I signed up for a watercolor intensive, and rather than show up totally unprepared, I thought this was a good opportunity to read and exercise a book my sister gave me, Everyday Watercolor: Learn to Paint Watercolor in 30 Days, by Jenna Rainey! The book did not disappoint! Clear instructions and useful guidance.
While I started off a little rough, I eventually got the hang of it, and grew to love the medium — I am looking forward to the intensive and will likely try gouache sometime soon!
yep, that’s dry erase residue art, you betcha!
Over the last few months, I have been in a sort of stasis, living from bank withdrawal to withdrawal, and working on some scant projects, while keeping myself entertained and fulfilled.
My life is going through some changes: I am separated from my spouse, but not yet divorced. I am working on improving my art, but not yet selling anything, I am spooling up some engineering projects, but have nothing to release. I do not yet have a job. I have savings, and I have some minor investments, but both are not large enough, nor are they setup to provide subsistence.
In short, I feel as though I am going skydiving for the first time, with only an emergency parachute to deploy. I know things however. Arcane knowledge gleaned from various sources, some savory (school, internet, research, dev, etc) and some not so (random tidbits from novels, internet, life exp, etc). I know that if my emergency shoot gives out, I can hold my shirt open, and it will slow my descent. I will also get very cold, and my shirt will be open. You need about 9” square feet of material to slow your descent to a non-fatal speed. It does not mean you’ll be “A-OK!” but it does mean you’ll live (taken as gospel from a Dan Brown novel, so like, it must be true).
Above me, I see those with real parachutes, gliding serenely above me, some gliders in the distance zipping around, making little more sound than the air currents surrounding them, and below me, I see the unlucky souls whom did not have the luxury of an emergency shoot. We are all falling. It is the nature of our existence in a universe governed by matter, wherein matter has gravity. There are a few neat tricks, like realizing that if you are on the ground, you only have to put up with your own body. Another one is observation of physics, and air currents, allowing for lift. The physics of lift are somewhat opposed from the metaphor, as a greater distance to travel is not usually a lower pressure situation, but this can be remedied by flipping the objective: a shorter effort to completion on the underside puts us right back to where we were, metaphorically speaking.
Anyways, that somewhat morose metaphor is to say that while I could be doing better, I am making progress, and developing strategies to help achieve balance, and maybe even produce a little lift — it is at least something to do whilst falling.
Some years ago I realized I feel as a ‘whole person’ after having the opportunity to make art. As you can read in the about page, I took a long break from art besides doodling throughout my high school and college academic career. After rediscovering art, I dove in - taking classes, drawing, and painting. More recently, the same thing has begun to happen with music, albeit to a lesser extent, I think probably due to mechanical acumen not given by every day activities (e.g. writing positively effecting implement usage, whereas music’s only analog is keeping a beat, which I suppose I do while listening to music so idk).
All of this is to say that chief among my projects, is one concerning hierarchical multidimensional path finding for project management. Uh, yeah that’s a mouthful, but the long and short is that I want to do things with no clear route to completion. I’m not ready to make a formalized post about how it works, but suffice it to say that if you take a jira backlog as a graph rather than a list, and assign dependencies to axis, you can achieve some interesting plans, and use vector / tensor math / logic to obtain some even more interesting results / insights. Think of working on a project, and having your pm tool tell you that similar projects have suffered from X, Y & Z tickets, or getting different estimates on expected completion based on different optional dependencies, etc. Think of it as a tool to help you reach, and maintain a stable position in space and time, where space includes aspects of your project, rather than a traditional location. Whatever, this is simpler:
this smudgy mess is a manual implementation of a fantasy representation of my life / plans — mystic balance crystal included
in the middle, there is a' “balance crystal”, often used to display related by isolated aspects of a character in video games, I am using for myself. The primary difference being, a video game is usually concerned with maximizing stats, whereas, living is not at exclusively about maximizing, e.g. exercise, and sex are two things you want to have balance with. Maaaaybe, your sense of balance is different than mine? That’s ok, about an inch out from each vertex represents a stable, positive position, whatever that means for you. Farther from the vertex, the less effective I am. If you look closely, the chores, social, and exercise are all just about on target, and that is a result of those consisting of tasks I am capable of myself. The next 3 have external factors, such as sex, feels, & work. Reviewing and updating this display is helping remind me of what is important when all my brain provides otherwise is a sense of limbo, and overwhelming ennui.
