i think i'm over wishing stomach cancer on my neighbors now. that's never a good thing.

marleen was telling me that if the weather keeps behaving as forecast, then we will have more snow by the end of the weekend than we had all last winter. gosh, i want it to stop. it sure is purty though.

best,
jim

beardcicles! i rode my bike to work this morning. this is what i looked like when i arrived. shit is crazy. i'm glad i rode in, but i think i'm going to wait a bit until the snow on the sides of the road clears more before i ride in again. i was the holeshot king on the ride in. there is a thin layer of ice all over everything. that ice doesn't really bother the cars, but it makes a huge difference for bikes. if i was only riding in boston i wouldn't worry about it, but i think i may get killed on my night commute.

until next time,
jim

remember the other day (was it yesterday?) that i said that the end of 2007 means the end of interest in jim turbert and his self-portraits? well, i got a rejection letter from a show today. that show is called "self-evident : contemporary american self-portraiture." if there was ever a show that i should be in, i think this would be the one. it's a bunch of yahoos taking pictures of themselves, and it's in a not-for-profit gallery. i'm not saying that this means it's curtains for turbert, but jesus, that would be a good show for me to be in. hopefully the show will be full of famous people. then i won't feel so bad. if it's a bunch of other "emerging artists" (or "nobodies" like myself) then i will be sad.
i'm just bitching. i understand that every curator has a vision of what their show should be, and i am fully aware that not everyone is interested in pictures of me. i'm not really offended that i was not included in this show, but i did hope that i would be invited. normally, i don't like to broadcast my failures, but i thought this one was amusing. i hope you find it amusing as well.

i'm being awfully forthright with my feelings lately, aren't i?

best,
jim

friends give me a hard time about hating people, but i really do hate people. not everyone, but people in general because they typically are self-centered assholes who do things because they are easy without regard for those around them. i live on a crowded street with limited on-street parking and some douche decided this was a good idea...
i wish i knew for certain who was responsible, because if i did i would move all that snow to their fucking doorstep, and then when they would come outside to yell at me, i would hit them with the shovel. my working theory is that whomever plowed the driveway across the street pushed all the snow into that perfectly good parking space in front of my house. mind you, this is someone with a driveway.  they don't even need to worry about parking.  if no one moves this pile of snow, it could stay there all winter. it probably won't stay there, but if the temperature doesn't rise significantly, giant mounds of snow tend to remain giant mounds of snow. i can't see any of the people in my building moving it, so i will be out there tomorrow shoveling the pile of snow away. i really want the responsible partie(s) to be uncomfortable. very uncomfortable, like stomach cancer or something. happy fucking holidays. i hate you from the core of my being.

sincerely,
jim turbert

dude... we have snow. lots of snow. i just want to take this time to sing the praises of my car. my car may look and sound like some retarded kid's go cart, but while i was cruising past all the suckers stuck in the snow on my way home from work tonight, i was glad i opted for a subaru. shit was crazy, or as marleen said, "like a hot knife through butter."
i guess i could have stopped to help all those stranded on the sides of the road, but there were so many of them, that i would have been there all night. besides that, i am not mother theresa. i help people, but there comes a time when you realize you can't help everyone. it just so happens that i realized (or re-realized) this on my way home from work this evening. i am a bastard. marleen was disappointed in me, but we'd probably still be in a line of stranded people if i didn't take matters into my own 4 wheels. anyway, i just want to say that the all whell drive power of the subaru impreza is so good. so good.

