Enter the Dragon
A creature of myth and legend, a malicious monster and deliverer of good fortunes, hunted and revered. We now celebrate the Year of the Dragon, the luckiest year in the Chinese Zodiac. Personally born under the Dragon, I felt it fitting to dedicate this week’s project to the Chinese New Year with Japanese papercraft.
This entry is part of 2012’s Project 365 – A Creative Thing a Week.
Soylent Green
Throughout the years I have become more and more health-conscious. I rarely drink sodas, fast food is limited to the occasional In-N-Out Burger, and I’m working out more than I ever have. My nemesis in my quest for superior constitution however has always been discovering a way to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into my diet. Well, serendipity came knocking on my door New Year’s Eve and dropped an electric juice extractor in my lap. The Bunnicula inside of me awakened.
Experimenting with the juicer has been an adventure; I must say, fresh apple-orange juice with a splash of ginger is nothing short of phenomenal! Besides feeling better, the greatest benefit is that juicing has really forced me to dive headlong into the produce section of the grocery store like a spaceman exploring a new, exotic, green planet. Strange new foods are suddenly being injected into my life, kale, collard greens, and beets. They all await the plunge down the shoot to be blasted into juice, however, now that these items have sneaked into my home, I have found myself actively searching out recipes for these refreshingly bizarre ingredients.
Feeling a little guilty bleeding these fruits and vegetables of their essence, I decided to give them the spotlight for this week’s creative thing. Personifying broccoli and other produce to express their outrage over being slaughtered for my benefit, seemed fitting. They were to be protesting the cruelty against fruits and vegetables, holding picketing signs and perhaps even staging an Occupy Dean’s Kitchen event. However, I just so happened to have made some juice before they got too organized, told them it was made from blended bugs and insects, called it Soylent Green and left some out for them. They loved it. A little while later I managed to capture the perfect photo. Enjoy!
A big thanks to Terry Border and his Bent Objects for the inspiration! And check out my friend Charlie’s Blog, The B-Roll, for his take on this idea.
This entry is part of 2012’s Project 365 – A Creative Thing a Week.
01-14-12
My day of reflection. In these past years, I haven’t been all too optimistic when writing these. Despondent in fact. Sure, every year I hope to write about a girl who has captured me so completely that the whole entry is devoted to how amazing she is in every way and that I needed these low points to truly appreciate her. That is not this entry.
However, I feel good. Can’t really say why. I did see a few old friends today at a friend’s son’s first birthday party. But these positive feeling didn’t have their origins there.
My spirited mood may simply be attributed to the fact that I’m eating better. For over a week, I’ve been juicing fruits and vegetables and adding the drinks to a better diet. Not to say that I don’t have some of the same issues I’ve complained about in previous years.
My love life is still in shambles. The last victim of my quest to understand what I desire from love was the beautiful Sarah. We had a slightly rocky beginning, in the fact that she had ideas of moving at the end of the year so just wanted to keep things casual. Eventually, sweeping that under the rug, we got to know each other and things were really nice for a while. This is where I say, once again, I don’t know what the hell I’m looking for, but my gut told me this amazing girl I was dating wasn’t right. Stupid gut, one day I’m going to ignore you. So, things happened and it ended. I’m left with one more, what if. My heart aches.
I was around so many old friends today with their families, the irony hits hard. For it was me who wanted a wife and family from an early age. While most of my friends around me dated for fun, I was on a quest for my one. So, now I definitely feel I’m being left behind. Or perhaps just in a different boat. Either way, it’s heartbreaking looking at what could have been.
I think back to Sarah and past relationships wondering if she could have been the one, if perhaps I gave them more of a chance, would I be married with children now? I have to drill into my head that the grass is always greener, that I’m never been about the quick fix. Sometimes the length of this quest weighs heavily on my shoulders. Brings me to my knees. I’ve been a romantic since such an early age, I’ve craved love for as long as I can remember. To be part of a team to share myself so completely is an ache that I have no memories without. But I’m looking for that one, that one to destroy everyone who came before, that one who grabs me in every way possible and refuses to let go. Wendy came close. I’m considering calling her tonight. But it feels like taking two steps back. What I should be focused on is that next date. Who knows how close I am to her, to that one who surprises me with an all-encompassing love. That one I don’t ever question. Guess we’ll find out together.
Creation
Welcome to my 2012’s Project 365 – One creative thing a week.
Creation. This entry is the first of weekly submissions this year wherein I imagine into being one thing from a myriad of mediums. It will be written words, short stories, poems, and simply random thoughts. It will be illustrative, sketches, digital creations, and paintings. It will be things I’ve never done before, crocheting, songwriting, and puppetry. This project will also include video & audio performances, interviews, how-tos, and testimonials.