To the left is a wizard sprinkling ‘todo dust’ and the corresponding list (not up to date! I totally have done some of that stuff!), and in the middle foreground rests a feasible path, first at a campsite, where I must learn react native, and maybe work on a side project. Further down the road is another large project, I feel will reflect well on my resume, and finally a house / small village, wherein I may find a job, love, life, a home, etc. A visual representation of ‘earning your keep’.
To the right, you see a floating island representing possible career options, and a shifting safe haven that I can certainly reach with effort. Random important one offs I want to highlight, I draw in the form of random encounters (like the air-ship offering to consolidated my loans). Once I feel my position has changed, I redraw the scenes that have changed (like a single player turned based rpg):
updated with my ‘current location’
Anyways, visualizing where I am, versus where I want to be has been helping, and I am going to work on transferring these ideas into a digital format, or at least buy a bigger whiteboard :) Anyways, writing about this has made me want to play a character rpg lol.
Nashville is the kind of city you explore a bit, and it leaves you with the distinct sense that you'll never see the rest of it. I arrived in town feeling partially lost, and very tired.
I walked around a bit, took a nap in the lobby, and as mentioned, got some excellent biscuit based pastries at Biscuit Love. I reserved a room, and while it was a little odd that they claimed "all reservations guarantee a room," and then had no rooms available, I eventually got one, and slept, very hard, for about 14 hours. The following day, I woke up, packed my things, and loaded up the car. I decided to grab a bite to eat at the place across the road - Martin's BBQ. I got something called the Brisket Burger, which is a thin, well charred burger topped with brisket, pickles and onions -- it was incredible, or very credible, as Martin's BBQ house staff made it :) I also got 2 dry rubbed ribs which I drenched in their hottest bbq sauce, and uh, it was pleasant but didn't set my mouth on fire.
The decor of Martin's is nice, it was previously a music venue and was converted into a restaurant by the addition of an open air roof, a bar, a side seating section, and a little makeshift trailer using deconstructed car parts and aluminium siding. Charming to say the least. I decided that as I was packed up and my schedule was doing ok, I could spare some time to do a painting. I free painted, something I don't normally do, and ended up adding something of a fish eye effect to the perspective, but I like how the colors came out, and think it's a decent representation of the feel of the place with a more contemporary style. The sky kept the weather somewhere between pleasantly cloudy and threatening to rain. The atmosphere was nice, and the only interruptions I received were from curious onlookers and ash falling from the sky from the active bbq'ing going on.
After finishing it, I signed it in negative & dedicated it to a their front of house manager named "Nashville Snoop Dogg" (Nashville for copyright apparently, it might be Snoop Dogg Nashville, sorry Snoop). Anyways, I left it with their front of house staff and got on my way up to Philadelphia to see some friends before heading back home.
The trip up to Philly was a good time, although I got very tired around 300 miles from Philly and ended up napping for a couple hours in a rest stop. Refreshed, and a little grimy, I set out for Philly and had a pleasant trip for the rest of the way.
^ there's a sculpture carved out of a tree stump that resembles a giant dick, a killer whale, or a man with a cloak - why not all three. This sculpture is a wonderful example of the difference between intent and interpretation.
Philly is a really nice city, and of what I saw it is steeped in history. When I arrived, we took a trip down to the pier and enjoyed the summer sun, drinking a few beers and relaxing. We then made our way back to their house, chatted and had dinner. A pleasant evening featuring a few rousing games of Fibbage / Drawful & a watch-through of Wizard People. It was truly a pleasure to spend time with them, and experience just a little of what Philadelphia has to offer.
I had a good sleep on their sofa, and the next morning said my goodbyes and headed back up to Massachusetts.
^ I made some celebratory lamb chops topped with lemon, amish butter, onions, fresh garlic & thyme when I got home. Then the next day made a sandwich with a onion brown sauce reduction.
I am now enjoying having some stability, and a full kitchen to work with - not being at the whims of other people's food & hospitality (even though across the board it was all very good / nice). I need to get a job, but do not want to be burdened with thoughts of mortality racing around my head during interviews, so I am going to wait until after the funeral and the catharsis that brings.
