Been Uploading Photos

I have used a number of websites to post my photos. I started with Tribe, then went to flickr and facebook. Most recently I've been uploading photos to a site called Deviant Art. The name is an odd choice because there's really nothing deviant about it. I think it was going for that edgy feel to attract a young and hip audience. The reason I've been uploading my photos to this latest is that the world has an opportunity to buy and download the photos. So instead of people being able to just look at them, they can perhaps purchase them. I've had a few things up since Sept/Oct, but haven't sold a single thing. I don't know if I ever will but it's better to have the possibility than not at all.
I'm going to post the website on business cards so that if someone sees a piece around town on a wall they will also be able to go on-line and find more of my stuff.
There's a lot of overlap with the work I've posted to other places, but there will likely be some stuff that's not seen elsewhere.

http://feral-kid.deviantart.com/

Update

It seems that life has gone into hibernation in this sleepy town - my life anyhow. That's part of the reason I haven't posted much lately.

I continue to be unemployed. My first, second, and third options all feel through. The economy has tanked and effected me directly. Fortunately, I have enough in savings to make ends meet. A positive cash flow would be nice though. I'm still hoping to be able to get back on the Pacific Crest Trail next season and hike the entire length of it.

I was hoping for greater snowfall this winter so as to shovel roofs for a source of income. I actually enjoy high places which is a perk if I'm going to be on a roof anyhow.

I've been spending my time working on my photography. I'm not organized and don't know how to become organized and streamlined in the process so it takes more effort than it should. I've hung a number of photos in a second restaurant in town which just changed hands. A couple of them have already sold, which I hope is a good sign. I still need to work on better marketing.

LA - what a trip

The flight out to LA went very smoothly. My father was kind enough to drive me to the airport which simplified the heck out of things. One never knows about possible traffic pitfalls so we got an earlier start than we needed to and got to the airport so early that had I been taking an international flight I would have been early even for that. But I managed to talk him into buying me a coffee roll from the airport Dunkin Donuts even though he knew it was over priced.

I couldn't have asked for a smoother flight. There was virtually no turbulence.

I set my watch to Pacific time when I landed so when Michelle and I finally had dinner at 10:00 I wondered why I was so tired. By the time I went to sleep at midnight it occurred to me it was really 3:00 according to my internal clock.

I'm building a pergola for Michelle. That and other home improvements is the whole idea behind this trip west. So far so good. We spent the morning at Home Despot and a lumber yard getting the necessary tools and material. I spent the rest of the day measuring and cutting parts.

LA is just like it's seen on TV. Only on TV we are used to seeing everything from Armageddon to aliens. So LA doesn't seem too crazy.....until one actually gets here and realizes this ain't TV any longer and LA is still just as over the top. I don't actually have any great stories yet, but from Michelle's back yard I could hear a whole army of sirens on what must have been a chase of some kind because it continued to move in direction for half an hour or more. It was complete with helicopters.

And yeah, it's warm here. 60 at night and mid 70's to 80's during the day. Thank goodness I could hug the shade while I worked!!

Catching Up

I've been back in New Hampshire since mid September. I am usually able to pick up my old job right where I left off but this year is the first time in 9 years that it wasn't possible. It's a sign of the tough economical times. I have been waiting for another job to begin - a painting job that will take me through the winter, but when that job begins is out of my hands.

An LA friend of mine, Michelle, has offered to fly me to her place in CA to do some home improvements. I know her from Burning Man and we've been good friends for perhaps 4 years. We both benefit from this arrangement as she'll end up paying less for the work even with airfare included than she would if she hired an LA contractor. And of course I finally get a positive cash flow. The biggest worry for me is that I don't like to fly. Many know that I'd rather drive across the entire country if it takes me a week than fly. But time won't allow it.

I'll be gone for 2 weeks and will be returning to New Hampshire on Dec. 3rd.

Perhaps My Favorite Day

I like the idea of Winter Solstice better than Christmas. I used to enjoy Halloween when it meant nearly unlimited candy. My favorite "holiday" is still New Years Eve because it is a time of reflection on the past year and all it has meant. But I think nothing can compare to the day we turn back the clocks and get an extra hour.

If only we could do it every day.

Fixed??