sincerely,
jim

2007 is almost over. today marked the last day of classes at wellesley. i am happy about that, but it means that i have all sorts of other responsibilities to think about. i have to buy people gifts, and i need to take a bunch of pictures. i also need to contact a bunch of people. i've fallen way behind in my correspondences. shit is crazy. on top of all that i, i had to buy new tires today. shit is expensive, and they didn't do the alignment right. the guy at the major new england tire retailer i went to made a point of showing me a diagram of how far out of whack my wheels were before. i find it odd that my car seemed to drive in a straight line without any effort before, but now that they fixed it my subaru consistently pulls to the left. whose dick do you have to suck to get some service around here. don't they know that i have shit to do? i don't want to have to go back down there so they can straighten me out. i don't want to, but i have to. there is no justice.
as i was saying, 2007 is almost over. it's been a good year, and i don't know if i should expect 2008 to be as good, or if i should expect a sudden downward spiral of pain and suffering. i am not excited about pain or suffering (some people are, you know...). already, they've taken my photo off of the front page of flak photo. it's still a site worth visiting, but damn did it look good with me on it. also, the show i'm in in lexington, ky is coming down this week if i'm not mistaken. is my departure from flakphoto a sign that people are already sick of my shit? they've only been looking at me for a few months. i'm not going to worry about it. i just had a few small prints up during art basel at gallery diet in miami, fla. also, i'm going to be in a show in pittsburgh, pa next summer. i have an idea for a new photo series. the new jams will not involve costumes or dressing up. i'm not sure if people will like that. at this point, i'm not sure if i'll like it. as of right now, i have a bunch of crappy sketches in my notebook that sort of illustrate my plans. i'll get cracking on those. then you can look at the pictures and tell me what you think. alright, it's a deal.

best,
jim

damn.  what was possibly the last free spoon radio ever came and went yesterday.  i've been doing the show for 6 years, but now i think it's time to stop.  i know i've posted this before, but here are some links to the archives >> http://freespoon.jtfanclub.com and here is an awesome advertisement >> http://jtfanclub.com/radioads/120507.htm

happy december.  more later.  

best, 

jim

i just made my first pumpkin pie.  i don't think the crust is going to be super awesome.  i used "white whole wheat" flour.  i'm not sure how a flour can be both white and whole wheat, but i am looking forward to eating it.  i also made pumpkin bread.  i'm looking forward to eating that too. don't you wish you lived with me?  we'd have so much fun, and we'd eat lots of snacks.

other than fun with baked goods, not a lot is happening.  i took some pictures yesterday, and then i played civilization on the computer.  civilization is a good way to waste a lot of time.  if you've never played, then i don't recommend starting because it will suck many of  your hours away. tomorrow is the start of a grueling two day work week.  when i say grueling, i mean not grueling. it's going to be short and sweet.  as sweet as pumpkin pie in fact.  mmm...pie.

marleen is away, but she'll be home in a few hours.  she has her digital camera with her, but when she gets home i may document my glorious pie and post the image here.  you will wish you lived with me.  

until later,

jim  

the above image is an unprecedented look into the process of making a jim turbert self-portrait.  dave olsen helped me out while i was shooting, and he also brought his trusty new canon elph along to document the magic.  it truly was magical.  just ask the freezing muensterman sisters in the background.  they loved every second of it.  

that's all for now.  

with all my love, 

jim turbert

the other day marleen and i came home and there were 5 cop cars parked outside of our house. there was no sign of hardcore police action so we didn't know what was going on. cop party? well, when we went through the first door we discovered that the cops were inside our building. fortunately, they weren't interested in us, but they were investigating one of our upstairs neighbors. one of them asked us if we knew "anything about your upstairs neighbor?" we assumed they were talking about the guy who lives directly above us because he had some "issues" with the local authorities before. actually, he used to have a jokey doormat that said "COME BACK WITH A WARRANT!" that doormat disappeared after the police actually came and took him with them, but i digress. it turns out they were looking for one of our other upstairs neighbors. given this information you may choose to believe that i live in a rough and tumble neighborhood, but this is not the case. it's a lovely neighborhood, and the only police action i've seen on my street has been in my house. i hope they don't come for me next.

since my last post, i've done all sorts of fun stuff.  i went to new york, and i got a new scanner.  i didn't get the scanner in new york.  i got a scanner and i went to new york.  that's all i've got for you right now.  

best, 

jim 

  

i used this jim dow picture for an advertisement for my halloween radio show this year.  i'm not sure he would appreciate that.  i will remove it if he complains.  i don't think reads my blog or listens to my radio show, so do me a favor and don't tell him i'm using it.  

http://jtfanclub.com/radioads/freakyspoon.htm

thanks, 

jim 

hello.  if you are in the greater lexington, kentucky area on october 26, you should go check out the photo show "Photography : What Now?" at the lexington art league >>>   http://www.lexingtonartleague.org

i'm in the show along with a bunch of other folks who i know nothing about.  i won't be there, but three of my pictures will be.  three pictures could very well be more exciting than i am in person, so don't let my absence keep you from making a special trip.

