feeling colorful and inspired

going around in circles.

how very interesting.

i failed to save an illustrator document since yesterday and it just shut down on me. probably 5 hours of work total, gone. this is the visual map of my stylus movement, and proof of my work.

A Loose Timeline, seen for the Future, from the Now.

Plans progress everyday. Gradually bits and pieces fill themselves into the larger plan. I just recently received word from an off the grid farm in Hawaii that I am their first consideration for the upcoming fall season, and I've started making my time line loosely based around that.

It goes something like this:

May 2010:
May 28th last day of work. Liberation in my step and a goal in my path.

June:
A few backpacking expeditions for my birthday. Halfdome, Zion, & others. Finish projects, tie off all the loose ends

July:
Work at LOLA restaurant in Louisiana, possibly Habitat for Humanity a few days a week in New Orleans. I'll be able to visit and live with family there as well. My folks will be back in the house at this point.

August:
Three weeks in Peru/South America

September:
Burning Man, prep for departure, sell/get rid of furniture and stuff

October - January 2011:
Rainforest Glenn in Hawaii - In an email exchange: "You do sound like a very good match for us... Stay in touch and we can make a plan for fall...We have had 2 guys leave 2 weeks early which disappointingly leaves us shorthanded and extra busy...Our biggest problem however is with commitment. We want to be clear beforehand. Judging by your letter we expect you do understand...You are the first person we are considering for fall."

February & March 2011:
Begin construction of The Shire in Mississippi

April - June 2011: Odiyan Tibetan Buddhist Retreat Center building temples, maintaining gardens, learning of Buddhism.

July 2011 & on: WWOOFing on other farms in Montana, Colorado, Oregon, and eventually back to California.

So that's what it's kind of looking like. As the days go on, things become more solid, and other opportunities present themselves, but this is my projection of the next year, right now.

Who knows what will happen.

34.2º N, 118.4º W

"I'm quitting my job to travel and go farming to learn how to be off the grid and sustainable." My mom didn't like hearing that one. It must be done though, because it is my destiny. I know it. Each day I continue working in advertising, I can feel my soul chain smoking greed and pressure through a tailpipe of exploitation and crushing dedication.

And full sustainability is entirely possible. The book I'm holding is the catalog of WWOOF farms in the United States that I can work on. At least 1000 farms across these U-nited states are able to sustain themselves, and I think I can do better. That book will be my bible.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

If I don't get fired (though, hopefully to collect unemployment) my last day of work will be a May 28th. I'll be backpacking for a few weeks in some national parks, getting things in order, finishing up projects, selling or getting rid of furniture, and beginning my journey. My journey of experience and knowledge. Because if I don't do it, it won't get done.

Atom Farm continues to grow, and the more I collaborate with people, the more I develop what it can be, literally growing the idea into eventual fruition. It seems that many people are in a state of frustration with the status of life. So lets change that. This is our life. How do we want to live? Slaves till retirement? Not me. I'm here to experience and enjoy every facet and it seems that my peers share a similar idea of life.

We can do it! We can break free from systems of control! Cast away fear and doubt, for the power lies within the people, and the individual power of the do-ocracy!

What started out to be just personal self sustainability has turned into the real possibility of a new world living/learning/loving life experience. A retreat co-op, if you will.

The farm wouldn't be against making money. In fact, we would sell products and services to local communities and those seeking retreat from the oppressive media and corporate giants. Prominent urbanites pay top dollar for mud masks, and there's no reason we shouldn't offer a whole life experience of organic, off the grid living. For each person that wants to live or visit a life of liberation, harmony with nature, and consciousness, we can break free from systems of control. It is literally and physically possible.

I've been called an idealist, but I think I'm a realist living ideally.

34.2º N, 118.4º W - This is my current position.

Definitive locations thus far:

Covington, LA
to work at Nealy's restaurant. maybe learning to bar tend. Perhaps working Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans part time.

Hatiesburg, MS
to build a greenhouse and begin excavation of The Shire on Uncle Paul's 200 acre tree farm. $8 an hour and tranquility. A paid Thoreau...

Whitefish, MT
to work on farms and gain knowledge of cultivation methods. 15 hour weeks, a bounty of nature surrounding.

Odiyan Tibetan Buddhist Retreat Center, CA
to study Buddhism, build shrines and temples, and cultivate a garden for 3 months. Pays $200 a week

While the four prior locations are certain, chronology has not been determined quite yet. There are a few more farms I'm attempting to ascertain apprenticeship on before I make any commitments in ink.

Sampling from The Sanctuary, in Pahoa, HI (1 of 60 farms in Hawaii)

...not far from active volcanic flows that enter the ocean, and we have black sand beaches, a gorgeous shoreline, and an eclectic, alternative back to the land community.... 70 acres consists of old forests, organic orchard, grazing for sheep, goats, and horses, fish aquaculture, in ground swimming pool and hot tub, and an inter species community of man and animal. we only use alternative energy and are completely off the grid... we consider our place a Sanctuary since we seek harmony, tranquility, and peace with nature...looking for WWOOFers year round wanting 2 week internship learning how to live off the land, car for the wild, live off the grid, learn organic farming practices, and connect with animals. we offer house shared by WWOOFers located in forest setting, provide board and fresh goat milk, eggs, and tropical fruit bounty. In exchange, we want 4 hours of work per day, 6 days per week. bareback horse riding training available.

