Late-August freewrite!

Just settled back in to the house after an evening at @caffetto. That little coffee shop stirs up such memories of the various chapters of my life. I do regularly feel compelled to write something for Hive while I’m there. There’s a ton of history within those graffiti’ed walls. My friend Marley and Aaron were just married, both @caffetto baristas and both will be missed. They’re embarking on a move to Seattle so as a goodbye to them both, I was asked to eat a lightbulb. One of my many hidden talents. I also thought it would be appropriate to perform the human tip jar routine to help them raise some money for the journey. If you’re not familiar, members of the audience staple dollar bills to your body. I’m getting too old for this shit now but it was a great way to retire it.

I’ve been working on a documentary for the last three years! This is a massive project. It’s my magnum opus and will most likely be my life’s work when it’s finished. I recently picked up a new lens to shoot this out of control CRT wall I’ve been building. My idea was to take some of the protest footage I’ve shot during the Palestine movement here in Minneapolis, play it on the old TV’s and then film all of it with an anamorphic lens. This would have been unheard of just a few years ago but SIRUI has been releasing these affordable, autofocus 1.33X lenses. I sprung for one and I shot some test footage at @caffetto. Really happy with how this turned out. I have to make some adjustments of course, but it’s a great start.

I’ve managed to get out over the weekend. It’s mushroom season! Well, it’s always mushroom season in my life. I’m currently cultivating and growing five species of mushrooms in my house, but this is prime time for foraging. My favorite of all mushrooms is chicken of the woods and we’re in the final weeks of them being available. It took me about 4 miles and several hundred feet of elevation but I finally did find what I was looking for. The coveted chicken of the woods, perfect, bug free. I couldn’t have been happier. All told, I have almost 40 pounds. I’ll be giving some to @ghostfish soon but the recipes just keep coming. I recently did a chicken of the woods piccata dish that was quite delicious!

I’ve actually been shooting again. Obviously not the pinup photography but I was recently commissioned by a fashion design to shoot some modest dresses and outfits. My friend Joon was able to get me access to this massive Wells Fargo campus that has been abandoned since 2020. A lot of the rooms have an uneasy Backrooms vibe and eventually, I’d like to shoot something like that. I’ll save these photos for an upcoming blog post but they’re coming out great. I’m continuing to get lost on ADHD fueled side quests with TV’s, mushrooms, phonograph repair, Reticulum mesh networks. You name it, I’m probably doing it, but it’s great to be back in a place where I’m finding joy in life again. Thanks for reading!