Day 10: Spammer's Closing Thoughts, Part 1

Social spamming was hella fun.

Taking - no - MAKING time to have a road trip with Zoo Broker was one of the best decisions I have made this year, and let me tell you folks, it's been a year for decisions. I so very enjoyed myself that it is hard to clearly explain. Perhaps all of the posts we made for you (well, for us really) will, in total, represent an experience that mirrors my path in life. Deliberately unplanned, but pursued with enthusiastic vigor.

Full entry after the jump.

If you take a peek at my opening musings, you'll find that I put forth some goals for the trip. Let's see how I did:

• Uncertain destinations (YES)
• Lots of photo-ops (YES)
• Some ridiculously inebrious evenings (YES)
• Perhaps double mileage versus previous trips (3,200 miles)
• Meaningful, probing conversation (YES, IN PLENITUDES)
• Insights (YES, WILL EXPAND ON THIS)
• Glee (YES)
• New people with interesting stories weaving into ours (YES, SEE BLOG)
• Potentially embarrassing moments (YES, SOME NOT SHARED WITH THE PUBLIC)
• Incredible discoveries only found via an open mind and no agenda (YES, SEE HERE & HERE)
• Deep, satisfying exhaustion (YES, TOOK A NAP YESTERDAY)

Do you achieve all your goals? I am not mystified at all that I did. I chose my priorities and focused on them. Everything else fell into place alongside this journey because I have learned (and practice) that you have to focus on the things you can control, and let everything else take care of itself.

Here is the wonderful part... Now I get to set NEW goals. Yes, exciting! I do already have some big plans involving some art, and am ready to jump on that immediately, as well as getting back to a healthy diet (big wink).

As for Zoo Broker, he has been the finest friend I could ask for. Exciting, sharing, generous, thoughtful, encouraging, brazen, inspiring and made me laugh until I cried more than a few times.

Let me share some insights that found me while on this epic journey.

People are generally the same, no matter where you go. To be specific, there are so many indiviual people with different goals and dreams (or dreads), that an generality by region is impossible. Each person you meet is full of potential. Some are more exceptional, and I think this is because they also have a keen interest in life.

America is diverse and wonderful. From the seediest piss-smelling alleys to the majestic and barren desert mountain ranges, it is a composition of amazing things. I love it all. Juxtaposition is the key. I recently went to an Edward Tufte seminar and he states that presenting data without comparison is a meager meal. In this case, seeing the smallest of towns (population 16) to the big metropolises, the plains to the Rockies, the desert to the forest gave me a grand scale for comparison. It's within these differences that lie the opportunity for gratitude, and I am very grateful to have learned more about my country.

I knew this already, but it has been reinforced during this trip: If you do not make time to do the things you love, you may never do them. Just change your priorities.

Being selfish is not a bad thing. After all, who is more important in this world than yourself? I had an interesting conversation with a mostly drunk architect last night and brought up my favorite question (for architects), "Have you read THE FOUNDTAINHEAD?" LOLz, it realy gets some of them going. I see that book as having lots of people acting on the beliefs surrounding "being selfish". Exercising your personal right to choose happiness for yourself before choosing it for other people is what I choose. In general, America sees selfish as a very negative word. I do not. I will always choose my happiness first. This does, however, go hand in hand with the belief that I treat the world as I want to be treated. That is harmony.

Doing unplanned things is one of the best ways to learn something you do not know. It sounds so obvious, but you won't know what Imean until you do it. Why re-learn things you know? Life is toooooo short.

Take the time to tell other people that you like your life. It helps the world become a better place when people know that happiness is out there...

As Zoo Broker repeatedly says, "the opportunity never taken is something that will never happen. It's always better to do it, than not do it." You only get one chance (that we know of) here and now. Do something you like with it.

--SpamZalot

Day 10: Zoo's Closing Thoughts, Part 1 (Almost Banal)

We're only a few hours from boarding planes back to our respective homes, and I am wiped out-- physically, that is. Mentally, I'm energized. This was the trip that I needed, -- I probably needed it months ago -- to help me refocus on the things that are important. When I wrote this 10 days ago, I felt lethargic and almost worthless. This was not a road trip of great epiphanies, or moments of clarity -- just a persistent deluge of stimuli that reinforced what I knew – but had willfully ignored.

Spammer calls me an “instigator” -- that I like to “remind people that they are alive”. Well, these past 10 days have reminded me that I was still alive, that there are things to do -- maybe not things of great import – but at least to find some excuse or basic justification for my continued existence. It’s reminded me that the value of comfort -- the easy life – it pales in comparison to the value of adventure and challenge.

I’m looking forward to hitting the ground running when I get back to San Francisco – whether it’s to get started on my projects, breaking out the new drums and finishing our Road Trip song, or just causing general havoc.

Part 2 (Almost Ranting) to come tomorrow …

Juxtaposition

I'm sure there are two destinations within a few hundred miles that are more different than Elko, Nevada and Salt Lake City, but I'm hard pressed to think of another so polarized pair.

Elko: Whores, 24-hour access to alcohol and gambling, all-you-can-eat steakhouses.
SLC: Mormans, 24-hour access to group prayer, and all-you-can-marry churches.

We'll give you some more details on Salt Lake City after we hang out a little tonight ...

Sometimes a road trip is just a road trip ...

... but folks, have you checked out the pictures that Spamzalot has taken? Every day this man produces something astounding. "Produced Something Astounding".