I must write letters or call each host farm. I'm getting my ducks in line, and really putting my efforts towards this path.

I'm taking a sick day tomorrow. As in, the cubicle makes me sick.

Today, I was part of a green home build with Habitat for Humanity. A select few individuals from my company were invited to participate in the volunteering alongside some members of the band Linkin Park and their social activism group Music for Relief. While I'm not a fan of this rip/rock alternative band currently, they made a mark on me in earlier years. Interesting how things come around.But I digress. I built the roof of a future home for some future family. That they can own, and be proud of, love. I even drew some hearts on rafters. Throwing down a hammer and lifting lumber while mixed with the rawness of manual labor mixed with the community building qualities of volunteer work empowered me to new levels for Atom Farm. The houses are all LEED Certified and the man in charge, Mark Van Lue, of making that all happen explained the measures in play that employed environmental consciousness and better science. Not just plunking a solar panel on the roof and calling it a day, but from the ground up; including landscaping and water usage, ventilation and insulation, materials used and location of raw parts.

I'm kind of hoping I get laid off. How alternative, given the status of the economy, I know. With the free time, I would be able to focus on my own clients and projects. This would accelerate my research and preparations for continuation of the path. In any case, I'd like to collect the unemployment and apprentice or intern under Mr. Van Lue, the gentleman who I met at the Habitat for Humanity build, get LEED certified, and add that notch of knowledge to the Atom Farm belt.
All the elements are coming together and I'm seeing the path so clearly these days. I feel so tapped in to life.

Future headline of an advertisement you might find in Craigslist:
"Technology infused Farm and sustainable CoOp Retreat seeks resident librarian to cultivate and maintain collection." They might come to the farm and I would help build their library/workshop/livespace. Now, lets take it a step further to include resident musicians, artists, bakers, yoga instructors, theatre workshops, astronomers, poets, horse handlers, cooks, fishers, gardeners, the list can go on.

I felt so motivated and alive afterwards that I didn't want to go sit in the box of work and consumerism tomorrow, and what better way to get fired than calling in sick when I'm not sick. But I would be sick if I went to work. So I called in to work to avoid getting sick.

The cubicle makes me sick.

There are no cubes in nature.

Life Parlayed

I've begun composing memoirs of past adventures to form in a book. I'll be co-writing a story that is based on mine and another individuals life exploits thus far. It started off just wanting to be experimental in design, so I needed to give myself a project. A friend from work (who is no longer with the company, but we've bridged the gap of interoffice fraternity beyond the cubicle) and I would have lunch together and rap about the epic adventures we've had. Some of them involving women or gnarly drug experiences, and the complexity of life and love. They say to write what you know, so we decided to parlay these ideas into a project and write a story in children's book style; one large spread inclusive of illustration/design and a paragraph or two of supporting storyline. We would use adult themes, with a whimsically visual execution.

Adventures to be illustrated & embellished with literary experimentation:

• Robin Hood Thursdays
• Hopping the train with Elliott in SC
  
• Cave Expedition with Brian
• European Backpacking Adventure
• Igloo building
• Burning Man (2007 & 2008)
• Road trip to Montana & NYE in the snow
• Road trip to Austin
• Visiting Dana in Taiwan
  
• love, complexity & levels of live. deep conversations in reaching at spiritual and metaphysical concepts

And to option my own thought with another thought I just had for the structure of such an epic book. The bible is a collection of stories and interesting occurrences told by multiple writers over different time periods.

This seems very similar.

Literally from the ground up

[about the family garden] ...and while a casual relationship with
gardening has been nice, I need to be fully immersed in all aspects to
reap the experience needed to one day establish my own sustainability.

Ffffound! Worthy

Through the Rabbit Hole I go. Rent free.

Its official. I have moved back into my parent's house.

Before judgment though, let me say, they're not living there. I will be house sitting for the next 9 months. Rent free? Why yes, I think I'll do that. That excellent comfort of the house I grew up in, barbecue and backyard with over 10 fruiting trees? You had me at rent free.

The next 9 months will fly by in a wink, I'm sure, but my goals are thusly:

1. Organize my shit - I'm an artist and a collector. Of what? I don't even know. All I know is i need to condense and reduce what I have.

2. Research WWOOF. With this boost in savings from not paying rent for the next 9 months, I'll be closer to my goal and therefore closer to journeying. I should do some specific research on where I want to farm, and what farms I would like to contact.

3. Finish projects I've started. Freelance work as well as personal projects.

4. Save money.

Life unfolds before me and I walk the path that I've drawn in my sketchbook.