The Amazing Adventures of a Zoobroker and a Sentiographer
Well, Omaha was kind to us... first we blogged (in the space of an hour) ...
And then headed out to the bar after dinner ...
And Zoo and I met Lauren, Amy and Lauren at Billy Frog's ...
... the coolest bar open in Omaha on this Saturday night.
Where minors are not allowed...
A typical response to the Zoo Broker's pickup lines...
Then shots were had..
... and good times followed ...
The big guns were brought out...
And the age was verified...
Things could be worse...
"I swear her ID said 21..."
LODO is shortspeak for Lower Downtown. It's like SOMA, EDO, SOHO, SODO, etc., only Denver style.
The drive in last night was fueled by TV on the Radio's new album "Dear Science" wow... They did it again. Killer album. This morning I was mildly shocked to see the shower has two heads. Symbolism? Or was Speed Racer being the in flight movie and then me getting pulled over 1 block shy of the hotel? ( no ticket )?
Morning wakeup is to Beck's "Modern Guilt" looking forward to seeing him and MGMT in October.
Spending the evening shooting in the EDO area of downtown Denver, I realiE that many adults are still friendly, but the drunken reveleds of college age thought the camera deserved a gesture and holler "dude, take my picture!" Or even better yet, "why are you taking pictures?"
I am a photographer.
Puzzled states, sudden disinterest, LOL. One nice guy actually struck up a conversation and informed me that Denver is where all the single people want to be. Swell! I fit right in :)
Anyhoo, don't want to splurge for hotel Internet, so I will post night shots from the Nikon soon.
-- SpamZalot
Ah, stories... Almost lost my life because of this bar last time I was in Denver. Good times.
EDIT: After a dinner discussion tonight, Zoo reminded me that my life was in no danger whatsoever that evening. I now concur, and agree I was too drunk to remember clearly. Consider it revisionist history.
Yes... Now the wait for the one bag I checked. BTW, United charges $15 per checked bag :(
Whooooo... I'm here! The adventure is underway.
Sooooo close.
Rain across the nation has delayed my plane. Here I sit at Newark, excited with nowhere to go. Guess I'll finally get to finish The Long(er) Tail. Been a good read so far.
For me, it's the eve of the road trip. My flight is in two hours, and I am so excited I can taste it. Zoo Broker and I have taken two legendary road trips before, and I'm certain this one will contain most of the usual elements that I remember fondly:
And that's just for starters.
On our first road trip, I was in a tumultuous emotional state, having just achieved a separation from things in spirit and a material sense. OK, I was a fucking mess. The open road, the time with a kindred and encouraging spirit really was pivotal at that time in my life. You know, being a spammer is hard. No one understands you, nor wants to...
The second time around, I was in much a better headspace. I was participating in an art show (about artful spam, of course) and topped off the tail end with a trip from Sonoma County to Yosemite to LA and back to San Francisco. Great trip, better off in the old chestbox.
This time around, I'm even stronger having hit my 100,000,000 email goal. Feeling really accomplished. And my neighbors haven't even caught on yet... So fun.
Stage being set, now it's time to take off my game face and get down to the serious business of disconnecting, relaxing and doing some social spamming on the road. You know, face to face.
Goals: Yes, it's good to define your goals before embarking on anything worth spending your time doing... I always start here.
Expectations: None. Expectations are a tool of the devil (in whom I don't believe, but it's fun to invoke him).
Destination Unknown: It's not the destination, it's the journey.
Based on this simple guiding principle, we have crafted our road trip as an uncrafted journey. Our arrival and departure at Denver Airport and my first night's stay are the only planned waypoints. The rest has been dreamed about, but not planned. Whether we head towards Kansas or Vancouver tomorrow morning is decided when Zoo Broker gets in the Jeep in the morning.
It's important to enjoy the present. Road trips are a wonderful way to get in the now. Every mile behind you is in the past, each mile ahead is in the future, but the only place you are is where you are - in the present.
Not planning leaves the tiller free to follow the decisions made in the moments that matter. So we embrace the spirit of freedom and living in the present by deliberately making decisions on the fly.
The interesting thing I remember from our last two trips is how everything becomes a mashup in the present. But somehow the past always gets solved and left behind to stay where it belongs. The long miles, good tunes and two overactive intelligent minds always make for new revelations and interesting new experiences. Like when we went to our favorite watering hole in LA... I turned on my audio recorder and put it on the table, which we shared with about 8 other locals. One fellow's head swiveled after a few minutes and he asked me directly, "Is that thing recording?"
I replied, "Yes."
His neck was very muscular and large. He was an imposing man. "Why are you recording this?"
I replied simply, "For me."
His eyes narrowed, "are you a reporter?"
"Yes."
"For who?" (Grammar wasn't his strong point - he is from NJ)
"Myself."
"Wha?" He reaches over and takes the recorder off the table. "My name is XXXXX and my agent's name is XXXX. This is an unauthorized recording and I do not give permission for it to be reproduced in any form without my express written consent. My lawyer's name is XXXX."
And then he passes the recorder to his friend, who repeats this performance with his own deets. Repeat four more times. Guy #1 gently puts it on the table, looks up at me and says, "Let's drink!"
The rest of the evening is unpublishable, but hilarious; some of it is swimmingly lost in erased memories. But my photo hand was strong. I gots the pixels from that night.
Remember to focus on what's happening now. It's the journey, not the destination.
-- Sir Arthur SpamZalot written in Newark airport, flight leaves in 2 hours