That said, let me dive on in. I want to begin with that I had other ideas on how this first submission would turn out. However, I procrastinated. Then today I learned a friend of a friend was killed in a car accident. I didn’t know her very well, in fact, I had met her only once, captured in the photo above. Erica was young and from what I understand one of the kindest, sweetest, and most selfless people you could ever hope to meet. This changed my entire train of thought for what I was planning on doing tonight. I instantly became reflective, melancholy, and in the mood to write.
Grief over the loss of a girl a degree away from me is intangibly heartbreaking. Erica was on the fringe of my world, she encapsulates all the people who are just beyond my friendships, they are the ones that periodically and randomly bring intrigue and fresh perspectives into my life. These fringe friends are paths to growth, potential new best friends, and occasionally the fountain where love flourishes. I wish I had known her better, but the randomness of the universe and our own choices push us all into our own future. Be it what they may.
There’s only one instant, and it’s right now. And it’s eternity. I can not undo what I have done, nor can I predict what will happen in the future. The only path to immortality is sharing ourselves now, as much as we can, for long as we can. How many great people will we never know or wish we knew more of because they failed in giving themselves to us? In creating something every week, I am opening myself up, I am expressing myself, giving myself and you better insight on how I view the world; I’m living through my creations, and perhaps, if I’m lucky, even inspiring someone.
I have no delusions, I am a cog in the machine, me and billions of others; however, none of us are extras, we lead out extraordinary lives, we are the protagonists in our own stories, holding a sphere of influence that reverberates throughout the world for all time. What we do matters. Never think otherwise.
I hope you all, my honest critics, will join me in this journey, for it is as much for you as for myself that I take this first step in the continuing discovery my own individuality. We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we really are. I’m no different.
“Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time, who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done, if we are always doing.”
—Thomas Jefferson
This entry is part of 2012’s Project 365 – A Creative Thing a Week.
Someone Cares | Slingers of Sustenance
Someone Cares Soup Kitchen in Costa Mesa provides a daily nutritional meal to the homeless, unemployed, working poor families, senior citizens, the unemployed, the mentally, and physically challenged and of course the children.
No one should go to bed hungry on the street or otherwise. However, providing meals seven days per week is no easy task. It takes some amazing and truly special people volunteering their time to make it happen. More than other volunteering opportunities I’ve experienced, Someone Cares had a strong communal vibe, I felt like I was walking into a family, a family on the eve of a huge holiday feast.
I walked up, found where I need to sign in, and looked around for some one to answer to. Not finding anyone right off, I walked around asking random people if they needed help, finally, I found someone who had use of me. I was quickly thrown into the mix, it seemed some one just donated crates upon crates of canned food that needed to be sorted into what could be used in recipes and what could simply be handed out.
After getting through a few hundred cans, a van showed up to drop off the first of many delivery donations from local restaurants and grocery stores. My job changed from sorter of cans to sorter of everything but cans. Along with a handful of other people, we sorted and set up everything from bread, fruit, salads, individual yogurt packages, and more on tables in preparation for the opening to the public at 1pm. Meanwhile, a half dozen of volunteers were hard at work preparing the hot meals in the kitchen.
My shift ended as the hungry began to file into the Soup Kitchen for their meals.
Website: someonecareskitchen.org
Orientation: No.
Commitment: 5hr. sorting food and helping in the kitchen.
Cost: $0
This entry is part of 2011’s Project 365 – Volunteering 12 places in 12 months.
Next year's Project 365
My 2012 project is now decided.
Inspired by my friend Charlie and his The B-roll project, this next year I’m taking the jumper cables to the right-side of my brain and creating something every week and posting the results to my website. Sketches, paintings, designs, screen prints, sculptures, photos, insightful journal entries, short stories, perhaps even music and whatever else I get the inkling to do.
I can’t wait to see what comes of this as I’m more excited about this project than any I’ve done before. I hope you’ll check it out, I’ll be looking to you for feedback and inspiration!
Also, look for the entry about this years twelve volunteering experiences in twelve months sometime in January.
Surfrider Foundation | Vanguards of the Sea
Surfrider Foundation’s mission is the protection and enjoyment of oceans, waves, and beaches through a powerful activist network. They strive for coastal preservation and access, ecosystem protection, wave preservation, and water quality.
Once a month Surfrider Foundation puts up a booth on the boardwalk of one of Socal’s beaches providing bags, gloves, and a few reaching pickup tools in order to empower and inspire people to help clean up their beaches.
This is by far the simplest volunteer work there is, in fact, I urge everyone to do this every time they go to the beach, with or without Surfrider’s help. Always bring a trash bag to beach outings and simply pick up your trash then take some time to search for a little bit more on your way out. The last thing we want is to add even one more Snickers bar wrapper or plastic bag to The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Again, it was as simple as showing up to the booth sometime between 8am and noon, grabbing some bags and walking the beautiful beaches in hunt of vile plastics remnants, and the all too common cigarette butts. Whenever you feel you’ve done your part, race back to the booth where, using Surfrider’s scale, you can satisfyingly compare how much trash you’ve collected. Then go about your day enjoying the beach, knowing you’ve made this amazing paradise just a little bit nicer.
