very excited!

Heading to NYC today to revel in the sensory overload that is Times Square, and to take a Seth Apter workshop on Sunday with my bff (other) Linda.  Life is good.  I want to go to Chelsea Markets too...nothing like a good flea!  and i need to restock my studio...in my zeal, i over-purged, and now find myself needing that certain gizmo or gear that i chucked.  and i also want to trade the papasan chair for a small futon.  i've only sat in the papasan once, for like three minutes, so it's still brand new.  and no animals have been on it (kept covered).  i think i paid a little over $200...want it?
okay - time to overpack so i can have a heart attack dragging my suitcase(s) on & off the train without getting caught in the door and being dragged down the track - on the outside of the train.  yes.  that is what i dreamt last night.  blame it on those freaky fables we were read as kids - Hansel & Gretel getting burned in an oven...Bambi's mother getting killed in a fire...i mean, is it any wonder??

this blog is just so emotional to me...i can't explain why, but i have such a reaction to it...almost as if i was homesick for the places she shows, but i've never been there.  hard to explain.  go look.  so i'm trying to get ready for 4 days in nyc.  you know me - an uber planner.  that means that by today, i'm freaked out with what i haven't done to get ready.  and this will include random things like ALL my christmas shopping, or all the laundry, etc etc...it's like that commercial with the big snowball rolling down the hill.  i don't just need to throw some jeans and a few sweaters in a duffel and go.  oh no, not me.  i can't even detail it, because it would make me tired.  some days i like my quirks for what they help me accomplish.  some days, i just get tired.  so today i will scrap everything and go to my friend Rika's shop and, well, shop.  then head to the Cafe for a latte and lunch and a secret drop off.  shhh.  feeling tired and hurty and that's making me all emotional these days, so i'll keep moving till i snap out of it.  but nap extravagantly. maybe call a wrap wench for a pedi....hmmmm. AND am headed to buy some knitting needles.  sat down to knit yesterday, and my needle case is missing.  with all my lovely bamboo needles that i've collected in the past few years.  gggrrr.  so a trip to the yarn shop is in order too.  better get a move on!

some thoughts sneaking in...giving me glimpses of themselves, and will soon be front and center and needing to be recognized and dealt with.  As i purged through my studio recently, i realized there were purges in other areas of my life to deal with, as well.  one of those involves my address book.  i know i've mentioned this before, but as the thoughts surrounding this gel more, i share.  there is the poem about old friends/new friends, silver & gold, etc etc.  and perhaps there is truth to that, but it seems like a friend from old, that doesn't make the effort to stay in touch, well, it's hurtful, and being busy is just not an excuse.  i'm sorry, but it isn't.  so i look at the effort extended vs. the effort returned.  And honestly, there are some relationships that will have to be dimmed...where the golden thread will have to be dropped...perhaps their purpose in each others' lives has finished.  and not in a chip-on-the-shoulder way...

oh yeahhhh

The plot twists will be intriguing. The actors may be unpredictable, even erratic. Blossoming and decay will be happening simultaneously, and the line between wisdom and craziness could get blurry. There's not nearly enough room in this little horoscope to describe the epic sweep of the forces working behind the scenes. Are you willing to confront uncanny truths that other people might regard as too unruly? Are you brave enough to penetrate to the depths that others are too timid to look at, let alone deal with? I hope you are, Capricorn, because that will give you the power to ultimately emerge from the drama with your integrity shining and your intelligence boosted.

Capricorn Horoscope for week  of November 22, 2012

most of the leaves are down, still crunchy under my feet as diva and i make our way s l o w l y through the woods... nature is about to rest for the winter, which hopefully will be mild like last year.  i dream of a small cobblestone cottage...i dream of swaddling up in quilts and layers and watching the fire dance and die down in a hearth, smells of cinnamon and balsam filling the air with spirit...i dream of paintings and sculptures coming to fruition under my hands - released from my ThoughtSketches and come into being...i dream of running through the woods with diva, scattering squirrels and pheasants and woodpeckers and deer and coyote...

a few geese have stayed late, honking and posturing in the pond...the night air carries their complaints...a neighbor's house peeks out at the bare trees...owls finding deeper hiding spots...

lately being followed by crow and bear - i should say stalked, as it's incessant.  Tuning in with the season and wanting to hibernate...having very low tolerance for fakery and facades this past month...looking for a tribe......

