So I'm 20 now...

The following is a personal narrative about some stuff.


I did it! I made it to the double decade mark! It's hard to believe that I'm no longer a teenager and that i survived 20 years without any major blemishes along the way. Sure I fucked up at places along the way, but who doesn't? It was all part of the grand spectacle that is life. So many experiences I've had, some good, some bad, but all were meant for something. Every little ripple in your life has an affect on all of the other little ripples, there is no such thing as a "bad decision" only outcomes, and the way you make those decisions determines weather the outcome is a fortunate one or an un-fortunate one.

In 20 years of life I have seen 7306 days, or 631,238,400 seconds. That is 631,238,400 different decisions my body has made and 7306 opportunities to view the outcome, and experience the consequences of those decisions. Right now I live with my best friend in Chicago. We have a spacious two bedroom apartment that has, fine furnishings, interesting (yet classy) decor, and a studio that we fill with fine art. Both Matt and I have jobs, a social life, and maintain acceptable grooming habits. I would like to assume that I lead a very fulfilling life that brings me happiness.

Where I am in life right now is directly related, in some way, to everything I have done thus far in life. Not everything, however, was affected strictly upon my prior dictations; Nature, one's environment, and one's nurturing have quite a bit to do with it. A lot of my decisions were made because i was reacting to my pre-disposed and acquired notions towards the situation I was in.

The one only thing that I truly, truly believe in, is, "As you live your life, put as much positivity around you as possible. You MUST make YOURSELF happy, no one else has that power. Experience lots of different things with a truly open mind, then make a decision, and by making those decisions you will end up someplace in life, at some point in life, where you really do find true happiness". I most certainly do not live my life this way in complete line with my belief, but I try too, and I plan on striving to do so from now on.

I guess that what I am describing is a lot like Karma, which it is, but only more active. You are the master of your destiny, but at least try and be good person. please.

In my twenty years of life, I feel like i am finally entitled to say such things with some for of credibility. So thank you, thank you to everyone who i have known, seen, or even heard of, Thank you Mom, Dad, and Cleone, and thank you to my friends, whom most of my decisions where made with. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, me.

Made a pizza....

Recently, Matt and I inherited all of the essential equipment to make out own pizza's from scratch. Pizza stone, peel, and brush accounts for the heavy equipment. Yeast, Flour, and Corn Meal accounts for the laborers. We decided that yesterday was the day to attempt our first creation.

Prior to the culinary extravaganza we painted, cleaned, and played some good music, making sure that we filled the space with positive vibrations. We mixed up our yeast and flour for the dough and let that magic happen, while the dough was steady rising, I set out preparing the ingredients.



First, I Chopped up all of the toppings (red onion, red pepper, tomatoes, and peperoni), and let that chill out in the fridge. I felt that this pizza, although special, was lacking some flair, so i thought that i could add a twist on standard pizza sauce. I minced up some garlic and leftover onion and put it in a really hot pan for a few moments, it smelled so good, then I added that mixture, along with various spices to canned tomato sauce. At this point it tasted pretty delicious, but I remembered that Tyler had once told me that G.J.'s pizza in Traverse City added beer to their sauce... That inspired me to add about 3/4 of a bottle of PBR and a pinch of sugar to my sauce. The end result was phenomenal!


At this point the dough was done rising and we were ready to get cracking. Matt and I promptly began throwing our dough around the room, needless to say the kitchen was a mess at this point.
We ended up forming some rough circles and topped the Za's.










They took about 20 minutes in the oven (we made 3) and got 4 big slices out of each one. We called a couple of friends over to help eat them, and they both agreed that they were awesome pizzas! They tasted so good, fresh ingredients, homemade crust, semi homemade sauce, and gooey cheese......all for under 4 dollars. Three better than restaurant quality pizzas, for under Four dollars...Why isn't everyone doing this?

Self Portraits

Wow, I haven't had a chance to write, take pictures, or post in what seems like an eternity! So much has happened in the last week, its all kind of blended together and become on big blur. Im working a lot, which i don't mind, but it doesnt give me much time for myself or others. I go into work around 10 pm and dont get off until 6 am so all of the normal people are pre-occupied with their sleep, but I cant blame them.
Work has been good though, making a little money and meeting a lot of people. It's all pretty standard restaurant stuff, a lot of bickering, and the usual characters are present. There is the girl who could snap at any time, the drama queen, the self proclaimed head server, and lazy bussers. Basically, I feel at home!
So I checked out some of Terry Richardson stuff recently, and i was really inspired by it. I dig his swaggah! The way his photos come together, they are so organic and honest, they really get to the core of the subject, easily. I want my photos to be like that, I don't like editing too much, I HATE posed photos (unless you are working with a solid model), and i just think that art should flow naturally. I highly suggest checking out his work on Tumblr or his website.

So yeah, Terry Richardson, what a guy. Thats where the inspiration for these photos came from. I wanted to do a really simple self portrait, but i wanted it to be me, or at least how i was in that particular moment in time. These were the results. I did do a little editing to them, smoothed the skin, adjusted the exposure and saturation, and maybe a little black and white conversion, but nothing major. I think that even behind a mask of computer generated effect, the subject remained the same, which is what i was going for.

Creatures of the night.

