August 6th, 2010

August 5Th, 2010:

My good friend Robert stopped in today to have me analyze some rocks which he found at the local "Bear Lake" today. Usually, when one of my students graduate, I never really see them again, so I was happy to see Robert. Robert was one of the best teachers aides I've ever had. Kind of like Sherlock Holmes "Watson", Robert is one of the most unique students I've been lucky enough to teach. He is smart, intellectual, and had no problem correcting me when I occasionally proved to be an asshole. I have the utmost respect for Robert, and he is also a writer, which makes him a bit tortured, which I completely understand. Robert is A man of keen intellect, ideas, creativity, and a certain knack of telling an entire classroom to "Shut their pie holes", OK maybe not an exact quote. But the classroom generally listened to him!

We wound up hanging out for 6 or more hours, hitting a coffee shop, then to the local thrift store to buy me some much needed furniture, and a few other errands. Damn its

good to have another like minded friend in this town. Most adults around here bore the piss out of me. Most are money grubbing, baby making machines it seems. Few

can see the world that exists in between making money, and raising kids. Most of the people I've met that exist in this obscure world, turn out to be Writers. Artists seem to be more self centered and focused on their own egos. Writers, learn as much as they can about what is around them. Few are stupid. I am far more proud to call myself a "Writer" than to admit that I am also a visual Artist, and a decent Musician. Ego is a thing which is best avoided.

Tomorrow, Robert and I will attempt to get thousand dollar organ from the pad, that my son was forced to vacate after a mere 6 weeks. It was a scene from "Animal House", but the bastard should have moved my organ first, and not just left it there.

I really don't understand how some of today's kids are so selfish. Hopefully we will

be able to get it back, it would look great here in my apartment, plus I love playing it!

Spent the rest of the night listening to "John Teshes" late night soft rock radio show on a local station, where "John" dispenses practical wisdom in between songs. Not classical wisdom, but advice like: " The studies show that people with fewer computer programs are less likely to get viruses". I miss a lot of the old songs that he plays, and I am completely sick of hearing "classic rock" which consists of the same thirty songs it seems, with "Hotel California" and "Free bird", completely overplayed.

After a dinner of Indian "MRE" food, which consisted of potato and Chana "Chickpeas", washed down with a few beers, I was able to kick back and enjoy the

sights and sounds of my new place. The city has a pulse and a life of its own which

changes hour by hour. I remember the old line from a Doors song "The cars hiss by my window, like the waves, out on the beach", and can see the similarity between the sounds of waves and traffic, that Jim Morrison seemed to notice. Traffic is not one

constant sound but a mixture of many different sounds, which ebb and flow in their intensity. Growing up next to a busy road allows me to keep my windows open, with the radio sounding in the foreground, and the waves of traffic in the background. It is a beautiful mixture of sound, and I can also do some reading while listening to this grand symphony.

Today with Robert, I bought a vintage green chair on casters, so I can roll it where I need it, and a matching pair of well built end tables, that are relics from the 1950's, both the chair and tables were outdated but in mint condition, and seem to fit in the

120 year old apartment with no clashes whatsoever. I don't want a couch, since I don;t plan on many guests at once, plus I want to save the floor space for walking around, and possibly doing a few more paintings. I also will require a desk for writing but the only ones available were huge and heavy. I might use a small card table or something, but would prefer something a bit more classy, like some of the small antique roll top desks that I've seen. I do need to watch the money since I also

plan to buy a professional saxophone, which I can play at the top of this building late at night, once I regain a certain amount of proficiency, that I have lost over the years.

Just to learn "Blue Trane" by John Coltrane, and play it with feeling, is mainly what

I aspire to do. I know I can play it, but to play it with finesse and love, should prove a challenge. In order to accomplish all this painting, music, and writing, I plan to

not subscribe to Cable or Internet this year. Of course I explained all that in my last blog.

So far being TV less has been easy. We will see once the days get shorter, and the sidewalks icier.

The next morning, I got up and had to clean the camping stuff out of my trailer. Then picked up Robert and Luiz (another one of my ex-students), and we managed to lift the organ from Logan's old place and into the trailer. The hard part was lifting 400 pounds of Hammond Organ up two flights of stairs, but luckily my wonderful son and his buddy, helped us get her into the apartment. I was truly beat.

