June was jam-packed. I took a week long excursion up the California coast to nice places like Big Sur and San Francisco. I took my little sister and her friend to the Delmar Fair to see Switchfoot brah! I Bought some fudge for Grandma and made sure to eat some greasy things.
I refuse to call it the San Diego County Fair.
Then July came around, Bloody Marys and oysters seemed to be the theme.
On July 2nd I was stoked to be chosen as the designer for Local Produce v.2 at the Ivy. I had a blast designing the flyer LIVE at the event along side Colour Vision and SQZMYLMNZ. I was absolutely blown away by the amazing writeup Taylor Doms published. I’m still in disbelief anyone could write so much good stuff about me! Thanks to everyone involved, especially The Mixster for inviting me to contribute – Below is a taste of some of the fun I had at the event:
Also, I teamed up with my dear friend and wonderfully talented illustrator, Leah Goren for the very first time to create a poster in celebration of the 40th anniversary of two amazing people. Check it out below – I haven’t had this much fun working on a project in quite some time:
Every week for the past three years, or so, I’ve been taking the 15 bus down 10th Ave. About a month ago i did a huge double-take and slapped both hands onto the glass of the window as I was chauffeured into East Village, San Diego. To my amazement an entire corner was bombed with blue posters donning the iconic symbol. I did my research and quickly discovered the poster is part of Product Etcetera’s Westside Love project. You can learn more here.
I had been planning for a while to return and snag one off the wall for my self… luckily I ran into Product Etcetera founder, Jordan Stark and he said he’d just give me one… so that worked out. Yesterday his partner, Tony Martinez stopped by theHIVE, as promised, and dropped off a poster for me.I can’t wait to frame it. I’m stoked for June 3… PE is taking over 5&A Dime to launch a pop-up-shop and celebrate the the Product Etc. brand launch. Details below.
I’m excited for this. There’s nothing I love more than watching great things happen in my city. Hats off to the Product Etcetera team for going big on this. Keep your eye peeled for some Westside Love in your ‘hood – you won’t want to miss it.
It’s been a while since we’ve talked… I’ve been real busy.
In the days of old we used to have ‘Creative Fridays’ – we got paid to dick around and make stuff. I always thought that it was a joke and a waste of money for our boss “… Can’t we just have ‘Go to the Beach Fridays’ instead?…” Well, turned out to be very valuable. The value was in taking a break from our daily task list and actually creating something… something wouldn’t have otherwise done. We allocated time in the week simply to do something new – it was brain exercise and I liked it. …So I’ll be starting up ‘Creative Friday’ again. This time I won’t get paid for it though, that’s sort of a bummer (unless some one wants to sponsor me). I encourage you to do the same… schedule two or three hours in your work week to do/make/think something different.
I have been doing a lot of thinking lately based on the realization that I have entered a stage in my life that many fear but all must overcome, the transition from Student to Professional. I would think that there are many like me. And like me, they might have dreams of being one with their community while relentlessly pursuing what they love to do. I had an Idea today that I should find these people, bring them together under one roof and stun the City with a pinpoint of creative light so bright that San Diego’s outer shell of mediocrity would be burned clean off. Of course, I’m not really sure how to do this yet, an it could prove to be a challenge.
Now for me, there are a few things I desire at this point.
One is to move closer to the Greater San Diego Metropolitan Area where I can easily walk to a bus stop, a grocery store, hell, Maybe even a bar. (I don’t have a car and I don’t want one and I think my quality of life would improve living in a nice community that is central to the City. Ideally South Park or Golden Hill.)
Two is to have a kick-ass office space (where my bed is not visible from my desk). A space that is built for getting the good stuff done. A space where I can have other people around to bounce ideas off of, where I can bring an intern to help me out with out creeping them out with my laundry that still needs to be folded. A place that is dedicated to making ideas. Essentially – a coworking space limited to only the best folks you can find that all work for themselves in symbiotic fields.
So friends I propose to you a live work mansion of sorts. The house would be a sort of professional Fraternity of creative folks living and working together under one roof. The house would have a name and our individual creative forces could be promoted as one under this name. Not a firm or a co-op but more or less a Coalition of Creative Collaborators. It’ll be like killing two birds with one stone – except instead of killing ‘em We’re helping them Fly!!!! A-huh-Laaaaghh!!!! (tongue out and hang loose sign with both hands)
This may be a lofty dream of a creative utopia but I say lets do it. It will just take the right people and a realization of my detailed and complex schematics below.
Today I was privileged to enjoy a fantastic rainy Saturday with my friends. I was delightfully disconnected. Both my phone and computer had died on Friday night and being with out a car, in the rain meant, I was staying at Keegan’s house that night with no means of charging my devices. The trek home would have been difficult. Keegan and I went for a late breakfast at one of my favorite spots, Toby’s 19th Hole, looking over the City and the golf course. Due to the rain, an amazing river formed in the fairway, 25 feet wide and 3 or four feet deep (from the looks of it). Quite a pleasurable viewing experience accompanied by hot coffee, eggs and potatoes.
Then we picked up Max from the Zoo (he was on a field trip or something) and headed east to El Cajon, home of Wild Bill’s Western Emporium. I bought 2 sweet pairs of Wranglers ($25 a piece and they fit like jeans ought to). It feels good to have some new jeans, I’ve been wearing the same three pairs for about a year now, each of which have been patched several times and now are at the point of disintegration.
Next we headed to an Army surplus store where, indeed, I found the coolest pair of shoes you could find, (used) Navy-Seal issue “Guppies” aka “Coral Crawlers.” I also bought a pair of ultra-sturdy (used) military issue eyeglasses I plan to turn into sunglasses.
On the way back home, Max mentioned he needed to cut some Nopales for a dish he was planning to bring to a potluck tonight. We video taped the outing and decided that Max will host a new video segment for TMY that will educate viewers about all the edible plants that just grow around town. We’ll call it “Urban Edibles” or something lame like that.