also, you should get yourselves ready for the halloween version of free spoon.  i've taken to calling the halloween show freaky spoon because it's so scary.  yes, scary.  

i have a headache.  i'm also kind of hungry, but i can't eat because we're supposed to go out to dinner with some chums  at 7 or so.  what should i do?  

best, 

jim 

  

today i decided that i need to pursue a new job. i'm not going crazy or anything, but i looked briefly at monster.com, and i thought all day about how awesome it would be to work somewhere besides wellesley. i have worked there for almost 6 years, and it is totally ungratifying. also, i am completely disrespected and discounted as a person by the department i work for.  i could go on about this for hours, but i will spare you.  i will say that i think i'm going to try to find work in holland so i can uproot my ass and become an ex-patriot.  

where should i work in holland?  at a school?  should i go to school?  should i try to work for an american company? should i start an american style ice cream store?  something needs to be done, and i need to motivate.  if you know of any employment opportunities in the greater holland area, please let me know.  i know how to do a lot of stuff, and i learn quickly.  on top of that, almost anyone would be way less enjoyable to work with. 

while thinking about moving to holland i had the sad realization that after living in boston since 1995 i have nothing to show for it.  if i left, no one would even notice.  how fucked up is that?  most of my friends have left, and the ones that are here may or may not be for much longer.  i probably wouldn't even visit boston if i came home from holland.  i would be more likely to visit minneapolis than boston.  shit is crazy.  

so, i guess i have to ad some kind of a portfolio or demo-reel to the list of things i need to do.  if i'm going to get hired by someone here or abroad, i think i'm going to need a fancy multi-media presentation and some content to put in it.  i'll work on that, and i'll keep you posted.  

love, 

jim turbert   

here is a form message that i was asked to share with my people...

you are my people.  

Greetings,

A piece titled Astronaut, from my expectations vs. reality series is up for auction in the 2007 PRC Benefit Auction, a benefit event for the Photographic Resource Center, a New England non-profit. As you can imagine, the success of such events is vital for such contemporary spaces and raises important operating and programming funds. (If you'd like to learn more about my image/series please go to my website, jtfanclub.com )

From the PRC: "This annual exciting event provides an opportunity to glimpse (and own!) close to 200 approaches to photography from leading regional and national photographers. This year, through live and silent auction, at close to 200 fine framed photographs are available for bidding in our largest fundraiser of the year. The preview exhibitions are up through October 21 and all images are available via elegant print and online catalogues. Join us the night of Saturday, October 27th for a vibrant and fun event."

To see a complete catalogue of images that will be up for auction go to: 
http://www.prcboston.org/auction/catalogue07/index.htm 

Wherever this may find you, I hope you are well! 

Best, 
 

 jim turbert

DUDE! i totally have a business card now. does that make me a professional? does it make me grown up? shit is crazy. now if someone asks me if i have a card, i can say, "yes, i have a card. would you like one?" how sweet is that? i can leave my card in all the resturants where there is a free lunch raffle. sweet. i like free lunch. i can give it to people, and they can throw it away when they get home, or they can use it as a bookmark, or they can contact me in the future. the possibilities are endless. this could seriously be life changing.
have a good weekend.

love,
jim

a "parcel" was returned to me today due to improper postage.  the "parcel"  was a large envelope with three sheets of paper and a cd jewel case inside it.  when i initially sent this "parcel"  i went to the world famous jamaica plain post office and used their after hours postage machine/package sending unit.  i was happy it was there so i didn't have to go to the post office during normal business hours.  it's more convenient to go after hours, and i hate all the people who work in that god forsaken office, so i'd prefer to not see them.  anyway, my happiness faded away today when i saw the returned envelope sitting outside my door with the returned for postage sticker on it.  also, the words large envelope in the postage sticker were circled and the word "parcel"  was written next to the postage.  when i saw the envelope i wanted to break shit.  i felt the rage, and i wanted to fight.

i went to the post office to figure out what the fucking problem was, and it turns out that as of may something, a large envelope ceases to be a large envelope it you put something hard that cannot bend in it.  i'm not sure where that logic comes from, but the u.s. asshole postal service charged me an additional 33 cents and i was on my way.  i hate the postal service.  i hate their weird regulations.  i hate many of (not all of) their employees, and i hate needing them.  

