A MOMENT IN TIME #538

i had one of those nights last night where i knew i had to be up at 7am and that put me in a position where, at 1am i started feeling anxious because i was thinking in terms of how much sleep i could get if i fell asleep at that very moment and the minutes were flying by. "okay, if you fell asleep right now you'd get six and a half hours of sleep. that's more than enough" later, "okay, if you fall asleep now, you'll get 5 hours of sleep, which isn't a lot, but is still enough" later still.. "oh christ. oh god. why don't you just fall asleep? you only have 4 more hours until you have to wake up you idiot! hurry up and fall asleep!"

A MOMENT IN TIME #1180

the buses in this city drive me nuts. now, i'm a tall guy. small seats don't get me off. they damage my knees quite badly and that was something that i had to deal with on a daily basis. i remember wishing that i was smaller just so that i could fit into those seats. but apparently god doesn't like to answer those kinds of prayers, so i had to move into the city where my knees now only get slightly crushed by the seat in front of me.

A MOMENT IN TIME #795

sometimes when i get stoned, i like to go for walks with my notebook so that i can be alone to think and draw or come up with ideas. every now and again, i get into a situation where a high idea becomes a bad idea. this happens when you take a normal idea (for example: going to the library) and apply it to your life as an idea you should do when you're stoned out of your tree. so one day, i was high and i decided to go into the downtown library. worst... idea... ever... i was consumed with fear. paranoia took over and i freaked out. i got out of there as soon as i could. i was afraid that the library security guard had it out for me and was going to frame me for some massive book stealing scam. jesus christ. i mean, i know it sounds stupid now, but in the moment, i was so convinced that i remember trying to sneak out of the library. i don't know if you've ever tried to sneak out of somewhere like a library, but you instantly become the most suspicious person in the world. moral of the story: don't go to the library when you get high.

A MOMENT IN TIME #100

as i have said before, i used to live in delta which is a suburb of vancouver (half hour drive to the city, 45 minutes to an hour by bus). in delta, there is a bus loop that connects the vancouver to delta buses with buses that go to the ferries (which allow hippies by the hundred easy passage into and out of the city). so every now and again, you'll be sitting, waiting for a bus at this loop when you'll be approached by hippies who will give you their ipods and say "you ever heard of garage ma hall? man. best shit ever! you gotta hear this!" and you humor them and listen to the worst stoner music ever. well, this one time i was waiting for a bus and i saw this hippie couple waiting for a bus to the ferries. one of them was smoking a hand rolled cigarette and the other was brushing her teeth. when she had finished brushing her teeth, she handed her boyfriend the toothbrush and took the cigarette while he then proceeded to brush his teeth with the same toothbrush. yeah, i know!

A MOMENT IN TIME #666

have you ever been in a situation in your life where you're somewhere out in public with people you don't know (a mall, a bar, a restaurant, library, a farmer's market, whatever) and you meet eyes with a stranger. you're both attracted to each other and your eyes stay locked for what seems like a good minute before you're taken out of the trance and thrown back into reality. in that minute where you stay locked in the gaze of another, i like to think you're both wading in this pool of lust and passion that has just been struck by a gender difference (or sexual attraction) lightning bolt and for that entire minute your fantasizing, unconsciously, about fucking the living shit out of that person before you're thrust back into life again and instantly forget that brief moment that you shared together. in that realm (the one with the pool and the lightning bolt) you could stay frozen forever if something from the real world didn't jar you out of your sexual coma.

A MOMENT IN TIME #10

i remember that when i drew this sketch i was at a point in my life where i wanted to work in the film industry in some way, but i didn't want to compromise my "artistic credibility", which i would later find out means that i was full of the filthiest, stinkiest shit in the world.

"life is short. life is shit and soon it will be over." - kids in the hall

but this was the one day where i realized that in order to do and get what you want, you have to do some things that you may not want to do and that being full of yourself is stupid. "suck it up and stop your moaning." i had always hated people who were full of themselves and didn't want to be one of those people. shortly after this realization i got my job at global mechanic which changed my life for the better. i went from this poor douche who was high on the ideas of how successful of an "artist" he was going to be to this person who could sustain himself and was quite a bit more humbled in the process of reaching that sustainability. i'm sure many people go through this change at some point in their lives, but i feel like it hit me particularly hard and i'm glad it hit me this early in my career. i try not to make the same mistake twice and have definitely learned my lesson. that was a pivotal moment in my life.

