Though Provoking Drive Thru

I like that rush of eating and driving at the same time. I don't know if I am the only person who does this, but I assume I am. I realized this the other day. I like that challenge of juggling my burrito in my left while steering and holding my cell in my right, while shifting. Now if you're reading this and you drive an automatic you don't really know what I'm talking about. See, us people who still have a stick shift gotta shift gears every 10 seconds when we're driving on the street. Usually I wait to eat/talk till I get on the freeway cruising at 70 because I think that is safer because I don't have to shift and can drive with my knees, but as I write this I realize that doesn't sound that good.

I don't know at what point in my life I went through the transition from hating the people who drive and multi-task, to becoming one of them. I used to just be able to just chill, bang my music and be alone with my thoughts. I still do that most of the time but those couple of times a week when I have the opportunity to multi-task while driving I am always done for it.

Now there are a couple times when it is even more risky to eat and drive. One, would be when you're on your way to a meeting. It's these times when you have to be extra careful. You got your slacks on, collared shirt and tie and your quarterpounder in your left hand. Usually I try to eat in my office, bring my lunch from home, or eat out with colleagues but on those occasions when you are rushing, didn't eat breakfast and it's lunch time and you have a long ass meeting to sit through you have to take the risk of eating and driving. I have had a couple embarrassing moments of spillage in just the right place that require some good napkins to take off, but it could be worth that rush and a full stomach.

I guess I could also talk about the rush of starting your own business and having multiple part-time jobs and driving between them all 10 hours a day (call it hustling for lack of a better term) but that will we save for another blog.

A San Diego Day

Damn. there is something about San Diego, especially when you are staying with close friends in the now gentrified community of north park and have a VIP pass to the San Diego film festival from my good friends at FlagPop Productions. Saturday night was filled with free booze, clubbing, too much social networking and some powerful and some crappy films. Gentrification is a sad concept. middle/upper class rich folk moving in to help develop a usually older traditionally minority community and then subsequently turning into a haven for hipsters and overly manicured lawns and overpriced bars.

Saturday was filled with times of self-reflection and good conversations with great people. I spent a couple hours wondering by myself, eating a tuna melt sandwich from Anthony's by the bay, thrift store shopping and having a couple random interesting conversations with strangers. I think in Amerika we have a little problem with self and society. Even in San Diego the city with great beaches, local bars, a convenient airport, a semi-content homeless population, happy tourists and an over glamorized "college" scene.

I have been thinking. we need to embrace art more and if everyone really followed their passions in life im agine how different the societies we live in would be. I hope that the time is coming soon to declare our independence to the cooperate sector and focus on community, unconditional love and fostering creativity.

This morning was beautiful. (Sunday) I went on a long walk and bought some magazines and small coffee. Went to a local soccer game and had nice greasy fresh with guacamole California burrito, came back to the apartment and sat outside appreciating the cool breeze and smoked a long anticipated cigar from Honduras, drinking some white leaf tea and read a bit.

I forgot to mention, don't ever park in Horton Plaza in the Gaslamp district in downtown San Diego. Or if you do, get your ticket validated before the shops close at 11pm. 56 dollars is what I paid for parking, insane huh? Damn the man. But I am over it. I just paid for the

last ten years of good luck parking I have had and hopefully for another ten years.

I think right now I should be hitting spell check to make sure my dyslexic tendencies have not escaped into my typing and I think right now I should be summarizing my three main points in my "blog". I love ending any paper and starting the last paragraph with "in conclusion" I feel like that is one of the few things I learned in my public high school English classes…

Talking to God is important. Listening to yourself is also very important. Keep your friends close. Forget about your enemies because you shouldn't have any. Let creativity flow in any and every avenue possible.

2068 Obituary

The first assignment in this Calarts class I am taking right now was to write your own obituary. So here it goes.

As an artist with a reclusive but overwhelming personality and as a designer with conviction David Kietzman was a key figure in the American 21st century. As much as anyone since Jasper Johns, he raised the awareness of the American public to the fact that art needs to have a message and that message needs to make a social impact. He was less worried about his art hanging on famous walls and more worried that what he did would not make it into the homes and minds of the common person.

Kietzman was strong-willed, hard-working and innovative in his approach to art making. Using his knowledge as a graphic designer and his passion for found art he created works of mixed media design that challenged the norm. He would sit alone in his garage with junk collecting all around him waiting to meet inspiration, would walk for hours to find that perfect piece of wood, and take days off from work living in the "ghettos" of the world relishing random conversations with strangers.

Kietzman won numerous awards including the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, in 2047 and the National Medal of Arts in 2051. He frequently traveled to Central and South American, Italy and New York visiting close family friends and searching unknown dedicated galleries in which to throw shows. His last show in 2061 drew a large crowd including the local barber and politician.

"Art has no need to be complicated and should go past any language and cultural boarders that we create… as an artist I have the responsibility to create my thoughts and make a difference" he said in 2037 in an interview with The New Yorker.

what da blood clot

It feels good to be home even though I'll be sitting on the coach for the next two weeks. In the last days I spent a couple hours in emergency and 20 slow hours in bed watching tv, dreaming and drawing. I had a couple blood clots in my leg. It runs in the family. I hate taking the meds. In the emergency room I spent my time laying next to a young girl who was 'crazy'. For about an hour they were restraining her while she went on yelling rants about religion and constipation, talking to her many intimidating invisible friends in the room and attempting to convince everyone else in the room they could let her go. They injected her with something because after an hour went by she was having semi-normal conversations with everyone in the room. We had a crazy conversation about why we have hospitals and her dreams about being an artist. And I don't know if this is good or bad, but doctors and nurses were coming over and checking out my leg. I guess deep vein thrombosis as bad as mine is rare.

Hospitals cost so damn much. I was able to get out of the doctor that the average cost for a bed at the hospital would cost about $5k. Granted thats a private hospital, but fuck. When I said I might want to check myself out early I had to talk to the director at the hospital telling me the dangers of dieing if I moved around too much. Then the nurses had to convince me not to go to the county hospital because they said I would die there. At this point you have to question what your life is worth. It ended up costing me a nice payment plan. I don't have insurance. So I shouldn't be going out for about 2 years.

My second room where I had to spend the night had this older gentlemen who couldn't stop coughing. I felt real bad for him and I think the nurses felt real bad for me, so they moved him. Had some good friends stop by. Parents stopped by. Nurse stopped by on an hourly basis to check my vitals. One of them was cute.