love, 

jim 

  

up late...  

must go to bed...  

work tomorrow...  

feelings of dread...

i've been working on the computer for a million hours.  i don't feel awesome, but i'm not tired.  i know i should go to bed so i can be fresh for work tomorrow, but there is so much to do.  

i've had the past few days off.  days off are the best, but the realization that tomorrow is not a day off brings me to new lows.  also, i'm worried about copyright law and i should exercise more.  yes, exercise.  yes copyright.  oh, i forgot to call andrew.  i also forgot to call rusty.  guys, if you are reading this, i will call you soon.  maybe tomorrow before the best radio show in the world.    

http://freespoon.jtfanclub.com

i'll have the new installment posted by the end of the week.  you can catch up on old episodes in the meantime.  

do you know any cheerleaders who might want to be in a picture?

good night.  

your buddy, 

jim 

i swear i'm not going to let my blog become a place where i shamelessly promote all the random crap that i do. well, i swear that it will be more than a place where i shamelessly promote whatever random crap i'm doing. that said, my radio show is back on the air. no, the station is not webcasting at the moment, but you can listen to the archives that i diligently post. okay, i don't do it so diligently, but by friday you should be able to listen to last week's show, and tonight's show. here is the link >>> http://freespoon.jtfanclub.com/

here is a link to an advertisement for tonight's show >>> http://jtfanclub.com/radioads/100307.htm

now that i got that out of the way, i can tell you about all the other exciting stuff in my life.
yeah...i gotta go.

best,
jim

it's already the middle of september. time is flying by, and i don't know how to cope with it. soon i'll be enveloped in the pain of the deep freeze of winter. it will feel like a lifetime of suffering. the seasons that aren't winter are great, but winter is the season with the most dominant personality. winter is the person in the conversation who won't let you say anything, but keeps talking about himself the whole fucking time. you try to get a few words in, but everything you say is always diverted back into another aspect of the saga of winter. it's pointless to resist it's all powerful grasp. you cannot escape. summer is awesome because there are no winter like qualities, but for some reason i think of summer as being a small rest stop on the long road back toward the pain of winter. summer is to be savored because it doesn't last too long. spring is okay, but it always takes so long to become spring-like, that i just think of it as a way for winter to fuck with your mind for a little longer. fall is my favorite, but its glories are so fleeting that if you happen to be really busy, you won't even notice that it's gone from the sweetest weather ever to a snowing frozen wasteland outside, and it may as well be winter. i'm kind of freaking out about winter. i should not be thinking about it at all, but i can't help myself. i hate it. i don't even think i like the first snow anymore. the first snow can go fuck itself. i want to be comfortable, and i don't want to wear a huge cumbersome coat. i think i should move away from here.
also, i believe that the longest and most painful day of the week is monday.
i totally want to leave this place right now.

sincerely,
jim

heeeey....
i just noticed that a few people posted comments on my blog. that tickles me to death. of course, the comments were left a month ago, and i was totally oblivious. i'll tell you what. if you post comments, i promise to check them. it will be fun and stuff like that. seriously.
thanks starkey and leslie. you guys rule.

in reference to my milk lover picture starkey posted :

"Is the milk whole milk? My friend Kelly prefers whole milk also and I told her about how the doctor told you to stop drinking it one time because of "cholesterol." But can you really hold the whole down?"

my response:

" i can hold the whole milk down. i love the stuff, but alas, i have switched to 1%.
whole or otherwise, i'll milk drink anyone under the table, and then i'll wash it down with some cheese.
damn."

you should totally enter the brilliant conversations taking place in the comments. it is freaking amazing. look for the link below this post. it's the one that says "0 comments." that's zero, not o or oh.

sincerely,
jim

i told you that marleen got her green card the other day. here is the proof.

here is closer proof in case you still don't believe me.

besides the start of the academic year at wellesley college things are not very exciting. marleen coerced me into going to the beach. it was nice when we got there, but the thought of driving a long time to sit on a bunch of sand is generally not appealing to me. it was too cold to go swimming, but it was lovely for walking. i brought one of my super 8 cameras with me. i got some sweet footage of a regal looking seagull. he was standing on a big rock, and was not pleased that i was paying him so much attention, so he blew some bird shit out of his sphincterless ass, and took off. i got it all on film. that's one to save for future generations. i have a feeling that future generations are going to be pissed at me.

