Days 180- 184

Day 184
Saturday August 30th

I visited the hot springs real quick en route to snap some shots of the moonless sky. Its project I started last year around ummm June or July I think. It is still going, not necessarily strongly but going nonetheless. So far in a little over a year I have taken 18 exposures. I have probably hiked about 150 or so miles just to get to a spot to take those 18 exposures. I have probably driven three or four times that just to get to the trail heads. I have probably spent between 70 & 80 hours just waiting around for the exposures to finish. I have not seen a single frame through all of this and have no idea if I even loaded the camera right or if my math is way off (probably is). I probably have another 3- 4 months to go before developing this roll. You gotta love film!

I finally found a pleasant use for this stupid cell phone-- light painting!

Day 183
Friday August 29th

Headed over tot he Surfshack for the night. I had not been there for a while so it was cool to have a quick six and catch up w/ PonyBoy. His new Fantasy Football (Americano) league is starting up in a few and per usual he was stoked to get into the Fantasy nitty gritty. What had originally been intended as a quick six turned into a drawn out 12. It was well worth it!

Day 182
Thursday August 28th

???

I forgot what goes here...

Day 181
Wednesday August 27th

Went on a date, kinda sorta. I mean I think it was a date but without any of the drama a first date usually entails. There is definately a story here. I will let you know when I figure out just how it all ends.

El Rey Cantinia-- half wild west saloon, half Parisian tequila bar; a little bit of the Folsom Johnny Cash, a little bit of coked out Johnny Ramon!

Canon shooter, we will get along great me thinks...

Day 180
Tuesday August 26th

Drove up into Rose Valley with Cason for the night. We planned on making camp next to this chill little stream in the the tall grass. Then we were joined for the evening by a legion of bloody thirsty annoying bugs. Disappointed we retreated up into the valley for more accomodating accommodations. We settled down at a site just below the waterfall which seemed to work. We chatted for a bit and then got to work chopping up some wood for kindling. Out of no where this bearded old man starts bellowing us with this bassoon of a voice that the helicopters were gonna come get us. Once we got him calmed down we realized that he was trying to say the park ranger's air station for the fire lookouts was just above our campsite about half a mile. If they saw the smoke they would send the helicopter down to investigate and we would all be in deep poo. He insisted that the minimum fine for a fire right now would be at least $1012. YIKES! I guess we are not having any warmth for the night, which is a shame cause it gets dang chilly up in the valley after sunset. Its even colder in the morn, trust me, and a fire is just the thing to shake off the cobwebs by as you pull on a hot cup o' joe. Maybe tomorrow...

34.1 degrees American an hour after sunrise-- brutal to wake up to let me tell you!

Days 160- 179

Days 160- 179

Wednesday August 6th- Monday August 25th

Yup time yet again for another nutshell. I am tall enough to ride so I did. Big breath, okay here we go:

Slept on a few floors; slept out in the woods in the rain; slept under the stars with a smile on my face; turned 30 and felt it this time; reconnected with a long lost friend; shared a laugh; surfed the net on a mountain top; watched Sweeney Todd in a spooky abandoned amphitheater; saw a bear; met a zombie and hung out, we shared a cigar; met a girl; met a girl who maybe kinda sorta may just actually like me; slept in random parking lots just not caring; stepped on a pop tart; saw an amazing electrical storm; got sick-- had a fever of 104 degrees; did a fair bit of hallucinating; went to the fair; went to the beach; ran from the coppers; got my oil changed, opted out of the free car wash; went to work, put in a few 12 hour days; showed up an hour late one day; grinned uncontrollably; ran from the coppers again; rediscovered Blind Melon, grinned even more; went on another date, turns out she was a he; didn't get a release or any usable footage (!!!!);

can't remember the last time I slept in a bed; forgot the last time I slept in doors; went for a climb that lasted all day; hiked a bit; starred at the full moon and solved all life's problems by the end of the bottle; wrote a poem, three actually; danced in a ice cold stream; saw some rad sunsets; danced in an ice cold stream with a stranger; now and again shot close to 30 hours of video; haven't thought quite yet about editing; got punched in the mouth but kept on grinning; tried to remember to live life but got bored; took a nap; caught a Red Sox game; hit up the surf shack for a beer, stayed for 6; said ALOHA and meant it; tried not to take things too seriously, never stopped dreaming and got ready for tomorrow. Oh yah and I grew a beard, funked out right...?!?! How time flies as they say.