OK, for any and all of you what wanted to visit my flickr account but couldn't I hope that the problem is now fixed. I'm also hoping that you will NOT have to create an account just to view the photos.

I would like to take this opportunity to state that the flickr staff are fascist dogs and incompetent. I wrote to them to find out why my account seemed to be malfunctioning. Instead of telling me that my account had been censored because of some of partial nudity, they told me that they'd get right on finding out what was the matter. I didn't hear from them for a week. In the mean time I spent hours tracking down the problem myself.

My account is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nomadphotos/ . Once my subscription runs out they'll only see my back as I'm leaving.

Photos From This Summer

It's been a large task, but I finally got some photos on the interweb from this summer.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nomadphotos/

Or you can follow the flickr link in the column to the right. I hope you enjoy them. They make me homesick for the trail.

Perimeter Haiku

I got a chance to look at the Perimeter haikus I wrote. Most all of them include some inside reference that wouldn't make sense to others except this one. But this one is one of my favorites anyhow:

drop below radar
lay in the dirt and cower
night vision finds you

The Ride Home to New Hampshire

At some point on my ride west in the spring one of my tail lights has stopped working. I assumed it was just a loose connection and I'd just have to jiggle a wire. It didn't work. It wasn't the bulb either. I did all I was able to track the problem but I never got it fixed and resolved that I'd travel mostly during the day to avoid the faulty light from being spotted by the cops.

So when it came time to leave Burning Man I traveled mostly during the day and avoided driving til the wee hours of the night/morning as I usually do. It was nice to actually get decent sleep for once on this cross country trip. I was astonished when once in a while a cop would pass me by at night and NOT pull me over. I figured that an old VW bus would be high profile for carrying some weed and any thin excuse would be used as a pretext for getting a look inside the bus. They would be disappointed if they wanted to find any drugs inside the hippie bus, but I certainly didn't want a defective equipment ticket for the trouble.

It wasn't until I was at the PA/NY line that I realized that as of Sept 1, my bus was no longer registered. I didn't leave Nevada til Sept 10. Back in April I had sought to register my bus in advance but I was told that it was too far in advance. My plan was to have my father register it for me in August, but motorized transportation was not a big theme in the past 5 months of my life and so registration seemed like a distant abstract by the time I was driving home in Sept.

After I realized that I was unregistered I became so paranoid I might as well have been smoking big bags of weed. Unfortunately it was already past dark when I came to the realization that my bus could be impounded several hundred miles from home. For the next 50 miles, until I could find a place to park for the night, every pair of headlights that came up behind me was a potential cop that was going to pull me over.

It was a miracle that I somehow managed to drive from coast to coast in an unregistered '71 VW bus with a tail light out and not get pulled over. But in the end I arrived safe and sound mid day in Sanbornville, NH.

Burning Man - Post Event

I stayed for nine days after the event to help clean up the desert. Cleaning up the desert involves removing all traces of the event. First the participants go. The responsible ones do a fine job of leaving no trace. The irresponsible ones leave behind their garbage knowing that 'someone will take care of it'. What gets left behind is sometimes more than just a bag of garbage. Bicycles by the hundreds are left. There was even an abandoned vehicle - the engine was blown - and a camper was left as well at another location. All this stuff has to be removed somehow.

After all the participants have gone it's up to the remaining staff to remove all structures - trailers, small wooden buildings, all vehicles, container units, and massive generators. In addition all the cable that's been buried needs to be hauled back to the surface. Posts that were once a part of larger structures need to be pulled up. And of course there's the 17 miles of fence that needs to go.

While all that is going on there's another part of the clean up going on as well. Every little piece of MOOP (Matter Out Of Place) needs to be lifted from the dirt and removed. This is a meticulous job and has to be done over several square miles. I participated in doing this combing for debris over the area where we camped and I picked up even individual strands of hair at times. Nothing is felt if it is seen. The trouble often arises with all the shifting wind and dust we had that can bury things under a light layer. So we even raked the ground to help us find things that may have been missed the first time over.

After nine days, I decided it was time for me to hit the road. There was a staff that would stay til the beginning of October. But I'd been there for 5 weeks already. I'd been traveling since early April. I hit my wall and needed a change of scenery.