Happy New Year

I wasn't planning on doing a post on New Year's Eve, but it is a good time for looking back over year just ending. I want to check back in my journal to see what my goals for this year were. This should be funny. This is one of the reasons I like to keep a journal. It makes it difficult to lie to yourself. Let's see:

Goals for 2010

Lose weight: down to 130 lbs.

                      Ah, I failed on this one. Of course this goal was a carry over goal from 2009, 2008, 2007 , 2006 and so on. This one goes on next year's list.

Get in shape: enough to ride the bicycle the length of the Coyote Creek Trail.

                      This one I almost got done before I fell and badly twisted my ankle. I didn't fall while riding the bike. I fell walking on a dirt path at night. Pretty pathetic really. Of course this goal was a carry over and simplifying of last year's goal of reaching the top of Mount Hamilton. This goes on next years list.

Complete Maze 2 to publish level.

                      This one I almost got done. I just need to do the proofing and final edit. This goes on next year's list.

Complete Maze 3 to publish level.

                       Ha! I didn't even start the process for this one. I think I will cut this one for next year.

Finish drawing maze 4.

                       Well, I have done 71 out of 90 pages, so I got 78 percent of it done. If only I had lost 78 percent of the weight I wanted to lose! This goes on next year's list.

Cut Spending to a minimum.

                       Failed this one too! This definitely goes on next year's list. I have to divert massive amounts of cash to the Line Around The World Project.

It was another one of those years like most of the previous years of my life. Nothing accomplished at all. Unless I consider life's surprises. For instance, I had never even considered doing a Blog. And here I am, blogging away, boring my readers to tears. I love it!

The Line Around The World Project was totally unplanned and yet has grown into a major Art Project. Perhaps soon to be a corporate sponsorship deal. By the way, here is what a mile long line looks like when it is rolled up:

Pretty darn impressive isn't it? Just think of what a Line Around The World will look like. Wow! I might have to move.

For the rest of today I will be working to refine my goals for next year. I'm going to try and be more realistic for next year. And by gum, I'm really going to get them done this time!

Happy New Year!

Jonathan

A Maze - Page 20

This will be the last page for the year. After you finish working on it you can have the rest of the year off. For the last couple of months, while I have being posting this first maze and drawing my Line Around The World, I have been also working on my fourth maze. I started drawing it in January this year at a monastery down in Big Sur. So far I have completed seventy pages. I have twenty more to go. My goal is to finish it before, or at least while I'm at the monastery again at the end of January. In order to do so, I'm going to have to cut back on the work on my Line. You would be surprised at how much time it involves.

Anyway for now here is the next page of the first maze. First the scanned and edited version.

Page 20

Here is the same page in the wild. This is not Santa Cruz. This picture was taken in the town I grew up in which is Livermore, California. This is a view of a relatively new vineyard along Arroyo Road. When I lived here it was just an open field. There were no vines, or houses, just ranch type open fields. They were green in the winter and spring; yellow and brown in the summer and fall. At least there is a vineyard here now, otherwise I'm sure it would be wall to wall houses.

So, as I hinted above there will be no update tomorrow. I will do them on random days for awhile until I get my other work done. You'll thank me later.

Jonathan

Drawing The Line - 13

This segment of my Line Around The World was rolled out in the early morning hours of December 24^th. I chose to do it at that time because the Line would be crossing a very busy street. Even after midnight when it was rolled out, several cars ran over the Line. But it didn't break.

As usual I packed up four prepared rolls of cash register tape and this time jammed my Mad Hatter hat on my head since I didn't expect to see anybody out there. Instead of walking to the starting point 5,000 feet away, I drove over there.

Here is the start of roll 39.

Here is the end of that roll. At this point I could hear a bunch of people up ahead laughing and talking.

Here is the end of roll 40. Off to the right of this picture a group of young people milled about doing what I believe the natives call 'partying'. When the flash went off I heard a shout go up from some of them in surprise. “No pictures! There can't be any evidence!” someone cried. I hurried back along the Line a bit and saw that the shouters were joking around.

“I'm just drawing a line around the world,” I explained.

“Good idea,” one of several tall young men said.

“How are you going to get to Asia?”, a tall young woman who seem to be attached to the young man asked. Well, as you know, I haven't quite figured that bit out yet.

“I haven't figured that part out yet.” I explained.

The young man, who I suspect had been indulging in intoxicating refreshment of some kind suggested, “A kayak. That would work.”

The young woman gave the guy a look that I have seen from my wife many times. It is the look that means, “Idiot!”

