Empty house... full heart... clean slate...

OK... been nearly a month since my last post... sorry kids...

Staying busier than I'd really expected. Quite a few projects at work while we have some relatively quiet months over the summer. The last few days has been about laying about 3,200 feet of new flooring down in one of our oldest theaters. Started this project about two weeks ago. Paint goes down tomorrow & then we should be in the home stretch.

Spent the weekend before July 4th helping my brother help some friends. A couple of his good friends who live in town here (my bro lives in NJ) needed some help getting some medical bills payed. They are both amazing & good hearted people who have gracefully faced a lot of adversity. This time they needed a hand. My brother organized a BBQ & Blues benefit. We got a great spot at a local park & every on chipped in with food & funds. & a little gospel & blues music & a pony keg of good beer and you got a party. Seventy or so folks showed up & we raised over $5,000. That should carry them for about 3 months with all their medical expenses.

The 4th was all about spending time around the house & working in the garden. Slowly but surely I'll make myself a little Eden.

My body is still adjusting a bit to the humid summer days that turn into humid summer nights. We've been getting some amazing thunder storms in the evenings. I know these same storms are wreaking havoc else where but they sure do cool things down around here. Afterwards, the crickets & cicadas fill the world with a sound that splits the air. Right now, that sound seems to be pouring fire into the clouds as the sun finally gives it a rest for the day.


I notice that a friend has left the sight... Ms.FluxCapacitor... I don't think I'm the only one who will miss her spirit around here.

the Girl has been here just over a week...
Relieved anticipation... A tumultuous co-mingling of personal & persona. A re-seeing of each other and our own reflections. Not every action perfect or every word gentle. But every breath is love and life, clarifying even a moment of confusion.

I've never made a home so seriously. Each time before has been a trial & mostly alone. If anything, a process of divining what I did not want my house and heart to be interwoven with.
We've made our space and made our bed. Bought furniture & appliances. Decorated... served dinner to family. Accommodated pets as well as our own pet peeves. We've divided up drawers in dressers and a side of the closet. Her girly balms & ointments share counter space with my rough razor & mannish paraphernalia. We wake each other up and wait for each other to come home.

It's as close as I've ever gotten to being so close.

Well... just a little over two weeks till the Girl moves in. We've both been working very hard at being prepared for this. Over the years that we have been together the idea of playing house has been floated a couple of times. But it always seemed that circumstances never quite lined up to make it possible.
At this point, however, it's pretty hard to deny they way that the universe has been presenting itself to us both in a way that makes this feel like the right time. I land a new job in the place I wanted to be, She finds two studios that are vying for her to teach classes. I find a great house that is affordable, close to work and big enough for the both of us. We both seem to have gotten a clearer head about the way we want to live our lives and have found that this opens up our hearts to even more possibilities.
As a friend reminded me the other day, it would seem that we are no longer talking about "playing house". This woman and I are continuing on the journey of making a life together and beginning the process of making a home.
It makes me a bit nervous... a whole lot of happy.... and very excited about every day that we will wake up in each other's arms.

I'm an old man

First week in the new house. Starting to feel like home. Spending more time at work than home though. Late nights unpacking & arranging the house. Finally got interweb connection. Feeling a bit less isolated. Touring up to Boone, NC for a couple days with an opera. The extra cash will help pay for the new furniture.
A little exhausted but glad to be settling in.

Well... I've survived my first couple weeks on the new job. Seems like I'm getting along with the crew & getting past that awkward "Hey, I'm the newest most uninformed guy in the room" phase. The large scope of the job was a bit intimidating at first & the Boss is still pushing me to be more "boss like" with the crew, but I'm settled in now & ready to start cracking the whip & adding my own flavor to the mix. It's a bit hard to be as removed from the creative process as I will be for this job, but it's still art making/theatre & I'm grateful to be making a real living again.

Still staying with family right now. Can't beat the rent but I need my own space. The first house I was looking at fell through but I found a better one in a couple days. 3 bedroom, new kitchen, fireplace in the living room & master bedroom, 2 full baths, deck with a city view, fenced back yard, hardwood floors & 5 min from work... for only $1K per month. Signing a lease to move in beginning in March. Going furniture shopping this weekend for a bed & mucho other stuff.


take look

It official. I got the job & will be leaving LA in just over a week.

Nearly 22 years in this city. So many adventures... so many experiments... so many challenges... so many friends come, gone & still here. I can still remember the first day I drove into town. A 20 year old hippie punk in a Volkswagen van. Driving west on the 10 freeway into town... a beautiful wind blown surfer chic in a late 60s Mustang waving & smiling from the next lane over.
A few years at CalArts... making art every day... swimming naked in the pool... playing as hard as we worked & forming friendships that still feed my soul.
Moving into a loft with 7 other artists downtown. 8000 square feet for 2 grand a month. Seemed like so much at the time. Hanging gallery shows & producing performance art a couple times of month for a few years. Working at L.A.C.E. gallery back when it was on the east side of downtown. (anyone remember that place?) Nites walking through downtown for cheep beer & punk bands at Al's Bar. The beginnings of a career in Los Angeles. Freelancing as a designer & art department dog for tv commercials & music videos back when Propaganda was the best house to work for.
Landing my first teaching/real job at USC. Working for the Bella Lewitzky dance company in their last season. A year at Highways Performance Space with the likes of Tim Miller, Rachel Rosenthal, Ron Athey, Annie Sprinkle, John Fleck and every other naked & goo covered performance artist LA had to offer. Three years designing & building a themed casino in east county San Diego for a tribe at the height of the Indian gaming fight in California, making more money than I knew what to do with.
And finally, the last 7 years teaching at the school that brought me out here in the first place.

What a fuckin' ride.

Now it's time to pack up, move on & start the next part of my adventure. What a life.

Ok... Now I have to wait until Tuesday to get the official "yes" on the new job. This is driving me nuts. There is every indication that this is all a go. I just have to wait for the system to go through it's process.
Yeah! Bureaucracy!

At this point, I'll have less than 2 weeks to move cross country. That should be fun. I think I'll spend this weekend watching some football & college basketball and trying not to think about it.