Website: surfrider.org
Orientation: No.
Commitment: 1hr. picking up trash. (Length of time is self-determined)
Cost: $0
This entry is part of 2011’s Project 365 – Volunteering 12 places in 12 months.
Habitat for Humanity | Erectors of Havens
Habitat for Humanity is an international, non-governmental, and non-profit organization devoted to building “simple, decent, and affordable” housing. Builds use donated land, material, and volunteer labor to keep mortgage payments affordable. Prospective owners are required to put in hundreds of hours of “sweat equity”.
There are so many ways to help out this great organization, from office work, event planning, and deconstruction. I, however, wanted to build a house. It was as simple as registering online for my eight-hour shift and showing up at the build site. I did attend the optional orientation which is simply a history of the organization and overview of all the ways you can volunteer, including internationally.
I arrived at the Huntington Beach site in the early morning. A path of loose gravel spilled into the sidewalk welcoming me. I walked up the makeshift gravel driveway to a massive wooden skeletal structure that I would later find out was eventually to be a two-story, four-unit home. It was a frosty morning and the sun hadn’t committed to rising yet that day. I was greeted by some other volunteers which all knowingly pointed in the direction of the steaming coffee next to the sign-in sheet. I poured my first. It would be far from my last.
After brief introductions, I learned the build was a few weeks into construction and today’s plans was to wire the place for electrical and to frame out the rest of the second story. We quickly split off into teams lead by Crew Leaders and I began my day being instructed how to properly install electrical boxes, run wire and read the construction plans that would tell me exactly where it would all go. Everyone there was super nice and incredibly patient. Throughout the day I also helped others with random tasks and near the end, I helped frame out one of the second story walls.
Selflessly putting in a full day’s work evokes feelings that I can’t put into words here. I never met the people who will occupy the home I help to construct, but they are in my thoughts as I’m sure I am in theirs.
Website: habitatoc.org
Orientation: Yes. Not mandatory.
Commitment: 9hr. installing electrical boxes and wire.
Cost: $0
This entry is part of 2011’s Project 365 – Volunteering 12 places in 12 months.
Zero to Hero Comics
I wrote a thing for a thing:
Originally published here: http://fullertonfoundry.com/zero-to-hero-comics/
It was a dark time for comic book stores. Those which had not already closed were undergoing a slow death. In Fullerton, Comic Castle, Comicmania, and 21st Century Comics had already perished. Then a glimmer of hope — 20th Century Fox released the first X-Men movie. The film ended up being one of the highest-grossing of the year, cementing the foundation of new comic book inspired movies and pumping new blood into the atrophied comic book industry.
In case you missed your call from Commissioner Gordon or wonder why your Spider-Sense is tingling, it’s because there is a new hub for comics, gaming and pop culture in Fullerton. Zero to Hero Comics has burst into the world finding a home inside the Fullerton Train Station and it’s ready to tackle all of your comic needs.
The store owners, Enrique Munoz and Pierre Belca are realizing their dream of creating an amazing comic book store experience that defies the stereotype of the dark cave with troll-like employees who snark at your choice of books. Their main objective is not to simply sell you a comic or two, but to harbor long-term relationships with customers who feel comfortable as they peruse over the weekly new comics, graphic novels, 55,000 back issues, action figures and toys.
“I want this to be more than just a comic book store, I want to build friendships and memories,” Enrique exclaimed when asked what made his store different than other shops, “I want kids to come in here and then twenty years later when they are grown up, I want them to bring their kids here.”
“Comic book stores were really important for me growing up, it was a place where I made life-long friends,” Pierre said. “To think we could give that to someone is really awesome. We would love for this to be a hangout — a nerdy Cheers.”
Additionally, the shop is also the new store front to OC Jerky, a company that you might recognize from their presence at Fullerton’s Downtown Farmers Market.
Earlier this month, Zero to Hero Comics and OC Jerky used part of their 2,500 square foot store to host a free screening of the first season of The Walking Dead. Sodas, popcorn and, of course, beef jerky were on sale to complement the viewing. Future events are already in the works: Magic the gathering tournaments, comic artist signings, and more movie screenings.
“Spider-Man’s motto is with great power comes great responsibility and we have a great responsibility to this community,” Enrique said. The two owners/great friends are taking that responsibility seriously and hoping their store will be embraced by the community. If their first customers, a group of college girls buying the new Aquaman comic, are any indication, I think they’ll do just fine.
Zero to Hero Comics
Address: 140 E Santa Fe Ave, Fullerton, CA 92832
Hours: 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. daily
Information: http://zerotoherocomics.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ZerotoHeroComics
Fullerton denizen and Brea resident, Dean Ethington is a designer and creative strategist at his design studio DAEdesign. As a graphic artist, he has slaved for years being uniquely creative in his design work for Hollywood’s illustrative film and television industry. He is currently tackling the world, freelance-style. Be warned. Dean has answers to all creative problems.