Anyway, a simple Line Around The World was hardly exciting enough to keep these youngsters from their party for long and I was able to get back to work.

Here is the start of my crossing of Homestead. This is also the end of the first mile of the Line.

This is the view of the end of roll 41. I left the Line out there in the street.

And here is the end of roll 42.

That is about it. By the time I had gathered up the Line to where the party had been, everyone was inside. As I finished gathering up the Line I saw a big fat falling star to the South East. It was blueish in color.

From now on the area is even more commerical and busy. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

Jonathan

A Maze - Page 19

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Hopefully you are recovered from any excess of spirit or spirits, because it is time for the next page of my first maze. Following what has become standard procedure, it is merely the page that following the previous post.

Here is the scanned and edited version of page 19:

Page 19

Here it is in the wild. This is the surviving bridge of Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz. There once were two connected arches here, hence the plural of bridge in the name. Years ago the arch closest to shore collapsed during a storm. It is still pretty cool though.

Tomorrow I will have another update for my Line Around The World Project.

Jonathan

Drawing The Line - 12

On Monday December 20^th, after I had posted the 17^th page of my maze, I looked out my window and was amazed to see that it had stopped raining. The streets were still a bit wet, but looked to be drying out. Maybe I could roll out my Line after all. I packed up four rolls of cash register tape, some scotch tape, some masking tape and my camera in my pack back. I asked my wife if she wanted to go out and help since I wasn't going to wear my Mad Hatter hat. “No, you go have a good time,” she answered.

So off I went. It was much colder than I expected from looking out the window. I wished that I had worn a sweater under my jacket, but I pressed on undaunted. It was 4,480 feet to the start of this segment. Here is the view from where the 35^th roll started crossing an intersection.

Here is end of roll 35.

Here is the view from the end of roll 36. Notice again that I cut out the part of a line segment in a busy intersection.

This is the view from the end of roll 37.

This is the end of roll 38. This happened to be a quiet intersection.

After I had started to gather up my Line again, I noticed someone familiar walking along the Line towards me. Well, what do you know, the person turned out to be my wife. I think she was mighty impressed. The Line is now 5,000 feet long in all its glory. She agreed that it was a bit on the cool side. The weather I mean.

Jonathan

A Maze - Page 18

Hello again. It has been very busy around here. I did manage to roll out my Line this week once. Tomorrow I will have the update. Today it is time for the 18^th page of my first maze.

Here is the scanned and edited version:

Page 18

Here it is in the wild. It is still in Santa Cruz. The lighthouse and a good part of the Monterey bay is visible.

 

As I say, I will have an update on the Line Around The world Project tomorrow.

Jon

A Maze - Page 17

Here we go again. It is Monday and time for another page of my maze. What better way to spend a cold and rainy day than to sit and solve a maze? Banging your head against a wall you say? Yes, that has its own appeal, I'll admit, especially when you stop. And when you have stopped, this next page of the maze will still be here for you.

Here is the scanned and edited version of the 17th page:

Page 17

Here it is in the wild. The picture was taken in a cool little shop in Santa Cruz that sells meditation type stuff. There are colorful lamps, cool Buddhas, candles and incense. It is like a updated version of the 60's.

It has been raining for days and I haven't been able to roll out my Line yet, so there may not be an update tomorrow.

Jonathan

Musical Interlude - 5

I am a big fan of Natalie Merchant. In my life I have only attended a few live concerts and one of them was a concert Natalie did up in Oakland. It was during the promotion of her album Motherland. I don't know for sure, but this album was probably not as popular or as big a seller as her earlier solo efforts.

As I wrote in a previous post, I know nothing about the music business and don't pretend to be a critic. I just enjoy music. It wasn't until long after Natalie left 10,000 Maniacs that I even discovered their music. As usual I was a Johnny come lately. The 10,000 Maniacs had a great sound and Natalie's voice was distinct and beautiful.

Here is a video of one of the most popular of their songs:

That has a pleasant upbeat sound. Some of their other songs dealt with heavier material and yet remained nice songs to listen to for pleasure. I'm thinking of songs like “Don't Talk” or “Eat For Two”.

When Natalie went solo she had several hits on the radio and VH1. This is when I finally discovered her and discovered the 10,000 Maniacs. Here is a song that was played over and over on the radio. I don't think I ever got tired of it.

When the Motherland album came out, I admit that I was a bit disappointed. It didn't have any instant hits or instantly catchy tunes. Over time it grew on me and now when it comes up in my iPod rotation I love it. There is one song that never caught my fancy though. There is no official video for it. The best I could find is this audio video.

