Wednesday, August 26, 2009

run from the office

I'm considering doing this run three days a week, from my office to my home, with a back pack on. I have my doubts but I'd like to try. We'll see if it happens.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Monday, August 17, 2009

EMT-B training, day one

school starts today, wish me luck.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

best cousin ever

dude, alby mangels, my hero. check it. i've been asking my mom for this for christmas for the past decade. no joke. i started watching it in high school. thing was, to order it from australia it costs like $80 per dvd. i wasn't about to spend that hence the begging my mom for christmas. anyway, my amazing cousin julia has been living in australia for the past 9 months and when i heard that she was coming back for a visit i asked her to pick them up for me. $4. she got them for a measly $4. i love you juje. amazing. so stoked.




last night i watched a man die.

i was on my way for drinks and dinner with julia, my cousin who'd been living in australia for the past 7 or 8 months. i changed my route because the road was blocked by an engine and a paramedic's van. i was riding through the park across from hubba's hide out when i thought i should go watch. see what they do, how the professionals handle things. you know, for educational purposes. when i rode up there were three or four folks just standing back, watching. about 6 paramedics surrounded him. he was laying on the ground, on his back, his shirt was torn open. it was the first time i'd seen compressions done on an actual human being. it was hard to watch. the amount of force put on his chest. how deep down his sternum went. you could see the waves go down through his stomach to his legs. they shocked him a few times. i watched for about five minutes. the whole thing had been going on probably about ten minutes total.

he was a tourist. fat and touristy looking. his wife was sitting on a bench next to him. on the phone with lord knows who. family, emergency department, dispatch? she was deep in shock. her face had no expression. it just looked long. like her skin was no longer attached to her skull. like it had given up. at about 8 minutes in one of the paramedics began to collect her things so that he could take her away, walk her away from this horrible thing happening to her husband. as he was collecting her things he accidently dropped a brand new eggshell white and burgundy SF 49ers hat in a puddle. he picked it up and started to shake the water and dirt off but i could see it was going to have a stain. it occurred to me that the stain on that hat, if she decided to keep it, would always remind her, always draw her back to that day, that exact minute in a park in san francisco where her husband passed away.

i imagined her alone on the airplane, still in shock, gripping that hat. her fist clenched, her knuckles white, her eyes staring blindly out the window at the gray fog trying not to see the empty seat next to her. fighting that empty seat with everything she had. how she would be numb, blank in everything that she'd do from exiting the plane, not really seeing the flight attendants with their smiles and their 'thank you for flying with us'. how she'd walk through the airport not really seeing the people running their chocolate stands. how she'd wait, tense and empty for her luggage. would their be two suitcases? how she'd have to travel all these miles, all this time fighting. that it wouldn't be until she was in her family's arms that she could break. that she could crumble. that she'd have the support that she needed to let go, to lose the fight and let go and be overwhelmed.

they put her husband on a back board, then a stretcher and then loaded him into the van and drove off.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

last night i ate a human foot

you know me, i'll eat anything.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Dear & Yonder Video Premiere

pics from the dear & yonder surf video premier. they're in reverse order because blogspot is dumb.

the pinata that i beat the crap out of.
just making sure.

cocked, locked and ready to rock.
kassia meador. holler.
this pinata was too heavy. one hit and it fell to the ground. these
kids then proceeded to bash the living hell out of it with their
skate boards and fists.






there i am. looking foolish with some girls sweater tied
around my head, swinging at what's not there, freaking out about
how hot the girl is who is pulling the pinata string.




cheers boys.


Friday, August 7, 2009

looky what i just got in my email

Dear JAMES SAKKIS,

This is confirmation that your June 2009 application for H-2 Firefighter with the San Francisco Fire Department has been accepted and that you are qualified to advance to the written test.

The administration of the written test is scheduled to begin in September 2009.
A test appointment notice will be sent to you at least 10 days prior to your appointment.

If you have a change of contact information (including email), please report it in writing to: Fire Services Exam Unit, Department of Human Resources, ---- South Van Ness Avenue, 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103, or by email to: -----------.

FIRE SERVICES EXAM UNIT

mr. jesse easley

my old roommate jesse is amazing. amazing in person, amazing on canvas, amazing, amazing, amazing. here are a few pieces of work he's put up on his website jesseeasley.com. check it out. there are a few people on this planet that make me want to tackle them and toss them around like a dish rag in a fit of amazing bro-dom love, but jesse is one of them. i seriously love this guy.
i think this woman at the horse races is one of my favorites.

as is this one. i think it's his niece.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

today i ate...

breaky: two peaches and a biscotti.

snack: 1/2 muffin.

lunch: small bowl (1 cup) of chicken curry, sans rice.

snack: kashi chocolate chip cooky.

2nd lunch: small bowl (1 cup) of chicken curry, sans rice.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

clark little

last wednesday i get a call from dempsey with his usual 'are you busy?'. now dempsey's a real good guy, lots of energy and very, very active. a real go getter. truth be told, sometimes i just don't have the energy. so i get his call as i'm sitting down with pat getting ready to watch some tv. i'd just eaten dinner and was ready for a real mellow night so when i answered his question with a 'nothing' i was already digging for excuses why i couldn't go for a run or an epic bike ride or some other adventure i'd normally be up for had it not been 7 o'clock on a wednesday. well, the gist of it is that he told me to saddle up cause we're going to a photo slide show presentation at the park chalet.
not ten minutes later dempsey pulls up in his trusty, rusty red toyota. pat and i hop in and we're off toward the beach. unlike our neighborhood it's way cold and damp out near the beach. luckily we knew the bartender and we each drank around 30 bones worth of beer for around 8 bucks each. not bad, plus, it took the sting out of the air. we ended up sitting around, getting drunk and eating pizzas until the show started. to be honest, surf photography is usually pretty boring. however the show we sat down to was anything but. below are a few of the images that were shown that night. and while the images themselves look great, it's the way they were shot that is really impressive.
these are all shore break waves. there is no depth to their crash so if you get hit, you get hit hard. little basically waits in thigh high water and let's waves tower over him, click, click, click, gets the shot and then dives into the face of the wave so as to not be crushed. crazy, huh?
well, here are a few of the shots that he's captured. enjoy.