The Adventures of a Young Savage
And his mild-mannered pseudonym, Benjamin Jancewicz
Writings about life, and usually how beautiful it is.
Richardson Video Productions, good friends of Tamika’s family, did our wedding videography, and did a supurb job.
We noticed they put this up the other day on their site, and since many of you were not able to attend, we thought you might enjoy it.
If you need a videographer, definitely check them out.
If you want to see more photos of our family (with some videos sprinkled in) check these out.
1/6/9 11:30pm
Time has become a blur. We came in at 12:30am this morning when one of the membranes broke. The water was broken by the midwife at about noon.
They’re slowly decreasing the epidural. She had stayed off of it until about 8pm (about 15 hours!), when the pain became too much to bear. I’m so proud of her.
We both slept for a while after they gave her the epidural, and now I’m wide awake.
Arion is certainly taking his time, but we’re content not to rush him. His heart rate has been steady, a pulsing whoomp whoomp whoomp through the speakers of the monitoring machine.
Outside, a huge storm has raged for almost 24 hours… Rain pelting the window in whooshing gusts.
We’re all praying for you, little man.
1/7/9 6:45pm
Tamika and Arion are asleep, finally.
Shortly after I got done writing, Margaret, the midwife, called me over to help hold Tamika.
I have been extremely impressed with their practice. They have included me in every way possible during the pregnancy. There’s nothing worse than feeling completely helpless while the person whom you love the most in the world goes through the worst pain of her life.
Margaret purposefully used me in every way she could, moving Tamika around, calming her down, and helping keep things organized & plugged in.
I help hold Tamika and counted as she pushed. It was pretty rough. Arion wasn’t turning correctly. But finally, after a whole hour, his head appeared. The cord was wrapped around his neck!
Thankfully, Margaret had warned Tamika that she might tell her to stop pushing at certain points, and she did so now.
With a quick move, Margaret deftly unwrapped the cord, and in the same motion, easily slipped him out.
All this with him upside down, and without any tearing (which means no painful recovery for Tamika, which we had to go through with Nya).
And, all this after 24 hours of very very patient care.
Margaret never left us. She stayed the whole time, and never pushed Tamika in a direction that wasn’t helpful.
At 12:30am, January 7th, at 7lbs. 6oz., 20 inches long, Arion Joseph Iyutin Jancewicz was born.
He is bright eyed, like his sister, and incredibly calm and composed. He fusses only when he’s hungry, and is just relaxed the rest of the time.
I am so proud of Tamika. I am so happy with my family.
About his name.
Arion (pronounced like Orion, but with an A) is named both after the constellation and a Greek poet and musician who was captured by pirates and rescued by dolphins.
I’ve always liked Orion, Tamika loves dolphins, and we wanted his name to begin with the letter A after Tamika’s mom Angel. Nya shares my mom’s initial, Norma Jean.
Joseph comes from the Bible story. Almost all the men in my family (me, my father, my great grandfather) have the middle name Joseph, which stems from my great-great grandfather (Jozef Jancewicz).
Iyutin is a Naskapi name, which means Wind. It’s pronounced “E-you-tin”.
I’m off to bed. 🙂
Thanks for all your prayers…
We’re still not sure of the exact day that Arion will come, but it could happen at any day now. We went in for a precautionary sonogram last week, and everything looks normal.
The technician said Arion looked to be about 7 pounds, but that it was hard to tell.
Tamika went in for another checkup today, and still no news. So we’ll just wait. He’ll come when he’s good and ready.
Tamika’s family came down to visit us, bringing lots of gifts. Mom Pinkney got us a truly massive big screen tv. One of my favourite presents was the one that Tamika got me, though. Apparently, her parents helped her find me a beautiful large-scale all black foldable bicycle.
Earlier this year, during the middle of the high gas prices (4.00 a gallon) I had begun taking the Marc train down to the Muirkirk station and riding an old foldable bike to work. Tamika and I had found twin foldable bikes at a yard sale a while back, but being so old and me being so tall, they weren’t the greatest things to ride. This new bike is beautiful, with high-end parts and a high profile (no more scraping the bottom on curbs).
Tamika also made me a hemp necklace. I had a couple necklaces and bracelets that people had given me over the years that have slowly begun to come apart. Tamika salvaged the beads from them, and made me a beautiful new necklace.
My big gift to her was to make a book out of all the pictures from all the dates we’ve been on (there are a lot of them!). We haven’t been able to print it yet, but I hope we can in the new year when we have more money.
We didn’t do much for new years; it was nice to just chill at home with her. We got take-out Thai, rented a movie from RedBox, and then played the Urbs (a game I got for Tamika) late into the night. It was really nice.
My parents are coming down soon with Nya, we’re really excited to have her back. I hope they can stay a while, I like having them around.
Happy New Year, everyone!
2009 is a special year for Zerflin. In May, it will be 10 years since I did my first design, making Zerflin a decade old.
The advantage to running a small company is that we’re nimble enough to change with the times. The world of a graphic designer is changing at light-speed.
