ok so I’m a liar. I said I would write more… but I haven’t. It’s hard for me to do anything with any regularity… even breathing. My life is so full of complicated and diverse activities…
This morning I walked over to Urban Ore and perused the junked treasures…. I experienced a strange sensation of nostalgia and dizzyness as I wandered through the dust saturated items. There was something about the turn-of-the-century black walnut fireplace mantle and the old-fashioned spinning wheel, next to the scattered pieces of old computers and outdated film projectors, that gave me the same sensation I have when reading a good fiction novel… like I was really in another world. Everything I picked up had a history and as I looked at each thing I felt a sense of possibility for how it could be used, what I could make it into. I turned things upside down, squinted an eye, checked electrical connections, and slowly ran my frigid hands across handmade and machined surfaces. I was swimming in a creative black-hole of never-ending projects and I imagined having an artist studio there in the building where I could tinker and dream for weeks and months….
Breathe! whew! ok put it down. focus…. there is something I actually need…. a couple of brushless DC fan’s for the video projector I’m building. AH HA! found em. Only $3 each. Just saved $50 vs the new ones I saw at Radio Shack. I grabbed a couple strange looking light fixtures for the imaginary lamps I keep dreaming of making, a strange chrome bullet-like thing and a temperature gauge I might be able to install in my veggie oil truck.
Walking back to the warehouse, I wish I had more time to play and build things… the satisfaction I get from tinkering goes back to being a small child; a huge box of Legos, my first chemistry set, learning to fix my bicycle, making moonshine in my closet in junior high, the sticky smell of pine sap as I nailed yet another board into the tree-fort, and blowing up Robo-tech models with M80’s and gasoline.
Today I will edit some video, put new wicks on the Fire-Fans the ladies will be using next week in the Fire Ballet, and perhaps move forward on the video projector enclosure… I feel pretty lucky right now. Like I’m finally transforming my life to be able to make a living doing something I love. My next big wish is that I could live somewhere with a bathtub and lots of green plants!