DAY 342
03.11.08
TREE 172
I have started to type up my journal entries getting them ready to post them to a blog. The first 90 days I’m just retyping into lower case from the all caps I did for my show in September (’07). I got feed back from Will and an artist at Zephyr that all caps are hard to read. I’m taking their advice. Others wondered if I would scan these pages and just post them. I only laugh at that suggestion. If people think all caps is uninviting to read, wait till they see my handwriting… also in all caps but so illegible sometimes I can’t figure out what I wrote.
Anyway, I read this book, The War of Art, by the guy who wrote The Legend of Bagger Vance. It really spoke to me and lit a fire on my ass to get to work. I’m unemployed and have nothing but time. So I’ve put off searching for work since I’ve got some money saved up and I’m going to make this Daily Climb blog the best it can be. My hope is that I develop a readership as I post daily. I imagine that as the entries get longer and more interesting the readership will grow. I want to make it interactive and have people vote on their favorite images. I could add notes and addenda for their interest. Maybe I could then be asked to get another show or even better, get this project made into a book. So… I typed today then went to run errands and climb a tree.
I picked up some items at Target and Home Depot, then drove to Oxmoor Mall.
The sun was shining brightly in the afternoon
and I parked right under my tree in the back of the lot my Macy’s.
I went into the mall to look around but didn’t see much. Then I returned to my truck and grabbed the camera. I had to walk around a big pile of dirty, plowed snow to get to the tree. Then I waited for there to be no movement nearby in the lot. Once it was clear I pulled myself into the tree and began my climb. It was a really easy climb and I just moved slow and careful up each branch till I reached the ribbon.
As I went I watched the people go to and from their cars, always waiting for them to see me.
One woman and her daughter got into their car and pulled out of their spot. They drove near the tree and then they spotted me. They slowed to a stop but I couldn’t tell what they were doing from the angle and reflection. Then they began to pull away very slowly. I started to take pictures and the car went to the end of the lot and parked crooked in a space.
The engine stayed on and neither of them exited the car. Were they watching me? They were too far for me to see in their window, so I just went on with my climb. I took down the ribbon,
looked around and then began to climb down.
After a few limbs I looked for the car and it had finally left.
I wonder if any who have seen me in a tree have seen my article or spot on Fox41? And if so, did they ever put it together? I have this fantasy that I gain some celebrity locally as the guy who climbs trees. Most often scoffed at but I get one person who shares my love of tree climbing and joins me. Then slowly more people jump on and I start my Tree Climbing Society. TCS. Kind of like Forrest Gump when he runs across the US four times and people followed him. I would teach climbing techniques and have special events for children. We’d clean up parks and do fund-raising. Sponsor outdoor art works and create our own. Maybe someone would make a documentary and we’d show it outside on a big screen. We’d all read The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino and then we’d build tree houses and tree forts. Tree culture, a return to arboreal living. It’ll spread through videos on YouTube to other cities and countries.
Yeah… that’d be neat. So the climb today was pretty easy… nothing special. But as usual, it made me feel really good.
3-18-09: This is a good insight into how I wanted to form the blog and to read that now and see how it has changed over a year. The "addenda" would be this section in italics. Something I originally thought would be small minor post scripts but has turned into half, if not more than half of each entry.
Also, since I read that War of Art book I feel I have done pretty well challenging my self-defeating tendencies and been pretty productive in the last year. Still no Tree Climbing Society, but I still like the idea. But my Louisville Parkour activity and membership has grown greatly in the last year.
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Wednesday, March 11th 2009. Speaking of parkour, I went out that evening at 7pm for our weekly Waterfront meet-up. The sun was still out which was awesome but there were no people. Three did end up showing late, but it was a lot less than usual. We had a good time and went tromping along to different spots around the waterfront. Near the Kennedy Bridge I spotted a nice, tall sycamore.
Tall for the recently developed waterfront that is. I logged it into my memory and after parkour and dinner at Bearno’s I went home, grabbed my camera, and walked back to that tree.
It was an easy climb and I got to the top.
It was quite windy which made it difficult to make nice shots.
Luckily the moon was out and full and bright which helped a little.
It was nice to be on the edge of the River and near the Bridge.
It was a beautiful and quiet night.