Hmmm. See what I mean. If it wasn't for Natalie's voice to carry it, I wouldn't listen to it. But as it turns out, I want to use this song to start an interesting (to me) train of thought.

Jonathan

Drawing The Line - 11

Okay, I'll admit it. I was too chicken to wear my new hat out in public during the daytime. The Line segment I was rolling out would be passing by the end of Fraternity Row and would go past a couple Sorority houses. Can I help it if I didn't want to look any more goofy than usual? As it turned out, it wouldn't have made a difference.

It was about 10 o'clock in the morning of December 10th when I packed up the four rolls of prepared tape and walked the ¾ of a mile to the end of the last segment.

Here is the start of roll 31. The fraternity house with the Christmas lights is the yellow house there in the background.

Here is the view from the end of roll 31.

Roll 32 didn't quite reach across the next intersection. It was the busiest intersection yet, so I attached the 33^rd roll before making the crossing.

Here is the end of roll 33. There is a sorority house to the right and one to the left.

Here is the end of roll 34 and this Line Segment.

I like the way it looks against the fallen leaves.

As I was gathering up armfuls of the tape to carry home, a guy came out onto the porch of the frat house with the Christmas lights. I decided I would try to interview him. As I crossed the street looking straight at him I could tell that he was hoping that I was not going to talk to him. I called up to him, “Do you have a minute?” I think that only the burning cigarette in his hand kept him from dashing back into the house. But he stayed outside and watched me approach.

“Hi, my name is Jon. I'm drawing a line around the world and have gone almost a mile,” I announced by way of introduction. I had once been as young as this guy, but never as tall, even before I began to shrink. I held out my hand as he pondered what I had said. He caught my smile and decided I was joking and not crazy and he sort of laughed. “My name is Jay,” he replied shaking my hand.

Here was a chance for me to find out the mind of one of the future leaders of the nation. Perhaps, even though he wasn't wearing a shirt as I talked to him, he would someday be wearing Armani suits while deciding the fate of nations. I had to ask some profound questions of him. So I pointed down at the table in the yard which you can see in front of the yellow house. “I've seen you guys playing some sort of game on that table sometimes. What is it called?”, I asked.”

“Do you mean, Beer Pong?,” was his reply. Of course, beer pong I thought nodding my head.

“Is that some sort of drinking game?”, I asked.

“Yeah, kinda,” he answered.

I asked him to briefly explain the rules, which he did. He mentioned another similar game called Beer Dot which was the one at is actually played on the particular table in the yard. I couldn't help but think I had been very unimaginative in my youth. I would just drink the beer, not come up with complicated ritual games for an excuse to drink the beer. I might have been a natural at Beer Pong. You can read the rules of Beer Pong here.

I mentioned my thought to Jay, “Heck in my day we just drank beer.”

He laughed and said, “Oh my dad tells me about playing quarters and bottle caps.” I had never played those either. Very likely even his dad is a bit younger than me.

He wished me luck on my project when we shook hands and parted. I forgot to wish him the same for his life ahead.

Anyway the Line Around The World  is now 4,480 feet world and still growing.

Jonathan

A Maze - Page 16

I know that you have been waiting for days to get the next page of my first maze. The 15^th page which I posted on Monday was significant because it marked the completion of the posting of the first 1/6^th of the maze. Although the maze has a large number of pages, not all of them are required to solve the maze. In fact only 36 of the 90 (yes, there are 90 pages to this maze) are needed to travel the solution path. Some of these pages are reached more than once though.

Today I give you the 16^th page of the maze. Is this page even necessary to get to the end? You don't think that I'm going to answer that question do you? If you do, you are crazier than I am.

Anyway, here is the scanned and edited version:

Page 16

Here is the same page in the wild. This picture was taken down in Santa Cruz. This gentleman has refined life down nicely. Not to the level of the sea lions, but he is getting there. My wife and I call him the Whistler. We have seen him sitting around the light house for years when we take a walk along West Cliff. People that see him now may wonder why we call him that because he doesn't whistle anymore. His style has evolved. Now he chants or hums or grunts out a monotone sound as he drums his drum. I asked if I could take his picture and he answered in the same monotone, “ I … don't … care ….”.

So there you have it, another page, which may or may not be necessary, of the first of my hand drawn mazes. Tomorrow I have another update on my Line Around The World Project.

