Wednesday, December 22, 2010

a sea of van


looking for a van to buy isn't a carmax type of affair.





its more like a craigslist/side of the road kind of thing... and more searching for buried lost treasure than car hunting




you start to get obsessed... or i do anyways,

searching walmart parking lots

taking stray turns in south knoxville for some piece of shit on wheels...




your piece of shit on wheels.











i think i found the right now.

its beautiful.

(its none of these)

Thursday, December 16, 2010

oh! and i made this!






OCTOPUS HOODIE FOR MY SECRET SANTA!!

IF YOU WANT ONE! I CAN MAKE YOU ONE FOR REALZ!

wasting my time wasting my life


i am a cyclical and incredibly ritualistic person: i get into these phases and carry them out to a tee.

Right now I drink flavored vodka on ice with a straw in a very specific glass and spend quality time with my computer.

we watch x-files, and research. lately we (my computer and me you understand) have been obsessed... with a capital O:
OBSESSED with vans. hitting up craig's list like a facebook feed, like twitter for christ sake. checking, rechecking, finding mpg, dimensions, reviews, price comparisons, engine specs, wheel base measurments of chevy vans. Astros, G-series, cargo, passenger, conversion, hi-top, express...

i've learned quite a bit, and my obsession goes one way or the other every day.

at first it seemed a hi-top american conversion van was the right choice. Plenty of room, bed already built in... big ol' cushy van to drive around in. (Most of these Chevy G-20s). Then i saw some bad vans... some really bad ones, and a really good one that was sold out from under me... thank goodness, because those suckers get like 12-15 mpg... which would cost me thousands upon thousands of dollars on a 9000 mile trip through the west where the gas could be a millions dollars a gallon.

About a week ago i was completely DEAD set on a vw vanagon, a westfalia after finding this blog: Falia Photography

this girl is incredible. not only is she ballsy, super independent, super organized and living a dream that i can seriously get down with... she's smart. and thorough. she explains everything you ever wanted to know about ... everything she has done traveling in her westfalia from sun showers, traveling, organizing to concealed firearm accessories for petit ladies... this i was especially impressed and tickled by. check out her youtube.

i have found many communities and blogs on vandwelling, but this one is pretty awesome.

most people in the van dwelling community have pretty big vehicles, VW owners are a special elite breed. They get great gas mileage... but its more than that... VW van owners are more than just automobile owners, VW are like babies... that you can live inside. You have to be committed to them. Finding their parts, working on them, re-doing their engines/transmissions/interiors/modifications... vw owners become vw mechanics. Its like a hobby... that encompasses your life... its a lifestyle. And I was sucked into it for a few weeks. Its an expensive thing to get into, you have to be 100% about it...

Seeing as how I need a dependable vehicle to get me to a different city everyday, I went the other way. I just don't thing i have the knuckles for a vw.

Chevy astros were my next obsession.
Then i found the dimensions, very small. but i could make it work!
Then i went to a professional conversion man about making it work inside an astro... for a mere $3500... (just twice as much as a chevy astro would cost me and 1/2 as much as a premium vw van or dodge sprinter...)

THEN I DECIDED I CAN DO IT MY FUCKING SELF.
this was my most important realization on this obsessive track i am following.
for you see, i have to see how far i've come, and be proud... and keep going.
i said the same thing to my brother just a minute ago... he is having some trouble with his new chef job in oakland, adjusting to a new level of sauces and equipment... so much different than in a 5 star in florida... this is... big boys club... But he has come so far... 3000 miles to say the least. And now he's on his way to something bigger, much much bigger than any amount of stars that Orlando Florida can hold. And I'm so super proud of him. So i am inspired not just to blog (as he does...: Mex in the City)

but to look behind at the path i came down... whoa! i started way over there... cause i'm going way WAY over there...

up to date:

so now: I am now obsessed with Chevy G-10... the smallest of the chevy cargo G-series vans... 1/2 ton. 20mpg (supposedly) just a bit longer than an astro, same motor. and one is for sale down the street. beat up, with severely low miles, owned by the local food co-op that i am a member of... who better to give a couple thousand dollars to?

i just hope it doesn't sell before i get the money in january... cause i'm going to build the shit out of that thing.

the research continues... hundreds of scketchs, ideas, lists, websites, google searches... and a couple late night drives to see the van... and ask it to go out with me.

cheers

Thursday, December 2, 2010

all of this stuff






is currently for sale at my Etsy Store... only one space wallet though... stars... stars... stars


i am working so hard on shit!!!


the christmas thing approaches,
people spend in furries
i am frantically putting together a fundraiser for the next year. jesus christ.
only 600 more emails to go thnx

more later

Friday, November 19, 2010

5 ZINES!!

Today my friends, I am the proud author of 5 zines!!



