Hey everyone.

Long time no see, right? Hope whoever is reading this is doing well. Life, as you know, gets busy and these last few months have been packed. Making it a point to set some time aside and get back to sharing some writing though. Earlier this year I released raw versions of my random writings and ramblings. They were pretty well received and I’m excited to announce there’s more to come!

This last year I’ve done a lot of growing and changing and have written about it in the process. Also I had made a major move across the country, and have since moved back home. Got to do quite a bit of travel as well. It’s been a very good year, so you may notice some more positivity.

Good changes here people, good changes.

Among the expressionism posts, you can be on the lookout for some updates and visuals from Long Legs in the Twin Cities. It’s running back and forth through the editing process, but I promise to keep you guys and gals in the loop. Until then, keep up with where I’ve been and what I’ve learned through these daily posts. Going to keep it going until I’m out of content.

Enjoy. Like things. Share them. Drop some comments. Interact. Or do whatever the hell you want because I don’t dictate your life.

10-29-14

October 2014 has been quite the month. Somehow mustered up the strength to move my slightly-unstable ass 2,000 miles away from everyone and everything I knew in Minnesota to start fresh on the tropical island of Key West.
You’d never know you were in Florida if you were just placed here.
It’s kitschy.
Quirky.
Strange.
The locals and frequent visitors have deemed it “Key Weird”, for a reason.
Always knew my hometown, Saint Paul, was a strange place, but that was mainly on account of the residents. The architecture there resembled the set of an early 20’s gangster flick. Loaded with history, that of speakeasies, hide-outs, secret tunnels – most hidden among the famous river-way; that’s one thing home and my new home-ish type place share – history.
Key West arguably has an abundance of stories involving their own speakeasies and hide-outs, though visually, they differ extremely.
This island is only 70 miles from Cuba.
When migration to the US began, the first, and last, stop for many Cuban immigrants.
The ones that stayed, brought chickens with them.
Yes, chickens.
They still run rampant on the island to this day.
Be careful not to kill one.
You’ll do time.
Other than the chickens, they had a large tobacco influence.
They brought an entire industry to that little island.
Before that, it was ship wrecker territory.
Too inconsistent to make it last.
People needed more.
What more do you need than nicotine?
Not much more, once you’re addicted.
Most of “Old Town”, which is part of the downtown area of Key West just off of Duval St., still resembles Cuba in many ways.
Shot-gun houses.
Designed and built for quick getaways from looters.
Bright, pastel painted brick buildings.
Tin roofs.
Roofs that were replaced after a couple large fires threatened to wipe the town out.
Those chickens.
Just one part of history they don’t fuck with here.
The island still enforces strict laws that holds the owners of these buildings to making little to no changes to their property.
You must pull permits, or you’ll be fined.
They have no mercy on that here.
The entire downtown area is a historic district, which makes it difficult to get-by any of those regulations. They’re set in place so corporations don’t set up shop and start plopping Walmarts on every other fucking corner.
There’s a fair share of familiar names, but mostly, it’s Mom and Pop.
Not a lot of families truly live here.

But it’s definitely one, big, family-less, family.