Hoofed the 'puter out to this mountain top in an old abandoned amphitheatre and holy crap had wireless internet in the middle of no where. So what do I do? Yup Facebook baby! Priorities right...?


Hot springs, sunset, bloody fab-tastic!

A Word

A Word

Yah I know its been like a month since I updated. We are working on it.
We will return shortly after this quick word from our sponsors...

Ohhh lordy, the poor crazed fool, he done and gone NATIVE!

Days 156- 159

Day 159
Tuesday August 5th

Thayer was featured as the guest speaker at Brooks. Man what a night. I have no idea where to start..., though it did finish up soaked in tequila at El Rey downtown-- for the record, that's the night that was soaked in tequila, not me.

Day 158
Monday August 4th

Saw the Beach Boys at the fair tonight. Well not really AT the fair. I figured it wasn't all too California dreamin' of me to be bumping sweaty shoulders with thousands of other over-weight rednecks in the stadium trying to get a glimpse of the band over a sea of balding hair-dos. Instead I hit up the beach behind the stadium, had an adult beverage, enjoyed the sun set, and listened to the live tunes. Brian Wilson woulda' smiled.

Day157
Sunday August 3rd

Man what a busy day; I woke up super early in a field of the 33, drove down to the beach and read West of Jesus off the PCH as the tide rolled in, went to Lizard's Mouth to survey fire damage, climbed at Painted Caves, swallowed more then my share of flies, came back to town and ended up watching Sunday Night Fights at Surf Shack. All told it was a pretty chill Sunday!

GONZO @ the Mouth! Ode to Mallams...

Day 156
Saturday August 2nd

Spent the majority of the day out at Oil Piers off of the PCH. The Ventura County Star photo crew had set up an impromptu rave to celebrate Glover's b-day. It was a pretty raving afternoon afterall. Many folks say newspaper as a medium is totally dead. I tell you though, whether it is dead or not, it still has a few sparks up its sleeve. With the incredible photo talent and ensuing conversation at the beach that day, you would never have guessed LIFE mag folded years ago. Just ask the assembled guests-- there are frontiers still to be explored and first to be had. Luminary Dave LaBelle swang down, AP Videographer extrodinaire Sky Gilbar stopped in from Panama, freelancer to the gods Eric Thayer graced us, professor & free thinker Paul Meyers hung out, the quiet wunderkind Michal Czerwonka chilled, the loveable Juliette tried out the hula, and the rest of the Star photog team (minus Juan Carlos who was probably chopping down a tree up at Pine Mtn.) partied it up in good old fashionned style. I dusted off the trusty Lens Baby and tagged along for the ride trying not to make too much noise.

DJ Minxx spin-tastic!

Parsons & Dana getting phunkey phunkey!

Deep thought looks like this I imagine...

Circus freaks.

DJ Elixir & Guest.

Phreaker fire

Spinnnnnn...

Days 155

Day 155
Friday August 1st

Okay here we go, August 1st, which means many things to many different folks. This day the major significance for me is quite simple-- another round with the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Aspirin in hand, paper work in order, credit card at the ready, 14 cheap paperback novels in tow I head out to the DMV. Much to my surprise the whole ordeal this year took all of 12 minutes. Flabbergasted was I, and that is an absolute understatement! I still have difficulty believing it but I have the bloody sticker to prove it!

Let me put this in perspective: the first time I tried to register the car in California it took me almost four months to do so. First off the car would not "pass" the CA state smog inspection. Why? Because the dang thing was a brand new PZEV (partial zero emissions vehicle) and every smog test registered absolute zero pollutants. Every single state registered smog inspection station in this frikin town tested it and concurred that instead of the car emitting emissions so minuscule the machines could not register it, their machines were erroring out and I had to go somewhere else. That was just the beginning. Eventually I had to have the dealership back in Maine send a notarized letter attesting to the fact that the car was a brand new PZEV that met California emission standards. I then had to have the dealership here certify the letter and add a copy of the SAME document to the file. Add a little more red tape here, a few more hoops to jump through there, endless hours of hair pulling and arm twisting and voila four months later I am legal to drive in California.

