of the group and its immediate priorities. Some healthy discussion on the viability of bioart ensued among some of our members and I was a little lost for a while, debating whether I should step in and force the immediate issue down everybody's throat or let people talk out their opinions first, since this might as well be the beginning of series of discussions.
 
What the group need at this point is simple. We need a space. The disposables and the lab equipments we can manage more or less. The space in nyc is rather hard to find without some financial backing. We might apply for grants, but we'd need a project to apply for a grant, and we would need a space if we're to have a decent project. Things are moving at a slower pace than I would have liked, but this is still better than what we had before, especially that the diybio nyc is officially incorporated now.
 
As the things stand right now, we need backing, and some sort of legal representation. I plan on contacting nyc resistor for some help on bylaws and questions regarding their early days. I'm also thinking of contacting some of the other art spaces in the city, see the prices and the utilities I can expect from such places. Another member is looking into getting a biotech incubator space to help us out for the time being.... Dan also suggested that we do a bit of volunteer work for middle schools through a program called citizen schools. It sounds promising but none of us have any experience with kids so that might be an issue... One of the reason for tonight's meeting was that we need immediate and specific goals and plans for the group. The long term goals we can all picture and more or less agree upon. However we just can't seem to be able to figure out how we would get there. Hmm... Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

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