It all started when chad and I drove around the country and lost our minds somewhere in Mississippi... and I wrote the first one, Minnows and Rice... this is what we looked like then:



Then when I started hosting full time at Mellow Mushroom I had some time to kill and I wrote these:
"My Issues.... Episode 1: Minimum Wage Jobs"


"My Unhealthy Relationships with Food"

Episode 1: Brownie and Milk...
Episode 2: Chips and Diane



These are of course just shitty pictures from my macbook to tell you how proud and excited I am to have them printed up and ready for distribution! Now! If i could only find somewhere to distribute them too!!

I am putting them up on Etsy in the coming days.


Wallets to come!!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Friday, November 5, 2010

Melloween

yes.... its my favorite holiday, making thanksgiving and christmas very anticlimactic...

My employer mellow mushroom requires all front of house employees to dress up for Melloween and create a fun atmosphere for our guests. we end up having the most fun and I think most customers were frankly just scared... especially of my costume...

so, here's my friends:

John... as ghost

Caroline as "Heidi" from Tool Time

Josh and Gil as "Gil and Josh"

Kyle as ... Kyle



Gentry as Gentry... he always dresses like this

Liz as scary sexy Liz.. or a witch...

This guy kept coming behind the counter and trying to touch the ladies

What a creeper

He smelled of rolling tobacco and "Big League" Bubble gum

Virginia as "Snooki"

Nicki as Darla from the little rascals

Kevin as "Kevin"

The winner of the costume contest...
Tony as "Pizza"

Amanda as manager

Karmin as "Alfalfa"

Creeper as "Buck"

"Come here little darlin"...

(notice the finger waggle)

2nd place costume contest winner... PBR as "Sex Machine"

Splawn as... some one... I think a female rapper... I dont know who,

ooooo! spooky!

Well drinks

Chad as "Teen Wolf"

Happy Halloween everyone!

Gimmi a little kiss darlin...
... hawt

Sunday, October 24, 2010

tonight the light is on






here are some things i made one time,

one time... one time long ago i used to be this person, that made things.

i used to make all kinds of things, they'd just come out like poop falls out yer butt... but i learned that as you get older, things dont just happen anymore. sorry to be gross, but come on people. you are aging, right now.

in any case, i used to sewing up storms of wallets and bags, full of tentacles and dinosaurs and bubbles and zombies.

i used to write so many songs and just sing um out like sneezing

i used to be happy

i used to be fat

i used to dream about traveling

i used to dream about falling in love

i used to be younger than most people around me

i used to be too young to do anything

somethings haven't changed, some things have been completely abolished.

and some things are just different.

tonight there is a significant change. a lot of things that change in life happen so slowly that you never notice until your ass is hanging past your knees.

but tonight, the light is on.
this means of course, that i am up, in my bed doing creative things, (typing, blogging, talking, writing) by myself. The difference is that my partner isn't here. He's asleep in his beautiful new apartment. we house warmed with cider tonight. and then i went home to my lonely bed, my huge lonely bed. have you ever slept in a king size all by yourself? it is an amazing experience that never gets old. of course there is something to be said about sleeping in a king size with the person you love. its entirely awesome in different ways. like how amazing chocolate is to caramel or vanilla. or ice cream to waterslides. or the first day of school to the last. exciting in different ways. so this is good. this is neat. this is different and strange and...

we'll see what comes out of it.

THIS WEEK:

1. Tommy's Birthday on Wednesday
2. Blonde Rednead in Nashville!! (also on wednesday)
3. my first Dentist appt in years, 2:15 Monday
4. Cutting out wallets
5. Distributing zines
6. YMCA
7. Practicing in a new space
8. Designing new business cards and
9. talk of a website?!
**10. Booking the Memphibians at the Pilot Light**

** if i could only get one thing done this week, i would wish you have this done**