karma and my muse

We didn’t see the show last night. We got there at 6:30, about 30 minutes early and there were no seats. Well technically there were, but they were barstools along the railing upstairs. Maybe about 36 total. Oh, and it was a sold out concert in a very crowded room. Sigh. Due to a bad back and diabetes, Terry cannot stand for more than a half hour or so without feeling like she’s going to faint. So we left before the show started. I was pretty bummed for a while, and Terry felt terrible, even though it wasn’t her fault. No where on the ticket seller’s nor the club’s websites did it mention it was a standing room only concert. We went back home, and I wrote a online letter to the club and several “reviews” on other entertainment websites complaining about what had happened. I figured THAT would teach them… Today a co-worker of Terrys who was there told her Colbie didn’t even start her set until 9pm.

So anyway, today I was sitting around for 3 hours at an auto shop while major repairs some preventive maintenance was being done to Terry’s car when I received this email (sometimes I really love my Blackberry):

Hi John,
Sorry for the inconvenience last night and that you opted to leave. We
do have seating for up to 325 people typically, although on sold out
shows we are mandated by the Spokane Fire Marshall to pull all furniture
to meet fire capacity. This doesn’t mean that people with certain
conditions and ADA requirements that we are not allowed to get a chair for
someone in need.

Any chance you asked our event staff for a chair and explained the need
for a chair? I only ask not to point fingers, more so to know if my
staff followed protocol.

You make a good point about our website not indicating that sold out
events are standing room only. I have forwarded the request to the
company VP to have that included on our website. Please look at our
website for any upcoming show that you may want to see and I’d like to
put you in our VIP lounge and buy you dinner and a round of drinks.

Best Regards,
Matt *****
General Manager/ Knitting Factory Spokane

Well THAT showed me…

Then right after that I received a phone call from a nice Chinese man who is opening a new restaurant in my old town and that I showed my house to a week ago. Yep, it’s rented now. YES!
He owns two other Chinese restaurants in the area, and I wish I could share his name with you, it’s interesting…

A little while later I find a twenty dollar bill on the ground. No owner around…Hmmm…

After the car was finished I headed over to the eyeglasses place that sold me a pair of inferior glasses a while back, and instead of having to argue my case for a return, the young manager working there gave me a full refund with no hassle. Made me blink twice…

Then after stopping to pick out custom frames for two more of my artwork pieces (a copy of an Aboriginal etching and a gelee’d photo of aspens in a forest), I was directed to a business that makes large prints of artwork (or in my case, photos) that also happens to be the largest art gallery in the area. The moment I stepped into this gallery I had a feeling I can’t really describe, Terry later said it sounded like I was giddy. All I know is I want more of it, I spent the better part of an hour and a half with the owner, talking about different ways of printing, showing, and selling my work. He invited me to come back anytime with my laptop and talk with him and some of the other artists that help out in the gallery. I looked at all of the artwork there, and found myself wanting to be apart of the whole process more than ever. The owner and several other people there told me how much they like the photo I bought in to be enlarged. It’s one of my favorite photos, and have not sold it online yet, because it’s better than my standard microstock work. So far only Kimba has a copy of it, but soon there will be a large framed shot of “Flowing Rock” hanging above our couch.

And even though I’m happy to sell wireless phones these days(and excelling at it even), it doesn’t do anything for me, except pay the bills.
I’ve felt like I’ve given up on my photography this year, even though I’m still selling my prints online.
But until I walked into that gallery this afternoon, I had forgotten how much it really feeds my soul and makes me feel alive. And how much I want to share it with others…

musical duet

We’re headed off to see Colbie and Howie at the Knitting Factory in downtown Spokane tonight. The tickets were only $24 apiece, and considering how popular Miss Caillat is becoming, I imagine she won’t be playing the smaller venues at this price for much longer. Terry likes her music, and so do I, but I like Howie Day even more, so when we hear they were coming here together, it was a no brainer…

half pipe dreams

The boy is into skateboarding.

I’ve learned alot about it this year: ollies, nollies, pop shoveits, grinding, kick flips, heel flips.
Wheels, trucks, and decks.
Zoo York, Enjoi, Plan B boards.

Bam Margera, Ryan Sheckler, Rob Dyrdek.

He turned 12 a few weeks ago, and a big part of his present was a half pipe. He asked me this spring if I could build one for him, and I said if he helped me, we’d do it together. Well, with working on my house and Terry’s place, I didn’t end up with much time to work on one, but we found a used one nearby that we bought and fixed up, finishing it a few days ago. It turned out pretty cool, at least according to him and his friends.