but for now, paint and wood icing and found objects calling....wishing you the intended spirit of thanksgiving in your heart every day!

today, i take time to name the things i am thankful for, and realize it's a very long list.  Thank you for being a part of that list....

weirdness last night, with Grandma Jenny talking away, and me painting up a storm.  also a semi-disturbing dream about a friend.  no night terrors, but all very real and very strange.  i think the meditation so late in the evening did it...stirred up all the silt.  anyway, off to bed now after a beautifully productive day...lots of hot tea, much art making, time with Diva, good music, a cozy studio.  today was a Favorite Day on my calendar.  am starting to think about redecorating the studio...not purging! just painting the walls and maybe an actual light fixture to cover this one dangling lightbulb in the walkway.  i have huge daylight tubes over my worktable, and recessed pot lights in my jeweler's bench area, and spotlights by the papasan chair corner.  but in the smack middle of the ceiling at the exact center point of the room, there's a lightbulb with no fixture around it.  i want a blingy little chandelier. yes.  just decided. now for paint colors.....

btw - post #2

I have this tendency when I have a deadline, to run full out toward it, tossing everything else out of the way.  my thought is that if something has a definite deadline,  and that deadline can't be changed - like, oh say, maybe an art show - then until everything is ready for it, then nothing else is as important.  and this is true, to an extent, but other things can be necessary too, and not just showering and froofing up a bit as called for in civilized society.  And maybe having a bit of a night out, trying something new.  which i put my foot down and did last night.  i went to Sandi's art center for an evening of Meditative Painting.  wowsa y'all.  the point is not to paint a painting...it's to smoosh around in the paints, letting the music and the state of meditation guide your brush.  it isn't some oogly googly kinda thing, although i was down for that also, if need be.  but i went in open hearted, without expectation, and just hoping i didn't smell like garlic from the Italian restaurant husband took me to just before this endeavor.  (he did not go to the art part).  and i realized that some of my best paintings and 3D work have been done under a meditative influence...a trance-like state that i work best in.  i just never circled it and marked it as such.  and despite being up since 0-dark-thirty, i was relaxed yet energized afterward.  and dreamt i was painting, even.  and then had a very special visit from my namesake grandma that i never met.  it was a wild night all-in-all.  i can't wait to see what happens at the sleep study...too bad they can't see my dreams!  Ha.  the connections from the art show/fundraiser continue to loop golden threads around peoples' hearts...it is such a privilege to see.
now, it's time for me to work.  i will catch you later.  oh - you MUST buy this magazine...it is sweet and wonderful and makes you want to be all bohemian in a modern way and cozy and grow your own veggies but still have heat and indoor tap water...all that.  for me anyway.  oh and the link show issue 3 but i just got issue 2 which is about right, and it is the snuggliest.

woke up...spread my arms open wide as I lay in bed, and repeated out loud that today I open my heart to God...i will accept what he has in store for me, and ask that I am able to accomplish what He has for me with gracefulness and no complaining.  my house is clean-ish, I have to go to the post office, so no studio time.  diva goes for a pedi, then THEN! I am treating myself to a meditative painting class at Liverpool Art Center.  I may buy a wrap at Cafe 407, then head down to the lake to eat.  The art center is within steps of the lake.  shhhhh shhhhh shhhhhh ...i hear the water now....shhhh shhhhh shhhh.  ahhhhh.  Sandi has done a good thing here at her art center.....

I love when friends call you out of the clear blue sky just to chat about everything and nothing as they make a long drive home.  Thank you Terry!

Getting very excited for a meet up with Seth Apter in 2 weeks!  Even more excited to see Linda Other Linda!  and the Christmas decor in NYC.  I have never been there at holiday time and looking forward to it - Chelsea market and Times Square.  Times Square makes my heart beat fast...it's sensory overload and i love it! but need some quiet afterward...

putting together a mini retreat ... more details to follow....but, planning on a fire pit and cocoa and art and cozy cozy fireplaces and art and Too Much Laughing.  Everything I want in an art retreat.  and nothing i don't.  i want: Good art workshops, good food, good wine, good friends, a scenic location with opportunity to walk about.  I don't want/need to have "an experience" that's contrived or any other kind...i think just being with good people and sharing the wonders of learning/making good art will create the work inside of you.  I don't need yoga and such to put me in a state of consciousness to get there.  I love yoga, but don't need it to be a part of my Art Retreat experience.  ach - but i have lots to do today so i'll stop now.
wishing you a day of open hearts and willing hands....

cleaning closets

with the change of seasons comes the Great Closet Switch.  I have immense closets, but like to have my seasonal clothes in the bedroom closets away from fumes and dremel dust and all manner of possibility in the studio storage closet.  so i heave great armloads of stuff back and forth, dumping them on the bed in between.  this also gives me a chance to go through things to give away, send to the cleaners, etc.

