Flag this! Ass, Gas, or Grass...

AP reported today that Americans are feeling the rise in gas prices. In a time where we really have to wonder what fucking rose colored glasses the media is wearing, it's nice to know they can see the elephant right in front of their eyes. What really floored me wasn't the reality check. It was the reaction most of the American "middle" (really upper) class is having to all this.

Kathleen Roberts, who makes a freaking 100-mile round trip commute says: [i]Now, I'm just going to work and coming home... not doing anything else... Instead of going to the market as often, if I don't have it, I just make do. In our neighborhood, we just borrow from each other.[/i]

Max Paredes, an engineer in Rogers, AK, says: [i]I used to pick up my kids from football. Now they need to get rides from other people[/i].

I honestly find myself wanting to scream "Come on! Aren't you the same people I went to high school with!? What planet did you come from?"

When I was in school, we had this neat thing called a carpool. We bicycled to school whenever possible.

[i]Gasp! You went to school by yourself!?[/i] Yes, and so did many of my friends. Sometimes we walked together, sometimes Mom would walk with us. Many times, I biked to school. Abduction rates were just as high then as they are now. Matter of factly, I suspect the streets are safer now than they were then.

When I started high school, it was far enough away to justify a ride. However, most of my travel outside of school was by bicycle. Many friends did the same, and that's where I'm stunned. Maybe it's because I used my bike a lot during college in Mt. View, California. It could also be that when I moved back to Livermore, I just couldn't justify driving where I could bicycle. It could be that I spent a lot of time on two wheels in Los Angeles. Then there's that time I went without a car for eight months.

Point being that my life doesn't begin and end at a gas station. While I certainly am not buying a month's groceries from Costco for a family of four, a bike ride or a walk to the corner store for milk and butter isn't a problem. It's pretty nice. You should try it sometime. I've got it, why don't you send junior for it? I used to get milk and eggs from the corner store for Mom and Dad when I was in grade school.

Max Paredes in Arkansas, maybe you can have your son pick up some milk, walking the way back from football practice.

I'm trying to remember, does America sacrifice anything anymore? These are the same people 10 years ago that were scaling back, right? Remember? Bicycling to work? Taking that job closer to home to spend more time with the family? Oh, that was before we became venture capitalists driving a Hummers filled with shit from Costco? That explains it.

While we're at it, I'd like to address this immigration issue for a few minutes. The protest on May 1st pissed me off. Not because they protested. Hey, more power to ya. If we hadn't supported South of the border death squads and sent your jobs to China, you wouldn't be coming here. What pissed me off is the spirit of sacrifice is gone. Good things shouldn't require suffering, but like a french fry tastes better swiped from a friend's plate, working hard for something usually feels better. If I walk off the job to protest something, I expect to be reprimanded or fired. I have a right to protest, on my own time (this is why most movements progress under a middle class).

Students? Disciplined for protesting? Noooooo? You don't say? Last I recall minors don't have constitutional rights (it's true, back in the 80's, the Supreme Court decided minors in school are not entitled to First Amendment rights, a major setback for school newspapers). It sucks, but hey...back to sacrifice. If these students want progress that bad, they have to give up a little something. Heck, it could be worse. Remember that thing called the civil rights movement when kids were found dead in the back of a car for protesting? Hey, how about those wacky Chinese students back in the 80's that watched their best friends get run over by tanks and die from machine gun fire. They make your tennis shoes and sex toys from prison now.

What do I sacrifice? Well, gee. My car was $700. It gets about 25 miles to the gallon. I work from home and my clients tend to be within bicycling distance. I live in a small studio apartment that costs about $800 a month. I'll be driving to Lady Bastette's house to change the oil and spark plugs in about a week. I prefer to work for a living, but people seem to prefer me behind a computer, and it pays better anyway. Lady Bastette and I have no children, work about 60 hours a week, and combined, have less than two thousand dollars in credit card debt. We eat out about once a week, twice if we feel lucky. I write congressmen and ride my bicycle when I can. Overall, things have been much worse in much better times. I sincerely wish we could ship our President to China or India to get our real jobs back, bring our kids home from the Middle East, and just bomb Iran for pissing us off one too many times.

Dawn Of The Self-Indulgent Tripe

I'm awake, and don't know why. I can smell a hint of the incense I lit Saturday night. There's something perpetuating about me that gives me a hypnotic state. I'm awake, and I don't know exactly why. It may be the earplugs I put in last night. Highly effective, while I can hear some outside noise, almost everything is overridden by the sound of my own breath. I dreamed, and know my body, despite the pain in my side of late, felt some form of contentment

I came to about 7am this morning. Knowing it was really 6am, plus an hour for daylight savings, I tried to sleep in. It never took. About 7:15, I picked up a book and realized I was awake, yet somewhat out of touch. I can barely hear the street outside, the reason for the earplugs. It's as if I'm out of touch with the world for a second, and in touch with everything I need to be. My space heater is on, and I'm starting to get ready for my day.