And check this out. Ryan does some crazy ass jumps, esp about 1:16 in…

done

After many weeks of using days off, and time before or after work, my house is up on the rental market. The original blue carpet that came with the house 12 years ago has been replaced and every room, including ones I had never painted before all have fresh paint now. Funny how I looked forward to putting in that new carpet for years, and now that I have, I don’t live there anymore… I’m really pleased with how well the house turned out, and I plan to be very careful about who I rent to, with background checks and credit reports to vet potential renters. And the neighborhood is changing as well, with two houses across the street from mine up for sale now. The owner of one of them has lived there as long as I did, and it just seems to confirm for me it was time to move on as well.
So if anyone fancies moving to the beautiful Coeur d’ Alene area of north Idaho, I have a nice place already to rent…

Oh, and now I can get back to that honey do list at our place…sigh…

46

Kathy

January 21, 1960 – September 5, 2006

I hope you have found the happiness that eluded you in life.

ahem…

After a busy Friday with five 12 years at a bowling party (The Boy turned 12), and then a hectic day at work Saturday, and between it all coordinating the carpet install for my house without being there, it was very nice to have a Saturday night and Sunday to ourselves when The Boy stayed over at a friends place.
Terry is a great cook, sings incredibly (have I mentioned she has sung opera professionally in the past?), is oh so cute, and we had a lovely day out enjoying ourselves. Even found a new coffee shop in town that sells our favorite blend.
But the highlight of my day came before we got out of bed Sunday morning. I have promised her non-disclosure blog wise about our sex life in the past, but she has “authorized” me to say this (knowing how much I would want to blog about it):

OH. MY. FUCKING. GOD.

One day later and I still have a smile on my face…

broken home (moving out)

Note: I wrote this piece last week, and having dwelled on it for a while, I’m worried the reader will think I’m feeling down, which couldn’t be further from the truth. I am quite happy these days, more than I’ve been in years. Life is good again, and this is simply me reflecting on one part of that life.

A couple of weeks ago I was going through some boxes of stuff in my garage, in preparation for moving it into storage, the trash can, or Terry’s place (I’m slowly beginning to call it our place now), and my long time neighbor from across the street came over to talk. He and his wife have been sad watching me move out, and at one point in our conversation he nodded his head toward the house and stated You really don’t miss this, do you. And I answer no, I don’t. There was a moment of awkward silence before we moved on to talk about other things.

Looking back on that bit, I wonder what exactly did he mean? Should I be missing it? How can I not miss it with all the memories? I’ve now owned this house for a little over 12 years, and of course there are many memories associated with it, good and bad. As I’ve been moving my stuff out, painting, repairing, and cleaning, the memories come back. My kids grew up in this house, but now I am estranged from both of them, with just minimal contact from my daughter. My wife and I bought this house together, and now she’s gone. The animals are all gone.

When I finally moved back in last November, this house felt like a empty shell that I tried to fill with new things to make it feel different for me, and while I was comfortable enough, I was fooling myself into thinking I could still live here, because the memories of times past would fill my head every time I walked through the rooms. Memories that reminded me of sad times mostly. The place I stood, taking the picture of my son and wife’s bittersweet reunion after he graduated from university, a few days after her brain surgery, and how I could barely see through the camera the photo I was trying to take. The places she fell as she got worse, the corner of the living room where she breathed her last breath from her hospice bed.
Here and there are the patched walls from the gouges and holes that my daughter and her BF put in the walls, and in the garage the blackened concrete floor from the ashes of his chain smoking. Outside the ruined grass that only now is starting to grow back from where they parked their broken down cars. And then I think about the day I had to throw them out of my house because they wouldn’t leave, even after giving them 15 months of rent free living to help them get on their feet (they didn’t save a penny). And how badly they treated the dog and cat.

There are good memories too, the 18th birthday party we threw for my son, the week spent landscaping the backyard ourselves. The four kittens born on Father’s day in 2000, from a cat that the shelter told us was a fixed male. The summer my daughter and her two best friends lived in our garage, forth of July celebrations, watching the snow fall, and Christmases past, just to name a few.

But I think I knew a long time ago I wouldn’t stay here long (even if I publicly said otherwise), and had I not met Terry, I would have sold this place by now (or be in the process of it), and moved to Arizona. I may still sell it down the road, if landlording turns out to be a pain in the ass. It’s funny in a way because at one time I thought I would never move again, that this was The home, the place I’d spend the rest of my years. Naive? Eh, maybe… Who knew back then what the future would bring, and that’s a lesson for all of us, right?