So its official, I am a midnight warrior. I've recently started working at a new restaurant called Elly's, its a 24 hour breakfast diner on North Ave. and Clark, and I am working the graveyard. Last night was the first all-nighter that the restaurant has pulled, and the first I've pulled in a long time. The shift went by quicker than i had expected and we had far less charicters of interest than what I had initially thought. The lack of money/crazy people will only be temporary, im sure. After a little word of mouth and some good publicity we will be up to our eyeballs in drunkards. I would, however, have to say, that for a Wednesday overnight 70% of our patrons were just leaving the bars on Division, and the other 30% was the bar and nightclub staff who are up and hungry at 4:30 A.M. All in all i would have to say that it was a good night, and i look forward to doing it again tonight, tomorrow, and beyond.

Plants and animals.

So Amy is in town (Matt's woman) and we decided to go to the Lincoln Park Conservatory. It was rad, i wish i knew about this sooner, its the perfect place to get out of the cold. It's always a balmy 80 in there and its full of Palm trees, Orchids, Ferns, and Spring wildflowers! The best part of the whole thing is, it's free!

What you see in my hand is a coffee bean. They also had 2 different kinds of Oranges, Grapefruit, Venus fly traps, and Snap Dragons. The Snap Dragons were my fave. The Sausage plant was pretty cool too. I kept that photo in the private stock, if ya know what i mean?

So I did.

Pretty things.

It's 40 and sprinkling out, but i feel i need to go long boarding. So i will.

Things I saw today.

This day was too gorgeous to waste, so I went up to Evanston, home of Northwestern University. I walked around campus in a really loud spring jacket, and took every opportunity to look like i was enjoying the shit out of the day ( i really was). This meant eating a packed lunch on a bench, near a busy campus walkway, in gleaming sunshine, and loving it long time. I hope people saw me and decided to take a second today and enjoy it for themselves.

I saw a lot more than what i took pictures of, (obviously) but I was too preoccupied with the weather.

Whenever you can have days like this, you should try and squeeze every bit of fulfillment as you can out of it. It's going to be soon enough, or maybe it is already upon you, but someday most of your "Blue Bird" day's will belong to someone else. So go to college, don't go to college, work, whatever! Just make sure that you are happy more times than you are not.

Swedish Glam Rock

So this is a band I heard in MDP's "Picture This" (sweet video) and I thought it was pretty cool.
Sometimes. I guess this band did some work with "The Darkness" and "the Cardigans", which is pretty cool, again, sometimes. I'd like to think that "The Ark's" best song is "One of us is gonna die young", if its not to bold of me, I would like to suggest you listen to it. sometime.

Theme track for the day

YO! Bluebird day, dig it.

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The weather today. Awesome. It gets me geared up for summer, i dont think that i have ever been more excited for a season. Honestly, the cosmos must shift with the seasons, fall brings nostalgia, winter brings a time of scarsity, spring is a new awakening and rejuvenation, and the summer brings life and excitement!

There are so many opportunities associated with warmer weather, you would be a fool to waste them . It (summer) allows us to comfortably get out of our houses and learn about ourselfs, try new things, and relax a little. When my upstairs neighbor moved out, he left a small Weber grill, and i plan on using it soon and often, anyone who reads this is welcome to come and cook out with me. Cook out's are rad. Just saying.

The above photo was taken in August of 2008, a more simple time. Matt and I went on a run up the Lelanau Peninsula for his job (photographer for a Realtor) and had a great time, until i got called into work and had to bust ass all the way around East and West Bay to Elk Rapids, but it was still a sweet day.

Pizza Chef?

So i went here for a second interview today (rode my bike, awesome) and it was a very positive experience. I'm probably going to end up cooking here, nothing is certain, but im feeling good. I guess they make a bitching deep-dish, so thats rad.


On my Bike ride there i listened to RHCP, and thought to myself, "its been two years, new album please". RHCP should go back to their "Blood Sugar Sex Magic" roots and put something out that will funk our faces off. just saying.

It's sunny outside.

I love the sunshine, not only is it vital to life, but it makes you feel good. Even if there is still snow on the ground and its 35 with 15 mph winds.


So this picture was taken in February at the Nature Center in Albion MI. Thats Matt you see with the grin, he is holding something in his hand that we enjoyed the alot of on our recent trip to the aforementioned location. The item could be anything really, you dont know, and couldn't know unless you were there. It might be a beer? Or it might be an invisibility crystal that gives its holder magic powers and the ability to reign over the dragons!

Welcome to the Blogosphere, me.

Hello,

So its march now and after an exciting, uncertain, different, and challenging 5 months in Chicago things are looking up. Im getting Job offers, meeting new people, doing new things and really taking an interest in my photography. That really the main reason for this Blog, my pictures. Blogs can be an outlet for shameless self-promotion, but im going to try and keep it fair and balanced like Fox News, so for now i just plan on using my Blog as an outlet for my thoughts. You may read some poetry, look at photos, explore links, and learn about something you didn't know before.

The Photo above was taken sometime December using big aperture, long exposure, and a self timer. To create the laser beams, i used a leftover glow stick in a very dark hallway with about a 12 second exposure time and a 800 iso speed. The blue tint in the foreground is from the UV Christmas lights i have hanging in the living room, this was an un-expected sprinkling of cool on top of a really fun project. I went a little crazy that night doing about 40 exposures of myself and 20 using Matt (my roomate) as a model.