I might make it into the gym this morning after all. It's a very cool effect. The body is at peace for the moment. My dreams were kind. If my day will yeild similar profit, it will be a happy one.

There's a white bedsheet I use as a curtain, held closed with a red-tipped bondage clothespin. Through the sheet I see the silouette of trees and a pure white glow of the sun across a pale sky. The rays normally penetrate the room in an arrogant assault. This morning is incredibly calm. It's tempting to keep the earplugs in, they seem to be a metaphor for keeping the world out, but I am awake, and am starting to get restless. Aries are not satiated by contentment, they are satiated by action.

Good news, we have many irons in the fire. Black And Blue Media is picking up Platinum Blue as a client. I need to draw up a proposal for Leoram (Kim Christy's company). Sllab is getting ready to duplicate and package <i>New Neighbors</i>, and I just turned in the latest Ad for this month.

I'm back, so sue me.......

Man do I have a fresh rant for you. Some guy from "The Dove Foundation", just called, trying to convince me that Hollywood is trying to make movies too edgy for kids and that we should do something to stop it. Ironically, this being at the same time I've been helping with <i>Parental Guidance Suggested</i>, a sex comedy by the folks who brought us <i>American Pie</i>. As he continued his script, I became more irate and unloaded on the guy. What can I say? I had to much caffine.
<br>Clearly, he had no idea who was on the other line. I suggested they do better research before calling people, but he made me think. Parents talk a lot about influence, and they worry about their kids. He asked me if I had any kids. I don't, but a large part of my spirit, spite, and drive comes from a little kid bullied a lot in school and determined to speak his mind and stand against the masses if that's what the cost of freedom would be. Ok, the kid needed work with run-on sentances, but bear with me.
<br>Point being, the greatest influence, more than any movie was that of my family. No, Mom and Dad aren't kinky (at least, I don't think they're kinky). However, the things I want to do most, and would have been supported most, came from my family. My creativity comes from Dad, who made me toys, built shelves and a toybox for my sister and I. Much of my morality comes from my Mom, who I often hear say "that is just wrong" in my mind when so much happens in this industry. Yet, Mom was not ruthless in her morailty, and always kind to others. Her father, Grandpa Messner, inspired me to draw earlier than my memory will allow. Her Grandmother did yarn art, and I have several of her pieces on my wall today.
<br>Some of the most important things to me were working on projects with my Dad, fishing, the one time we went shooting, and working on our cars. The most regret I have is Dad didn't have the time to show me more about working with metal and wood. There's so much I can do, and with Mom and Dad so far away, much of what I have to learn must be learned alone.
<br>Worried about movie violence? Keep your money! Spend more time with your kids, and remind them they can do anything. I assure you there will be better results.

Gone to http://www.xpeeps.com/jaymoyes

Salutations,

Folks, it's been nice to have this little bit of Cyber real estate, but my artwork uses genitalia, and it needs a home with admins who have gonads.

AEBN has created a new community called Xpeeps.com It's like the community boards you're used to (Tribe, Yahoo, Smartgroups, Myspace, Flickr), only they don't flinch on the adult stuff.

I'll keep tabs on what's going on in Tribe, Yahoo, and Myspace, but if you want to find me, go to www.xpeeps.com/jaymoyes

LA doesn't run, it rolls

This telecommuting thing is pretty neat. I had to run and errand for the boss, and stopped after hours at Ralphs. All this time I've been freaking out over not getting the right stuff for Mom and Dad (especially Mom).

The grocery store gave me some comfort on the subject. I got Mom some sugar free chocolates, hot cocoa, one of those scrunchie bath sponges. I got a special wood working magazine for Dad. I also got them a bunch of little goodies and a card for AMC theatres. I also got some stuff for my sister and her husband and some stuff for Mistress' kitty and puppy. I've been doing the internet shopping thing, but this helps put some finishing touches on the family shopping.

Meanwhile, at home, there's a special Christmas present I've been working on for a friend. Our friend, Crickett (crickett.net) just moved to downtown LA, sans car, sans transportation in general. Los Angeles doesn't just run, it rolls. Being in LA, especially downtown industrial, without a car sucks ass.

I don't have a spare car, but I do have a spare bike. It's a very personal bike too. Back in 2000, my Team Murray Baja was stolen from the parking lot of AVN. I was devestated, especially since I was planning on having major work done on my truck and needed wheels.