I also only completed about 3/8 of my trip, not too shabby, but there were a number of cities I really want to see for potential employment opportunities. One thing that gave me some measure of hope however, was nearly every city I visited was welcoming, even when the rougher edges revealed themselves. I also did not get to some of the sights I was particularly looking forward to, however the highlights like Villalobos, seeing friends, Harry Potter world, and various other historic cities and sights was awesome.
I have thought quite a lot about what to bring, and how to better optimize my trip the second go around, as I am planning on going the opposite direction - north through Vermont, into Canada, and west to California, finishing the trip by revisiting Austin, as I did not give it a fair shake, or really any at all. I am looking forward to my next adventure, though I will certainly be traveling lighter, and will plan better around allowing for painting.
I learned quite a lot from this journey, met many wonderful people, and generally opened my eyes about the state of our country, both good & bad.
The night before leaving Montgomery, I wanted to 1) paint something, anything as I hadn't in a while and that's part of this trip, and 2) leave a gift for my friends who graciously let me stay with them for 3 days. I opted to do a synthesis of the sunrise from the Hostel in the Forest, and their busts in a cloudy rendition (with their dogs closer to the sun below :))
I bid farewell to Montgomery, and got on the road to New Orleans, buuuuut not before making the decision to get my car looked at. Are you ready to be surprised? Yeah? Ok. It needed work. The noise from before that had caused me to replace the muffler was still sounding, and it turned out to be the rotors. The pumping on the breaks was a result of the break patterns, and those were replaced too. It came out to - $not-that-much and was done in less than 2 hours. A win in my book.
After that, I actually bid farewell to Montgomery, and got on the road to New Orleans. It's a bit of a hike to get there, so when I arrived, I was pretty beat, and opted to order delivery. I spoke with the front desk attendant at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel (on Bourbon st...), Kim, and she recommended a place that honestly I forget the name of. Oh well. You'll just have to go to that hotel. It's incredibly lavish, the rooms are nice, it was about the price of a Hilton, and when I left my room after stowing my luggage I heard two women laugh loudly, who definitely were ghosts. I mean they could have had their door open just down the hall, but ghosts. It was ghosts. Definitely.
Anyways, I chatted with Kim for a while and she gave me a couple extra drink tickets, so I went to the bar, got 3 drinks and waited for my food to arrive. It was my first taste of fresh, local, Louisiana sea food. I went up to my room and did something I'm not proud of (ate fast) and fell fast asleep.
The next day, I woke up well rested, and went to explore. The hotel lets you keep your car with the valet until 4pm... you should do that - word of advice. Instead, I got my car out and reparked it in a lot not too far away. Twice. 2x parking. I'm good like that. I walked over to a restaurant called Johnny's Po-boys, and it was absolutely packed. Eventually I squeezed my way passed the throng and ordered a Muffeletta, some pastries that I think I grabbed the wrong ones of, jumblalaya, and a beer.
It was awesome. I do not have pictures. Sorry.
After that I walked around the city, spoke with folks, enjoyed the open bottle laws, and did some of the famous river walk. I stopped by the Royal Praline company and bought some delicious fresh praline cookies - though Laura's was highly recommended. I also stopped in at a gift shop that had a Zoltar machine. My fortune is for my eyes only. Ok ok I'll tell you - it said that "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt", too late, whatever Zoltar, could have told me that about 18 years ago. The printed fortune said that I was not easily swayed, and uh, you know, I think it's right! Did you catch that? Jokes. Hah. Anyways, it did make me think about several purchasing decisions I've made on this trip alone.
Also, later on, someone told me that in the south, "closed mouth's don't get fed." So, uh, something to think about, huh, Zoltar? Also, the fool quote is attributed to a bunch of people.
My last stop in New Orleans was Villalobos (sp?) the no kill pitbull rescue shelter. I got there just in time for the end of the rules for walking, and fortuitously, they had a dog that didn't want to be walked too much, but loved to be doted on. I spent a while giving some love to a very large and cute pitbull and spoke with a couple who was doing the same. I wanted to make it (foolishly, (ok yeah Zoltar, see you're right)) to Austin that night, or specifically at around 2 in the morning. When I walked out, one of the dogs who wasn't really having it from the designated volunteer happily trotted over to me - named, Tigger, he was a speckled red and black pitbull and we were absolutely insta-bonded to the point that leaving, as I didn't have room to adopt a dog in my car even if I wanted to, was more than a little excruciating. I managed to pull myself away, somehow, and got back to my car, a little heart broken, and lightly glazed in dog slobber. I didn't get pictures, as I was busy petting the dogs, but here are a few pics of Villalobos itself. They also started a bar that I would have gone to had I not been a little overfull from the Po-boy place.
