awesome art people!

so, let me address the title first before i start getting into describing my fabulous life lately:

san francisco held the bicycle film festival recently and i went to see the films. i wrote one of the filmmakers and told him about my ballyhoo, and asked if he would be my pen pal. he said 'cool' (about the ballyhoo) and 'i'll send you new films we make' (about the pen pal part). how totally AWESOME. i sent him my zine in the mail today! to canada!

he suggested i check out an art collection called 'mammalian diving reflex' because they also had a wacky haircut event (check out my flickr page for haircuts from the ballyhoo). the MDR people had little kids give quality haircuts, a bit different from my event.

anyhow, these people are RAD. check out the website HERE!!! the social acupuncture projects knock me out. if my job were to think up, plan, and execute projects like those i would be totally happy and content. perhaps a masters in fine art will follow my phd in chemistry. that'd be pretty funny! while i san fran i also discovered REBAR. i witnessed their 'parkcycle', a pedal powered green space. they pedaled around a lawn with a big tree in the middle of it for PARK (ing) day. check out more on the website. these guys are also doing art that makes me question going to graduate school over joining an arts collective in san francisco...

the cabinet library is particularly fabulous!

okay! onto my new life.

school is...well...i haven't really gotten back into school mode to be honest. i understand that i need to get serious and start putting my nose to the grindstone, but i don't even really remember what that entails anymore! i wrote down some organic chemistry mechanisms today, that was good i guess. but the rest of the day was totally AMAZING.

yesterday is really when the good stuff started. after classes i spent hours in the library finishing up the layout for my new zine titled, "my friends and their tall bikes." i drew many of my portland buddies' bicycles when i first got to santa cruz, mainly because i was feeling a bit lonely without them. as the drawings multiplied and i became more and more excited about them i decided to turn them into a zine. i darn good one at that, in my opinion at least. after finishing the layout and printing a 'master copy' i headed to kinkos and completed my first 'small press run'. 12 copies total. for now at least. as i was leaving kinkos (a horrible corporate institution i don't plan on returning to) i ran into critical mass! i haven't ever been on a critical mass ride before, believe it or not, so i joined them. it was fun meeting some new faces, but i was so excited about my new zine it was hard to think about anything else. i've worked on it for hours each day for the last 2 weeks. it's a lot of work to make a zine! anyhow, i met some great new friends and as i left many of them shouted kind goodbyes.

however, my previous negative ideas about critical mass were only made more concrete on the ride. there were lots of pissed off cars revving their engines and passing too close at high speeds (something i rarely experience cycling on my own). plus, our group didn't behave in a very respectable manner. twice the group started riding in a big circle in the middle of the intersection holding up traffic in all directions. a few drivers tried to push past the cyclists, which is really unsafe and scary, yet provoked by the riders! i didn't see how this exercise was helping the biking cause. the whole group rode THROUGH trader joe's, which simply generated more negative attention. i finally got fed up after riding 4 blocks down a one way street the wrong way. at that point i felt shameful for our behavior and noticed i was beginning to sympathize with the annoyed looks on the oncoming drivers faces. luckily riding a bike offers you the ability to choose your own adventure and i smoothly split off from the group without feeling any guilt about abandoning ship.

later that evening i rode my bike across town to dr. wasabi's house. he was leading a 'pie ride' that day, where a group starts by biking to pick fruit and ends up at someone's house baking pie. i caught the end of the party. all the tasty pie and none of the work! ha. there i met a lady with a huge garden full of sweet pumpkins, hopefully i will be able to use some for my own pies this fall!

santa cruz is a fun place to bike because you really can ride to EVERYTHING. nothing is ever too far away. plus, i think i've gotten to the point where i am so comfortable with biking and clear that it's my only form of transportation that riding my bike feels natural. when i started i remember being annoyed with how much longer it (seemed!) to take. however, after comparing it with buses, especially here in santa cruz where they run far less frequently than in portland, it really isn't any longer. in fact, i often get places quicker. and, the more i bike the more i find myself really getting places fast! strange how that works hey?

today i wrote constructed some AWESOME envelopes to send off some zines in, cleaned my room, tried to focus on a little chemistry, and then headed into town. i love doing errands. it's such a great way to have strange, interesting interactions. after errands i sped off on my bike to my new friends beautiful garden. i left with a TON of tomatoes (many of them heirloom) and a belly full of raspberries. yum. as i was riding through the sunny city i had one of those, "my life is just perfect" moments. it felt really good, especially because i have been having a bit of a hard time transitioning into my new life.

some choices i think have contributed to my success:

1. i've refrained from going out to the bars with everybody in the department. i kinda think social drinking at bars is a big ol' waste of time. i'd rather ride my bike somewhere and drink. or read. or write letters. man, i feel like kind of a prude, but i've been having way more fun lately without wasting hours of my life drinking. there's simply too much to do in a day!

2. i've really enjoyed my alone time. i've started pleasure reading again. (right now i'm working on Homer's odyssey, which is awesome. life has never seemed so grand!) going on long bike rides. cooking really tasty veggie rich dinners. making a zine. writing letters! writing letters to strangers that i admire (this one is particularly satifying. they are the only people who have really written me back much!). it's also nice writing to strangers who seem 'out of my league' because when they write back it's really encouraging.

3. i've started finding 'my people' in santa cruz. sunday's i head out to the lighthouse for group hula hooping sessions. i've spent a good hunk of time at the local community bike shop working on my bike and talking to the folks there. turns out there's a local ladies bike gang that goes on rides every week. not spandex warrior rides either. i met a guy at kinkos who helps organize the guerilla drive-in (more like walk/bike/bus-in). people here are neat, and i'm slowly getting to know them.

4. i've been SLOWLY easing my way in. i was so manic in portland it's nice to slow down and relax now that i'm in santa cruz. no need to start planning any festivals. although...i am working on a few ideas....more later.

yup, that's all for now!




i woke up and put together really wonderful packages.