It also got me thinking about how my email address box is jammed with names and addresses of people who are Busy...people who send an email once in a blue moon just to say they are busy.  Yes, I realize that - I haven't heard from you.  So, I will be cleaning that out, as well.  Call me crazy, but if a person is too busy to drop a note updating on their life, or to inquire upon your breathing status, then what thread is there?  yes - i am a constant communicator.  and yes, i realize most people do not write, call, email, connect in the sheer volume that i do.  i want you to feel special and noticed on this big earth.  i want you to know that there is someone who is thinking about you and saying little prayers for you.  because just thinking about someone is nice, but doesn't let the person know you are doing it.  i am also busy...2 very needy animals (3 if you count the husband), art shows, fundraisers, my own life to prepare for and complete, house cleaning, dinner making, and all the Becky Home Ec-y things you do too.  And i still find time to send my heart out every single day to those that matter...not every single person every single day, but i bet if you thought about it, you've received an email from me in the past week or two.  so i will wean that list...i will have to assume that if i haven't received an email from you in a while, that you are letting our friendship mellow into that fuzzy "Somebody that i used to know" area...which is fine, as it certainly lowers my expectations from you and i can relax.  and i'm not feeling angry or upset...just busy and in need of reciprocal relationships.
it is a cleansing day.
wishing you dust-free corners and gleaming floors....

it occurs to me that I "know" a lot of creative women...I used to have a shelf in the bathroom with all my "sacred" books.  (the bathroom is the only room in the house that I can go into, lock the door and be alone).  the list grew, and soon it was 2 shelves.  then husband complained, so i started piling them on my nightstand too.  now i have my own bathroom, and a basket FILLED with Special books... Christine Mason Miller's two books, SARK's books (thank you Ms. Light), Stephen Cope, Melody Ross, and now Rachel Olsen Awes.  Some of these people I know know, and some I just know OF.  but you get to feeling that you know KNOW someone when you read their blog, don't you?  I was at an art retreat recently, and a woman introduced herself to me and said she reads this blog all the time and feels like she knows me.  (If you did this - it isn't YOU i'm talking about - it was someone else).  It was a a mess of emotions and thoughts all at once: someone actually reads this?? that's really cool - I'M really cool!  that's a little creepy, like someone looking in your window creepy (like Sue's dolls creepy)..all these things at once.  so i try to control myself when i meet someone who's blog i read...try to be cool, and realize that THEY don't know ME, and to be fair - i only know what they print.  I mean, they could be some slathering lunatic in real life (as could I, I suppose).  anyway, back to the point.
i spent weeks WEEKS purging my studio so i could fit a reading chair in the corner, and now i don't like the chair.  i'm sorry.  it doesn't make me a bad person, i just don't like it.  it looks lovely, but someone my shape has no business getting into a papsan chair and have a hope of getting out unassisted.  so it has sat empty.  and i want desperately to have a place to sit and read these lovely books and drink Constant Comment tea.  so I may return the chair and get one of those little couch-y futon things.  which will be good in case i need to get away from 3 animals snoring.

i just walked Diva around the woods and am smelling something that came home on my boot.  time to go clean up and read.  

yikes

is it really 1:15pm and I'm not dressed yet?? well, sort of - if sweats and an apron count.  hands covered in paint and glue...nice E6000 buzz going...ecstatic about progress of the 4' tall music box/assemblage/portrait thing...Thomas Ashman would be verklempt.  can't wait to send him pics.  and many thanks to his Lovely Leighanna who taught me the finer points of the dremel.  although we didn't cover flying bits of plastic, i had prior experience in that material and dressed accordingly.  am super excited to hook up with Seth Apter in NYC in December! a 2-story walk-up will limit my art material choices OH - unless I hire someone to haul my stuff up!  Just thought of that!  gotta love E6000 for expanding the mind.  ok back to work before i sober up lose the vibe.
wishing you a day of floating on creativity.......

yes, still tap dancing

cruisin the web and peeking out the corner of my eye at this assemblage, hoping an AH HA will hit my head.  but look what I found on Rob Brezsny's website...

