I had a pretty interesting weekend a couple weeks ago.
That Friday, (the 5th) was Merrick Towle‘s state of the agency meeting, we all got up bright and early, met for breakfast, and stayed through lunch. The bulk of it was Glenn Towle, one of the two partners, giving us a financial overview of how the agency was doing (which is always interesting to understand). In between segments, all of the departments did presentations; most of them funny.
After we got out, I drove back to Baltimore, finished up writing some contracts with Tamika for The Apple Tree Experience (a Christian band out of Harrisburg that Ray hooked us up with), packed up, bought a bottle of Yellow Tail, and headed north.
I got to the Mantis Collective just in time for the opening of the Frameless show I was in.
The space was small, the walls bare, but it quickly filled up with people. I got to meet the two directors of the gallery, Andrew Guth and Tara Chickey.
I was surprised to see my friend Jocelyn Mathewes‘ work there. I had sent her the link for the call for entries, but didn’t know she had submitted. A couple very large prints over open-shutter light-art pieces hung on the wall.
I wandered around looking at the work; sipping wine and munching on the bread and hummus they had provided. I was starving, of course, not having eaten anything and it now being close to 8:30. Other than the cordial welcome from the gallery owners, I was mostly avoided by the crowd, and began to feel out of place. I missed Tamika.
To my surprise, Jamel McMillian showed up!
We talked and laughed for nearly an hour and a half, catching up on where all the rest of the boys from Nativity were, old stories, and what he was up to now. He’s finishing up highschool, and is getting ready to become a Bio Pre-Med student. “About 10 more years of school!” he laughed, but said he was prepared for it.
Later on, I got another surprise; Ray Chung and my old friend from ISA/MuKappa Brett Davis also showed up! Brett was up from Louisiana where he is working, and was staying with Ray for a week. It was good to see them both.
I drove up to Chan’s for a late chicken wing and chow fun dinner, and sat listening to The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (I borrowed it from the library on Fievel Mousekewitz‘s suggestion; it’s really good).
Our friend Chad Patterson had been nice enough to put me up for the weekend. I settled in on his pull-out futon and we watched Wanted (good movie, very violent). It was the first time I’d seen anything on Bluray, and with his enormous LCD screen, the detail was incredible. Of course, as an audiophile, Chad was keen to point out all the additional surround sound features bluray has. It was all very impressive.
I slept well, and in the morning Chad and I hung out for a bit. He is a turntable king, and actually has a program in which he hooks his turntables up to his mac, and is able to mix and scratch mp3s… Using his turntables as “controllers”. It was so cool to watch.
I met Ray, Brett Trout, and Brett’s bandmate Jake Kelly at Wray’s in Lemoyne. Brett and Jake have formed a band together, called The Apple Tree Experience. I’m going to be doing all their promotional materials, and they wanted to do a photo shoot.
We went up on the abandoned railroad bridge that goes from Lemoyne to Harrisburg. Dispite it being freezing cold with a stiff wind, the boys were good natured, and in between ducking back into the subaru for warmth, we got a lot of good shots in. You can read more about the shoot and see some more of the photos here.
I still hadn’t eaten anything, so after the shoot, I drove over to the Jumbo Buffet & Grill, one of my favourite Chinese restaurants (mostly for their oddly-fresh-for-an-inland-restaurant seafood). Driving by Huggins Printing brought back old memories. I sometimes wonder if my old boss, Chris, is stll mad at me…
Mid-way through my meal, it began to snow.
Flurries blew about rather innocently, and then started coming down in great cascades.
I hopped on I-83, and about 20 minutes down the road, everything turned to a standstill. The road itself was invisible. Sheets of snow blanketed everything, and my windsheild wipers were barely fast enough to keep it clean.
Fifteen. That’s how many accidents I saw on the way home. SUVs, compact cars, hummers, tractor trailers… Even my own nimble subaru skidded all 4 tires at one point. It was like trying to drive a zamboni.
Made it home safe and sound… Though the hour and a half long trip turned into five hours on the road!