i wrote a mega-blog entry a few days ago. it was very big, and it offered much insight into my psyche, but something happened before i could post it, and now it is lost forever. that was less than awesome. i worked a long time on it, and i thought that you, the blog reading public, would be proud of me for my thoroughness and my stick-to-it-iveness. alas, i have let you down again. i can't bring myself to put time in to recreate the grandeur of the now fabled lost jtfanclub blog. stay tuned for more ramblings from my mediocre life.

yours truly,
jim

this is going to be an unremarkable post. i'm only posting because i feel myself sinking back into non-posting/weblog ignoring mode. i must fight it. i don't have anything awesome to report. i could tell you lots of un-awesome things, or at least some very mediocre things, but i won't. i'll wait until tomorrow for that.
happy semester. happy official end of summer. oh happy day.

brightly looking towards tomorrow,
jim turbert

p.s. i am wrong, there is something awesome. marleen's real green card (as opposed to her fake one) arrived in the mail today. that is awesome.

in my last post i bitched about mexican fast food and the frosty dairy dessert from wendy's. well, i had chipotle for the first time yesterday, and it was pretty good. i didn't doubt it would be good. i'm not going to say it's the future of fast food, but it was tasty. i still like my local mexican joints. also, i had a frosty dairy desser two nights ago. i enjoyed it as well. i still don't think it's the only stuff that's worth leaving the house for.
moving on...
i'm in the middle of revamping my film transfer machine. two years ago i modified a super 8 projector for converting film to video according to these plans. it worked, but the projector i was using got damaged after i bought it off of ebay. i'm embarrassed to say, but i took the original projector into the bathroom to clean it after it arrived at my house, and i dropped it on the floor. many vital parts on the inside smashed into little pieces. i felt very dumb. i was able to rig it up, and i completed the machine, but it was very temperamental. it didn't like to accept film reels that had too much or too little leader on the beginning or end of the roll. i eventually stumbled upon another projector of the same make and model, and i converted it for use in the telecine machine two days ago. it's almost ready to go. i need to mount it to a stationary board, and then line all the lenses up, and things should be fine. awesome.
the machine is in wellesley right now, and i'm in boston. i think i'm going to drive out there just to work on it. i really want to work on it. do you ever get that desire to work on a project? i do, and i usually don't stop until it's finished. it really bothers me that the machine isn't in my house right now. i've gotta go.

sincerely,
jim

i got sucked in to watching morning tv while i was eating my cereal today. first it was the cn8 candlepin bowling challenge that got me. those guys are good. i'm not sure if you've ever bowled candlepin style, but it is wicked hard, and very frustrating. the bowlers on the cn8 candlepin bowling challege rise to the challenge of performing on low rate cable television, and kick major ass on those lanes. i surfed through the channels during a commercial, and stumbled upon the phantom gourmet. those guys are douchebags. they were talking about fast food chains, and they were saying how awesome chipotle grill was for mexican food. i'm sure it's a pretty good place, but what the fuck. there are several small local chains that sell awesome fast food mexican that weren't mentioned. they went as far as saying that chipotle was the future of fast food. doesn't macdonald's own chipotle? so, the phantom gourmet is telling us that macdonalds is the future of fast food.
wow, what a daring statement.
anyway, as horible as the show was, i couldn't stop watching it. not only could i not stop watching it, but i was craving all the crap that they were talking about. it was maddening. before each commercial break, they would say, "coming up...the only fast food worth driving to." of course they string you along until the very end of the show when they announce that the fast food worth driving for is wendy's frosty dairy dessert. the fucking frosty. i like frosties, but jesus christ, you can get a better milkshake/dessert/ice cream product just about anywhere, especially if you live in the boston area - which they do. i reassert that those guys are douchebags. so, the show ended, and then i started watching drilling footage of that crazy mine in utah where those guys are trapped. evidently they are going to send a camera down there soon. now i'm not watching tv. i had to stop. it was not rewarding.

best,
jim

it somehow seems unjust that i should get a cold in the summer. my foot is well on the way to being awesome again, and now i'm afflicted with a stuffed head and an inflamed throat. also, my eye is all red again. it was fine this morning, but it turned red at lunch. shit is crazy. this is a bad summer for me.