FOUR DIGNITIES OF THE WARRIOR'S PATH

In Tibetan Buddhism's "Four Dignities of the Warrior's Path," courage and ferocity are absent. In fact, the qualities regarded as essential for being a warrior have nothing in common with the training regimens of Marines or football players or lobbyists.

The first dignity is often translated in English as meekness, but that word doesn't convey its full meaning. "Relaxed confidence" is a more precise formulation -- a humble feeling of being at home in one's body.

Perkiness, or irrepressible joy, is the second dignity. To develop it, a warrior cultivates the habit of seeing the best in everything and works diligently to avoid the self­indulgence of cynicism.

The third is outrageousness. The warrior who embodies this dignity loves to experiment, is not addicted to strategies that have been successful in the past, and has a passionate objectivity that's free of the irrelevant emotions of hope and fear.

The fourth dignity is inscrutability, or a skill at evading the pigeonholes and simplistic definitions that might limit the warrior's inventiveness while fighting for his or her moral vision.

- Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia

Now I have an idea for another piece.  damn it.  race you to it MDeM.

so then i wandered over to his horoscope page and LO! lookie here - permission:

I'm sure you've got thousands of practical details to attend to. Your schedule may be as busy as it has been in months. But I hope you will find time to do what I consider essential to your well-being, and that is to wander and wonder. In fact, let's make that your motto: to wander and wonder. Even if it's just for a few stolen moments between your serious appointments, allow yourself to meander off into the unknown and marvel at all the curious things you find. Be on the lookout for high strangeness that thrills your imagination, for exotic pleasures that titillate your lust for novelty, and for fertile chaos that blows your mind in all the right ways. 

Grace emerges in the ebb and flow, not just the flow. The waning reveals a different blessing than the waxing. Where are you in the great cycle of your life?

yikes I say! permission to be me today!  all this struggle to focus, and I really should be unfocused and wandering about looking for forest fairies and the like.  well, far be it from me to not wander when wandering is called for, so Diva & I will walk the woods now.  i feel happy.

i'm like a flooded engine today ...can't really get started.  Too many ideas for this assemblage, rather than not enough.
Diva is getting older and more tired in exponential chunks.  Last night i snuggled her up and cried as she seemed confused about where she was.  I know, I know.  I just really don't want to be the one to make decisions on this little one's life.  My wish for her is to go gently in her sleep...one moment spooned against my heartbeat, and the next bossing Kita & Bear around.  What's the use of being a fairy if you can't grant such a wish??

post #2

in defense of Small Biz.

You know the shop...there's one in every town, every street maybe...it's got cool stuff in the windows and you pass it every once in a while and think about Some Day making time to go in.  Do it this saturday.  set aside time to go there.  Small shop owners are getting squeezed between rents being jacked up, and people hanging tightly to their "discretionary" money ... everyone is scared.  we all need to take a deep breath and exhale.  we all need to help each other.  what difference does it make if i buy a cupcake, a single cupcake, from Suzy's bakery?  it matters.  not just in the oh, 4-cents that she makes from it, but there is nothing Nothing sadder than being a shop owner and sitting sitting sitting waiting for someone to come in.  you feel worthless and loser-like.  you question everything.  you worry about rent and electricity and your own judgement, and you know you should not have opened a shop where parking is such a hassle - even though it was the only place you could afford.  it is awful.  And that little shop owner is probably struggling to support themselves, maybe a family, possibly even a dog & cat. so make a list of all the little shops you've wanted to visit, and this saturday - go visit.  buy something, if you can.  And if parking is a problem, don't give up...chances are most people do.  oy! and imagine if you got a group of friends together to do this, like a treasure hunt thing, and met up for lunch in a cool little bistro...just imagine!

It really is up to you to keep the storefronts open.

feelin Adele

swaddle up

speaking of vulnerability...