Jonathan

Drawing The Line - 10

Last Tuesday night, or I should say last Wednesday morning I came home from work and decided I had better roll out my next Line segment. As it turned out it was a good thing I did, because it rained for the next two days. It was one o'clock in the morning by the time I had packed up the cash register tape and my hat. I decided to drive to the starting point.

Here is the start of roll 27. On the right is a row of fraternity houses of Santa Clara University. Don't ask me which fraternities they are, they're all Greek to me.

Here is the end of roll 27. As you can see, there aren't very many people around at 1:15 on a Wednesday morning.

Here is the end of roll 28. I figured that this would be a good time to break in my new artist's hat.

This is the end of roll 29. Right in the middle of an intersection. This is when the early morning hours really pay off.

Here is the end of roll 30.

One reason I wanted to go by the frat houses at night was that one of them had nice Christmas lights up. Here it is in the background.

With the completion of this segment of my Line Around The World we have come 3,960 feet which is

¾ of a mile. Wow!

I'll be back with more soon.

Jonathan

A Maze - Page 15

Here we go again starting another week. Today I bring you page 15 of my first maze. Since ending work on the Ink Drop test mazes I seem to have loads of time on my hands. I finally finished running the Private Reserve Sepia out of my pen when I finished the 10th page of the brown mazes. If it had not been raining for several days I might have worked extra on my Line Around The World Project. But I couldn't. So I goofed off. No serious work for me!

So here is the scanned and edited version of the 15th page.

And here is page 15 in the wild:

The picture was taken in Santa Cruz. This is the point where the light house is at. The rock out there in the top right hand corner is where the sea lions hang out. They have nothing better to do all day except lay out in the sun. They've got life figured out.



It will have another installment of the Line Around The World tomorrow.

Jonathan

Musical Interlude - 4

For my last musical interlude I introduced the classic band Renaissance. The music business is completely foreign to me. How they decide which category each band belongs in is beyond me. There is a school of thought that Renaissance belongs in the Progressive Rock category, along with bands such as Yes, Traffic, King Crimson and even Jethro Tull. I don't know. It seems very arbitrary to me. The main thing most of the bands under the label Progressive Rock (Prog Rock) seem to share is minimal radio air play.

Be that as it may, there is at least one magazine devoted to covering Prog Rock. It is well that they cover this type of music since the name of the magazine is Prog Rock.. A couple of weeks ago I happened upon a copy of this magazine in a Borders Bookstore. I perused it without buying it. I was curious if Renaissance was mentioned. I didn't see that band, but I saw lots and lots of others. Yes, had a big article in there.

Way in the back was a list of less well known bands and their albums. One of these bands was called Indica. It was new to me, so I made a note of the name in my Rhoda #11 notebook using my Noodler's roller ball fountain pen. When I got home, I brought up YouTube and searched for 'Indica'. This is what I found.

This is the English version of one of their hits:

This next video is the Finnish version. They are a Finnish band. This is probably the music my favorite racing driver listens to before a race. Or from what I gather, quite possibly during the race itself. He is a Finnish driver named Kimi Raikkonen who put the fun in Formula One.

I prefer the Finnish version myself. I can't put my finger on what it is, but there is something appealing about this band. And the song is pretty catchy too. But is it Prog Rock? Who cares?

Tomorrow is a day off, but on Monday I will have the next page of the first maze for you.

Jonathan

A Maze - Page 14

It is time to give you the next page of my first maze. For those readers that have followed this Blog since the beginning and may be worried about Midori, she is fine. She is still riding herd on her herd of cats. This is a very long maze and it requires a total life commitment in order to solve. It is a good sign that she hasn't posted a request for a page lately. She has a life.

A long those lines, I have come to a difficult decision. I'm not going to continue doing the Ink Drop test mazes. Posting those mazes was the original purpose of this Blog. Now they have become a minor part of the Blog, but have remained a huge commitment in terms of time. Believe it or not, I'm still running Private Reserve Sepia through one of my pens and I have just finished the ninth page of my fourth maze that used the November inks. In fact, I have only used one of my normal inks in the last two months. Ironically, that was Private Reserve Fiesta Red which is one of the December Ink Drop inks. I still recommend the Ink Drop Club run by Goulet Pens. I'm still a member, but I will restrict my use of the inks to those I'm interested in.

Now for today's page. Just to keep it simple I will give you page 14. Here it is in the scanned and edited form:

Page 14

Here it is the same page in the wild. This is the Santa Cruz lighthouse that now holds the Surfing Museum.

Tomorrow I will have another update on the Line Around The World project.