oh yeah...after lunch i went into my desk drawer to look for a china marker and it looks like a mouse got in there. the mouse ate a package of smartees, a cough drop, a root beer barrel, a chocolate egg and much of the china marker i was looking for. he left the skittles, the rolaids and the werther's originals alone, though. peculiar... you may be thinking it more peculiar that i have such an array of hard candies (and otherwise) in my desk. after writing the previous passage, i thought it strange myself, but there is an explanation. i buy a/v equipment from several vendors. some vendors (sweetwater in particular) send little packages of assorted candy with completed orders. i think that's really nice of them, but i don't eat a lot of hard candy, so it sits in my desk until i have a hankering, or until someone says, "jim, do you have a werther's originals or other hard candy that i could have." no one ever says that, so the candy stays in my desk. i've never seen a rodent in the jewett arts center, but something chewed the wrappers off of those things, and i don't think it was a wellesley student. oddly enough, i've kept lots of foodstuffs in my desk and other places in my office over the years, and i've never had any other desk break-ins. i usually have a bag full of almonds and raisins in my desk as well. you'd think a mouse would prefer that to a generic cvs throat lozenge, but that is not the case. i don't know what else to say.

best,
jim

if i said to you that i would provide you with a service that you needed - for free-, would you respond to me by saying that you were so inflexible, that i, the one doing you a favor, would have to reschedule my life to accomodate you?
a friend of mine asked me if i could do him a favor, and when i told when and where i could accomodate him, he suggested that i reschedule rather than he. i think that's funny. i will not be rescheduling.
i've been in new york the past few days, it was pretty fun. i should have stayed longer, but that wouldn't have been fair to andrew. my friend just bought a fancy new condo in brooklyn, and it is awesome. small, but awesome. for the past few days marleen and i lived in his shiny new abode with andrew and his dog. it was a little cramped. now i'm at my parents' house. it's much bigger and quieter, and it's cheaper to buy food here. the downside is that there is not much to do. they do have a pool though. i'm not much of a swimmer, but i assume marleen will coax me into the pool at some point today, even if i swear i don't want to. time off is nice, but i keep thinking of stuff i need to so. i can't get my mind off of it. i'll be home on friday night, and i already have stuff planned for saturday. it's going to be a crazy, action packed weekend. today will be the opposite of that.
i shot some super 8 footage while in new york. we were in battery park in the early evening two nigths ago, and there were two kids frolicking in the fountain. the fountain consists of around 15 or 20 illuminated strweams of water shooting straight up, and the kids were running through them. i don't know if the footage will come out, but if it does, it should be really cool. what am i going to do with it? beats me, but it will be cool. yesterday, i shot some footage of marleen in the pool. that should be nice, too. i didn't bring my big camera, but i wish i did. we went to the ICP and saw a ton of portraits, and two tons of stephen shore pictures. seeing a bunch of awesome photography made me wish i brought my fancy camera. next time i will.

i'm going to get some food.

talk to you later,
jim

p.s. it's august. i am the featured artist in the photographic resource center's northeast exposure online program.

my foot does not feel as awesome as i'd like it to, but it feels pretty good.  the foot gets fatigued, and i am not accustomed to that.  i suppose i'll have to wait even longer until my full foot strength is back.  

i rode my bike to work today.  it's been a long time since i rode out.  by the time i was three quarters of the way here i was so tired i wanted to stop.  i didn't stop, but i did go slower.  i felt like someone's grandma, that's how slow i felt i was going.  i'm not sure how fast your grandma is, but mine is wicked slow.  

i want to take a nap.  

sincerely, 

jim 

good news! i didn't kill the doctor, and i don't have to wear my cast anymore. he tells me that i'm not out of the woods yet though. i can't go crazy with super long walks, and i certainly can't run. he did however say that i can ride my bike, and he actually prescribed stationary bike riding to get my leg/ankle/foot back into normal shape. he also gave me a thera-band which is a long rubber band that you do exercises with. most of the exercises are insanely easy, but i must admit that calf raises are not easy. they almost hurt. it's a strange feeling. i'm surei'll be doing fine ina few weeks, but today is my first full day minus the robo-boot.