Ken Michaels took up a collection, and I was stunned to have handed to me $200 to purchase a bicycle. The next year, right before 9-11, I lost the truck in a nasty accident, and that bike got me through the next eight months, during, through Christmas and a nasty winter. I used it for grocery runs, trips to the 99c store, krispy kreemes for work, and lots of trips for work.

It's really hard to describe what you put into a pair of wheels like that. You get feel every part of the bike. You connect with the way it rides, it's quirks. Cars have a lot of real estate you don't feel connected to. Every inch of a bike is in your hands at one point or another.

I've bought a couple of bikes since then, a folding bike, and a schwinn continental. The bike from work has been gathering some dust, but I've held tightly on to it for sentimental reasons. This afternoon while talking to the boss on the phone, I chased away the spiders, and cleaned off the leaves and dust. It was looking better already.

While presents waited to be wrapped tonight, I took off the back wheel and replaced the tube from a flat tire. A toothbrush and some sinthetic lubricant worked nicely on the chain and sprocket. The brakes needed a little adjustment, and I re-attached the lights on the back end that makes my ass look like Christmas any time of year.

I chucked an extra socket wrench and 15mm socket in there in case she needs to change the tire, flipped the bike back over, and sat on the ground taking a deep breath.

Moments like this require at least a test run, but after drinking in the shiny black, the standing pride, and the handywork that kept me afloat for many months of stinking poverty, I had to give it a final shakedown and took it up to Devonshire. It's warm for December, and when I saw the sign on Walgreens say 60 degrees, I knew I had to put it through its paces.

I cranked on the gear shift and stomped down. Cool wind rammed down my throat, my heart tried to climb out my chest. Bang, Topanga and Devonshire. Wait for the light, pound the petals uphill to Lassen. Sure, it looks easy in your car, try doing it fast on a bike though. I had to ease up a bit to keep from hitting the surplus car and adjusted my hat to keep it from flying it off. Almost home. Fly up the hump, over the tracks, past the 24 office and New Sensations and stop at Desoto and Lassen.

Not a bad little run. I want to call my boss and dare him to ride with me. I wish Mistress could feel my heart pound like that and feel the pride of being there.

I walk it home from there. Just easier up the sidewalk, but I coast it into the appartments.

Not a bad deal, a bike from one former AVN employee for another former AVN employee. Ken would definitely approve and I think Mark Logan will surely get a kick out of it. The porncycle lives and continues.

Maybe Crickett will even enter it in the Mayor's bike rally in 2006 :)

Happy Holidays.

Failure and prospective

It's been a very rough week. A lot of time has been spent trying to get things done and fighting the frustration of watching some stuff fail. My Mistress has been to the point of tears several times,

Being a part of failure can be a very hard thing. We worry about our jobs, we think about the consquences for not being ready. We rarely think about the bearing failure has on what we learn and take to the future.

Things have been quiet today, and while I've been working on some designs for posters and sales sheets, I took a break to clean out my kitchen. In the back of the fridge was a failure staring at me for almost a year.

It was simply a bowl of white chocolate. We were melting it to make white shoes for Y-Heels. Unfortunately, it got wet and seized. It was useless for our molds, and we put wrap on it and chucked it to the back for some possible use in the future, which has never come.

And there it was, pure failure. Cold, featureless, ugly. I growled. I've been meaning to face this for months now, and determined to get it the fuck out of my fridge.

I grabbed a fork and chipped part of it off, growling, chewing... relaxing a bit. Damn, this is pretty good. Damn, this is one of the nicest parts of the day.

Ya know for failure, this doesn't taste half bad. Matter of factly this is really good, I wish I had some friends over to share it with.

I haven't eaten since Thursday afternoon. I've been trying to think of what I wanted to eat today. I can't just eat this...Well, I can, but it's not good for me. Well it's good for me, not my belly or my butt. Well....

Dang, it's been sitting here for months, during some of the worst times. Times when I've been hungry, times when I'm upset, times when Mistress and I have had nothing to do, or wanted a little something more for dinner. We never did anything with it, never thought about just grabbing it and digging in. This would have cheered us right up.

Never underestimate the positive effect of failure :)

Sincerely,

Jay

Testing, one two three.....

Salutations,

Still getting used to Tribe. I like the feel, but I'm not getting around as easy as on myspace. How do you folks juggle so many blogs and sites? :)

I do like the feel, and I'm getting a better sense of community here than on my myspace account. Now if I can just figure how to juggle all of them for the art show.

Ok, off to draw, later :)