Wow, this IS a new record for lag between updates! Awesome, at least I've accomplished something with this website. For the three people who will stumble upon this in the next stretch before I update again, I offer these tidbits of "news"...
I flew out to LA in May and spent a week staying with Tal at his place in Little Tokyo downtown (the closest I've been to Japan in 9 years!) and working down in Gar-Deena with Evan, Josh and Craig on "Scooternation," the forthcoming documentary about the US scooter scene which I (and my RAMBLE) have a part in. They interviewed me and filmed me riding around Los Angle-iss on Tal's sweet Rally 200, and I helped them scramble together some simple graphics for their website and whatnot. I actually enjoyed LA more than I thought I would, though there's no chance of me wanting to move there or anything, it's not a bad place to visit, certainly interesting and basically all the stuff that it's usually described as being. In addition to spending lots of quality time with Tal, I did get to reconnect with some college friends, John Hudson and Arya Senboutaraj, though I missed Berling (out of town on a Yoga retreat or something). I also got to visit with Lisa Williamson, the BFF of Liz Rench who is in the MFA program at USC and doing great work there. For a gallery of almost 500 LA photos, see this LA set on Flickr. Hopefully Scooter Nation will be done soon and I can send you off to buy the goddamn DVD!
The only other noteworthy traveling I've done is a long weekend up to Chicago for the wedding of a second cousin in June. It was a big reunion for my Grandma Hackenberg's side of the family and the first time I'd seen a lot of my relatives in the breadth of half my lifetime. I brought enough half-pints of bottom-shelf Kentucky bourbon to give as gifts to most everyone who wanted one, I think they're going to make me a Colonel soon (or at least a diplomat or delegate). You can see photos from that wedding (and visits with Jean, Liz, Rene, Vanessa, Scooterworks, etc) in this Chicago wedding set on Flickr. I also saw my old friend Juan, who very kindly gave me a monster zoom lens for my D50 that he had laying around, and this thing takes pretty whip-ass portraits in certain kinds of light. I look forward to taking it to scooter rallies and getting some Mike Scott-style candid shots of people from far away, it's perfect for that. Thanks again Juan! Had a lot of fun horsing around with Rene and walking the streets of Rogers Park with Jean, I hope to visit Chicago again in late August.
In Louisville-related news, I've been hanging out with the local scooter folks, we meet most every week and do rides sometimes. Frustrated with the stupid LouisvilleMojo site we were using as a communication tool, I started a little website for us called Scootervul.com (a play on the local pronunciation of "Louisville"), it's just a forum and generic gallery at the moment, hardly a website at all, but it's a start. Eventually it'll have profile pages for different people, a cohesive look and navigation system, etc.
I've gone to several several vegan-related social functions, besides being the "unofficial official photographer" for the 2007 Earthsave Taste of Health (a wonderful event, very impressive), I've been to a few meetups, and a few vegan picnics/BBQs and KFC protests, you know. Speaking of KFC protests, I don't want to jinx it, but I'm delighted to say that I have a girlfriend now. Yes, you read that correctly, despite my reputation for curmudgeondom, I am owning that G-word. She is lovely to look at, captivating in conversation, smart as strategist, and generally exceptional in all aspects. She and I share MANY things in common (both vegan, both from small towns in southwest Michigan, both have worked for PETA, both just moved to Louisville, etc., etc.) Again, I don't want to spoil it but I just had to say something, since it is so exciting. Irrefutable evidence: me smiling.
I'm working right along, still stuff for Genuine and PETA, enjoying the freedom and mobility that my new laptop affords me, been going out and working at coffeeshops sometimes to escape the familiar confines of my apartment. My favorite one is Atomic Saucer, followed by Old Louisville and Sunergos.
I helped do some graphics for Alix Bryan on her PEACE Scooter tour, she's crossing the country on a Buddy 125 and tracing a giant peace symbol on the map while making a documentary about it and having adventures like I did last year. It's funny, right now she's actually covering much of the same ground I did, but she's headed to the high plains and then out West, so the overlap will be over around New Orleans. A smart and ambitious young lady, I wish her all the best and hope that she reaches thousands (or millions!) with her message of peace.
I spent a very enjoyable afternoon/evening at Lebowskifest '07 here in Louisville, I'd always wanted to go to one and now I'm right here where it started! I seriously like Louisville more every day, it's one of the best-kept secret towns in the US.
Happy belated birthday to Ryno (30! I'll be joining him in a couple weeks), Paul (33), Isaac (32), and dozens of other friends whose recent birthdays I never knew and/or have already forgotten. And happy elopement to Naz Schuetz and Jen Hamid! I'm bummed that I couldn't make the wedding in Key West this weekend, but I wish these two all the best and can't wait to see the photos!
Fut. Plans: As I mentioned, a distinct possibility of Chicago in late August, a trip to the hometown in MI sometime in August for 4-5 days, a trip to Chattanooga in mid-August for their scooter rally, and I'm trying to work up some plans for a trip with my mom in late September, there's talk of New Orleans, but definitely Kentucky and Michigan in some capacity, we'll see how much time she can get off work and that will determine what we can do... so the next month will be fairly busy, but that's good, not enough traveling these last couple of months.
Posted by pj at July 29, 2007 11:34 PM