Did you ever love a car so much you did stupid things for it?

Tonight I found myself underneath Orangie, my awesome Jeep, lying in a puddle in a rainstorm, messing around with his electrical wiring wondering just this.

I am selling Orangie tomorrow to a friend of a friend, who is flying out to drive him across the country to New York, where he will have another exciting chapter.  I wanted the guy to have headlights for the trip, which, ahem, the mechanic was supposed to fix, but didn’t.  So I was trying to track down what I am now going to call ‘the ghost’ — an intermittent electrical short that repeatedly blanks out all of his lights, after about 1 1/2 hours of warmup.  Not handy while driving at night, no, not handy at all.  Especially not handy on a windy road.  Especially not with a trailer.  Especially not the night before you sell the car.

In a rainstorm.

I have done all these things for this car.

I am selling him, because I need to get lean and mean for my upcoming adventure.  I am selling him for a pittance, to a guy who also loves him, because I want to keep him on the road.  I want him to make someone else happy, with his awesome looks, and his pumping sound system, and the crank-down back window with the flip-down tail that’s so good for sleeping under the stars on.  And a roof rack that even I — also built like a truck — can stand on.  Damn Orangie, you fine!!!

Well, having looked for the ghost unsuccessfully, literally well over 35 times, most under extremely stressful, mid-road-trip, side-of-the-road conditions, I don’t know why I thought tonight might be different.  But it was my final chance to send Orangie off proud, so I went ALL-IN.

In a rainstorm.

The ghost won, but not until after a hell of a fight.

Come to think of it, this Jeep was originally owned by a firefighter (hence the bright orange — firefightin’ color).  Its in such great shape because that firefighter was killed in a fire, and his parents couldn’t bring themselves to part with it.  He was garaged for years.  And now 32 years later, he still rides on.

Something tells me that firefighter is still enjoying his ride.

Tomorrow its the mechanic vs. the ghost. Who do you think is going to win?

Safe travels Orangie, you will be missed.

Damn Orangie, you fine!!!

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Welcome to a homemade adventure.

Hi there,

In case you’re just joining me, (which you are, since I’m just joining you), this here blog is the work of me.  I’m a-startin’ it because I’m realizing that I am off on an adventure that is going to be fun to share.  To keep things interesting, I’m gambling big.  With a not-so-little perfect storm from the universe as the cue I couldn’t ignore, I’ve decided to leave all that I know and love behind, and embark on a grand endeavor.  I will check out of a career that no longer floated my boat, and leave a scene that wasn’t a good fit for me any more.  To replace them, I’m choosing one that is homemade.  That’s right, my own invention.  That’s right, cue the accordion music folks, I’m going after my dreams.  Well, I’m going to start writing about it, at least, since I started the adventure already earlier in the year.  It has already proven to be one of the most interesting years of my life, and the approach I’ve taken has paid huge dividends so far, not financial yet, but better.  Now, I strongly believe that homemade rules, and so I’m checking into a new game.  I’ve decided to play by my own homemade rules, and tell you what happens.

So… without further ado, welcome aboard!

Feel free to read along, drop a note, or otherwise cross paths with this here life-inventor.  Hey, maybe you can make up a few of your own rules, and share them with me?  I’m a student of all sorts of knowledge, and class is back in session.  On this end, based on what’s been going on so far this year, I’ve got a feeling this is going to be a wild ride!

Check it.

Home Made

First peek at the new approach…

Well, since I haven’t done much explaining yet, this post might leave a few of you wondering… ‘huh?’

Part of my new plan involves building some sculptures.  They are going to be expensive… and nice… so I’m doing as much as I can virtually until I sell one, or can otherwise fund one.

Getting started on the work was the real adventure, and will undoubtedly come up as a subject in further posts.  The visible part of the adventure, the part that is easiest to share, just popped out of the project for the first time ever…

Voila… the first virtual sculpture.  It is a recreation of an earlier prototype piece I did a while back (in the real world), to test some of the lighting concepts out.

I’m not sure why the render is so blurry, but I’ll be putting my film-studio troubleshooting brain on to fix it.  In the meantime, I think it looks AWESOME!  Sort of a surreal, painterly look, which fits, since the sculpture itself is a bit surreal, and the whole trip to it was too.

Enjoy… more to follow…

Home Made

Look what popped out...