Saw a gorgeous black Mercedes"S500 sedan, at the local car lot. It was black as hell, with black rims and very low profile tires. The car appeared to be perfect, and with only 118,000 miles, I fell in love with this beauty. So I took it for a test drive and loved it. Until the black smoke started coming from under the hood. I'm sure its just a small issue, like a tiny amount of oil leaking onto the exhaust manifold, but still. The car is $9000, and would cost me $350 per month for the next two years, and it better be perfect! I really don't need a car, but it would be nice to have this one, if only I could trust it. Of course I would have to keep her in a storage shed during the winter, so it would be like being married to Pamela Anderson, while living in another country.

Now I am having a giant salad and a beer at the restaurant where my son works. Been sitting here for two hours working on my blog and paying some bills. But my stay is getting a bit stale, so its time to return to my loft, and get the organ set up, install the foot key board, and jam the night away.

August 3rd,

Tuesday, August 3rd.

Lets start this from Sunday, Aug, 1st: Woke up from a phone call from my brother in law "Dave",

who was down stairs, waiting to take me to the DFW airport at 6:30 AM. After 4 hours of sleep

(I never get enough sleep before plane rides). Dave is a wonderful person. He goes all out

to help other people. He picked me up from the airport 12 days before, and has gone all out

as a kind host, along with my gracious sister "Robin", and three of their five wonderful children,

which were fun to visit with. This trip was a great success largely due to these fine folks. My

Mom, gets a lot of credit as well, she went all out for me to have a pleasant stay. I constantly

brag about my mom, mainly because she is a good human being, and really cares about me.

Got to DFW in plenty of time, didn't get strip searched or my nadz squeezed like the forward

trip, so things were fine.

Got held up in Denver for a few hours, which caused me to miss my ground transportation

from Salt Lake City, to Logan, but it turned out ok. Damn was I sleeping on each leg of the

journey! Both times I was next to some kid but once the plane flew, I was in "Lala" land,

so i didn't have to talk to them. Frontier, is a comfy ride as far as fat tall guys are concerned

avoid AA and Delta, if you are a big dude or lady.

The drive back to Logan was pleasant, with a very nice bus driver, who was fun to

talk to. Big, happy, corn-fed redneck, He "was constantly parroting the "Rush Limbaugh" version of the "State of American Politics",

but was such a novice that I countered with my liberal political views about what we really

should do regarding Health Care, and he didnt notice that I was a bit of a Socialist, I

did agree with much of his agenda, but he barely understood it himself. We had a nice

time, and before I knew it: I was finally home after 12 hours of travel and waiting. Funny

how by focusing on what you agree on rather than dwell on differences, can make a

normally volitile political arguement into a pleasant conversation. Hopefully the dude learned

something new. I didn't.

Dropped off at my school, where I had my Kawasaki waiting in my classroom. I drove to

the "Crystal Inn", and landed a room for a total of 65 bones per night. It was a step up from the

neighboring "Super 8", but was only 10 bucks more, and served dinner, as well as a full breakfast

which included eggs and meat for once. The jacuzzi sucked in comparison with the "8",

but one has to experience different things on occasion. Next time, I will flee back to the

place with the superior Jacuzzi, no matter how bad the rooms stink in there!

Monday morning, I booked another day at the Crystal Inn, thinking that I might need two days to

find a new place to live. Within 20 minutes I found a wonderful loft in Down Town Logan Utah!!!

This one was the best out of the 5 available. It is huge! in comparison to the others. I have a

beautiful view of Main Street, with the Gorgeous Mormon Temple, and the Wasatch Mountains in

the background. The Tabernacle is in view to the far right. And the County Seat and Courthouse

is nextdoor to the left. But the most important thing to me is that I live nearly above

the excellent "Chicago HotDog Stand" that hangs by the courthouse each day. I know and love

the "Gwynn" family who runs the stand, and they do have the best hotdogs in the entire

county! So "Hot Dog Stand" front property is highly important to me.

And the list of positives goes on and on: I can walk the half mile to where I work. The floor I

live on is an Art Gallery in the hallway, with paintings on each side of my door.

The Apartment itself is considered to be "A Penthouse Suite", since it is much larger and prettier

than the others up here. With 12 foot ceilings, and three great windows in the main room,

and a large bedroom, with the same ceiling, I pay $450 per month! This includes all bills,

cept cable and internet. I can finally bank some money this year!

