Service manual

I ordered this from amazon, literally 16 hours ago. The matrix is extremely fast and efficient. Communication and coordination can happen instantly. Working on a bus will not happen as fast, but I'll have the tools quicker. Having the bus will perpetuate my appreciation for slowing things down, making a definitive notch in my contrast of appreciating organics and technology and blending the olde with the neue.

Advancing Life Off the Grid

Solar = electricity
Macbook Pro = design & income
Geodome+hammock = more than temporary comfortable homestead (land ownership is another story)
Bicycle = short distance mobility
Books & the internet = entertainment and knowledge

All of the above are currently in my arsenal. In fact I'm using solar energy to power my laptop right now. I'm gradually unplugging from the matrix.

Next on the itinerary: I intend to sell my car to buy a VW Westfalia. Totally 60s hippie style (I feel it in my soul!), and ideally, it would be a diesel engine, so I can run veggie oil, but I think I will be happy either way. I have roughly 2 months to sell my car and find the right one. I've been searching craigslist, ebay, thesamba.com, and today I'll be heading to a Westy Restoration shop in Van Nuys to check out what I'm working with and gather some knowledge. Thanks to some excellent insights from Mr. Kuhn (cheers), I think I have what it takes to work on and ultimately, if the need should arise (and that's what I'm hearing will happen), fix anything that could go wrong with a bus. I don't know much about them, but I gotta start somewhere. With the exception of my laptop, everything I intend to bring with me, I could fix with tools I have or could get easily, and I feel like the Westfalia would fit well in that realm of sustainability. I will conceivably be traveling and farming for the next 2 years, so my "home" situation will be less than stable. I like having my own space, a comfy place to rest my head, gather my thoughts, and keep my possessions. While I consider myself somewhat of a minimalist, I do definitely have a few valued possessions like the solar setup, bicycles, computer shit, clothing, personal affects, and a record player that i want to bring. So a mobile home seems like the best option for my situation, because my car just won't accommodate. For the right price I would settle for anything from 1969-1985, but I think I'm narrowing my search to a 69 Westy, depending on options, and how well it was kept up - because come on, how cool is this:

(click to make larger)

I am a vessel of love, and my path is to inspire and enlighten people.

I'd like an atomBus for transportation.

Burning Man 2010: Metropolis

Living in the now with a dash of anticipation.

I write far too seldom, but make up for it in content... I think. This is a bit from my sketchbook that I contribute to more frequently. It's easier to access and pleasurably tactile. "The overwhelming feedback I've been getting has been that people are amazed and inspired by my ideas, but even more importantly my actions. I see myself stepping into the role, and their energy of being inspired perpetuates me. So I will continue to spread words of love, acts of kindness, and inspire and amaze. Consciousness is coming. Liberation is necessary."

There are a few definitions in the English language for the word fuel. Here are two that relate more appropriately to how I am feeling.

• a thing that sustains or inflames passion, argument, or other emotion or activity
• cause (a fire) to burn more intensely.

I'm fueled everyday, by everything, but particularly in the last few weeks. It's as if I've reached an exponential boost of perpetual decisive life explosions, one connection leading to another and seeding into new ideas of equal if not greater perpetuity. So...

I've been reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, a book that is fueling my passion for getting back to the land and cultivating my own food through time and harmony with my earth. Michael Pollan follows the chain of food process from rural farms to urban tables. He actually purchased a specific cow, aptly named by a dated number, and visited it at locations it was transported and precessed. Peppered with enlightening facts (7 pounds of corn fed to a beef cow will only yield 1 pound of meat) and ghastly statistics (1 in 3 American children eat fast food everyday), this book fuels Atom Farm. Everything, I mean, literally everything (batteries, gasoline, "food", packaging, beauty products) is derived, then heavily processed, from corn in some way. And not the Zea Mays of our native ancestors, but a genetically modified and industrialized clone system of overabundance turning ecologically diverse, family farms into monocropped wastelands of capitalism. High fructose corn syrup is the devil. Seeds are genetically modified so they will not reproduce naturally, and farmers must go back to the dealer like an addled junkie each season.

But I digress. This is not a book report. I have been fueled by this composition and it inspires me to continue seeking a heightened consciousness and research avenues to making Atom Farm a reality. True consciousness, it seems, is not easy.

I was recently in New Orleans visiting family, eating seafood, and drinking; all in excess.



Its exhausting visiting the whole family, but hearty none the less. Always something to do, somewhere to go, out late drinking with cousins, a relative who'd have a one way conversation with me and fielding similar, "what have you been up to in the last 5 years," and "what are you doing with your life," questions. But I oblige my kin with pleasure, change it up a little or omit details, and if anything, it gives me the opportunity to hear myself repeat it for my own absolute clarity. "Yes, grandma, I'm quitting my cushy job to go travel and work on farms," and as bad as this could be for conservative types to hear, the response I get is quite the contrary, in being supportive to follow the path that is presenting itself before me. I also have been recruiting, in some sense. Two of my cousins are interested in helping build the Shire in Mississippi (my uncle Paul has 200 acres of tree farm in MS, and we'll be developing hillside hobbit style homes with garden/sustainability practices). I'll be going back to New Orleans in early June, for my cousin's wedding, but also to get a better idea of the land setup in MS. I haven't actually been there yet, so seeing it first hand will be helpful in conceptualizing layouts until I return the following spring to actually build.