(Brian Andreas)

yes.  sad but true.  as hard as i try to be me, it seems i end up being Other Me.  The crabby cranky inward-focused me.  the sad, dark, weepy caught-in-a-tornado of badness me.  but i am trying.  and that's as good as i can do today.  so i'm glad that i did my best for today.  sometimes we do things that flat out suck - our attitudes or energy levels are not what we would consider the best, but on that given day, it is truly the best we can do.  so i think as long as you do your best, even if it isn't perfect - or far far from it - then you're doing okay.
i gave the past week my full effort.  it wasn't my best in any way, shape or form.  but it was all i had to give.  so i apologize if i hurt your feelings, or didn't fulfill my end of something, or forgot something important.  truly - i am sorry.  but it was the best i could do.  next week should be better.

it has been a long claw back this time...grabbing every. single. branch.  every single blade of grass...any  Thing that looked like it may inch me back.  and, gingerly, here I am...still testing the ground a bit, and staying vigilant.  and a bit quiet after the raucousness and deadlines and scurrying that can kick up quite a tornado if you aren't careful to eat and sleep and yoga-tize and smile at the times when those things need to be done.  add some sugary deluxe leftover halloween candy and specially made biscotti to the mix, and whew!  the darkness can become darker than ever before.
today, i renewed my vows to myself...to love, honor, cherish and yes - obey.  and diva, with her Laundry Fairy wings (see previous post) stood as witness.
i've learned so so much in the past week, and promise to share some of it, because you should know.  some will get bundled and tucked away with precious things.
right now, a savory roast is in the oven and heavenly smells fill the house...diva is sleeping on my left foot...coffee is brewing...all is well.

there IS a laundry fairy!

she's not 100% sold on the wing-age, but loves anything pink.  the glitter is a bonus and is now found deep in her fur and in random parts of the house! i need a vacuum fairy now too.  the cat was not as inclined to play along, pulling his/her paw back and saying "you have GOT to be KIDDING me."  so, no kitty fairy.  

it's true.  there are days when i just want to hook up the Shasta and drive away.  somewhere quiet.  with just the sound of the ocean or my Lake in the background.  where i can think.  or not think, but use my hands in making some art to distract my brain and will let my mind explore possibilities.  whenever something hurtful is said, do you ever stop and wonder if it was in response to something you've said or done?  do you just assume that you "deserved" what was said?  it's a tricky process to decide if the words were hurtful because they struck a nerve, or if they were hurtful because they were intentioned with arrows.  i don't want to miss an opportunity to grind down a rough edge, but neither do i want to carry someone else's issues in my sack.  and somedays, i think the shasta is the best way to go.
i don't own this shasta...don't want to mislead you.  but ever since i met a Lovely Incredible Woman by the Lake who lived in a shasta, i wanted one.  and i wanted to be my imagining of what she was like...sort of a smoke-and-mirrors role model.  and whenever i am overwhelmed, or just need a day of Deep Thinking, i imagine myself living in a Shasta in the woods, by a river or lake or ocean, and listen for the shushhh shushhhh of the water, and relax and think.  i think i'll walk diva, then re-walk myself.  the woods are welcoming today.

it's about finding your passion, and honing your skills - day after day, perfecting, practicing, getting better, feeling it become your skin.  it's about taking your passion and unleashing it...using it to change the world - and changing the world can mean planting a beautiful garden that makes people smile, or painting a masterwork or stopping a war - any ripple is a change...and it's about doing this because you are compelled to, no matter what the outcome - it's not about the outcome, it's about the process, the passion, the absolute need to do that thing that haunts you to do it...because in the perfecting, the daily ritual of the practice, people are still being touched by it at the level that it needs to be in order to meet them where they are.  That's what it's about.
Wishing you the courage to know your passion, to speak your passion and make it alive...and to begin.

postie #2

some days are easier than others.  so far, this one is both.  it is easier to think just for one, especially when that one you are thinking for has a huge list of things that need to be Eulerized and accomplished and checked off a very long list, and does not need other odd-shaped things added to it.  they won't fit.  This morning I woke up with the most unbelievable idea for an assemblage in my head and was able to capture it and grow it to fully-formed.  now to get it from my imagination to reality!  but first, so many details of things dangling dangling dangling...so many gotta do's, which is fine because they are taking me to places where i like to go to see faces that make me smile, and maybe a pile of free stuff for art making!  fingers crossed for the right stuff to appear today!

