Miss Teen

OK, I have to comment on this one. If you haven't seen Miss South Carolina answer a question in the Miss Teen USA pageant than check it out here first. This is the response I loved.

Harry Potter

Here I am in all my geekiness. I went to the party and taught lots of little (and big) wizards and witches how to draw characters from Harry Potter. Nate and I traded off 15 min. shifts teaching essentially the same thing over and over. I had tons of fun. As volunteers we got to be in an accelerated line to buy the book. I got mine around 12:25 thinking I had waited for along time. When I walked out and saw the line still waiting to buy the book I was blown away. There were hundreds of people in a huge line stretching 1/5 of a mile or more.

I felt a tinge of sadness roll over me when I got home. That was the last Harry event of its kind. The end of a era.

The Honda is Gone

Well it has been nearly 10 years since I came home off my mission and purchased this little beauty. It saw me through post mission weirdness, post mission dating and marriage and 7 years of school. I drove it to San Francisco three times (one of those trips it carried out just about every earthly possession my friend Mark had). Seattle once for my honeymoon. North as far as Yellowstone twice. South to Saint George three times. East to Denver once. I drove it everywhere I could along the Wasatch front. And one never-to-be-forgotten drive from Seattle to San Diego and everywhere in between. It ended its service as a construction car forced to carry tools from job to job. I put 143,000 miles on it. It saw me through the most formative years of my life. - Today we donated it to JOY.

So I salute you Honda, you did me proud.

Bellybutton

So every once in a while I remember that I have a bellybutton. Since I've accumulated some extra padding around it I realized today that it has become kind of deep. Like a little cave.

Finally I Write Again

I haven’t posted anything for a while. I wasn’t sure what I should say here. I would really like a place to talk frankly about personal things. But I was unsure how much of my artistic endeavors should be mixed in with personal musings. I have resolved those issues. I will soon have a website where I will concentrate on my work. This blog will be personal and honest. I will include artwork here sometimes but I won’t direct people here when they are interested in my work.

Snow

Finally, we get a real snow down here in the valley. I came out of my office at 2:00 AM this morning to find the city enveloped in snow - and it was still coming down. There was hardly a track in any of it.

So quiet.

I still love this.

Discount Clothing

I hate going to discount stores like Ross and TJ Max.
Let me make myself clear - I don't mind finding a deal every now and then - and I hate spending a lot of money on clothing. Sometimes I fear that I will grow old and stale and miserly and will keep wearing the same black tee shirts that I am wearing now. So when I go into one of those stores and find good jeans or a nice shirt for a few bucks I feel like I beat the system. But that is why I hate them. As soon as I look down at the rack of strange mega-baggy pants, with labels I recognize and many I don't, or at shirts that are just a few years behind the curve, I always feel a wave of disgust come over me. It is, at times, appalling to look at the wealth of our society. Not just that we have much more than we need but that – in the end – none of it is really valuable. It's all trifle. We are told what styles of clothing to purchase and we pay dearly for that style. In just a few short years – what we once valued so highly – is relegated to the discount store to remind us that we pay too much and value too highly things that have little intrinsic value and little inherent value. I always question my self and my life work in such situations. Am I producing anything of real value?

In the end though, I am never interested in trudging through the philosophical underpinnings of the conceptual nature of value. Or the debatable importance art plays in society. So I just dig through the trash and find something I think I could tolerate wearing and leave.

At Least It's a Start

Since I have absolutely nothing to do and I love typing I have decided to start a blog. This might be the most boring blog of all time. My posts might be the smallest you’ve ever read but I don’t care. I might not have a lot to say (or have the ability to type what I do want to say) but I am going to say it anyway. Even if the “you” I’m writing to is just me.