The last time I took a road trip across the United States,
IT CHANGED MY LIFE.
I ended up living in the Grand Staircase Escalante-National Monument for 7 months, and after that, I moved to Irvine, California to work for Designbyhumans and Teefury. None of that would have happened if I hadn’t scouted out the US to see what was out there. When I graduated college, I always talked about moving to CA, so although it took almost 7 years, I made good on my threat. I ended up moving up to Washington state for a girl after a year in California… After a year and a half, that didn’t work out.
So I came back home to the South.
I’ve been back approximately a month. I’ve been licking my wounds for a while, and admittedly there’s still some healing to do. I look at the calendar every day, marking off the days as I go, knowing that in time, all the resentment, sadness, confusion, and all the things that come with losing grips on a shared dream, a shared future, will all subside and settle like dust on old photographs, obscuring the images and memories.
I don’t think this road trip will be as significant as the first. I’m pretty sure it will be much more enjoyable though. The first trip was about destroying my fear. It’s daunting to be alone hundreds of miles away from your hometown especially if you’ve been a “small town boy” for over 25 years.
This time, I have a few friends to meet along the way, I know some of the places I’ve been before that I want to visit, so it will be a vacation!
I picked up a decent camera and tripod so I’m hoping to take alot of pictures. I’m really excited. The thought of driving long distances sucks, but once you get west of Texas, it’s beautiful, and being free on the road makes me feel alive.
I ain’t no religious man, but I feel blessed. I have a great job that I can work from the road, and I’m excited to go see my bosses. We haven’t seen each other in over a year and half, and the last thing I said to them as I exited the conference room was, in a funny foreigner accent, “I hope to make you lots and lots of money.” They laughed and they said they hoped for the same.
You know what? I made good on that threat. More than that, we’ve been able to build a family, a community, a way for dozens of artists to make a livelihood as well as production workers, shipping, etc. The list goes on and on.
It’s amazing when you take charge and really believe in yourself, how fate, how destiny, is rather malleable to whatever you desire especially if everyone else on the team believes in the same thing.
Sure it didn’t work out with the ex, but I have no doubt that when the time is right, like the lyrics from Led Zeppelin’s Ramble On, I’ll find the “Queen of All My Dreams.”
Speaking of, I should make some new, good threats.
Go surfing with Jason.
Continue to grow Teefury, and do good things. Charitable things. We’ll help artists. We’ll thrive into the future.
I’ll meet the Queen of My Dreams, maybe even knock her up, and spawn mini jimiyos.
We’ve come a long way… *I’ve* come a long way. (Approximately 2400 miles…)
Three years ago today, I was living in East Nashville, TN in the Inglewood neighborhood.
I usually like to exaggerate and say that I lived in the ghetto, but I didn’t. However, my portion of the rent was $315. I had taken up living in the cheapest scenario possible (excluding living with my parents) as I was still in my first year of freelancing as a t-shirt designer.
I didn’t have health insurance.
I lived about a mile away from where there had been a shooting.
And occasionally, the house across the street, the one that had their window covered with plastic since it had been broken, would have a large Hummer drop by, bumping with rap or hip hop. I don’t know if they were drug dealers, thugs, or just stereo and vehicle enthusiasts, but I wouldn’t have asked to borrow some eggs and milk from them.
It wasn’t the ghetto, it was just an old low income neighborhood with quaint homes, so quaint that gentrification was creeping it’s familiar head. A quaint vegetarian restaurant here, a ecletic bar where early adopters could ride their Vespa’s to sip microbrews and talk about their antique home renovations there.
The oddest of sights, although it was many miles down the road, was seeing a renovated old home with a Beamer parked out on the street, with the view of the red brick low income housing in the background no more than a half mile away.
Fast forward three years, oddly, I still hear the bumping of stereos even in the affluent neighborhood of Kirkland, Washington, mainly because I live downtown right on the corner of the beginning of the restaurants and coffee shops and the metro station.
There is a plethora of misinformation about what is good/bad for you skewed by those with power and money that desire more power and money.
Plant based diets can supply all that we need, help to reduce disease, even reverse diseases like cancer and diabetes.
Members of western societies die from “diseases of affluence” specifically caused by our affluent diet of animal proteins and fat.
CONCLUSION: Stop eating meat, stop eating/drinking dairy. Start eating fruits and vegetables. Live longer.
I started reading the book because I looked in the mirror the other day, and although I’m still considerably normal by American standards, I started to notice the slightest shadow forming underneath my mini belly, and I don’t like it. I didn’t start reading it to get scared about eating meat and drinking my daily fat rich lattes, but that’s what’s happened. I’ve gained approximately 7-10 lbs from 2-3 years ago, and I don’t see the trend stopping unless there’s a bump in direction.
I’m not saying I’m going to be changing my diet (because who knows my will power), but at least for this week, my goal is to introduce more fruits and vegetables into my diet. I have a tendency to snack all day, and if I can replace rice crackers and hot dogs with fruits and vegetables, it will be a start. I’ve already started a couple days ago by buying a ton of fruits and vegetables and the Blendtec is ready on the counter.
