Black Nymphs

I was walking home from the grocery store one day and I happened upon a cluster of bugs. I knelt down to get a closer look and I realized they were the smallest grasshoppers I had ever seen. 

They are the youngest nymph phase of one of Florida's most recognizable insects - the Lubber Grasshopper. Surprisingly, these tiny little guys will grow into one of the largest and most colorful grasshoppers on earth.

As I was kneeling over the bugs trying to take photographs a nearby woman walking into an office building stopped to see if I needed any help. 

"No, that's ok" I called back to her enthusiastically. 

"Oh" she replied with a slight sense of concern in her voice. "I though you had broken one of your grocery bags".

I smiled back at her. "No, I am fine. I'm just looking at bugs"

"Oh" was all she said before walking back into her office looking puzzled. 

I thought they were adorable. 

Chromatic Crew

DRIP is an amazing experience and we put on a breathtaking show. I am so lucky to work with a phenomenal crew who keeps the show running smoothly behind the scenes. However, because we are behind the scenes most people don't get to see how much effort it takes to keep such a unique show growing or how much fun the development can be. Here is a little glimpse into the process and the one-of-a-kind people who make it happen. 

Justin mixing the paint and checking the consistency before the performance. 

Ashlyn testing out a new system for our chandeliers.

Oleaginous

A slight drizzle and an oil leak can turn my driveway into an earthbound aurora borealis. 

That leak infuriates me until it dazzles the concrete with toxic colors. 

Sunset Over Colonial Drive

My best friend Matt came up to Orlando to have dinner with me. We decided to walk across the street to get sushi at Bikkuri. We had a wonderful dinner and on our way back I was stunned by the beautiful colors of Colonial Drive at sunset. 

I love the gradients of blue dusted with wisps of clouds and the crescent moon that hangs in the middle. The vibrant reds and oranges of the busy street match the warm glow of the street lamp that hangs over the road like a radiant fire fly. I am so glad I was able to capture this remarkable moment. 

The Spark

My landlady hired some people to fix up the staircase at my apartment. They had to work directly outside my window and when I opened the blinds to see what was going on I saw a flurry of sparks hitting the pavement. I did my best to take a photograph but unfortunately the best one only contained one minuscule spark.

At first I was disappointed but the more I looked at it the more I loved it. It was so tiny. Like the first droplet of rain before a storm. A perfect little explosion landing like lightning on my neighbors welcome mat. A little Big Bang right before my very eyes.

Searing and Steady: The Cosmic Love

Everyone seems to love a fire of passion, and who could blame them?

Few things compare to that measure of heat and consumption. Ripped apart in the best kind of way in the hopes of rising again like the Phoenix. A newer, more beautiful version of yourself that can only exist with the merging of two powerful souls. Everyone loves a fire of passion.

Everyone loves a fire of passion; until they have to deal with the aftermath.

I have been burned so many times I don't recognize my own skin. I still have wings. Still a Phoenix but of a very different kind. Not born of fire, but simply of the refusal to die.

They tell me that the meek will inherit the earth, and that is fine. I always wanted the sky anyway.
I'd like to think that I am not looking down to the best I will ever have but looking up to all I could ever be.

I gaze up at the night sky and vast expanse of stars. From earth it looks so serene. The truth is this universe is chaotic, volatile, and extreme. A dangerous place for sure, but that is because we view it from this fragile perspective. If you were designed to live out there you would view it as home - not uncharted waters.

Everyone tells you to reach for the stars but no one really understood how difficult the journey would be. Maybe that is why we have only been to the moon. It doesn't make the journey impossible - just more worthwhile.

If love must be modeled after a fire then let it not be a flame; instead let it be a star.
Even a smoldering flame from a cosmic perspective is gone in an instant. But the stars do not measure in time. The stars measure in energy and light.

I want to bond with someone like Hydrogen and Helium. Pervasive and weightless - the essence of inconsequential; but with enough attraction we can light our corner with a heat that doesn't know how to quit. Of course it takes time, but it is hard to measure time here. Besides, the time it takes to create this brilliance is nothing compared to how long it will last.

Of course nothing lasts forever and all things must transition through the way they exist. Supernovas, planetary nebulas, black holes, neutron stars, and white dwarfs; even in a colossal death the gifts are many. Take the heavy elements of our endeavors and scatter them far and wide so that others may benefit from our love long after the light has dispersed.

I have been burned many times but I still refuse to die. Take me down to the molecular level. Tear me apart to make me stronger; more complete. We can bond with enough attraction to light our corner for ourselves as well as others who can not do the same. We can be the shining beacon, a reminder that passion doesn't have to be short-lived. Searing, steady and powerful in all our forms. Let us reinvent the Cosmic Love.

The Golden Bee

I was running into a store to grab a few items for work. I was in a rush but as I shut my car door I turned to the car next to me to find a bee.

His golden abdomen and translucent wings stand out against the simmering flecks of paint on the car. The blazing sunlight reflects off the metal. As far as I could tell he was pretty far away from any flowers. The parking lot was nothing but sizzling metal and asphalt. Yet the golden color of the bee against the warm sheen of the car reminded me of his link to the sun and how everything he does is guided by our burning star. He worships the sun just like our ancestors before us.