I headed out, and saw that someone was waving to me from the side of the road - their car's hood was up, and they did not look pleased with their situation. They said that their alternator was broken and that their car's battery dies if it sits at lights too long. I tried the inverter I bought (that also netted me a membership to RV World Club.. yeah I'm not easily swayed at all, nope, not whatsoever). That didn't work, so we used the spare set of alligator clips I bought before purchasing the alternator, and gave it a manual jump. After I gave it some gas, the car started! Woo! We shut our hoods, got into our respective cars and got on our way. That is exactly, that's what we would have done, had her battery not died once again while waiting for the light to change. She wasn't joking about the alternator. I turned back around and gave her another jump, this time putting a little relish on the gas. She thanked me, her (I think daughter?) did a victory dance, and we got on our ways. I was happy to help, and also get the extra pair of allagator clips out of my car and to someone who could use them.
On the way to Austin, I ended up stopping in Houston, as I was just super tired. The previous Friday, I was informed that my grandmother was sick with pneumonia, and was having trouble breathing. I spoke with several people about it and the consensus was to wait and continue on my trip, as it seemed like her condition was improving. That day I received word that my grandmother was in hospice care, and that they weren't certain if she was going to make it through the night. I let that sink in, and decided that I would swing by Austin the following day to check it out, since it was a couple hours away, and I was easily an 30 hour drive from home, then drive back home. I got to somewhere around the border of Tennessee and received the following message:
Your grandmother died peacefully at 4:30 the following morning.
Elizabeth Meakin Gebhard was a wonderful grandmother, even when she was strict, and/or I disagreed with her political views. She was a mother, an artist, a homemaker (quite literally, she and my grandfather, Peter, designed and built a house), and an overall strong woman. I used to joke that I didn't know her age but was certain that she would outlive all of us out of spite. I was only half kidding. It's a strange feeling to lose your grandparent, especially when their cognition declines each time you see them - it dulls the impact but not the pain.
Now I am in Nashville Tennessee, having not slept, and full on biscuits, chocolate "gravy" (syrup), peanut butter, pretzel bits, and a spicy chicken sandwich with gravy from Biscuit Love downtown. I write this sitting in the lobby of a nice hilton, too tired to drive, and without a private space to process my feelings. I'm mostly confused about the idea of not being able to see someone again, like a dog who doesn't know when their friend is getting back from work. What seperates me from a dog, is that knowledge however. It's the knowledge that she's not coming back, and that I need to hold on to the memories I have of her and the rest of my family even more tightly. None-the-less, there's a part of my soul that's sitting on a doorstep waiting for someone to return. Goodbye grandmother, I love you.
I didn't want to include this on the same post as the memorial, as the subject matter deserves distinction, but during the same day, my friend Jordan and I went to a BBQ place called Dreamland that was absolutely delightful. Hmm, no, that's wrong, it was incredible. Um, fuckin' great! Look it was just really good, to the degree that I did not stop to take a picture of the ribs and had one left by the time I thought it might be a good idea.
Montgomery is home to a memorial to those who have been lynched - an act that has been prevelant throughout the ages and has taken a nasty root in the history of the America. An act already hanous, it is only made worse by it's focus on african americans and minorities, as a way to maintain leverage over slaves, then as a signal of malice and stupidity, and an ultimate act of disrespect for fellow people & the systems of government the perpetrators live under. Upon walking through the memorial in the heat of the sun, reading the preamble, and then the names and dates of those lynched, I was confronted with a reality that seems at once far removed from our own, and entirely too believeable and close.
The surrounding city and countryside is filled with reasonable, cultured peoples: it is not at all what I expect to find when I picture types of people who would perform such an act. Rather than continuing to speak in relatively commonly held terms about the subject, I will let the pictures speak for themselves. One important thing of note here is that each of the following pillars contains the names of those lynched, cut into its surface, and for each of those names, a person existed.
