All Settled In.

Meryl and I made it to Grants Pass, Oregon without any hitches.

I mean, it was a 3 day ordeal totaling some 36ish driving hours,

with a packed car, a dog in the backseat,

and a bike strapped to the back,

but we did eventually arrive at our new (though temporary) home.

It's definitely an amazing opportunity to be out here

and working at Jeff Gogue's shop.

Without anything else to do,

I am being brutally self-indulgent,

and filling all of my time with tattooing and art making.

At the studio I have an easel set up,

and can paint on any of my down time.

In town there's the Southern Oregon Art Academy,

and they have been kind enough to let me sit in on their figure drawing sessions.

So what used to be Naked Mondays will now be renamed Naked Tuesdays for the next few months.

I am happy to get back to drawing from life again.

Here's two 5 minute poses.

I am super grateful to Jeff, his family,

and the shop for making me feel so at home.

I couldn't be more excited to be here.

I plan on making the absolute most of this time,

and having lots to show for it.

And, of course,

I am avoiding the Minnesotan winter this year.

Awesome.

Back! (for a limited time)

I survived the whole 2 weeks in Hawaii,

and I escaped almost completely intact.

One of the last days I did a bad cliff jump, though,

and broke my ass right off.

I swear, it still hurts so bad.

I don't even know how it's not black and blue,

but you should feel very fortunate that it's not.

Because friends, this post would be nothing but butt shots it it were.

I have a fear of heights,

but I'm also really competitive,

so when Meryl's sisters were jumping off stuff,

I usually had to do it, too.

We first found Black Rock on the douchebag side of Maui,

and I jumped off that,

but it was pretty easy at 22ft.

Then you swim to shore,

which was also easy, even in Carhartts.

You thought I was kidding?

Then, a few days later, and on a whole different island,

we went to check out the southernmost part of the United States.

It just so happened that there was some serious cliffs there,

and a few people were jumping off of those, too.

So I videotaped Meryl and her sisters jumping those cliffs,

and then, while they were swimming around below,

I stripped to my boxers and did it, too.

Some terrible fear of being outdone overpowered my terrible fear of heights,

and I jumped 44 feet into an ocean I didn't even want to swim in at all.

So dumb.

But luckily, no one was filming MY jump,

because I must have looked like an idiot when I hit the water in a sitting position.

(and since i was only wearing boxers it was probably NSFW)

Here's a video of Lindsay jumping, instead:

But yeah, I'm back in MPLS now,

but only for another two days.

Crazy packing time.

Then a long drive west,

and settling down for the winter in Grants Pass, Oregon.

I don't think I'd call my Hawaii time relaxing,

but vacation time is officially OVER.

More Lanterns.

More Rebecca and the Cucch hang out time happened,
and we released another few lanterns before dinner.
As the third one went into the sky,
this nice older homeless man asked if I was videotaping.
I wasn't.
So then when Meryl and I got back to the condo we asked her sisters for help,
and we released the last two.
This time I did take video.



Here's two lanterns trying to reach the moon.

Kicking it Off.

New Year's Eve.
Meryl and I met up with Rebecca for a lunch at Fresh Mint,
an all vegan place in Pa'ia.
Such a good final lunch of 2011.
Then, after he got off work, the Cucch joined us,
and we ate dinner and rang in the New Year as a big group.

I had those 30 Japanese floating lanterns

(think mini hot air balloons)
and we went to the beach to set them off.

It was so windy,

but we managed to release a bunch before midnight.

A couple of them didn't clear the ocean,

but the rest were headed south last time we saw them.

And they were cruising.

I think I took a nap after that,
and "woke up" at 3:00 am.
The family got into the rental car and drove a few, windy hours
up to the top of Mt Haleakala to watch the sunrise.
Hatsuhinode is the Japanese word for the first sunrise of the New Year,
and their traditions of new years firsts is something I'm so brutally into.
So we saw the first sunrise of 2012 from the top of a volcano,
and it was awesome.
10,000 feet above sea level,
and we were sitting above the clouds.
It was even cold up there.

Goodbye 2011.
Hello 2012.
I think I'm f'n ready.
I get home from Hawaii soon,
then I'm off to Grants Pass, Oregon.
I've set up this year to be the best ever.
I hope everyone had a beautiful beginning to this new year.
All my best wishes to you all.