Jonathan

Drawing The Line - 9

The Line Segment of the Line Around The World Project I'm showing you in this post was rolled out on Friday December 3^rd. As you recall the previous segment ended as I was passing by an Elementary School. So, I had to continue on from there during the school day. I didn't wear my new hat which was probably a good thing. 

After preparing four rolls of tape, I walked the 2,920 feet to where this segment would start. I rolled out the first roll of tape, reached into my pocket for the camera, and the hatch for the memory card was open. I had forgotten to retrieve the card from my laptop. Darn! A teacher looked over and asked if I was Okay. “Yes, I'm just drawing a line around the world,” I replied. To her credit she merely answered, “Well, good luck,” as she hurriedly disappeared into her classroom. Once you see my hat you'll understand why I say it was probably a good thing I wasn't wearing it that day.

Anyway I had to gather up the roll of tape, walk back to my place, get the memory card back into the camera, roll up the tape so that it would be ready and finally walk back to the start again. As I was walking back to my place I happened to see the Drill Instructor dude. I went up to him and explained what had just happened. He smiled nervously and said, “Well, be careful.” He hurried away too. He wasn't around as I was walking back to the starting spot again. I wonder why?

Here is the end of the 23^rd roll.

Here is the end of the 24^th roll.

The end of the 25^th roll.

And finally the end of the 26^th roll.

Here is the very end of the Line.

As has become my habit, I stopped by the gas station for some Pink Popcorn. The daytime attendant knows me pretty well now. He was trying to explain directions to an older lady at the counter. He asked me if I could help explain. I looked at a hand drawn map the woman had in her hand and quickly realized that she only had to follow the road I have been heading down. If she kept on the road heading North for two miles or so she would reach Agnews Road which was where she was trying to get to. There was once a Mental Hospital called Agnews, but I don't think it was around there.

She was not confident about her ability to find her way, so I walked with her out to the sidewalk so there I could point her in the right direction. Still she was unsure. She asked if I could go with her, she

would pay me five bucks. There I was with my backpack overflowing with cash register tape and she was actually asking me, a strange stranger to get in her car for a two mile ride. I would have gone if I hadn't already walked almost two and a half miles to do the Line.

Instead I told her I would go back to my place, get my car and come back to lead her to her destination. She seemed okay with this idea and I took off to get my car. I tossed the backpack into the boot of my MINI and drove back to the gas station. As I pulled up, I could see her car was gone. I rolled down my window and heard the attendant say, “She took off. You try to help her and she takes off.” Well, she probably realized that it wasn't all that difficult to find her way. I don't think she was as afraid of me as the Drill Instructor dude was.

I should be able to show you the hat next time.

Jonathan

Drawing The Line – 8

In order to meet my self imposed deadline for reaching Mark and Midori's place by the year 2078, I've decided to make two updates a week on my Line Around The World Project. These updates will be done on Tuesdays and Fridays from now on. I'll really be zipping along.

The segment which I'm showing today was rolled out on Wednesday December 1^st. I'll have to set the time in my camera to the correct date or I will really be confused later. It was a pretty darn barren day as far as meeting anybody, but I came up with a really good idea for how to generate more meetings with people. More on that later.

For this segment I prepared 5 rolls of cash register tape, packed them up and walked the 2,270 feet to where the previous Line Segment ended. Remember, I was standing in the second intersection when the roll of tape finished. I decided to start this segment on the sidewalk instead. That means there will be a slight overlap in the line.

Here is the crossing of that second intersection with roll 18.

 Here is the view from the end of roll 18.

Part of the process of crossing an intersection is rolling up the part of the Line in the street after wards. For some reason some people are reluctant to cross the tape when they see me there. I appreciate their support of the Arts, but if a traffic jam occurs the police may come around and I'd have to explain what I'm doing to someone that could arrest me. They might not be art patrons.

Here is the view from the end of roll 19.

Here is roll 20.

Here is roll 21.

I'm passing a school here and some teachers have looked over at me. Some parents pulled up in a car and were carrying in trays of food or something and they stopped to look at what I was doing, but they didn't ask anything.

And here is the 22^nd roll.

This is the end of this Line segment. It is still in front of the school.

There it is. Thus far I've covered 0.55 of a mile and what a journey it has been! Things will pick up from now on. To help break the ice with strangers and to make them feel at ease, but at the same time make them aware that they are watching something different, I got a hat to wear while I'm drawing the Line. You will get to see this in an upcoming post. I know you are all excited!

Jonathan