The 36th Chamber: Enter Fish Face

One of those new places you go that takes you back to where you’ve been.

“Hey man, I haven’t seen you in, well years.”

“Yeah I know, you haven’t been around in a while. I was off working some other places back right now, got a job.”

You have now entered into the wild, strange world of Fish Face Goods, specifically the sole employee of a small screen-printing operation, owned and run single-handedly for the last 10 years by artist Troy Thomas. Specializing in fishing, hunting, and other outdoor fun t-shirts, the designs are created by Troy and printed by me. That is the bare bones of what I do, trust me, there is more. The shirts are sold both over the internet at Fish Face and at arts & crafts shows around the Midwest. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, we set up a white tent along a street or in a park among bunch of other crafters for a weekend. A small tent town pops up where homemade goods are sold by the people who make them. In here you‘ll find people who travel around the country making jewelry, pottery, paintings, random household knickknacks; living from their vans, buses, homes, bread trucks, RVs; making their goods on the road or at home. That is a long list of variables, but there are a lot of different people out there!

“Oh yeah, I see a lot of people around. Hey you remember…”

“Sure, yeah that was a time.”

This conversation could go on for a long time, reminiscing, up-dating, proclaiming, sharing, teaching – all the things that are great to talk about between people. But usually the time to share doesn’t seem to be there. That sucks. Here’s me making time to have the conversation with anyone who cares to listen and share. I haven’t had a real chance to check out something I’ve heard a fair amount about in recent years, a blog. The impression I have is that this is an online community of conversations, seems like a great place to share with other people out there.

"I’m working right in town, not living too far from here actually. How about you, what are you up to?"

"Having a drink, working, hanging with whatever folks I find, my commute a.k.a. prime reading time…"

And it continues, weighing on how successfully we entertain each other impressing, awakening, embracing, depressing, numbing, fulfilling accounts of our days past. But these thoughts take time to share and a coming to a central ground to have that talk. That is what I have thought the blogoshpere is, and that is what I want to contribute to.

I don’t find it terribly relevant to delve too deeply into my past, anything having to do with whatever comes up in my writings will be shared as honestly as possible. A few things though, maybe to help begin an understanding of who I am. Born and raised in the Midwest of the United States, reading has been a passion for a long while, I’ve traveled in the general directions of this country. Yeah pretty broad and unspecific, but more will be shared as applies.

My life right now is somewhat centered around my job. This is by no means a bad thing, I am learning the intricate details of one of the oldest and most useful art forms, I get to travel a good amount, around the Midwest and soon farther around the country. I make enough to live in Chicago with some of the best people I know and pay my current costs of living. I ride my bike and the train to and from work every day, good way to wake up.

I stay pretty well informed about what is going on in the world today, and yesterday, and the days before that, have some thoughts on where it will be tomorrow. I’m an avid reader; listen to music whenever I get the chance, whether it is to fall asleep to or while riding my bike through the streets of Chicago. I’m going to try to put in as many thoughts that come up into this blog and I want to leave this an open floor for anyone to share and join in the conversation.

Cheers.