RE: FLASH: Technomelancholic Sigh.

[JGL]

OK, got a call from one of my clients this morning, early. He lives nearby,

and happens to have turned into a good friend of mine. My wife hands me the

phone and i'm thinking, Great, another good paying, fun project - maybe

flash!!


Turns out, he asks me if i'm afraid of heights. I'm like, well (hmmmm,

what's the best answer for this). Uh, yeah, kinda. Well, upon further

inquiry, his satellite dish is being interfered by the spring/summer growth

of the trees. There is a motocross race on tv tomorrow that he just can't

miss. He needs to raise the dish 5 more feet. It's already at the roof line,

65 feet above the ground. The deck is 20 feet above ground where we can park

the extension ladder. 45 more feet togo. I didn't know they made 50'

extension ladders. He bought one. He's deathly afraid of heights. What's a

client/friend to do.


OK. I'll help.


So, I'm up there, my leg shaking uncontrollably. Damn I hate that - it just

compounds the situation. Got the ratchet in hand and am loosening the lag

bolts that hold the dish to the side of the house and realizing that there

is no way to keep the dish from falling 45' to the deck when it comes loose.

I'm in no position to hold it, my left hand is firmly planted to the top

rung of the ladder. Yes, now, I feel I am also deathly afraid of heights.

Leg keeps shaking.


We'll tie a rope toit and throw it to the other side of the house, tie it

off, so when the dish is loose, it won't fall. OK, that's done - continue

loosening the bolts. Shit, there's a wasp nest under the roof flashing. No

problem - I'm not afraid of bees. Keep loosening the bolts. Wasps buzzing

around. One gets caught in my beard. I shake it loose. No problem. Almost

done. Boom - left cheek, I'm stung! Not ouch but WTF . . . ouch ouch ouch

ouch ouch ouch . . . ok . . . no problem - down the ladder, real fast. That

really really hurt - it still does. Back up the ladder to bolt on a 4X4 to

get the new height and to crimp a new connector on the cable (had to

lengthen it). Wasps buzzing around, cheek hurts, leg shaking worse than

ever. Very very hard - fatigue!


Finally, all done. Back on earth. 6 hours later. Time for a beer. Thank you

client/friend for the beer(s) hehe!


Why did I tell you all this? Well, it was the first day in a long time that

I wasn't at my computer (seems 24/7) in well over 150 days. Except for the

garden work and the dog walks.


Starting a couple months ago, I would get up every morning at 3am to work on

my personal Flash stuff (you know, the art stuff), so at 7am I can start my

client stuff. Still do. Work, work work. Trying to figure out how to do this

or that or whatever . . . but that 3am to 7am is mine.


For the first time in a long time (cause of the satellite dish incident), I

did *not* focus on web work on a weekday or weekend day for that matter!


I'm an artist! All my life. Painted my first Whale mural in Santa Cruz back

in '82. Been a fine artist ever since. Dozens of gallery's showed my work!

They sold too! Waited tables, drove a cab in SF (my favorite of all my

earthly tasks), published my own magazine in Idaho and sold the business.

Made ok money. Got into web design to keep up with the times and so I could

get my income up to buy a house, obtain new car every few years. Skyrocket.

Work! Responsibility.


But, I want to create! ART! And recently I thought to make Flash a major

component. I have 16 personal Flash pieces (experiments) in process (still

have 40 some odd paintings in process too). I work on what I feel inspired

to in my early morning time.


To create art with Flash - not so simple. Considerations of processor speed,

mac/windows monitor rules, etc. etc. etc., just the overall technical

ability is an art to itself. Gotta great idea - implementation of the idea

is not as easy as your trusty paint brush and liquitex and tech pens.


My humble beginnings to do just this (art in flash) - revamped once again.

My second experiment in flash for the hell of it.


http://designthenet.com/a/bigballoon.html


Not complicated, flawed, and desires to work on it more . . . but


I have sold this idea now and will actually make money onit! But that is not

the point. All I wanted to do was see something other than techno ability

through flash. As my skills improve (6 months of flash so far-  and

part-time at that - too many html obligations - sigh), I hope to create

*more* than just techno . . . I need to inspire not only myself again, but

others for the first time. Can I move, engage them. Will they stare at this

(Flash Stuff) like they did at my paintings.


Maybe one day I'll get that with this technology as I figure out how the

hell to do it.


I'll never forget the day I made a circle fly across the screen, live ,

*and* on the Internet. I am really wanting to do more, more than just create

the tech web site. Art! Inspiration. Movement.


Not that I am one, Kurt, but there are real fine artists looking at flash as

a medium. I want to succeed at this my self. I have all my paintings on film

and I plan to start animating them. I hope I'm successful! We'll see.


jgl


ps - apologies for getting carried away here with this email . . .













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