Flying over JFK. Oddly, we had a airbus - the old school truck-people-mover things that drive up to the plane in place of the expandable drawbridge. I thought I'd go swimming at the pool and meet friends after. Instead, I watched Lost and passed out and didn't see anyone.

( LOTS and LOTS of images... )

( A lot more pics... )

Until a few days ago, I've been in Needles, and not Goffs. Needles is were I went to school; Goffs is where I grew up. Needles has about 5,000 people and Goffs has about 23. Needles and Goffs are super redneck-y, but Democrat-lovin' as well. God, guns, family, and Democrats. Oh, and crystal meth, beer, fighting, and motocross.

I grew up around scorpions, tarantulas, snakes, jackrabbits and coyotes. In Needles, I go for a walk every day (as long as it's not hotter than 90 degrees) but I've only seen a few jackrabbits, a bunch of lizards, a few quail, but no snakes or scorpions or coyotes (but I hear the coyotes at night). One thing I was looking forward to: stars. I seriously miss the stars. Needles still has too much light pollution, so I couldn't wait to get to Goffs, AND it's a new moon. Still, even in Goffs, the light from Las Vegas (two and half hours away) obscures the northern horizon as if the sun is coming.

I worked with my mom, who got a temp job as an "enumerator" for the US census. She drives around the surrounding environ with a GPS and "tags" houses for the Fed. (She looks up what info the GPS thing has and makes sure it's correct.) I hadn't talked to my dad, since his number no longer worked and he's sort of an "off the grid" sort of guy. So I had my mom drive me to Goffs and I left a whole bunch of Post-It notes all over his doors.

In Needles, I watch endless cable TV, and eat endless junk food. Not working on my comic, watching bad TV, eating peanut butter wafers, watching news channels, eating Ranch flavored Doritos, Yoo Hoos, and eating and watching whatever crap my step-siblings want to eat or want to watch. When I get back to NYC, I'll have to hide out for a month just to get back in shape. I walk through the desert about an hour or so a day (because I like to) but that doesn't do a damn thing when I'm shoving gallons of high fructose corn syrup down my throat.

( Tons and tons of pics... )

Me holding a little chick.

( Tons and tons of pics... )

This is an impromptu trip. I was originally going to fly to Mexico City, hang out with a friend, and then the two of us were going to drive down to Central America. After about a month, I would fly back to Las Vegas and visit my parents in Goffs and Needles, California.

But my friend in Mexico City got a directing job in Miami. So I bought a ticket to Needles, Ca.

It's quiet here. The desert is all desaturated pastels. I haven't seen my mom or her family and three or four years? I used to think the desert was ugly, but I see the beauty in it, even if it is austere.

( More pics... lots more pics... )

The view from the backyard
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Last Tuesday I went to see Alash (Tuvan Throat Singers) at Zebulon. To me, "I went to see Tuvan throat singers" sounds like the punchline or opening to a joke, but damn... they were amazing. And I mean amazing. It was one of the best shows I've seen. I literally held my breath while I was watching them. Check out their Myspace page; it's not nearly that good as the live show, but whatever.

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A few days later, I went to see Palms at Monkeytown. I was late, since they were playing on Thursday and Thursday is my Dungeons and Dragons night (seriously). Anyway, they were great, and I ended up knowing a lot of the people there, and met a super cool and hilarious member of the band.

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Recently, I've been forgetting my camera. Last night, my friend Red came over and we bullshitted until about 2am. We finally went upstairs to a neighbor's party, but it was already winding down. Then we jumped in a cab, even though we're both broke, and went to this great place in Chinatown. The place is a restaurant of some sort, and they occasionally have crazy dance parties. I ran into the bass player of The Palms and we danced until they closed, which was about an hour after we got there.

A few days before that, I saw one of the last performances of USAISAMONSTER. It was amazing and intense and I wish I would have brought my camera.

( As it used to be... lots of pics.. )

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( Something like 30 images... )

( Again, lots and lots and lots of photos... )


( Again, lots and lots and lots of photos... )

( More bike ride on a cold winter day... )


( Lots and lots and lots of photos... )

I haven't posted any photo posts for awhile, largely because I've been unsocial lately and haven't gone out. Also, my work-computer is still down, so posting images is a pain in the ass.

Anyway, my friend Everard had a surprise birthday party last night. Here's some pics.


( A bunch of pics... )

So for awhile, my pictures are going to be bigger. I caught a nasty virus about 5 days ago and it rootkited my machine. Basically, that means it went into my computer's brain and installed a remote control. AVG missed it and clearing it out wiped out my internet access. So I had to wipe my machine. Luckily, I have a newly built machine that was ready to rock. HOWEVER, my HD is one of the new drives, which didn't come with my machine, so I had to install a card to make it work. But when you're installing Windows it doesn't read the new cards and looks for a standard drive. In order to fix that I need a FLOPPY disk! That's right, a floppy disk! Or I go out and buy an old style drive. My neighbor came to the rescue and loaned me his micro-mini laptop - an ASUS EeePC that's about as big as a paperback. It's great for scanning the web, but I can't do any real work on it. But I can upload my photos to it, but not to my site because I don't remember any of my passwords! So for now everything goes to Facebook and then here. (I also don't remember my email password, so I haven't read my mail in days.)

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My friend Sean had a Holiday Party on the Eve of Christmas Eve. I had a rollicking conversation about economics and politics. He was a conspiracy minded libertarian, so we had a crazed discussion that cast a 3' Bubble of Avoidance around us for the duration of our babbling.


( A bunch of photos... )

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The night before I went to my friend Amalia's place, had dinner and sang karaoke. Before that, I wandered the city, ate dumplings, and drew.


( A bunch of photos... )

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( An unbelievable amount of photos... )

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For the last month I've had my Movie Night at a nearby restaurant. So far it's worked well, but the 'homeyness" of showing movies in my living room is lost. A few weeks ago, I had another movie night at my place. We watched the most contemporary film I've ever shown, Doppelganger by Kurosawa.

( This is really a photo dump, so there are lots... )

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( This is really a photo dump, so there are lots... )

( This is really a photo dump, so there are lots... )

( Read more... )

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I'm bored by my photo posts, but I know future-me will be happy that I recorded these for posterity. Memory is fickle, but photos? Not so much. They ground memory and sometimes shake it free, letting it recall what was formerly shadow or smoke.

( Read more... )

( Read more... )

So it was my birthday a few days ago. I didn't do anything 'cause I was working, but I did have a nice meal, and a few friends took me out. Here's some of that:

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So I wanted to go out dancing for my birthday, but none of my friends were interested. Thankfully, I found a few people who were down, so I went. And had a blast. This girl I don't know that well, named Blaze (seriously!) is one of the finest dancers I've ever seen. And the girl is an energizer bunny - she danced non-stop, all night. (She's also a damn good artist.)

( A gazillion pictures! )

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My friend just taught her first lecture at Columbia (on Mies van der Rohe) and we went and sat in the back of the lecture hall to give her support. After, we drank too much wine, and went back to her place and cooked a meal. I also drew some pictures which I'll scan in and post, eventually.


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I've been pretty busy.

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( A gazillion pictures! )

( A gazillion pictures! )

( A gazillion pictures! )

I went upstate for a friend's birthday. His mom lives in a beautiful house on a hill. We played pétanque (which is marbles for adults), shot arrows, ate tons of food, and generally had a great time in an arboreal wonderland.

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It was a good summer. Here are some photos I forgot to post.

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