Lawn Art

 Gnarly grass, unable to be mowed regularly because of mower difficulties.

I love mowing the grass.  It's like meditation for me.  Putting on headphones, smelling the chlorophyll, singing lyrics at the top of my lungs in an attempt to drown out the mower engine.  Getting crazy looks from cars passing by as I dance behind the lawn mower.  It's all beautiful.  Oh yeah, and imagining up designs to cut into the grass--probably the most fulfilling part.

So far this year, mowing has been a hard-pressed chore.  The lawnmower was broken, so I was having to borrow mowers from family members, hauling them around in my trunk whenever they needed them back.

 The repaired mower, and the first cuts of the design.

Kudos to my roommate, Erik, for finding someone who welds to graft the handle of our mower back to the body.  Now, I am fully operational with an arsenal of designs in mind waiting to be cut.

 About half way done...

Here's the first installment...A Sun-scape if you will...Enjoy!

An ode to the summer...grass mirroring its source of life.

View from the rooftop.

Between Shifts...

  Crab Cakes served with a roasted red pepper romulade, 

arugula and grilled lemon.  Photo by: DD

I think this grind is gonna get me, my friends.
Another day, another dollar, but when will it end?

The kitchen's heat is sucking at me again, prying
Open my pores, letting that kitchen smell in.

My bank account will make a few more friends--
Washingtons, Hamiltons, Jacksons and Benjamins.

I'm in between shifts, wishing this time won't end.
Because in 25 minutes, I'll resume work again.

 Spinach Fettuccine with cured tomatoes, artichokes, asparagus, 

banana peppers and a garlic infused olive oil. Photo by: DD

I'm dressed in all black. It's the beginning of summer.
I could use some pastel, some days with much more color.

I try to get outside whenever I can.  But stomachs
Keep growling.  Guests keep on coming.

Inside the restaurant, the lights are so dim.  Temporary blindness
Takes over while eyes are adjusting.

Sometimes I take a nap and hear plates banging.
Twenty more minutes, I resume work again.

I can feel my mind swinging back into work mode.
And it sure feels good to know I'm not alone.

 Asparagus Bread Sticks with a white cheddar and jalapeno sauce. Photo by: DD

I just heard my shower stop.  That's two more bodies cleaned.
Now my roommate's dressed in all black too, ready to pursue American dreams.

His girl is working too, but she gets to wear a real pretty dress.
We work at three different restaurants, yet feel the same damn stress. 

I find it kind of funny.  It's makes me kind of sad.
When the check is $150, and the food goes in the trash.

But I'll be $30 richer, from some patron's waste.
The circular transaction ensures I'll have food on my plate.

Here's when I surrender to reality.  Splash my face with cold water.
Tuck my shirt in properly, and think about how people respond positively to my
Personality.

I'm thankful for the opportunity, to work and live freely.

But this has been a few moments between shifts.

Grilled Flank Steak with garlic mashed potatoes, arugula

and a sweet Worcestershire sauce.  Photo by: DD

All photographs were taken at the Bistro on Main, and all food was prepared by the chefs at the Bistro on Main, my place of employment, which has been so so so good to me for the past seven years.

Brain Storm

The storm begins small and distant...

I'm sitting in the kitchen of my girlfriend Kayla's apartment in Columbus, Ohio.  I'm thinking.  About what?  Many things...

Like how good a beer sounds right now, except Kayla stole my wallet this morning when she went to work b/c we went shopping last night and my sweatpants didn't have pockets, so I put the wallet into her purse and forgot to take it out, so I guess it's my fault, but she stole it anyway.

Also, how networking has changed so much in recent years.  It's worth noting how many networking opportunities arise every day for fresh college grads and job seekers from other demographics.  Which is why I'm going to write an entire blog article about networking in the now. So look forward for that.

Food.  Kayla just texted me, and apparently our amazing friend Katie O, who has an equally amazing blog called West 1st Ave., is cooking sweet potato enchiladas for dinner for all of us...YAY!

It becomes closer and more intense, generating more energy.

Photographs.  Photos inspire, therefore I'm going to be uploading crazy numbers of photos to this blog and including the stories behind the photos.  I also started a Youtube account today to share the many hours of video I've accumulated from around the world with any person who would like to tune in...Look forward for that, too!

Also, I have this notebook in my car.  It's an idea book.  It gets a lot of use at red lights, stop signs, during rush hour traffic jams, in parking lots, etc.  For some reason my brain works great while I'm driving. Perhaps it's the stimulation from my surroundings combined with the mental awareness of driving that causes me to get distracted by my own thoughts to the point that I must write them down while behind the wheel...Either way, I've come up with some cool stuff..some comics, some quotes and phrases and ideas.  I would like to share all of those right here. So look forward for that, too.