Look for lots of new things this year. We’re secretly planning the launch of several new projects. One thing you’ll see immediately, is us keeping up with our friend Heidi Durrow‘s new years resolution of posting once a day on this journal. I’m putting a twist on it though, by putting either a design or a piece of art up every day. I’m still planning on writing about life in general, my thoughts and my family (speaking of which, Arion is still not here yet), so you may get MORE than a post a day in some cases. If you get overwhelmed, check out The Split. It will help you out.
I’m working out the bugs of the image displaying in the blog posts. If they look at all distorted to you, let me know. I’m working with a few developers to get them fix.
Thank you for reading, for being our clients, and for supporting us! You guys make this worth while.
~Benjamin
Hat tip to my friend Matt Watier for sending me this one (it’s his true story).
So, you’re in traffic, and in front of you is a guy in a white Porsche.
His license plate reads FFFKNT.
What does it mean?
Hint: The guy is probably a geek, and if you can figure this one out, so are you.
I’ve been interviewed by the Catskill Cottage Seed. This is from their about page:
As our family micro-farms a small patch of Earth tucked away in the southwestern folds of the Catskill Mountains, we express our journey toward the undiscovered Self in word and image. Â While we have spent the majority of our adult lives in major cities and suburbia, our relocation to this rural community three years ago has had a tremendous impact on our creativity and quality of life.
Their blog is a multi-faceted exploration that is very enlightening to read. I stumbled across their site with my Naskapi Google Alert, and found an article about the Inner Man, or as the Naskapi call him, the Mista-peo. The author, who avidly studies Carl Jung, quoted a portion of Jung & Franz’s Man and His Symbols.
Having very nearly minored in philosophy (with an interest in counterculture movements) in college, I admired Jung’s work, but always took issue with his and other authors lack of depth when it came to the analysis of various tribes, including the Naskapi.
I responded to the post clarifying a few of Jung’s points. I was surprised to get an email from one of the blog’s authors, Richard Reeve. He was quite apologetic, and asked me if I would be willing to expand on my points and be interviewed by him. I found a level of respect rarely found on the internet, and consented to the interview.
You can read the whole interview here. I’d encourage you to check on their site. I’ve subscribed, and I’ve found their observations quite insightful.
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!
Sadly, I knew this day would come…
Peter (Spam) Jones, former drummer for Pagoda and beloved friend, is selling his drum kit.
Now YOU can own a priceless piece of Pagoda history. From March of 2003 until the band’s disbandment, the cream-coloured kit was source of many badum-chings and overly used as the only metronome the band had. It has been the jumpoff for misplaced energy by short guitarist. It scaled the rusty fire escape at The Blue Star, and was a star at The Rusty Nail.
This set was loved. In near perfect condition (having been chauffered around in the nicest vehicle the band possesed) the kit is ready for a new owner. At $400, it’s a bargain. A steal. A horrible tragedy of mankind.
To find more about Spam, read this.
To see pictures of the infamous drum kit and it’s beneficent owner, look at these.
To find out who the heck Pagoda is and what their music sounds like, check this out.
To purchase this magnificent drum set, contact Spam directly.
I just thought it was rather funny that he apologized, and wished us a Merry Christmas.
Maybe he felt bad?
After a little research, I discover I’m not alone!
Got any more?
Merrick Towle gave us Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgivng. I’ve been working a lot of extra hours in the web department, so I took the following Monday and Tuesday off too, and Tamika and I drove up to Connecticut to visit my parents. We had a really nice time. My Mom and Dad made a terrific turkey dinner. They have been getting to spend a lot more time with Nya, and Tamika and I have been able to hang out with Nick.
Tamika, Nick, Mom and I all went out to see Hugh Jackman in Australia. Really good movie; makes me want to move out there even more.
We visited Babchi and Jaju a couple times. Jaju was really happy to see Nya. She walked around picking up all the little knicknacks around their house, and brought them to him. He smiled at her, and gave them back. Babchi lent me the two Jancewicz and Wisniewski (Babchi’s maiden name is Wisniewski) family histories she had, and I’ve been trying to enter in all the data on my Geni account. Paul Jancewicz put together the Jancewicz family history, but I haven’t been able to get a hold of him. I want to digitize it to see if we can find any more of our history.
My Dad and I were talking when we got home, and my dad remarked at how he could go and interview Tommy Einish for hours up in the village, but couldn’t get his own father to talk to him about his past. There’s a lot we don’t know about Jaju. I encouraged him to grab a tape recorder and just do it. He’s probably the only person who really could.
My mom told us that Grandpa Kenney (my Mom’s dad) probably was divorced. Apparently, when asked about it, Nana Kenney said “Oh, she only married him for the money.” That pretty much put that rumour to rest. We don’t really know much about him, either… We know he was probably associated with the Boston Irish mob. But not too much else.
Mom and Dad convinced us to leave Nya with them. They’re planning on coming down once Arion is born, and bringing her with them then. It’s going to be tough not having her around, but it will help us get the house in order in preparation for Arion.
Tamika was cleared to come on the trip ok by our doctor, but feels she is ready to have the baby.
All of us have been sick with colds for the past week, and spending time at my parents was a nice way to get over it. I miss having my parents around. I overheard my mom talking to Tamika, and she remarked that it was easier having Nick around.
I’m going to miss Nya. It’s going to be a long ride home…
