Such Luck – Skating Curbs & Eating Tacos

Weather:
Pleasant

Please enjoy the winter iteration of Signal.

Signal from Such Luck on Vimeo.

The music is by Andrew Green who records under the name Jungle Green.

I found out about his music from a flyer he posted on a light pole at Broadway and Foster.

All these photos were shot between December 22nd – March 19th.

I’m trying to stick to a seasonal reset.

For the past few years we’ve been getting a crew together and heading to Austin in January.

Austin is a great place to visit. Great food, House Park and No Comply, mega-Whole Foods, lots of ditches.

I need to get back down there this year to see Ellsworth Kelly’s Temple for Light. After hearing about it I immediately added it to my “must see” list.

This year we decided to go to Arizona instead.

This is my ninth year doing these trips and I wasn’t there at the beginning.

I believe it started as an AZ trip because a bunch of mid-westerners had moved down and there was a place to stay.

Even then there was a bunch of parks in a relatively small radius.

That’s only expanded. It seems like now you can drive 15 minutes and hit up a well built concrete park.

Since the last time we were there they seem to have added 3 or 4 every year.

The problem ends up being too many options.

Every day we hit at least 3 or more parks and we still didn’t get to skate everything that everybody wanted.

With a big group it’s easy to get stuck.

A couple people start trying tricks and the next thing you know a few hours have passed.

I can’t remember the exact total but at times there were more than 20 people.

When we showed up to El Mirage I complained that it was too packed and then realized that everyone in the park was from our trip.

We had blown out the session.

Pecos and El Mirage were two of my favorite parks. They both have held up well.

I was glad we got to skate a few spots too.

No pools this time but with this many people it makes it hard to be stealthy.

Lots of thanks to Buzzy, Tim and Ari for taking the time to take us around.

The skate scene in Arizona is pretty outstanding and there was so much I didn’t get to do.

Places to skate, friends to see, adventures to have.

I’ve been there a handful of times and I’ve still never made it to Tucson or the Grand Canyon.

Not sure where it’ll be next year but I always look forward to the trip.

It definitely gets me through the Chicago winter.

This winter has not been terrible.

Sure we’ve had a few snowstorms.

They even cancelled school one day.

I only remember shoveling a few times though.

Not like the east coast.

I think it might snowing there right now!

Even with all my complaining I’m a big fan of winter.

It forces you to stay in and be warm.

Piles of blankets, Saturday afternoon naps, layers of clothing, chili in the crockpot.

When it’s nice out I feel like I’m wasting the day by not being outside and moving.

This winter I’ve tried to focus on reading and making things.

I’ve been working on a larger project that should be done this fall but the other thing I’ve been spending time doing is collage work.

It appeals to a number of things I like about art.

Repetition, process, obsessiveness.

I don’t have any examples here because these are all random film pics.

This has resulted in my hands being covered in tiny cuts all the time.

Even before this my hands had a lot of cuts.

Come to think of it I’m almost always bleeding.

Not a complaint or anything, just an observation.

This week my wife has been out of town so I’ve been holding things down.

Lot’s of cats yelling at me.

Sleeping diagonal on the bed.

I’m not in that old boys club who is always complaining about my wife.

“Take my wife please!”

I like being around my wife. That’s why I married her.

She’s awesome!

I’ve realized that I don’t really know how to make coffee.

I know the exact amount I need to grind for the two of us.

Unfortunately every time I try to alter that amount I either end up with very light coffee or some type of rocket fuel.

After trying and failing a few times I decided to make the same amount I normally brew for both of us.

Then I drink all of it.

So this week I’ve been extra caffienated.

I see that this is really long.

I probably should have edited down the photos more.

Or taken less photos.

Next time I’ll be more discerning.

I’ll take less photos.

Let’s be real that’s probably not going to happen.

What’s new with you?

You have any good summer plans?

Any trips planned?

I’ve been making my own horchata.

I grilled for the first time a few weeks back.

I’m looking forward to sitting on my back porch and smoking meats.

My new reading glasses make my eyes less fatigued.

I lost a little weight.

I think I have a bone spur.

At least that’s what I’ve self-diagnosed after doing some minimal Googling.