The loft itself is beautiful! Inside is painted a "Van Gogh" Yellow. The floor a greenish brown,

which will soon be partially covered with my big chinese rug, my mother gave me long ago. The

carpet is a nice one. I plan to have it cleaned before I bring it into this nice place.

Since I essentially live in an Art Gallery, and I am an Art teacher, it is only natural to do a

bit of Art . I will due a few paintings and sculptures soon, but I don;t want my writing or

music to suffer. I am so inspired here at this place, that I believe that I will be producing Art,

Writing, Music, on a daily basis, without all the hassels i used to have regarding my dog, llama,

saltwater fish tank, son, mean neighbors, ect. Here I want to just creat some new stuff!

and I have the confidence that it will be an Amazing year for creativity!!!! To further enhance

the creative process, I plan to do without Cable Tv or the Internet. I will stick to my big

Grundig, wooden, modern radio, which is far mor entertaining than the tube. I got plenty

of internet during the day, and if I need internet for auctions or something outside working

hours, I can take the laptop to a variety of places, the best and closest is "Cafe Ibis", which

will also serve you some mindblowing coffee! This Apartment, looks like 20's technology,

and I plan to keep it as it was 90 years ago. I can read while I listen to the radio. Why pay

80 per month for cable. I still have a tv and dvd player, I can still watch that shit on the

weekends or something. I can still check my email and facebook on my phone. Why

pay 80 bucks for cable tv and internet, when I dont need or want it? I would rather save

the money and winter in Hawaii or something.

I finally got to spend my first night in my new place. I did spend some time during the day

here. I inflated my airbed, but the sheets and blanket on, put the matching pillow cases

on my new pillows, (yeah, I know its gay), but I bought a new bed and accessories for

less than a hundred bucks, and it looks cool and modern), with the built in air-pump, I

managed to get a firm twin sized bed that sits pretty high off the ground, for cheap, and

its quite comfy. I brought my snake in from Logans place, and bought a big plastic truck

box, which will do for a boa habitat, giving her much more space, and wheels to pull her

cage along without bothering her. So my 12 foot cube like bedroom has my bed and the

boa cage, and nothing else, cept the "WINDOW TO NOWHERE". The window is in the buried

interior of these old bulidings, and has been closed to the top, bottom, side, and just exists

as dead space. In fact. The space that my bedroom window looks out of , sees a dead

land without much much light. I can see a blocked off door, 6 feet from my window,

but it is barred shut, with no place to step if some soul happened to open it. I cant see the

botttom of the space between my window and that door. There is another door on my left,

and its blocked as well. The light above is blocked also. This space is a perfect cave!

I plan to unlock this mystery later, but it does bother me that my window facing there has

no lock at all. My front door is impenetrable. but this mysterious space, which is enclosed

like a tomb, can be opened from the inside or the OUTSIDE! I am at the mercy of the

inhabitants of this large dark crawl-space. I look down from that window, and can't see

the bottom. No worries, its impenetrable. I do worry that "Princess the Boa" might

escape, since she isn't locked in, and might push the screen open and crawl down that

abyss, that must certainly lead to HELL!

\Tonight: Was the first time I got to experience the Loft and the various, sites, sounds, voices,

ect. which comprise the total experience, of living ground zero of a small old metropolitan

area. Approaching 9 Pm,, the traffic declined and the temp was getting nicer. I took two

trips to bring the groceries and cleaning supplies to this new place. After putting things away,

I was finally able to kick back and listen to the radio and watch the traffic and people for

a while. The view of the nearby mountains with the sunset reflecting off of them was

amazing! These mountains ,were reflecting the sunset which occurred over the mountains

across the valley, from the western mountains.

Once, darkness, and loneliness set in I was flying, sitting alone in a dark massive room, with

all giant windows open to the unknown. I kept the main lights off, cept a big lavender candle in

the privy, which provided me with enough light, Song after Song was brilliant on the giant wooden

radio, I surfed the internet with my phone, and practically did a victory dance, on the beauty of living

in a cool place such as this! The magic continued all through the night, I was longing to write

about it, but kept getting amused by one thing or the other. I couldn't get to the computer fast enough,b

but finially got to it before all the magic was lost. Unfortunately, By the time i got the computer going,

the magic was lost. I will try to add more and describe it tomorrow night, the colors, the feeling, being

there, sounds, ect..... They were spectacular tonight. I hope to learn more for there is always much

more to learn, And Learning, is what I live for. I can't imagine not having the passion for learning.

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