A Vacation of Sorts

in response to my arguable loss of sanity, my mom emailed me asking if i'd like to come home and get some groceries or go do something relaxing, or anything at all. i could tell she was doing what any good mother would do and so i told her i'd be back during my next free weekend.

and i sent her a photo of my current piece of trash-art (some say it's complete, i still say it's incomplete. but some say i have lost my mind as well, so who knows?)

to be utterly honest, i did not expect my mom to enjoy the art. she's always seemed to be very excited to see drawings i've done that mimic something else very well-- things like wood-burnings of barns, or generally classic forms of art which i have since given up entirely.

but her response was amazingly supportive. not just motherly supportive, but genuinely interested.

i spent my first night in san jose hanging out with friends and drinking whiskey at the brit. it was refreshing, as always, to see my friends and have some drinks. though i should apologize: i didn't mean to disappear for thirty minutes and leave you wondering where i was, alex. my bad. but i did get home and i did enjoy our chat-sessions.

thursday was spent with my mom, my little sister, and my ferocious 11 pound miniature wolf. i think they may have been a little surprised by how much coffee i drank and how many cigarettes i smoked-- but i'm happy they didn't see how much whiskey i had drank the night before.

it was the most amazing thing, though: my mom took me to a place called r.a.f.t. which is a huge warehouse full of "garbage" and donations from companies-- it's what the kid's discovery museum's doodad dump became (for those of you who remember that magical workshop) and she took me there in response to my trash-art.

i couldn't believe how on-board she was with my art. it felt so good.

afterward, we headed out for a trip to monterey, where twamp was forced to remain leashed due to his habit of attacking innocent beach-goers and sometimes horses.

the little punk.

it should also be mentioned that twamp is ridiculously afraid of water-- to the point where it's almost good comedy. when we first stole him from the shelter, he would refuse to walk on wet sidewalk, and would pull us into the street to avoid water at all costs. so perhaps the beach was not the best idea for the little guy.

either way, it was pleasant and reminded me of how much san francisco sucks. i lived by ocean beach for a year and had probably gone and made use of it four times-- all four of which i hated. the wind, the fog, the freezing temperatures and the overall misconception of "beach" that it came with.

monterey was windless, nicely scattered with shells and such. but the most amazing part of the visit was looking up from the shells and pebbles to catch my mom throwing twamp in the water (that part was a little uncool), and finding that he is entirely capable of swimming.

he almost immediately lost his fear of water and went at a mean doggy-paddle that even i could never perfect.


i love that dog. sometimes i think i love him so much it depresses me because i know he's now a "senior"-- the guy is seven years-old and if my pet shop days have taught me anything that means his food will contain condroitin and glucosamin to help his joints and in a matter of time he will become arthiritic and die.

but maybe i just focus on the bad, or the end, too much. the point is he's the coolest wiggly over-grown squirrel anyone could ever hope to meet... even if he attacks everyone he meets.

i think this may have been one of the best visits to san jose i have ever had-- it was drama-free, and i had a solid balance between seeing friends and seeing family. twamp can swim, my mom likes my art regardless of its unorthodox style and my sister has purple eye-contacts. rad bananas.

and i even made off with a good amount of r.a.f.t. art supplies and beach trash.


i can't wait to be fired on friday so i can come back and spend more time with more people rather than having to rush out of town.

but in the case i am not fired, believe me i spent time in my costume wardrobe picking out some solid "business attire" for monday.

p.s. thank you all for continuing to read this blog while i was away and not updating-- i was surprised to see the visitor count stay steady. perhaps this jerk had something to do with it, but both ways: thank you.