fifty thousand is a lot of words. c’est tout. it’s not a lot of writing, it’s not even a lot of meaning. i’ve told better stories in ten thousand words. more coherent, more thoughtful, and overall more beautiful and telling of the human condition than this fifty thousand word experiment. i also learned far more about myself in writing shorter stories than in spending a couple of hours a day writing an average of two thousand words. the problem with nanowrimo is, when it comes down to it, it’s entirely about word count, and whatever that word count is becomes the value of the project.

but i do like what i’ve written. there are several good beginnings, perhaps even a few plot lines that are cohesive enough to carry through one hundred and seventy five pages, likely more. the characters ended up being very wes anderson meets jonathan safron foer meets charlotte brontë, etc. upon reflection, i think the suppression of my voice is probably this piece’s greatest accomplishment, especially with the third person limited omniscience jumping from one character to the next. everything is about the art, and nothing is recognizable as the artist. unless of course, you happen to know me, and then all sorts of references can be made.

from a process standpoint, the word count was frustrating, but the writing was therapeutic. i managed to keep up with my day job, including a chaotic launch last week, while also making more progress on my paintings this month than in the past few. there’s twelve, they’re huge, and they’re better than anything i’ve done before. i’m blogging more, designing more, becoming more involved in the political and social scenes of seattle. i look forward to continuing on writing projects, though for the process not the product.

but then converse jumped on the opportunity with their project 1hund(red), in which one hundred artists design one hundred pairs of shoes. with artists like camilla engman and jeremyville on board, it seems inevitable that i will partake.

in a recent interview with juxtapoz, artist sam flores does a beautiful and unpretentious job of talking about his art, his inspiration and his process.

“seeing wasted talent makes me sad; people having so much talent and opportunity and just letting it go, spending half their life doing nothing and talking about what they’re going to do but never actually doing it.”

“i see people going through life every day with their heads down and blinders on, and they’re just unaware of anything in life. i think that’s one thing i portray in my work, how people can go through a world so beautiful and not see any of it or be so shut off from it.”

last saturday was a day for protesting, as cities across the country joined together to rally against california’s passing of proposition eight. here in seattle, we were part of the estimated six thousand who marched from volunteer park to westlake center with very few naysayers along the way.

to quote king county executive ron sims, “if you are going to talk about immorality: talk about hunger. that is immoral. talk about war. that is immoral. but do not tell me that when two people love each other that is immoral.”

there’s theresa the owl pillow from coure

and the death bee [of invader zim] from the thorn and rose.

we visited the plush you show at schmancy and picked up both ivan by jenny harada

and ‘branch for two’ by arianna marinelli.

good is everywhere. from their bi-monthly magazine to their weekly starbucks good sheets, they take the often overwhelming and make it accessible through good design.

my favourite new good creation: the three-trillion-dollar war: its cost in ten steps.

this sexy video was put out by the human rights action center and created by the incredibly talented seth brau.

the world of rain boots is far more vast than i ever would have imagined, and, as i scoured nordstorm’s flagship store, i couldn’t help but take note of my favourites.

seen above are some of the higher end galoshes from fashion elite’s burberry, coach and juicy couture.

these are the more affordable, yet equally as cute options from sporto and roxie.

and then, of course there’s chooka, makers of an incredible selection and my own fat bird galoshes [far left].