I'm going to make this one a little quick, but Epcot is the type of place that at first glance, seems like a straightforward venture - one that doesn't need much explaining, and in a way it is. You walk around a central reservoir, looking at various cultures through the lense of commercialism and an attempt at broad understanding & inclusivity. For what it is, it is both good, and ill from my perspective.
Good, as it paints an interesting tableau of the world with a clear populace image, one that is representative of much of what you read about in world events, and covers the major powers, and some smaller nations. One thing however that is a little odd, is walking through each canton, and being bombarded with commercialization at every turn. I mean, sure, it's a Disney property, so that's expected, but what wasn't was just how prevelant it was vs the balance of education.
Anyways, beer & food. Uh, this is a little weird maybe, but pretty much the only reason I wanted to go to Epcot was for the beer garden, Biergarten Restaurant. I walked in, went in roughly the right direction (which happens to be to the left, or clockwise), asked for directions a couple times, and found my way there.
I was greeted with a friendly collection of 'cast members', some of whom seemed to be natives to Germany, and some of whom were putting in a good effort to keep up appearances - something I've always appreciated about Disney, even when I didn't understand just about anything of how the parks worked.
I forgot an umbrella, and had a small headache when I walked in, but besides those minor inconveniences, I had a good time, ate some truly tasty food, and drank a Dunkel beer. The show was an approximation of Octoberfest, and while loud, it was awesome. I dined with a nice family, who were accomidating, and whom by the end of the meal, I felt accepted by, if not super comfortable with (though idk, honestly, I had a headache, and was trying to be polite, so probably I would have felt right at home with them otherwise). After leaving I stopped by the Werthers store and got some caramel popcorn and a slice of chocolate caramel covered pinnapple. I have to say, if you're travelling through Florida, remember your umbrella. I say this, because after leaving the werthers store, it absolutely dumped on me, as I stroad slowly through the countries on my way back through the parking lot, witnessing the stunning fireworks & lights display, and the just getting absolutely soked to the bone.
I got back to my car, and sat in the AC just kind of being cold - drying off slowly. I found a hotel and drove there, arriving, and being thankful that the hot water in hotels is nearly unlimited.
There's a quote about bringing a towel that seems apt here.
Florida is nice - it's a good place to visit, it's beautiful, and I love the weather - even when it's super humid out. The rain storms however, are not very conducive to painting... or driving.
(that's a storm about 3 minutes away...)
The trip to Orlando was good, uneventful, and generally beautiful. When I arrived, it wasn't raining and I took a trip over to the airbnb I rented. It was in a nice thoroughly settled part of Florida, about 15 minutes away from Epcot. I had dinner at a decent restaurant across from the laundromat I used to do a load of laundry, and the absolute high point of the experience, beyond talking briefly with my sister, was this astonishingly sweet dog, who was lazing about behind a door,
"I'm sweet you should pet me"
-dog
I slept in a while, and after getting up and out, I went over to the Kennedy Space Center. The drive over there was a long, slow trip along a land bridge. When I got there, I parked and wished my grandmother a happy mother's day. The spaceships were pretty cool, and honestly while I did not learn much of anything new, seeing the astronaut Brian Duffy give a live talk was very cool. He spoke about traveling up to the international space station to do some finishing assembly work on it, and his other trips to space for maintenance missions. Besides seeing Brian talk, it was very cool to see the replica rockets and the scale of both complexity, and staggering size that they have managed to put into space.
After going to the Kennedy space center, I took a trip over to Universal Studios, to visit Diagon Alley. The trip there was good, and incurred the usual rain storms I've been seeing over the last couple days traveling through Florida. I got over to Universal around 5:30, and while I could have gone in, it would have only been about an hour and a half spent in Harry Potter world, without much time to checkout much of anything else. I opted to buy a ticket, and go another day.
After that, I travelled down to Miami, and Coral Gables, where I got a room at the Hampton Inn, to wake up early the next day and head over to the Venetian Pools. .. Or, I would have, if it was open. I took some pictures, and cursed a few times silently, while admiring the beauty and natural waters I was missing out on for lack of looking ahead at the schedule.