Jump ahead a few years. In 2006, it took 13 months, two trips to traffic court, endless hours waiting in line at the Ventura & Oxnard offices, 50+ phone calls to the most obtuse state employees, and an estimated 379 gay hairs to do so. Registration was due August 1st 2006, it was not until mid-September that it went through. My 2007 registration was officially granted in March of 2008. That there is a whole other headache in and of itself. We will save that for another day. For now though I will relax and bask in the glory of a brand new registration and a whole 12 minutes to get it. Yah...

DMV 2009

Days 144- 154

Days 151- 154

Monday July 28th- Thursday July 31st

Three camera bodies and not a single lens among them-- The Dark Ages ensue...




Days 149- 150
Saturday July 26th & Sunday July 27th

Went climbing and hiking for the weekend, I had a goal to shoot more stills and add some really unique visuals perspectives to the blog. Then this happened, best summed up as KERLUNK! I didn't take into account that I am a blooming idiot when thinking up my shooting plans for the weekend. "The best-laid plans of mice and men/often go awry,..." Bulox, righto!


This

Blows

Days 144- 148
Monday July 21st- Friday July 25th

I divided my time this week between filming a ton of different scenes & story arcs and researching and writing for this new documentary trip. It was hectic and chaotic and stressful. It is a new experience to try and put all the logistics together for an international adventure. Now add the fact that I am doing so while living out of my car, yah right, a bloody mess indeed! So far though all is going rather peachy. We are making great progress on the new proposal and the current filming is taking off at warp speed. Both projects seem to be taking on a life of there own and I feel like I am just along for the ride.

Days 141- 143

Days 141- 143

Friday July 18th- Sunday July 20th

Hiked up into Ojai to catch up on a ton of filming. I managed to take a few stills, though for the most part the camera stayed in my bag and after a few days I totally forgot about it. It has been quite buggy in the high desert these last few weeks so I brought along the tent just to be safe. Honestly after just over five months of this little experiment this is only the 2nd time I have had to use a tent. (The first time was a few weeks ago up at Pine Mtn.) C'et le vie, c'est California. The weather is almost always manageable, even the coldest of nights never get below the 20's. So far I have only been caught out in the rain once and with any luck don't have to worry about any more rain until November-ish. There hasn't been any real need to set up a tent. Logistically sleeping on the ground as opposed to tenting it is wiser as well.

Most of the time I am camping out illegally. I try to pull into a spot around 11 or 12 at night and am out in the morning between 6 and 7am. I am usually only at any particular spot for a few hours, 6 or 7 at the most to reduce the chances of getting busted or harassed. Spending ten or fifteen minutes setting up a tent at night in the dark and then breaking it down in the morning is just a hassle. Secondly a tent is much more conspicuous. When someone sees a tent off the side of the road it is quite obvious what is going on. And when what is going on is slightly illegal, it is best to avoid attracting attention. When I am out hiking I like to travel light, the 5 pounds a tent takes up can be better used with water, camera gear and food (and by food I mean beer). So for the most part I have just been sleeping under the stars and foregoing the hassle of lugging a tent around everywhere.

I changed this up this weekend. I decided to set up a little base camp in the Sespe, something to come back to each night. A place to call home for a few nights. With the warm weather sweeping through the summer the creepy crawling bugskis are out and about. The black flies and horse flies are out in droves, forming annoying black clouds shimmering about head high over the trail. Relaxing while being eaten alive in a pristine setting is an impossibility. So out came the tent and chillaxing commenced. All in all not a bad spot even with the threat of mountains of water pouring down on my head in the middle of the night!

Waking up still in one piece on the sand bar, thankfully no flash floods during the night.Thunderstorms had been predicted for the higher elevations and flash floods for lower elevations. I was a little suspect of setting up everything on this sandbar, but come on you can't beat it in terms of scenic properties. So I tossed caution into the wind and went with it. Fortunately we were fine for the duration. (One of two frames I shot over the weekend.)