50 Things.
Today we were asked to walk around the neighborhood for a couple of hours, and to experience the walk through the eyes of an artist. To notice things differently or to think about things differently than normal.
My experience was a very interesting one and it began like this.
As I walked outside the cold air I immediately got gusebumps. A public transportation bus passes me and I wonder how this form of transportation first became acceptable in society. I see Beau, and I want to follow him, so I do. I notice numbers everywhere. Bus #130, 30MPH. I follow Beau to a diner, a cute, old fashioned diner that I have passed probably 100 times but never appreciated. There are 100 songs in the jukebox. They each cost 25cents to play. I think back to the days when people had to pay to hear music, and suddenly have a new appreciation for my iphone. Beau sits at the counter while I sit in the booth. We stare at each other longer than most people. I would have never noticed that stare, but I was paying attention. 
Its cold inside the diner, and I feel a weird sense of abandonment.
I stumble upon a great piece of art perched on a fence, perfectly placed just outside the diner. This is when I realize the world is so full of art if only people took time to notice and appreciate it. This is my favorite picture and finding. I love him. My perfectly placed goblin in a world full of normal.
I continue on. Finding a buddy along the way. 
I journey off alone just like the cat. A man on the side of the road is raking leaves. Somehow the world goes quiet and all you can hear is him, the rake, and the silence. IMG_3417
Its like the world stops when nobody’s looking and you can appreciate another persons precious seconds of life. It was like for the first time, I appreciated someone elses gift of life, even if it does only involve raking leaves. It looked peaceful.
When I kept walking, the town seemed run down, but through the rundown window of an old furniture store lied a sign that said “Like It?Let us Finance IT.” Through the window you see SCAD and a ghostly image of me. SCAD is financing my future, and the photo knew what it was saying before I did.
Right next to the furniture store was a chain link fence. I decide to let the image of a chainlink fence represent holding me in place from moving on further. So i video’d what I saw at that time. and interestingly enough, I caught someone else stuck in time, just like me. 
I wanted to know what the people in their cars were thinking about. But I kept walking.
I saw a leaf….But it wasnt just any ordinary leaf, it was just sitting there, waiting….waiting to be smashed. 
Once I smashed it I felt better and kept walking.
I stumbled upon a tree, with many different layers of branches. It was trippy. So i filmed it. IMG_3439
Trees are the most committed organism on the planet. Once they plant their seed they stay put and devote every ounce of energy to making their choice survive. Too bad humans aren’t like that.
As I continued walking my curiosity got the best of me and I ventured down and alley that would definitely not be acceptable to go down at night. I decided I could probably take whatever crack head lurked in the corner, during the day anyway. In the middle of desolate building and garbage was a beautiful mural. It looks like a face with a clouded mind, much like the people that have been jaded by life that live in the area.
One persons trash is another ones treasure, and in my case, someones actual trashcan was artistic.
Right next to the trashcan was a fireplace. A literal fireplace in the middle of the alley. It is so intriguing to think about the people that used to sit by this fireplace at night, and strange to see how the world and neighborhood has evolved so much so that the actual fireplace is the only thing that is left of someones life. Atleast the people’s spirits are still burning bright in another realm.
As I was leaving the alley I pass a building that is boarded up. Whenever someone seems a building boarded up, they know not to go in, and usually continue on. I was far to curious to see what lied behind the boards. Naturally to me, probably unnaturally to most people, I see if I can see over the boards because I am so tall. 
I was just barely too short, but my arm extended over when I jumped up just enough to take a picture of the darkness behind the boards. I never knew I was going to get one of my favorite pictures on my journey. And I highly doubt anyone else was able to see what I found……
After I snapped this picture I walked around the side of the building and found this doornob. I liked the antique aspect of it, the rusting of the wood was suddenly beautiful.
I started at this house for a while and couldnt figure out what I liked about it but something drew me too it. When I took a picture of it and turned it upside down I realized it was the contrast between the stone, the white wood, and the green. It looks like the entrance way to a castle, and the white bars are lifted up to let someone enter.
This flower, which I have never seen before was right outside the castle (house). The way it jiggled in the wind signaled it was alive and ready to destruct whatever insect mistook it to be pretty and not poisonous.
I was waiting to cross the street, and was taking a picture of the sign trying to understand why they need an explanation for the universal symbols for walk and dont walk. But the true art form in this picture is the man on the bicycle behind the picture. I caught him unknowingly ready to cross. He made me feel lonely, yet strong. He still has hope for his life.
The entire journey I wondered whether or not I truley was the master of my path? Or had the path I had “choosen” already been set out for me and I was unkowningly taking it, step by step. Like the peice of a puzzle in the greater picture of life.
I can only hope that On my journey I dont end up like this guy.
REST IN PEACE SQUIRREL. October 8, 2012.
Heading back to the building at the end of my journey I passed an alleyway. I kept walking, then realized something was drawing me too it, and I finally couldn’t resist, so I turned around, walked down the alley, and found this. 
To anyone else it might just seem like a SHED with a LOCK, but for me to find this at the end of my journey was a sign. It symbolizes that what one person sees is not always what another sees, and unless I describe the journey I had to the world through my eyes, the journey will forever be locked in a shed. I hope I was able to UNLOCK my journey and SHED some light on how I view the world. 
Thanks for going with me.