But in the end, it’s not my home anymore. I feel like when my wife died, the home died with it, and it became just a house, a place to eat, sleep and keep dry in. The family that lived in it is broken now, and I don’t know how, or if it can be fixed. I hope so, but it may take awhile.

But I do know it’s time for some other people to make this house into a home again.

I’ve moved on.

one year/three years

Mom – Dec 23, 1924 – August 18, 2008 / Dad – June 4, 1918 – Sept 23, 2006

I took this photo of my parents with a camera phone sometime around 2004, and it’s one of my favorites…
I believe that our lives here on earth are only one part of a much bigger journey, and I’d like to think that my parents are together again in whatever comes after this life.
But I sure miss them here in my life.

good news week

Sigh, so many things to write about still, yet it takes me two three days to just squeeze out this… Hope everyone out there is doing well, I try to drop by and read your blogs when I can, most the time it’s on my phone though, where it’s hard to write comments (blogger and my blackberry are not on friendly terms). Cheers…

I started my new job on the first of August, but really didn’t consider it my first day until this last Saturday when the new store I was hired to work in opened up. I like new things: cars, homes, apartments, work places. They feel fresh and give me the feeling of starting anew. Three of the places I’ve rented in the past were new, never before lived in dwellings, and the house I bought up here was too.

Saturday at work the smell of fresh paint was strong, the windows needed washing, the carpet vacuumed, the banners and posters hung. The company I work for doesn’t believe in “big” openings, just word of mouth and good locations. This store has a GREAT location, so I wasn’t surprised that we had a good first day, beating out the next closest company store in sales, and on Sunday we had an equally good day (and now Monday as well, although it was such a Monday, if you know what I mean…

There’s only three of us working at this store, myself, a tall lankly younger guy named Jason, and the manager Crawford, and they both seem to be easy going guys, and more importantly believe in business etiquette as it pertains to a commission sales environment. I think I’m going to like it here, and better yet the store is kept at a comfortable 72 degrees…

Here’s a photo of the 13 by 8 foot 42 degree refrigerator I used to work in. I’m not missing it much these days. Oh, and speaking of the old job, I found out that the girl I wrote about here has karma kicking her in the ass big time right now…

I have also been surprised by the uptick in sales of my photographs online recently, in fact July gave me the best sales month ever on two of my sites. I haven’t had a chance to upload any photos lately, but after the new version of windows comes out this fall, I plan to get back to it. My Windows Vista laptop took three tries to just transfer 88 photos to a memory stick today, and I just don’t have the time to completely reload the software in it to make it work right. And why bother if I’m going to replace the operating system in a few months, right?…

In other news, I received the results of my blood work that was done two weeks ago. All my tests came back in the normal range, including my PSA (which dropped down to the middle of what is considered the safe range). And now after my third “turn and cough” check, all three doctors concur I have a enlarged prostate, but nothing to make them suspect it’s cancerous. But considering the prostate biopsy I was told I should get last year (by a medical group I think was truly more interested in my money than my health) would have cost over a thousand dollars, and a couple men who have had it done said it “hurt like a motherfucker”, I’m very glad my new doctor has told me I don’t need to have it done now. Yippie kai yay…

artwork and an armoire

A while back I had some of my Australian artwork framed and I promised to share it here. This first one I bought at a student art show at an Aboriginal event Kimba’s company was participating in. The artist used one of the ceramic tiles that ran around the base of her grandmother’s home as a template for the piece (hench the piece’s name), and I liked the simple subject, the color, and texture. I had the framer float it on top of a brown suede matte and finish it with a rustic dark oak frame, and I love how it turned out.

Nanna’s

These are four cards that I originally thought to pass out to family members on my return, but were lost for a while, then when I found them, changed my mind when I thought of the framing idea. I believe I picked them up while in Tasmania. I remember the store quite clearly, but not “where” for sure…

Roos, owl, and a bilby

A piece of furniture that Terry and I bought together, because we needed more hang up storage for clothing since her 60 year old house only has small closets in each room. We spent a evening trying to figure out how old it is, and thanks to a stamp on the back of the mirror, we think it’s around 100-110 years old.

I also have a Aboriginal painting on canvas that I had stretched but haven’t found the right place to hang yet. Once I do I’ll show it off, along with some more art from Oz and my trip last summer around the US.

So what special artwork or furniture do you have? Any photos to share?