(BTW, a couple years ago, due to high stress, I developed IBS. For 2-3 months I suffered cramps and general GI malaise. I drastically changed my diet to fruits and vegetables. I feel it helped my overcome my IBS.)
BOOK REVIEW: The book is decent. It’s loaded with scientific research data, and it’s rebellious. I like that. It’s like the Rage Against the Machine of dietary world. It states the truth they discovered and boldly points out the misinformation that we are fed by the government, media, and companies that have profit motives to persuade us one way or another. With the evidence and superfluous information supplied, I have no doubts that the information is good and worthwhile. EVEN IF IT ISN’T… what harm can come from becoming a vegetarian and halting the consumption of fatty, zero nutrient foods? It’s like… people who complain that Global Warming isn’t real. Who the Fuuu cares, isn’t there a greater positive outcome from getting people to stop polluting and encourage greener solutions even if global warming isn’t real?
It is difficult to keep interested enough to read all the evidence. Even reading a few chapters of substantiation is enough to be like… “Okay, I believe you, what should I eat. Please explain plant based diet.” Although the answer is simple. Just eat plants. Don’t eat meat. After reading the whole book, I found the following table to be the cheat sheet.
I asked my internet friends for suggestions on some new entertainment, whether it be a video game, movie, or tv show. These are the suggestions I tried.
The Cats of Mirikitani
The first one I checked out was “The Cats of Mirikitani” documentary on Netflix. It’s about an 80 year old Japanese American artist that was found living on the streets of Soho. The filmmaker ends up taking in the artist, Jimmy Mirikitani, into her own home. Most of the film and Jimmy’s psychology is centered on his resentment towards the American government for placing his family and him, and 18,000 other Japanese Americans into internment camps during WWII. Apparently internment camps were used for “imprisonment or confinement[1] of people, commonly in large groups, without trial.”
My education has required me to take American and Tennessee history in middle school, high school, and for some reason a useless 6 more credit hours of it in university, yet this was the first time I had heard of internment camps. I knew that the US dropped bombs on Japan as well, but the casualty of 260,000 has also been a fact I don’t recall getting much attention.
It was a good film. I watched it in it entirety. There is a catharsis for Mirikitani at the end of the film as he finds a place in society. It also seems that by being able to tell his story and for it to become acknowledged, and by some small measure of reparation, he is finally able to release the anger he felt towards the US Government of the early 1940′s.
PC Game: Terraria
There’s been some buzz about Terraria. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s a great game or because Steam and other video game outlets have been doing a damn fine job promoting the crap out of it. Anyways, it was suggested so I purchased a 4-pack. If you want a game code to get your copy, I have 3 passes to give out. Comment on this post and be entered to win a free pass for Terraria.
I played the game for about 15-30 minutes. Some have compared it to Minecraft being that you gather resources, you craft new items, you defeat bosses, ad infinitum with bigger, better items, bigger, badder bosses tc.
I couldn’t get into it. I couldn’t get into Minecraft either. BUT, over 200,000 copies sold can’t be wrong!
TV Show: Game of Thrones
It seems pretty decent. I didn’t watch the whole thing. I was watching it in my office on my computer while my girlfriend was in the other room.
Maybe I just have too good of an imagination, but here’s the scene in my head as she walks in on me as I watch…
“WTF are you watching? Are you watching Midget Porn? Why are you watching four bare breasted women and a dwarf about to get it on?”
Me, “No, no, it’s Game of Thrones. There’s a ton of buzz about it online.”
“Why is there some effeminate blond dude fondling an very young looking totally naked blond girl?”
Me, “No, no, that’s just her evil brother.”
“What? You’re watching incest porn?”
“Why is that angry warrior dude now doggy bangin that very young looking blond girl?”
Me, “Uh…”
So, I love girl boobs and butts and all, but I was surprised at the gratuitous amount of T-N-A in Game of Thrones. I’m sure the plot thickens and the difficult choices that will need to be made that they are setting up in episode 1 is great and all, but I couldn’t watch the whole episode 1.
I googled “making sense of Game of Thrones” to get some bullet points on who’s who and what plots were being laid out as I watched, and the first link I found was actually, “Game of Thrones: Making Sense of All the Sex.” Apparently, there’s more brutal sex scenes coming up in the other episodes.
I don’t know… maybe not for me.
So, I went back to playing my current favorite game.
PC Game: Chime
I’ve had the game for over a year or so. I go back to it on occasion. It looks like tetris, but there’s more to it. It’s perfect for those who like to challenge their brains with multi-tasking.
While attempting to cover the whole grid, you can increase your score multiplier by making separate complete quads. Sounds easy, but once you allow pieces to remain for a few rounds, they expire which resets your multiplier to zero. To get the highest score, you have to complete the grid, achieve a high multiplier, and try not to lose your multiplier. Also, your playing against the clock.
I’m in position 55 on the leader board for Time Mode, 3 minutes, Philip Glass. Try to beat me.