Kayla left a barely drank bottle of pinot grigio in the fridge...hmmmm.

Sex..Sex is amazing, but for some fucking reason people keep trying to make it more amazing with unnatural things.  Don't get me wrong, bringing vibrators and oils and cuffs and whips into the bedroom session is totally awesome, but these pills for penis growth and stamina and female Viagra and whatever other nonsense exists to increase sexual pleasure is absurd.  So, I will research what kind of natural sexual enhancers, think aphrodisiacs to the next level, exist in the world.  Then, maybe, people will stop wasting their time and money on awful products and just have better sex the natural way...as nature intended sex to be...natural.

Vacation...Kayla and I are going to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina at the beginning of July.  This will be the first official trip we will make as a couple.  We've been dating for almost a year and a half.  So it's about time!  I'm about to buy a new bike for the trip, because she just bought  a bike yesterday, and yesterday we went on our first official bike ride together...26 miles.  So, this is like the summer of firsts, and I'm going to be blogging about it all...so look forward to that, too.

I have so many pictures from my Diana F+ camera that need developed and shared...those will be coming, too.

Job hunting, job hunting, job hunting....Soon, I'm going to find a job...and I'm going to KILL that mother fucker.

What happened to poets and philosophers??...I know they still exist, but their importance in the grand scheme of the world has diminished significantly.  This is a problem.  In an age when people are sacrificing major thinking skills to smart phones and other life-simplifying devices, people who think and observe with the utmost attention to detail would seem to be rare and valuable specimens.  Not the case, the perception is more like societal outcasts and weirdo hippie-freaks.  This is sad and sucky.  Revival of the poet/philosopher movement needs to happen.

I need a smarter phone...fuck.

Then it gets wild, out of control, unpredictable and fun!

I'm thinking I could be successful in the arena of advertising...but I don't like doing things the normal way.  Therefore, I've developed a plan of action called Unsolicited Advertising (Copyright protected as of now) that  is the company name.  I'm just going to develop ads and slogans for clients, using my own time and resources,  and post those ads on this blog under the titles Unsolicited Ad No. 1...2...3...etc. until these catch the eye of someone in the advertising world and they begin to pay me for my amazing ideas.

I have all these pictures of lightning I took one night that I want to sprinkle into this blog entitled Brain Storm...There is already on on the blog. But pictures of lightning are cool, so I'm going to include more.

I've just thought about a lot of shit...

I need more pinot grigio...

Peace!

Disgrace Book

It's official: Facebook blows! Especially for uploading pictures.  

Constantly failing, freezing, forgetting = LAME! 

I was trying to share some photos from the trip I took to Belize, Honduras and Mexico with my vast, accumulated  network of "friends" (there are some very real friends in that network), but the damn site was just being a bitch.  So, I decided to post some of the pics here.  Honestly, this is more fun.  So enjoy these. And there will be more...many, many, many more!  

Dave Schubert scaling the front of an ancient Mayan pyramid. Belize City, Belize.

Swimming in the Sibun River with Belizan locals during our trip to Belize, City.

Amazing urban decay in Belize City, Belize.  The beauty of second world realness juxtaposed with tourists searching for their next lame activity, scared that they might be mugged in this "dangerous, smelly" city...

The main drag, Belize style.  Rows of houses, fishing shanties, restaurants and other businesses situated along the city's main waterway.

Ancient Mayan pyramids in Belize.

 Modern art can happen anytime, even in the middle of a snack on the island of Roatan, Honduras.

View from atop an ancient Mayan pyramid.  A spiritual and historic experience.

Relaxation, Honduras style.  The deckhand, Kevin, taking a break from the sun in Roatan, Honduras.

Rasta Mon.  A local in Belize showing off his knotty-dreadlocks.

This picture happened because David, Stephanie and myself rented scooters, found an abandoned mansion in Roatan, Honduras, parked our scooters in the back yard of the mansion, which was the beach, and proceeded  to swim from the mansion's boat dock that extended into the Gulf of Mexico.

Wake, somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico, one week before the oil disaster.

A lazy beach in Cozumel, Mexico.

David laughing it up before dinner aboard the Carnival "Dream," one of the world's largest cruise ships.

Hallway art:  These lovely ladies were painted just outside our stateroom on the Carnival "Dream." A lovely sight, indeed.

Classic palm tree shot in Costa Maya, Mexico.