here are some diagrams of the exercises i have to do with my thera-band. they are super-intense:

thins one is called platarflexion with band. i think the model in the picture was a woman, but marleen thinks it's a man. you be the judge,


these are toe raises, standing. this is by far the hardest one to do. i am ashamed to admit that.


this one should be called awesome stance, but i's really called achilles stretch, soleus. there's another one called achilles stretch, gastroc, but i decided to only picture this one. both of them look like the awesome stance.


this last one looks totally crazy, but it's not. the doctors call it eversion, elastic resistance, but i call it the rotate one.

there are a few others, but i'll spare you the agony. i need some food. i'm going to go get some.

best,
jim

this is a small post to exclaim my anticipation of the removal of my foot restraints. i have a doctor appointment this afternoon, and i expect him to tell me that it's okay to walk on my foot as a normal person would. it is going to be glorious. there will be cheers and a celebration after the good news is released. if the doctor tells me that i cannot walk on my foot as a normal person would (ie. in shoes instead of a giant plastic robo-boot) i will kill him. if that happens i will most likely go to jail, and i'm not sure i can post to this weblog from jail, so there is a chance, be it small, that this is my last goodbye.

goodbye,
jim turbert

the other day i was in the grocery store, and i saw a lady spit her gum on the floor.  she didn't really spit it, but kind of pushed it over the edge of her weak lips and let it dribble to the floor so she could put something else in her mouth.  i was disgusted.  i wanted to rub her nose in it, or throw a fruit at her (this happened in the produce section.).  she left the gum on the floor.  i guess her attitude is that if people are paid to clean it's okay to spit things on the floor.  if i'm lucky, maybe i'll get to see her taking a shit in the aisle next week.  i can't wait.

that lady is part of the problem.  her kids are probably assholes too.    

with warmest regards, 

jim turbert

july is passing me by very quickly.  it's half over already, and i don't know how to cope.  i haven't done nearly as much personal work as i had planned to.  i never do.  every summer is supposed to be a period of unbridled creativity and productivity.  every summer ends up a being a period of average creativity and productivity.  what can i do to change this?  well, i suppose i can do more work.  that would be a good start.  i could come up with some more ideas, or execute some of the ideas i've been sitting on.  okay, i'll do those things.  i'll execute at least one of the ideas idling in my head this week.  i will need some help though.   i guess i need to make some phone calls.  it's terrible to need the help of others, but sometimes it's necessary.  

last night someone called me a nigger while i was walking to the bus stop.  that man was full of blind hatred.  he was also really drunk.  i think his goal was to scare me.  he didn't scare me.  he disgusted me.  i was hoping he would touch me so i would have an excuse to punch him in his stupid face, or kick his nut sack with my robo-boot.  does that make me a bad person?  i honestly believe some people need to get punched in the face sometimes.  he didn't touch me, so i didn't punch him.  i walked past him and wished him good luck.  

i've started watching a tv show called flight of the conchords.  shit is funny.  it's about these two guys from new zealand who are in a band - a two person band.  every time something happens on the show they break into these great songs with casio drum beats in the background and funny lyrics.  it's wicked gimmicky, but entertaining.  marleen is in holland right now, so she hasn't seen them yet, and i think she'll want to.  i don't have a problem watching the episodes again.  you should watch them too. 

earlier today i played tetris for a little while.  i did much better than i ever remember myself doing, but once i got to the really fast level i couldn't cope and my game self-destructed.  it was bad.  i tried again, and the same thing happened.  i won't be practicing or anything, but i think if i played more, i could get really good.  that would be a worthwhile endeavor, now wouldn't it?

before playing tetris i went to a mini car show.  it was awesome.  there were all kinds of little cars, like original mini copers and citroens, and nashs, and all manner of little cars.  lots of weird and wild stuff.  i liked it.  i think you would have liked it too.  i should have brought a camera with me.  well, i did bring one, but i opted for my super 8 instead of a still camera.  i can post a movie of it here once i get the film processed and transferred, but for now you will have to imagine lots of tiny cars with full sized people in them.    

i think i need to go to bed.  

yours truly, 

jim turbert   

i'm back and i'm broken.  it's been a long long time, but i promise that i will be more diligent in writing in my blog, because i know that it's hard for you when you don't have fresh jim turbert weblogs to read.