After getting over the closed pool, I decided to head back up north by way of Saint Petersburg. Again the drive was relatively uneventful, other than the expected few thunderstorms. Or it would have been, had I (in a long list of things I didn't look at ahead of time), look at the gas gauge. Before I knew it, the light was on, and I needed to pull off the highway to get gas. Using my phone I found a station decently close - just 8 miles away, and made my way over, through a panther reservation. I didn't see any panthers, but I did see an odd looking bird that almost looked like a dodo, and a bunch of turkey vultures in their "heraldic" pose - sunning themselves. I got gas and got back on the road. Fun fact, they pee down their legs to keep cool. Birds, huh?
In Saint Petersburg, I went over to the Salvador Dali museum. Upon walking up the front steps, you're greeted by a blue dolphin to your left, a tree with a bush labyrinth to your right, and a giant mustache front and center of the building's main entrance.
Entering, there is a cafe, and an open concept gift shop, that is full of charming Salvador Dali themed items along with some from Marcel Duchamp. I explored the current exhibitions and took several photos until I was told not to. Honestly, it is an odd decision, as for the flash - it is understandable, however they give you iPods with capable cameras, and much of the fun of Dali's art is interpretive composition.
The permanent gallery is also incredible, full of his works from over the years.
Overall, it was an experience that is difficult to describe without using terms such as spellbinding, and charming. I will say, that the overall amusement in terms of perception and composition Dali delighted in is something I hold close to my heart. Similarly, his work displays a certain boundless respect for religion, coinciding with a similarly large amount of irreverence.
On the way down from Myrtle Beach, I stopped in Charleston, explored, probably not enough of it, and rested a night. Charlston is one of those cities that, the more I read about it, the more time I feel I should have spent there. One thing of note, that is very important: Krispy Kreme. No, seriously, yeah the donut place. Look, I know many people have mixed feelings about donuts, and more have complicated feelings about Krispy Kreme in general, but really, a warm, directly off the conveyer belt glazed original is unbelievable.
Just look at the this one- oh, wait, sorry I ate it already. Look at the glaze that dripped off of it *Homer salavating sound*:
I'm not saying they're healthy, or a light undertaking, but uh, they're worth it.
Speaking of food, before exiting Charleston, I went to Lewis Barbeque, and ordered a brisket sandwich. This, um, was delightful. I'd worry about overselling it, but I got a couple cuts of brisket to go, and shared it with a stranger while waiting for my car to get inspected and the only negative thing about it was it fell apart as he tried to pick it up, "oh that's tender" he said, in an even southern drawl, as we both closely guarded the cuts to make sure it didn't hit the floor. Yeah, I know this is overwrought & not exactly superlative writing about meat, but look - just look at it!
Look at this sandwich!!
My car. Again with the inconsistent narrative and lack of context. Ah, well, yeah my hood latch cable is broken, and while the latch closes, the hood was just flapping about for a while, not all the way up, nor was it staying down. I've made an appointment at a place further along on my journey, and ordered a new one, but until then, it's finicky, and if it starts acting up, I'll have to tie it down with a rope or something. A manageable problem for now, and one with a solution waiting in the wings.
And that's about it, honestly, I'm a bit dissapointed in myself, as from what I saw, it was an extremely cool city, and one that I should have spent more time in. It is one reason to do something like this with other people, or at least with a dog - motivation to get out and walk around, not just stick to the schedule.
Anyways, Savannah. Richmond has street art, Washington has history, and Savannah? Savannah has deep cultural roots with a dose of history. Were Richmond a meatloaf, and Washington a steak - Savannah would be a slice of excellent lasanya. Layers of history, art, and culture working together to form a city that even taken in large bites, will satisfy.
Ok sure, this food metaphor is a little silly, but I don't think it's entirely wrong. What I am a little worried about however is my approach to the places I visit. For Savannah, I spoke with a waitress at length about the sites and then got additional recommendations from there to further points of interest. In game design, this would be "hub and spoke" model, but this is our reality, and as such, the paradigm is inverted. One rather neat trick, that loses some luster upon further inspection, is looking at tour routes, and instead of hopping on a trolley, simply visiting those locations yourself. On one hand, you lose the guided aspect, and probable narration, but on the other, you get to visit where you want, skip sections (something you can do with a trolley). I visited a few places, such as Madison Square, Forsyth Park, the pirate house, and the cobbled district.
Listening to the trolley tours as they passed, I can tell they gave a much more indepth look at the cities history, but then again, I was able to wander around freely and drive where I may without worry of figuring out trolley routes or keeping a schedule in mind.