Not bad words for my tombstone, now if I could only get someone to say it about me! For sure, this is a wake-up call. This morning I contrasted Spammer's ACTUAL art production to my own. I said: "People are my canvas" .. which conjures up a better catch phrase: "The Audience Is the Canvas". Good catch phrase, even though it's MEANINGLESS.

For fuck's sake, what I do, although not lacking in skill or imagination, is NOT art. I gotta get on it.

Day 4 Musings: America the Large

I remember this feeling. Last time we covered a lot of ground, I felt like, "Why the hell didn't I know there was so much OF America and it's variety was so great?" It's a wonderful feeling, especially when you have no plan as to destination, except for where you might want to be when you go to sleep.

Today we rolled out of Montana into Wyoming, back into Montana and down most of Idaho. On our left were mountains of many varieties - including razortooth, barren to tall, gravelly evergreen covered and massive, piled groupings off in the distance. The landscape went from cool and green to yellowing to farmland. All of it was beautiful in it's own way.

One thing that amazes me is that when ask people if they like where they are living, it's mostly "no" and a rolling of the eyes. Omaha was the exception. Why? Wishing for escape? I see a lot of people loading themselves with wishes to not be someplace and not doing anything about it. Or, perhaps, not trusting themselves to make good decisions and act on them. Another possibility is that they are so focused on what they don't like that they are not thinking about what they do like. An absence of being grateful, if you will.

I've learned that knowledge and experience is best reinforced by comparison. Zoo and I have talked about this at length as the miles rolled by... An ideal example is me writing about being grateful to know so much more of America. Out of all the states we have visited, I have only been to Colorado. Now I have firsthand experience in so much more of America, and having a social lubricant in the form of Zoo Broker along only makes the experience richer.

America is large and diverse in many respects. If you live here, do yourself a favor and take the time to explore it.

I Am The Kindling

In the summer of 1993, I felt like a minority for the first time. At that point, I’d been a minority for all of my life, “the only brown around”, but it didn’t occur to me that people thought or acted any different based on that. To me, racism was something confined to history books, South Africa, and a few counties in Alabama; crossing the river into North Platte, Nebraska, I suddenly realized that the haven of blue-state America had evaporated about 1200 miles before when I left California. Cops hassled and followed us. People stopped everything they were doing and stared. A motel tried to refuse a room that had already been booked.

That was my first road trip, from San Francisco to Baltimore and I was hooked. I had found something so utterly alien from anything I had experienced in the 17 years prior – it was obvious: “there must be some really crazy shit out there”.

It was my first time seeing the Rockies and the Salt Flats of Utah. We crossed the Mississippi just as the Great Flood of 1993 was getting underway. I saw drops of rain so large and so driven that when they pelted the road, they exploded in what looked like a million enormous glass butterflies.

And that was just 4 days.

On the eve of another road trip, it’s hard not to think about those previous journeys across America, Canada and South America, the roads and the towns, the people I’ve met, the things I’ve learned. But before this trip, more than ever, I’m looking forward more than back. Maybe it’s because I just broke up with my girlfriend. Maybe it’s where I am in life, directionless and stagnant, without purpose. My best friend said to me a few weeks ago while we were looking through pictures: “Where’s the fire? Where did that guy go?”

It’s wrong to blame my relationship; the flame had been extinguished before that. Now all that remains is a barely breathing pilot light. Fuck! that sounds bathetic. But right now, that’s what’s inside.

Going on a road trip looking for anything in particular, unless it’s made of concrete, metal or stone, is a bad idea. You’re guaranteed to miss out on things that are right before your eyes when you’re always looking over the horizon. But this time I am looking for something – my bearings. I can’t think of anyone better than the Spammer to search with, someone who is dedicated to self-awareness, self-improvement and the careful examination of one’s self that goes with it.

The road trip is tinder. Here’s to the fire.

.

-- Zoobroker

Destination Unknown: Pre-Roadtrip Musings of Sir Arthur SpamZalot

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:

• Uncertain destinations (check!)
• Lots of photo-ops
• Some ridiculously inebrious evenings
• Perhaps double mileage versus previous trips (3,000+ miles this time around)
• Meaningful, probing conversation
• Insights
• Glee
• New people with interesting stories weaving into ours
• Potentially embarrassing moments
• Incredible discoveries only found via an open mind and no agenda
• Deep, satisfying exhaustion

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.

1. See states I have never visited before
2. Meet interesting people
3. Expand my limits - release more silly inhibitions
4. Make art - work on my night photography
5. Enjoy the awesome conversations with Zoo Broker
6. Eat delicious red meat, and more delicious things
7. Post a whole bunch of stuff along the way with minimal effort

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 

Zoo Broker's RT1 Memories ...

God, that was a good time, that's what got us started on this crazy passion. I don't have a ton of pictures from the trip, I will have to rely on Spammer to put some up. Some of the fragments that I remember right now ...

... Spammer standing outside Barney's Beanery (after rocking the house, karaoke style, of course), hammered, telling me that he might urinate himself. Fat girl groping me. Taping conversation with the agent of an actor (who shall remain unnamed) ranting about said actor.

... strippers who had book recommendations.

... the ceiling of dollar bills in Seligman, THE road.

... Spammer getting deathly ill in Santa Fe, getting groped by cougars, chili.

... Breckenridge, Crocs, Spammer watching Christy kissing me like a rabbit, "poor baby", her friend almost killing himself running a red light.