wishing you a day of deep exhales...

from Brian Andreas

A Woman With An Elephant Heart.....

what a great day!  and it's only 7-something in the morning.  i awoke, stretched, and decided to lay there for a bit.  suddenly ideas ideas ideas began swirling around in my head...art ideas...that have been crowded out lately with the details of fundraising and this 'n' that...i listened to the tugging, and hit the studio, expecting a few false starts and frustrations, but no - my hands grabbed the wood icing and stencils and dremel tool and soon i was concocting.  such an incredible feeling.  i was afraid i would hit a long, dry spell, having dissed my worktable for so long.  but here we go!  so back to it for a few hours, then i'll check back with you!

sunny day

this is what I woke up to this morning....beautiful!  Thank you Jodie and Mary Ellen and Joslyn...Thank you for letting me play, and learn, and discover how strong I am, and how able I am...because I think that's what this whole thing was all about, actually *smile*   It had been so long since I trusted myself, or even knew myself, and even though it meant flat out laying on the floor exhaustion sometimes - i had to do it alone.  or i would never have known.  and now i know and can go forward with certainty in my steps again and plans in my heart and feeling that just-shy-of-headstrong determination that had been worn down.  i am reminded of a T-shirt from Jen Lee that says "Gentle Spirit, Badass M*F*" except the last word is all spelled out but i feel prudish this morning.  i get in my own way, and i noticed that during the process of creating an art show.  i get in my own way.  i noticed whenever my inner taskmaster took the whip, things just didn't feel as wrapped in love, or like they fit...those elements stood out, felt jangly.  and if i went back and redid them in the right spirit, then it was smooth.  but otherwise, it was like a speed bump on the autobahn.  when my focus fear was money, that's what failed.  when my focus fear was on a particular piece of art and whether or not to feature it - that's when it sold, or something came up to make me realize it was a fear, not a reality.  i am giving myself the day (partially) off.  this morning i'll send out emails to those who's artwork sold, and then make a roast for an overdue birthday dinner for husband.  other than that, my studio is lonesome and forlorn.  i think i'll make a Journal of Fears, so I can keep them contained.

I started reading Melody Ross' new book, A Little Bird Told Me.  I get her daily little bird emails, and this book is stunning.  you can't just sit down and read it through.  there are so many truths that hit you between the eyes, it would be overwhelming!  order one for yourself - you'll love it.

ok - off to relax-ish.  

here are some photo booth photos from the event:

and we did.

wowa

i am exhausted...my feet are exhausted...my hair is even begging for a nap - and I just got up a short while ago.  But i'm totally amped about last night's art fundraiser!  People came out.  even our favorite Senator John DeFrancisco cam with his wife - 2 of the most gracious and lovely people ever placed on this earth, and total friends of the arts.  i hope to post some pictures soon...right now, i need more coffee!

THE day

yes - it's THE day...i know you're all tired tired of hearing "fundraiser this" and "fundraiser that."  I know my husband sure is.  and has not hesitated to express this to me.  but sometimes you have to push through the babble and noise...sometimes you know what you know to be true and the absolute right thing, and you have to kick convention in the teeth and keep on...sometimes that path looks like The Absolute Wrong turn, but guess what?  it isn't.  you know in your gut that it's the right way, and you push through the scary bits and the tired parts and the areas where you are so overwhelmed you can't even cry, because in between there is such an amped-up gush of pure unadulterated LIFEFORCE and flow, that you move towards it - even if you are the only one that can see it...and you often are, because it's your path...yours.  and maybe along the way, someone will walk with you...someone who can also see what you see, or maybe they can't, but they believe in you enough to follow side-by-side, trusting in you and giving support.  maybe just maybe.  and maybe they start to see the glimmers and shimmers of light along the path that kicks up from your heels like moondance and sparkles.  and that, my friends, is where the magic is.

today i wish you courage to follow your gut, your heart...to dance with abandon in the sparkling reality of what you've always known...it's a marvelous night for a moondance, after all, no?

We need a letter that's like i & u together for when we're doing stuff like this, he said & I hugged him & said a lot of people want a letter like that.
-Brian Andreas (again!)

Low-key mainly because she's got enough going on inside that she doesn't need more people around her ready to freak out at a moment's notice.
- Brian Andreas, StoryPeople