Charon, the Odd Angel

The above is what a dear friend posted on her Facebook status a couple weeks back and it stuck with me. I’m feeling it too. I adore this time of year! The snap in the air means extra blankets at night and warm drinks and campfires. The time of year means apples and squash are in season and warming spices get put into apple cider by the spoonful. The arrival of Halloween means the rest of the holidays I adore are right around the corner.

The Roaming Pint were here last week and we got to spend some evenings over beer and other assorted geekiness when our respective work days were done. It was lovely to reconnect with some NuRVer friends once again and we look forward to more time together after the New Year when we gather en masse in Cedar Key, FL.

Tomorrow Best Beloved and I go out to see the elk for the first time this season. We will probably go again at the beginning of October to celebrate our three year Nomadiversary, but tomorrow we will be celebrating a milestone of progress on the Overlander: The belly pan is complete. The trailer is now self contained and can be worked on rain or shine from here on in.

Right now the air is a little chilly and Brundlefly is letting me know all about it. Thankfully she has a really cool custom knit blanket that my fabulous sister-in-law made for her. It is her Favorite Thing Ever. Except maybe for the propane lamp, which she sits under like Cleopatra beneath long handled fans.

Friday I head back to the DC Metro Area for my final two weeks of tattooing in the northeast in 2012. After that we are headed south with the sunshine.

Autumn is starting to poke at the trees a little bit up here by way of a chill in the air, crystal clear skies and the mounting scent of woodsmoke as nomads light fires to warm their evening gatherings. Schools are back in session, a new crop of university students is moving into the area and I’m starting to look at my goals for the school year. Autumn and winter afford me the greatest amount of open time to do with what I would wish and sculpting my life is at the top of the list. There’s a book project in the works, an art project that goes with it, smaller art projects that connect to that, and the drive to find more places through the southeast where I can work as an artist.

I’ve also taken on the daunting challenge of Joel Runyon’s Impossible Abs. Not that I really care about having the abs, but because I know what all will come with those abs, namely a stronger, leaner body, more flexibility, better circulation and health, elevated mood, better eating habits, regular movement (important for someone in a sedentary job) and an overall improved outlook on life, the universe and everything. You see, Joel put this intense 8 week program together because people told him it was impossible (that’s what he does, impossible things) to do what he did with it. And it isn’t only him. He had beta testers for it as well. And now I’m jumping on board. These last two days have kicked my ass, thoroughly and soundly. But I feel outstanding, and accomplished, and, dare I say, just a little bit proud of myself for having gone the distance with it thus far.

Best Beloved and I watched 300 last evening. I was familiar with the comic and the historical precedent, of course, but hadn’t yet seen the movie. Wow, what a fantastic film to watch if you really want to kick any remaining self-pity you might have straight in the clam. Seriously. What I took away from it is this: Doing what is right for you is hard. REALLY hard. It requires sacrifice and time and supreme effort. The cost can be very high. But it is always, always, always worth doing in the end. This is why I am committing to 8 weeks (hardly a ripple in a pond by Spartan standards) of intense and difficult training to get what I want and what I know is right for me at this time in my life.

Oh, and those amazing washboard abs and physiques the guys in the film had? The results of REALLY HARD WORK. I know, I know, it’s easier to tell yourself it was just CG, because then you’re off the hook, right? Tell yourself it’s impossible. Then you don’t have to face the possibility that you, too, could work really hard under the guidance of an expert or mentor who does what you want to do and achieve the results you want. Honestly, that’s the only way I can really interpret the whole CG argument.

I’ve actually made a list of things to do in my life (which will very likely be added to in the weeks and months to come) that are, currently, impossible in my sphere of influence. And I’m going to do every single one of them. I don’t care if someone else is doing them. That means it’s possible for them, but I’m not concerned with what is possible for others, and this is a surprisingly common reaction to some of the items on my list when I share it with people. I don’t subscribe to the belief that something worth doing is only worth doing once, by one individual. More than one Really Good Thing in this world means a world filled with Really Good Things and personally, I’m all for that. So here goes:

TRAVEL & ART

• Finish [BIG ART PROJECT] and arrange gallery show
• Finish [BOOK PROJECT] that goes with [BIG ART PROJECT] and publish electronically
• Build an Earthship community for full time nomads
• Tour the Americas in a B van and tattoo, paint and draw all the way [second BOOK PROJECT, maybe ... ]
• Do the same in Europe and Asia
• Build a shamanic tattoo team / event / practice that travels
• Live podcasting coverage of the most unusual festivals and live events in the States

MIND, BODY & SOUL

• Dance my animals weekly
• Do a proper pullup. More than once.
• Do a handstand pushup. More than once.
• Eliminate refined sugars from my diet entirely
• Get my gymnast’s body and flexibility back
• Finish / repair the tattoo work on my person

PERSONAL

• Get a culinary arts certificate or equivalent education
• Weekly chats with my family and 20%
• Post to this blog daily

The bracketed items are to preserve the contents of my ideas and the specifics of the projects. I can tell you that the [BIG ART PROJECT] consists of 22 completed mixed media artworks, with many more planned. The [BOOK PROJECT] is the documentation for each work of art. This list is will be added to, as I mentioned. I have a lot I want to do and fortunately am well on my way with a lot of this already. Best of all I have the right person in my life to share it with, who is actually enthusiastic about and supportive of it all.

So there it is. Oh, want more inspiration to turn your motivation into some disciplined action? Go over here and pick up “How to be Legendary”, a major wake-up call from one of my favorite bloggers, Johnny B. Truant.

I’m off to to the drawing board. Literally.

Test post, brought to you by The Roaming Pint and my buddy Ernie. Phone posts seem to be enabled once more so we are back in business with a yet-to-be-determined art project to build on the success of the Friday Flash Postcard.

The Friday Flash Postcard generated a ton of interest, some spin-off projects, an art exchange within an online community of tattoo artists (myself included), and some awesome art mailed to me by friends and tribe (thanks Cheddar Yeti!). Due to site overhauls in the security area I’ve been unable to post by phone and others have been unable to comment by phone as well. This will be part of the fix-it list this winter.

What I’m wondering about is what sorts of sharing / art projects I might want to serialize in the wake of the FFP.

First Friday Paintings? Art fusions with other RVers? More regular updates with the tattoo work I did that day?

I can do all of that, but what would you want to see / participate in / purchase? Let me know in the comments section.

Because it’s really, really hot …