Climbing out of a parking lot is a lot harder than it looks. Don't believe the obvious!
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Wherever you go, there you are.
Climbing out of a parking lot is a lot harder than it looks. Don't believe the obvious!
I asked Kat to remind me to appreciate things for what they are, and to smile. No matter what the world gives... and when it decides to take it away.
Pictures from the gig at the Hotel Cafe a few hours ago.
That's Dave Navarro and Billy Corgan. At a 165 person capacity venue, gigs like these are what dreams are made of.
Just about to finish packing a bag for an Alaskan cruise with the family for the week. I'll be a zombie later since we need to leave the house in 2 hours. Hurrah!
My new toy will keep me company through lonely times. This thing is great!
I just changed my wallpaper. During the early days of web 1.0 in 1996 when I started to dabble with websites, I began to obsess about creating my own content, and making do with what I had to have something that I could completely call my own. Which eventually led me to taking a lot of pictures, then scrambling to places where I could take more.
Each adventure that brews inside my heart is a cacophony of echoes from what I've seen in places and times when I chose to deviate from the safest routes. The trips that mean the most, are the ones with lots of gray that allow the trip to take on its own meaning, without having to struggle to color within the lines and boundaries that we are apt to give. The cliche is there for a reason, because it holds true when the destination stops to matter at the end of the day, and you find yourself lost in the moment.
In the middle of each journey, I always pray that my eyes are kept open, that my ears are kept awake, and that I am given the grace to realize that I am neither here nor there, that we will always be transient in the beauty being shown to us. We are numbed by what we already know, which dangerously dilutes our ability to view ourselves outside of the picture we've painted in and over our heads.
So fragile but weighs so heavy in my heart, the simple beauty of trying to make your life, your own.
Only takes the world a split second to take your breath away. Get out there, and find out what really matters.
Kat and I are big fans of analog. We've always had a thing for vintage and classics, warm saturated tones and colors and what not. This is a print from her Diana F+ Lomo that's fitted with Fuji Instamax film (basically: polaroid) that makes instant prints. Pretty dope, but took her awhile to get a framing technique together (which is still far from perfect). We have dozens of prints in various states of failure, many pitch black, total white, or of our friends with no heads. So basically, its pretty accurate and depicts real life very well.
Meanwhile I'm holding a box contraption that blocks out light of a Kodak Duaflex III, which is a medium format camera. I point my camera through the viewfinder to come up with a picture of, well, a picture of what a person sees when looking through the viewfinder (TTV). It's a pretty big square piece of glass, and really cool looking through it. It's amazing how the image can pop out - it's basically my own portable camera obscura.
We've all been conditioned to think that perfect is always better, that you want clean, pure, expensive, unadulterated. Yet the warm hiss and pop of vinyl, the saturated tones of a lomo print, the struggle of a 79 VW bus traversing a grade, these embody for me the beauty and soul of art. It's more fun making mistakes, it's a lot more beautiful, than being perfect.
Keep steadfast in the battles you choose to fight. Think about the words you choose to say, more so on the actions you choose to take. Make up your mind, but realise that all that glitters is not gold, that trying to clear the smoke can be a conduit for a firestorm. Decide who'll be the fool by listening, and then you'll understand. What the heart speaks, and the mind understands, are sometimes different languages across changing tides of the water. Sometimes, the prize has already been won even before the games have started. Bring it all back down, and take it all out. This is all your one shot at life. Make it count - it's the least the each of us can do.
Our pride is a cross that we choose to carry. The only thing that we own, are our relationships with each other. And the only thing that other bitchez and douche bags in the world cannot take away from you, is your happiness.
If I could replace my stash of Red Bull with 32oz. Acai shakes from Robek's Juice, I'd be a healthier man with many more years to live. Until that day, I'll have to crash and burn through each day like nobody's business. Watch out!
In the meantime, can someone get me a Nixie clock for my birthday next month?
Please?
My favorite part after getting lost in the noise, is the longing for silence.
You are complete, when you have nothing.
Was totally smitten by the Maker Faire festival, which Kat and I attended this afternoon in San Mateo. It's literally a Disneyland for adults (AND for kids), without the sappy characters and blatant capitalism that makes you want to drop acid and/or kill yourself (with apologies to Disneyland season pass holders, just exercising my first amendment rights). Most of the day we were gawking at all the stuff people created - from kinetic doo-dads, giant metal crab robots, and other random crap like watching ourselves in 3D being broadcast on a projector. Kat is a very petite girl, and I had to catch myself from squeezing her arm and pulling it off in excitement.
By and far, my favorite parts were the Camera Obscura installation, and metal sculptures of polyhedra from Vladimir Bulatov. I've seen different iterations of a camera obscura before (of the pinhole variety), but this one totally blew my mind. I have never, in my life, seen an image reproduced in super high def, better than your dumb 1080p HD crap, and I will even say, better than what real life looks like. An image reproduced on a round piece of wood painted white, mind you. Very exciting. I've always had a fascination with polyhedra (hello dodecahedrons), and squealed loudly like a schoolgirl when I saw the Bulatov sculptures. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow, along with overdue shenanigans from NY and DC.
Also, congratulations to Dan Portman for finishing law school and for being one of my favorite public defenders. Had an awesome (albeit too short) time meeting the rest of his family, and had to jet to the other side of the city to catch the showing of Up with the Bassholes. That movie, was really good. Point!
"Today, I turn five. And tomorrow is always another adventure that life brings, always I wonder what it shall bring. To chilly camping in Yosemite, a boorish office day, or a leisure trip to the park. The best part really, is when my Mama Kat comes home from an airport called Burbank. Happy Birthday to me, the little furball with a black birthmark (on my balls). So come and visit me, ya'll."
Nick, you're the bestest friend anyone could ever ask for. Even if you have accidents and are a needy little bastard, I will love you for only another 5 years unless you start growing nicer hair that I don't need to brush every frikkin' day, prissy boy. Gosh.
The easiest path to success is to love what you do. Not because you are using it as a means to get somewhere, but because you genuinely love it for what it is. And once you start pushing yourself further along those hard pressed lines, the easier it will be the next time you try to go through the same path. The difference is made when you choose to keep fighting, when the rest of the world has given up on it (or even, on you). So keep those wide eyes open, keep your fires aflame. All the time you've spent, will always be yours.