I drove out to Wormsloe park, the location of a bunch of different movies (Forest Gump, etc) that feature southern emotional walking scenes, but it was just closed when I arrived. Here're a few surreptitious pictures I got as people were leaving and the gates shut:
Just before leaving Savannah, I stopped at a place called Alley Cats. A speak easy with an incredible drink selection rivaled only by its menu, presented on a full size broadsheet, with quotes and anecdote interspersed.
While there, my brother called me and told me about a place called The Hostel in the Forest, and uh, yep, it's a hostel. In the forest. More than the name however, it has a coop feel to it, and at $30 a night, it's an inexpensive stop on the way down the east coast. It's very much a "put your electronics away and enjoy the incredible surroundings" type of place, but here are some pictures I took anyways... uh don't tell them (just kidding I hashtagged them on instagram :-/).
My stay at the Hostel in the Woods was wonderful if altogether too brief, though, I forgot bug spray and now have an uncomfortable number of mesquito bites. As they don't allow tents, I'd recommend a bug net for the bed, but otherwise, it is wonderful getaway, with ameneties very close in town. One caveat being if you have a super nice car, uh, maybe just rent something, or arrange a pickup.
I'll end this post on an odd note. Their out house is one of the better if not the best I've used, and it included a "poop log", a notebook for recording thoughts and notes about uh, your poops. Here is my contribution:
Really though, it was a glorious sunrise that morning,
I left Raleigh at a decent time, but not quite as early as I had wanted - I had been there before on a student recruitment event, so I did not spend much time exploring. Traveling down to Myrtle Beach proved interesting for a couple reasons - I found an unexpectedly beautiful scene behind a waffle house, did a painting, and my car battery died (don't worry it has a happy ending).
I'm not sure I've been to Waffle House before, and honestly it's a little shocking to me, but it is what it is. Delicious. That's what it is! I had some grits, country ham, a couple eggs, a muffin, and a ... waffle. I went back and forth on ordering so much food, but decided it was a stupid enough joke and went for it. Yeah, look, I just think you have to make a joke about waffling if you're writing about Waffle House. Anyways, I pulled into the parking space and saw this scene:
It has a beautiful smattering of natural colors, a pretty old car, a charming slightly worn building, and a makeshift fence. Everything you want for a piece of Americana. So I asked if it was ok to setup my easel in the parking lot, and started to paint.
One thing lead to another, and sure enough I left my car on... but not idling. Like an idiot. Annnnnnd, the battery died. The staff of the waffle house were understanding, and offered to get help, but I'm a proud member of AAA and scheduled an driver to come out and give my car a jump, but it was going to be more than hour, and my windows were open, and I was tired because of all that food (both of those last ones were on me... whoops).
That is when, a man in a black and white truck showed up, shouted "battery?" and proceded to pull out an inverter, and give me a jump for free. He said that he works on cars, and carries the inverter exactly for situations like this. And what can I say, he was able to ride up, and save my ass :) An inverter seems like something worth carrying... also, that he is a saint: he refused payment, and simply accepted my thanks. Not very far down south, and soon into my trip experiencing southern hospitality!
Long story short, I felt as though the universe did me a solid, I should pass that on. I gave the painting to a waitress whom was particularly enamored with it. It was a nice way to immediately pay down my karmatic debt and seeing the look on her face was wonderful. Before handing it off, I did test the painting carrier... and it works brilliantly! Except for getting a little paint on my car!
After giving my car was started, and giving the painting away - I went on my way to Myrtle Beach, I bid my farewell, and left immediately, because I couldn't shut off my engine for a half hour and honestly had to pee pretty badly. I would have went in the trees next to the fence but there were people actively working on it, and that would have been uh, rather awkward.
I don't have a lot to say about Myrtle Beach, other than that it's a place with nice people, that feels as though it would be best explored with friends. I lose some of the best aspects of traveling alone, and it's part of the reason I'm writing this, to have touch points back to my friends and family. I must say though that the people I have met on the road have made my journey all that much better.
Context is a fickle thing. If I casually drop "packing for a trip around the US is difficult" but do not give you a heads up that I'm doing that, if you read this in chronological order, it um, does not make sense. Or it does, if you like surprises, and have a lot of intuition...
