a day in the life

hmm. today or shall i say yesterday, among many other things.. i hooked up with ian to work on some web stuff. i guess i should say that my ignorance is due to lazyness because this whole blog thing i could of been doing years ago.. and could of easily used it as a website.. oh well. im doing it now and that's a start.. in fact started another blog today for NVSBL. just go to www.invisiblegodproject.com and there you will see the actions and attitude of one of my favorite, yet least worked projects i got going on. I'll also be updating on the last decade of numerous seasons with it. well that's the hope.. also bought ian a mac today, myself a dyson, and my baby some oakley goggles. 

had dinner with some friends who own a couple stores in pb.. check them out when you can as they are right next to hip hair.. herb owns the shoe store and eric owns the womens clothing - previously known as fresh and had a shoe store as well as started atomic.. also on garnet.. 

anyhow, we went to chick fil a and had an amazing dinner although sloppy but it would of been worse if Phills BBQ was open. our good friend Josh from dogwood is the manager there and we were hoping to say hi... anyhow, we ate, talked about retail life on 5th ave, as well as franchises such as chick and innout.. only to come home to a letter from the owner of in n out who is about my age... geez/. lynsi martinez.. - she asked me to donate art for her ministry "healing hearts + nations" of course i will as she helped a good friend sarah with her "last days tour" anyhow, just wanted to type.. 

hmm. also, check out HEEL BRUISE - some compadres (richard mulder + roby jeffers) are starting this new thing.. a lot of potential as richard was a pro skater for stussy and nike and roby was the boy genius behind stussy skate team and pretty much started nike SB . all this to say a pretty busy day. filled with fun stuff from searching for my favorite snowboard, to skimming through kswiss samples at the secret spot, to searching my old roommate rickey kim's site to see what he's up to.. only to see kanye west's cover designed by one of my art favs. KAWS. anyhow, good night and good day. GODSPEED> jk

thanks to Jeff Staple for informing me on Guy's new book

just moved out of my studio in sorrento mesa. after two years of going in about twice monthly i decided to shove my studio into storage and sell some of my equipment due to lack of usage. gonna start working more in 09 as 08 has been a year of transition into a relationship as a boyfriend, a minster at rest, and an identity as an artist. it's all very new to me so i've been wanting to take it slow and really swallow my thought process and let my reflections marinate into my heart so that i can cook up something genius next year. may my God grant me the wisdom to give Him the glory and may people see the love in the invisible.  

As for my studio mad props to Arbel and Ariel for holding it down for so long with out me and thanks to ian and mike for the efforts in forwarding my art and design concepts. oh and thanks for eric m for the affirmations and encouragement as well as Nate and my bro dave for helping me move without complaints. much love to the 4ako family. oh and last but not least to amy my love for all the sharp words and loving support that gets me going

new fixed gear for my travels..

Gonna try to barter for this one.. In an attempt for a two thousand dollar bike, i'd rather barter than buy. therefore i'm gonna ask the fine young gents at freeman bikes if they would want some custom clothing and or bags in exchange for an amazing bike which breaks down with one tool and fits in its amazing travel bag which is considered a carry on with no extra baggage costs at the airport. Not that i ride all the time but i would like to start taking weekend trips to post up in the cities and ride my bike around towns. just fly for a few days and ride for miles. 

CREATED TO CREATE

Some friends of mine started a posse called "BFC" -- BORDERS for CHRIST. Tonight they are having a premiere of their new video and a fundraiser to raise money for their next missions trip to Egypt where they desire to give out a hundred skateboards to the kids of egypt. a good friend Vince is going so I (along with Pro skaters richard mulder (stussy, chocolate,  heel bruise) and Lance Mountian (Bones Brigade, Firm, Nike SB) donated some art to help them raise funds for the trip. i'll post some photos of some of my paintings that sold and some that didn't. hopefully they raise the 13k they need. thanks for the radios. 

 

by the way if we haven't met

this is my dog. Chopper. I got him shortly after i closed my flagship store. I took five weeks off and during that duration of time one of my house mates at glen ellen (1 of about 25 in a five year period) Adam Jacobson brought him home after finding him in the ghetto of the outskirts of down town san diego. This pup was so small he fit in my hand. Now he still thinks he's a lapdog but almost pushes me off the bed. In all my years, of having him, he's only chewed up one pair of my shoes - my adidas micropacers.. i growing up in the suburbs I had always wanted a pair of shoes that could track all my mileage. These shoes were an answer to that. 

one year ago

so i was looking for pictures of my girlfriend...from a year ago - before we were going out.. however we met at church again after two years of hi / bye's in passing. I thought maybe i could find a photo of me on the camera's or something like that. However a year ago today i was doing some research for a poster graphic for all the shoe heads out there. Putting my newly received iPhone to use.. thanks to my family as they (minus my mom) got me an iPhone. I broke it in on my birthday as I had spend the night alone securing an emergency lot that my team (hsesd) had set up in rancho bernardo for the fire victims in San Diego. It was a donation center where people would drop off donated goods and my team and I would organize them and escort fire victims to new goods for their new life, whether it be in a hotel or a hostel it hurt to see them start over abruptly and challenged me to the thought of burning all the rubble in my life to start over from scratch. 

I still got files from art shows in 02 and records of all my consuming customers and clients from Flagship. As well as records of all my volunteers from the Retail Project. Patterns from individual outfitters and Nikao intl. and about a box from every year from my teens on. I guess i can say i'm a sentimental man. anyhow, about last year.... the shoe design. 

It was to be a poster tribute to the SB/AF1...only without the expected graphics of a limited colorway...  i was gonna send it to a friend up in LA - robbie jeffers. he used to manage the nike SB team as well as help run stussy. anyhow, he's doing his photo thing now with a good drummer boy friend aaron redfield. He did drums for the Donny Darko soundtrak.

All this to say because i started a blog.. kinda like a diary of sorts as i've always wanted to write a book of the peeps i know and the worlds we've wondered. I guess this is a small start to refresh my writing skills. My dad says that if i want to be a good writer, then to write about what i know. So i guess this blog is an attempt to share that as well as retrace the realities in which i've lived. 

welcome, welcome, good morning - i have not slept.

change is coming. but at last another sleepness night in san diego. from ebay to craigslist. from browsing things to bidding on things its been a busy night. a lot of smashing pumpkins and south playing. my feet are cold. it's 6:08am and i'm just starting this hole blog thing. thanks eric cross. 

i used a photo of this jacket because i can't find it. oh well. it was to be a new sample to be sewed up by my seamstress for next seasons line. as i'm sewing my thoughts again, i will keep you posted. I'm also in the process of selling things - aka my life. so those items sold will be posted on this new blog. the one with no readership. as i've heard it preached many times over, i've always felt as if it was the Spirit specifically speaking to me as well. me being the rich young ruler needing to sell all his goods, give to the poor, and follow Jesus. so here we go... CHANGE - embrace self sacrifice and soon you can embrace her as your wife.