A MOMENT IN TIME #78

i worked for a landscaping service a year or two ago (i won't say which one) and i loved the job. fresh air, good exercise, great people. well, everyone except for my boss. on my first day with him he told me all of these jokes, none of which i found funny. they were the kind of jokes your uncle tells you and you laugh politely. "hey sport, what do you call a lama with the head of a lawyer?" and then the answer is some lame ass play on words that barely makes sense, but he doesn't give you a chance to laugh as he is so completely in love with his own joke that he almost chokes on his own air. really, not funny and kind of sad all at the same time. so i wasn't laughing at his jokes. i don't want to support that kind of crap. anyways, he makes it his mission to make me think he's funny and he gives himself until the end of that summer to make me laugh. it was the most awkward summer of my life. he seemed to get less funny the harder he tried. eventually, i felt bad for him and started laughing, but i think he picked up on that and resented me for not being honest. make up your goddamn mind! was i wrong for laughing? i don't think so. it got to a point where i couldn't take it anymore. anyways, i'm glad i'm never going to have to deal with him again.

A MOMENT IN TIME #600

alright. i'll admit that every now and again i like to get a little high. i work hard. i deserve to cut loose every so often. i don't think it's a big deal. but sometimes, i find that i'll be over at a friend's place on a saturday night and we'll all be sitting around watching planet earth or listening to black moth super rainbow (who has to be the greatest band to listen to while high aside from the black angels or j dilla) and i'll get hit with the potency of the pot. this leads to a mass clutter of half finished thoughts that somehow bind to each other like cobwebs on a dusting rag and form even more incoherent and confusing open ended conclusions. it feels like your brain is gathering all of your loose ended ideas and is putting them into a fire that it's started in your skull. that's why i rant so much when i get stoned. i'm letting the smoke out before the pressure builds to a point where one of my eyes shoots out of my face. you know what i mean?

A MOMENT IN TIME #900

have you ever been in one of those situations where you're on the street waiting for something (a bus, a traffic light, a friend to arrive) and a situation takes place where everyone around you gets drawn into that situation? suddenly everyone is paying attention to that one thing; the crazy guy who's swinging a brick as he walks down the street shirtless; a car accident; a random naked bike parade. everyone has an opinion of what's going on. most people keep it to themselves. but every now and again you find yourself standing next to the one person who feels it's necessary to lean over to you and whisper something into your ear, like, "fucking homeless people. if you ask me they should all be hung by their ankles and cut at their throats out in front of city hall for all of us good tax payers to see." totally inappropriate. and why is it that it always seems to tie into some sort of slanted political or societal conspiracy involving the government or some secret society like the masons? when would anyone ever agree with you unless they too were just as crazy as you or the person you claim to be against? honestly, sometimes i think it's best for people to just keep their comments to themselves.

A MOMENT IN TIME #441

maybe i'm just paranoid, but whenever i put headphones on in a public place (a market, the bus, in a waiting room, whatever) i get this feeling like i'm breathing too loud. this usually only happens when i notice that i'm breathing (that is, when i become aware of my breathing). i feel like i can't control it and i need to take my headphones off in order to breath at a normal pace again. it's a very strange sensation and is something that has only manifested itself over the last four or five years.

A MOMENT IN TIME #562

i remember this one time where i went to chicago on a business trip. the trip to the windy city wasn't really all that bad. i caught a red eye flight there and most of the seats were empty which left me plenty of room to put me feet up and sleep. but the flight back to vancouver was terrible. the food made me feel sick and the flight was crowded. i was stuck beside this girl and a friend of hers who kept going on and on about some "lavish" birthday party they were going to in florida in a few weeks. they just kept gabbing on and on for hours. i put my headphones on and burried myself in a bukowski book (septuagenarian stew, i believe) and sporatically made journal entries in my notebook. but with 2 hours left in the flight, i was hit with this evil pain in my bladder, as if i had to go pee more then than i ever had in my life before. but i didn't want to have to cross the woman and her friend out of fear that this might open up the lines of communication when i got back and would be subject to boring stories about an ice swan at someone's sweet sixteen party. so i held it in. i held it in for 2 hours and finally reached this point where i would have gladly leaped from the plane to my death if i only could have had that 3 minute free fall where i could pee into the wind and be freed from that hard pain in my side.

A MOMENT IN TIME #456

i used to live quite a ways away from vancouver, in delta (it's about 45 minutes away by bus), and used to have to commute to the city every morning and afternoon going to and from work. so i'm a seasoned veteran of this city's public transit system, especially now having lived all over the city. but every now and again you get a bit of gas on the bus. sometimes it's no big deal. but other times it happens right at the beginning of your 45 minute ride and you go through an intense and intricate dance with your bowels where the gas tried to escape and you try to keep it in by any means necessary. bubble. gurggle. bubble. ohhhhh!