"There Is That Swagger."

Gawker and The NYT have officially willed it so: Butchers are the new hotness. "Big guys with knives who are covered in blood"? Welcome to my mind. (Except in my mind, these guys all buy a six pack after work and watch baseball on a black and white television while listening to Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska until they pass out in a chair. Oh, and they all probably resemble that Luke guy from Gilmore Girls in some way, except with way worse skin.)

Cabbage Section

I went to Babyland General Hospital for the very first time over the weekend. If you really want a glimpse into the psychotic nature of this place, look no further than this video my friend shot while we were there:



Total commitment to premise! I LOVED IT.

Hello! So I decided to do a summer blog over at Tumblr until I figure out how to make this site look better. I pretend it's like going to summer camp (which I never actually attended), except on the Internet. How's that for fulfilling a childhood dream?

http://camplittlewolf.tumblr.com

I Missed You

I've been meaning to post a little placeholder here all week. I've been back for about four days now and of course have been trying to play catch up with work, sleep, life, America...

Needless to say, my trip was completely mind blowing. I saw and experienced both good and bad things and dealt with a lot of complex thoughts and emotions while I was there. It's kind of too much to go into right now; the one really great thing though is that my grandfather was actually out of the hospital and was staying with my cousin David by the time we got there. Apparently he was feeling pretty good and we got to spend a lot more time with him than I originally thought. Of course I was really worried before I left that we'd have to see him in a hospital, or even worse, have to go to a funeral, so I couldn't have asked for anything better in that regard.

I do really want to kind of share my feelings and thoughts of the past couple of weeks, so hopefully this weekend I can put something literate together. The other option is that I kept a pretty extensive journal while I was there and was thinking of transferring everything I wrote down word for word here, since it's probably the easiest thing to do at this point. I also took over 400 photographs, which I've already been slowly uploading to my Flickr account...

Right now I'm just really glad to be home. Thanks to anyone that sent me an email or a text or a Facebook message while I was gone. As predicted, I wasn't "on the grid" at all during my trip but was able to read them when I got back. It's nice to know you guys were thinking of me in my absence.

See you soon. xoxo

All I Want To Know

This morning I found out for certain that my mother, sister, and I will be traveling to the Philippines in about two and a half weeks. We're going to visit my grandfather who is very sick and in the hospital there. My sister and I have never met him before...or my grandmother, for that matter. In fact, we've actually never met anyone from my mom's side of the family (besides a cousin of her's who lives in North Carolina). Pretty crazy considering my mom has thirteen brothers and sisters, none of whom we've ever seen or spoken to before in our lives.

Needless to say, it's going to be a pretty intense trip. I know it's going to be totally amazing and life-changing, and I'm really looking forward to knowing more about this part of me, seeing where my mom grew up, that sort of thing. Unfortunately I'm anticipating that it's going to be a sad trip, considering the state my grandfather is in. I'm preparing myself for a least one breakdown a day.

According to my mom and dad, the family lives in a pretty rural portion of the country. We're going to have to take a plane from Manila to get there. (My mom said she took a boat the last time she was there and, "almost drowned, so a plane. We're taking a plane.") I'm kind of hoping it's not one of those small, Buddy Holly type planes. I hate those things. I've also got an appointment to get a bunch of shots tomorrow, including some anti-malaria pills I have to take. My friend Greg told me they can give you some "fucked up dreams", which I'm not looking forward to (or maybe I am?).

Right now everything seems very surreal, like it's not actually happening. Alternately, I'm freaking out about getting my affairs in order. Registering with state departments, finding travel clinics, collecting books, website addresses, phone numbers, borrowing backpacks, trying to figure out who's going to water my plants. All of this is coming at a really weird time for me, admittedly. I feel like I've been dealing with so many crazy, stressful things since the end of 2008, and the idea of throwing a two week trip to the other side of the world in the middle of it seems completely insane. Of course, I must jump on this opportunity to go. It's really kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

I don't know how off the "grid" I'm going to be when I'm there -- maybe I can find a way to get on the Internet somehow. I know I don't usually post things of uber personal nature on here, but I'm hoping this blog will be a good way to at least keep my friends in the loop with what's going on. And of course, expect a shitload of pictures and analysis when I return.

Anyway, I'll probably pop back on this a few more times before my trip as the details start to unfold...stay tuned...

"It’s a lot of work to like the bands that are a little more obscure."

Oh Kelly Johnson, how you set my heart a flutter. Especially now that I know you were a ska punk kid in high school.


Q. What kind of music do you like?

A. It’s whatever’s on the radio now, but when I was in high school, I would have not talked to somebody that liked what was on the radio. It’s changed a lot. It’s a lot of work to like the bands that are a little more obscure. I don’t really feel like doing that anymore. All the punk and ska bands, you’ve got to hunt them down to find out what you like, whereas you can throw the radio on and listen to some music.



http://www.ajc.com/braves/content/sports/braves/stories/2009/03/30/braves_kelly_johnson.htm
(Thanks to Doug for the link!)

We Are Going To Eat You

Won't you please come on down to the art show?




(Poster designed by the wonderful human being, Jon Walters.)

I'm really excited about this, as it's something that Eric and I have been wanting to do ever since we heard about the Crazy 4 Cult show out in Los Angeles (and more importantly, the unbelievable paintings done by my personal internet/design hero, Kirk Demarais of "Secret Fun Spot" fame). I think we've got some great artists participating and it should be a lot of fun. Hope to see you there!