Whatever it is my foot hurts like the Dickens some days!

Beyond that everything is generally outstanding!

I hope things are great for you too!

If I haven’t seen you in awhile let’s get together this spring.

If you live far away send me your address and I’ll send you some mail.

If you’re tired, sleep more.

If you’re hungry, eat.

Send recipes.

Send jokes.

Thanks for reading.

I enjoyed writing it.

I look forward to 2018.

It’s going to be challenging and productive.

Time will continue to move forward.

Weather:
We’re right in the heart of a typical midwest winter. No real complaints. It’ll be over sooner or later.

Please enjoy the autumn iteration of Signal.

A number of things I’ve enjoyed lately:

– The movie Good Time. I’m so glad I didn’t know too much about it before seeing it. All around great film work, editing, soundtrack, and acting, it really stuck with me afterwards.
– Ace Trucks
– Comb from the St Losers crew. Lots of spots with terrible ground.
– NYCTA Objects. This book is made for obsessives such as myself.
– Skate After School
– Crypto from Deep Dish and Snack
– The Grains Video
– Day Off Boys Promo Nater has a bunch of awesome stickers, shirts, and koozies available too.
– Jake Cook’s Dunky Sandwich.
– Andy Baxter’s Excuse Me
– Finally this phenomenal Chris Jones 365 part. Jacob Harris had an amazingly productive year with the SkatePal and Atlantic Drifts. His camera work and editing are an inspiration. Great stuff!

This has been going since 2006. That’s crazy.

After two issues of Work Song I decided to temporarily shelve the concept.

These are the photographs I took during the fall months.

Since this year started I’ve had a few different exchanges with people that made me think.

First off I am terrible at reading.

I used to read for pleasure all the time but at some point I started to lean on podcasts and newspaper articles and things on the web.

I recently started a book and found myself skimming ahead or skipping paragraphs completely instead of slowing down and trying to take in every word and sentence.

When I talked about this with a friend they pointed out that I was trying to read a novel like a wikipedia article instead of enjoying the reading.

So this year I’m trying to relearn to read.

I think there’s a lot of things like that. Drawing, interaction with other people, even just watching tv.

Sometimes you need to relearn and practice things to be more comfortable doing them.

Can I watch a show on tv and enjoy it for what it is without sketching or texting or instagramming?

Randomly my old roomate sent me an email with a photo I had mailed her a long time ago.

Usually I’m pretty critical of things I make and I can dismiss them or find tiny flaws but I really loved this image.

I don’t remember what camera I shot it with or when. I’m not sure where the negatives are or if I still have them.

Most of the time I put a lot of energy and focus into making things and then immediately move on to making other things.

I’m just not very good at the “selling” aspect of creative endeavors.

I’m also pretty terrible at organizing and archiving.

I briefly looked for a scan of the image but without success. It’s probably somewhere buried in the old posts.

It’s a photo of a plane in the sky and there’s also a flock birds and one of the birds mirrors the plane nicely.

That brings me to another conversation I had about practice.

Am I trying to take photographs for display, for a show, or just to put on the internet? Is there a goal?

If I didn’t get feedback would I still keep making things and posting them?

Should there be an instagram without likes?

Should likes influence what I post? What I make?

For a while I was trying to look at all the posts in my feed when I got home.

I was worried I might miss something a friend put up.

Unfortunately or maybe fortunately the algorthim has started mixing things up so I gave up being so strict about it.

Now I try and do my best to see what I can and then move on with it.

Don’t get me wrong I love all this information and content.

I’m not going to hate seeing new things or seeing things my friends have made or things that might spark ideas.

But as I get older I feel more stressed about time and time utilization.

Am I contributing enough? Doing enough? Making enough?

How long will my knees hold up?

Why did I take a nap this afternoon? Did I squander away an opportunity?

Am I not taking enough naps and wearing myself thin?

This yead I’m going to try and talk to more people about how they integrate creativity and art into their lives.

Maybe they have an idea I haven’t even considered.

If you have thoughts or ideas on the subject I’d love to hear them.

Mostly I’m going to try and be more open and aware and engaged and involved and immersed in the world.

I’m going to get a haircut and an eye exam this Saturday. 2018 is going to be the best!