With that being said, I'm going on a trip around the US! Starting from Massechusettes, going down to Florida, west to Southern California, north to Vancouver, and east again back home. Part of this trip is to gain perspective, because honestly over the years, I've wanted to do some traveling to other countries, and yet, I do not have what I would consider ample perspective on the one I live in.
This is for that. It's for not mis/under-representing my country and the people in it. Ugh, that sounds like a poorly worded Bud Light commercial, but uh, I suppose there's a reason they write them like that.
Packing for a trip around the US is not to be something taken lightly. Or rather, it totally can, but you'll find that you leave late, as you discover that one thing you need.. several times.
I'll avoid listing absolutely everything I packed, as it really isn't very interesting, and instead I'll talk about what is: painting & camping!
Travelling while painting is something that many artists delight in, but not something that is easily accomplished on a long road trip for a couple reasons: paintings are messy, and release not-so-incredibly-good-for-you fumes as they dry (terpenoid off gasses decently quickly but it still should be left to dry for a while before occupying the same enclosed space, or you should purchase natural terpenoids which are non-toxic, if still a little smelly).
What does this mean? A few things - for one, I need to make sure to give my paintings a little while before getting in the car, and two, I need to hope for good weather, or at least keep the air going and open the back windows for air flow while it's raining.
My solution: PVC, neoprene, and duck tape!
Since I'm going some late spring - early summer camping, I bought a light sleeping bag, a twin thermal blanket, and a "cot tent", a tent on a cot. The advantages of the cot tent is that it allows you to just set it up, and go to sleep, without worrying about sleeping on uneven ground or putting down a tarp for the rain, and then ending up with a soggy tent bottom anyways. Another bonus is that it weighs about 30 pounds, so you can steak it if you think it's necessary, but it likely won't blow away.
Last but not least is the first day of my trip in earnest: I travelled from Massachusetts to Washington D.C. in Virginia. I met up with my cousin, who graciously let me stay over. We had a very nice breakfast the following morning, and I left for Raleigh, but not before stopping at Ben's Chili Bowl (amazing btw), and going down to Raleigh, stopping in Richmond, on the way.
I had been to Washington D.C. before, and wanted to make a lot of progress on the east coast portion of this trip, but on recommendation from my cousin, I went to see Tudor Place, which while it happened to be closed, was in a very pretty neighbor hood, and the surroundings proved to be similarly interesting. I plan on going back and spending a more significant amount of time there, as it was more interesting than I thought it would be even given what I've already seen. For note, the first picture is from the parking lot at Ben's Chili Bowl, and there's an amazing mural that I didn't feel I could do justice, and likewise did not want to do it ill by taking a panorama of it.
Richmond is a fascinating town, with a real outward appreciation for street art. I drove around and took some pictures.
From there, I continued on to Raleigh, got in a little after midnight, had a few beers, got a room at the Hilton (A+ in my book), and had a pleasant sleep.
I posted the majority of my paintings! I'll be working on getting some other categories of work posted in the coming weeks.
I'll be posting a lot of art here for a while, and taking more time with my projects, old and new.
Art speaks for itself, though I'll add background descriptions & anecdotes where applicable. At some point I may start selling art on this website. That might be soon, or it could be soooooon (like in a spooky way?) - regardless, you'll know because they'll be a shop button at the top. I might even start accepting commissions!? If I seem uncertain about the commerce component, that's because I totally am! The commerce component is still up in the air, but whatever I decide to add will be simple.
I've learned a lot from my projects throughout, and want to take some more time writing them up, with lessons learned, and cleaned up / updated versions (where applicable). Diving into your past is often fun, but sometimes you run out of air, or the old-timey hose gets a kink, or uh while driving into the past the car runs out of gas, and um, other metaphors for introspection about prior work.
Mostly, I want you to be able to expect a certain quality of content, if not a stable cadence of release, or diction, or content type ... or sense of humor, or .. number and placement of ellipses. With that in mind, I'll make sure to hook this up to a twitter account, or an RSS feed etc.
Over the years I've had some trouble keeping all my work in one place, and shifted between various platforms. As a result, I've spread myself thin, and tired out some of my friends and family - and certainly lost interest of those who would otherwise like my work.
So that's it, this is place for me to collect my work, write about experiences, and link back to from whatever new-hotness happens to pop up over the years.
Thanks!