in case you were wondering, this summer is a shitty one.  i can't say it's the shittiest, because good things have been happening as well, but i broke my foot, and i haven't been able to run or ride my bike since may 25.  that shit is fucked.  i sat around on my ass all winter, and as soon as the weather broke, i was treated to a few days of glorious spring/summer weather, and-whammo-my shit gets busted up.  the picture on the right is me with my storm trooper boot.  i've only been wearing it for a few weeks.  before that i had crutches.  after 4 (or 5) weeks on crutches the doctor told me that she showed my x-rays to an orthopedic guy, and he said that i should be in one of these boots.  as much as the boot sucks, it is way better than crutches.  crutches are the lamest.  anyway,  i'm going on 7 weeks of broken foot, and i cannot wait to be free of this apparatus.  as awesome as it looks, i insist that normal shoes are better.

someone told me that driving with one of these crazy boots is illegal if it's on your right foot.  i have a left foot problem, but i drive a manual transmission, so i'm not sure if wearing the boot while driving is breaking the law.  until recently i was taking it off while i drive, but yesterday i discovered that it's actually way easier to do it with the boot on.  i was wearing this black super flat soled post-surgical boot (that's what the doctor called it) before, and i'd tilt my foot to the left and press the clutch in with my heel.  with the giant storm trooper boot i don't have to tilt my foot, and the angle of the sole allows me to easily press the clutch all the way to the floor.  pressing the clutch to the floor was difficult with the black post-0p boot.  i wasn't able to do it most of the time, and i'm sure i did much damage to my clutch as there was a lot of grinding at times.  if i have to replace the clutch, so be it.  sometimes the clutch must be sacrificed so a guy can get to work.

if you look carefully you can see little b in the background of the picture.  she's wicked cute.  

yours truly, 

jim turbert  

besides colder than desirable temperatures and chronic flat tires on my bicycle, things are going smoothly. i'm a little swamped today. in fact, i should not be typing this right now, but i just had to share these glorious little bits of my life with you.
my sister turned thirty last weekend. it was also easter, so i went to connecticut. dinner with tara and her friends was fun, and the easter dinner was nice as well.
when i started writing this post, i had substantive things to say. i got distracted, and now i can't remember what my intentions were. they are on the tip of my tongue (or fingers), but they just won't come out.

i can't remember what i wanted to say, and there are other things i should be doing. this post is over.

best,
jim turbert

happy freaking spring. there's fresh snow on the ground, and more should be falling later. that warms the cockles of my recently un-hibernated ass. this weather is really putting a damper on my "get things done it's spring time" attitude. still, i'm getting things done slowly but surely, and all is well.
since last post i went on vacation and returned from vacation. i've been working, but my heart really wants to be on vacation. it's a bad feeling, but i suppose it's normal for the post-spring break period when you work in an academic environment.
on to the meat...
i'm going to be in a photo show at the PRC in boston. you should totally go to the opening. getting selected is a good feeling. when you spend so much of your time and efforts taking pictures of yourself it's nice to know that someone else thinks it's okay to work on stuff like that. the show will only be featuring one of my pictures, but it's really good exposure (that the name of the show), and it gives that bit of encouragement that people need from time to time to let them know that they aren't wasting their time.
i'm going to be in another art show, too. it's called "gimme baby robots 3: baby's babies." if you are in the greater madison, wisconsin area later this month, you should go to that to, evenif the only reason you check it out is the name. it's at a place called apt space. they have some info up on myspace if you are curious about them.
i'l post more later. i have some stuff to do.

best wishes,
jim

it's been awhile. i haven't posted, and i'm certain that no one has been reading this because no one knows about it. i guess that woks out. i have experienced triumphs and crushing defeats since my last post. generally things are fine. the big news is that i'm going to san francisco during wellesley's spring break. i usually don't go anywhere during spring break, but i'm pretty psyched about going to california. i've never seen the pacific ocean before, and i do want to see it.
i applied to and was rejected from a photo show in new york. i applied to another show the following week, and i expect to get rejected from that as well. i am going to keep trying though. i'm going to apply for something every month this year. if i do that, i'm bound to get accepted by someone for something. i just want to be loved.

yours truly,
jim turbert