Each day brings new experiences and avenues. I've upgraded my solar system to 4 panels totaling 55 watts of energy, now two deep cycle batteries, and a hand crafted box my friend Michael and I built a few weeks ago. He will also be journeying to Burning Man this year, and we've been getting nutty with projects and artsy stuff. I think there is a bromance underway. More on artsy-platonic-homo-relations later. With my solar system now, I have taken myself off the electrical grid for the most part. My Macbook Pro and my iPhone are charged exclusively with solar energy, and I can also run a mini fridge, some speakers, and lights. I unplugged almost all of the electric appliances in the house, and the usage bill for my parent's medium sized home was $15 one month. I get excited for the adventure of sustainability. I haven't had the opportunity to experiment with water management, but I anticipate this will be something I learn on Maui at the Greenleaf's farm (their name is Greenleaf, no fooling). Pictured above, (I love how they sent me one with double rainbow).

My solar setup: One cycle is charging a battery from solar, and one cycle is usable power from the other battery. Each are portable independently.









Last weekend, the new girlfriend, Caiti, and I went up to my family cabin in Arrowhead. What an amazing weekend. I tested out the portability of my solar setup, and it totally rocked! It's heavy, but still portable, and the wiring is flawlessly simple. The entire weekend, we didn't use a single watt of electricity. At night time, we sat next to the hearth and were warmed by each other and a tended fire, we played cards (betting dates, cakes, and massages) and drank some classy bottled beers, (to which I now have a new non-plastic water receptacle). For light we used some CFL lamps I can plug in, charged our laptops for movies, listened to music, and sincerely enjoyed each others company and sanctuary from the howling wind. Very magical, if i do say so myself. More on her later, as the tentative plan is to take a major road trip with her this summer to New Orleans.

The road trip. I've been on some hearty driving experiences; LA to Austin, Northern Montana, Mississippi, Burning Man. This one is sure to set some milestones. Beyond a mere driving expedition, I have been developing this road trip into "Sponsor My Sustainability Tour," where I'll strap my panels to the roof of my car, bring mini fridge, laptops, music, and batteries for the voyage that will lead from LA to Vegas, Grand Canyon, Austin, New Orleans, Mississippi, Northern California, back to LA, and then up to Burning Man, all within the next 6 months before departing in late September to WWOOF on Maui. I'll be logging video in my blog (hehe, log-vid-blog), tweeting, and updating facebook from the road. Subject matter will change from day to day, as it will be a semi documentary visual diary project, but the umbrella idea is to travel to places where I can field test sustainability and learn about new techniques. Additionally, I have invited Caiti to come along (she is graduating UCLA in June, her lease is up then too, and possibly wwoofing in Alaska post road trip), and we will both be documenting the expedition. I anticipate camping, the possibility of couch surfing, non-life threatening disaster, the unexpected, and maybe some drama. She's applying to grad school at USC for Visual Anthropology (film making and playing with bones, hurrah!), so this trip could be an excellent admittance piece to show her potential professors and program administers. Some sponsors I'm approaching include Whole Foods, Clif Bar, Thule, Nat Geo/Travel Channel, Lonely Planet, Flip (camera), AT&T, Newcastle, and Naked Juice, among others. Any suggestions?

I mentioned earlier that new things pop up all the time. I'm learning to feel the vibrations of the universe and harmonize my goals. Just yesterday, I was telling my friend Rodney about this idea, and immediately he wanted to be involved. Rodney and I lived in the same building in Koreatown and is a professional filmmaker, albeit commercials and music videos, but he aspires to greater projects. In any case, his role would be pivotal. He'd meet us in certain locations, and drive along with way for a period of time, but as Caiti and I kept pressing on and filming candidly, we could send him disks of footage to cut and edit with material he'd directed and shot as well, turning this into the possibility of an actual full length documentary. To deepen the project, I suggested it not end with just the road trip, because directly afterward I'll be in Maui really getting into the dirt and literal roots of sustainability on the farm, building a geo-dome, hiking, freelanceing remotely, going to farmers markets, and being off the grid. He said he'd be down to come out to Hawaii, but that's still many months away. I haven't even purchased my plane ticket out there, which I foresee being one of those moments, when I think, "Wow. Okay, here we go." ::click::

So much has been going on - and the weekend is absolutely just not long enough to complete all the things I want to do. I'm very excited to see the days progressing with increased excitement. I know it's not just a pipe dream. It's a goal. I have the tools, capabilities, and desire.

PS. Check out Banksy - I just saw a film he directed. Sheer brilliance.