My parents named me Jeff. I was born in a hospital that is now across the street from a fast food restaurant near a Home Depot in the city of Whittier in California in 1981. I would have loved to have been born IN the Home Depot, which would have made for an exciting story and an even more exciting film adaptation. Imagine a montage featuring a newborn learning how to use power tools before the umbilical cord is even cut. Or better yet the newborn cuts it himself with a chainsaw and then washes himself in the "Baths and Faucets" section of the store.
I have worn clothing for as long as i can remember, some clothes featured the promotion of the toys to get kids to want more of the toys that were on their clothes...
I have worn clothing for as long as i can remember, some clothes featured the promotion of the toys to get kids to want more of the toys that were on their clothes...
I loved Tonka Trucks, G.I. Joes, Lincoln Logs, Cartoons and monsters... especially My Pet Monster, shown here. I donated this lovable creature to the family puppy called Macy to play with and I wish I hadn't.
And dressing up for Halloween... I liked pirates then and still do!
My brother and I in a house somewhere probably in California looking in different directions, as kids do sometimes. The three of us, Me, my brother, and the giant goldfish in the bottom right, are all posing for this picture in my Aunt's old apartment in Whittier, Ca. And I don't see my Aunt as much as I'd like to these days.
My Rancor, Robin pajamas, and Pinto my beloved horse...
My Rancor, Robin pajamas, and Pinto my beloved horse...
I loved to be in pictures, this one features me with an oversized #2 pencil and a very 90's laser graphic backdrop... That pencil wouldn't look so big now that I'm much taller. And what would be really fun is if that was normal sized and I was about 13 inches tall.
Here is me in a Lacoste shirt, or maybe back then it was Izod. Either way I was a stylin' kid thanks to my parents, because I didn't buy this shirt for myself...
My brother and I posing for a picture. I hope he doesn't mind me using the pictures he's in because I didn't get his permission. We wore T&C Surf shirts because I loved Thrilla Gorilla and his crew of anthropomorphic animal & human friends. I also loved their impossibly difficult Nintendo game. I wonder if I could beat it as an adult...
When I was a little older wax lips were popular in my life, so were those fake cigarettes that were gum that blew out a few puffs of some white powder. People have had some awful ideas in life and making gum cigarettes that appealed to children has to be among the worst. Pictured below I was a wax-mouthed vampire...
Imagine you're an 8th grader in 1995 who has some features that are disproportionally larger than a head for that age would want to accommodate, you have braces, you don't know where you fit in the world, you're lanky and taller than most of the other kids except Michael, Bahram, Malia, Chia-Ming, Amber, and maaaaaybe Arthur and you also feel out of place because no clothes seem to fit well and you want oversized clothes anyway because that's the style and really you are unsure of what that style even communicates about who you are. You bought a Mossimo hat on Catalina Island because you thought other people would think it was cool and you chose to wear it to a school dance along with an oversized flannel jacket with an oversized white shirt underneath and probably some below-the-knee shorts, and Puma low top shoes. Yep, that's this picture 👇🏻 Why this picture was taken, who took it, and how I got a duplicate of it is all unknown. Am I glad I have this particular record of my past. Yes because I get to share it with you.
Then I wore a tie and a dress shirt for something and sat with my brother while he also wore a dress shirt... maybe someone's graduation from school?
I waited in a long line of people with my best friend Edwin by the soda-and-chip-filled vending machines at the beginning of my junior year in High School. I was chewing gum while we waited and I didn't stop when I took my place in the camera's field of view. I assumed that the photographer would have notified me that the picture was going to be taken in 3,2,1 however those words never even got their chance to vibrate the air molecules on the journey into my ears. Before I could settle I saw a flash, it was the picture, it had been taken long before I was ready for it. What her camera captured is a moment in my past, mid chew and apparently also mid blink. This was my ID and for a year, and if my memory is accurate the subsequent years' wasn't much of an improvement. I'm roughly about 16 years old here.
The year was 2000 and at some point after that last picture I went to Magic Mountain with friends and had this picture taken and made into a keychain. I, along with one of the other guys in this picture that I cut from this picture worked at a place called Manga House at the then-called "The Block Of Orange" which was a store full of imported Japanese Gundam models, movies, music, statues, video games, and wall scrolls. The two girls in this picture that are also not actually pictured here also worked at The Block at Corner Bakery, which was on a corner in their row of shops. I was in a shirt that looks way too small for me and had on a messenger bag from Express, back then called Structure. Additionally I was wearing a WAY too tight necklace and more-than-likely cargo pants with white Royal Elastics shoes. As you know my friends are cut out of this picture but that lady in the back that I don't know isn't... As you can see I am very thin and made questionable fashion and facial hair choices. I had a Gundam Zaku digital watch on which I do still like though. I wonder if I still have it. These are also the people I attended raves with. I am happy to report that I was able to consistently navigate them entirely substance free.
After that, years and years later post high school, around the year 2003, I got older and still wore clothing and wore 4 earrings. This picture was of my family and I at my brother's graduation and I cut everyone else out of it... This picture features me in earrings, either 2 or 4. I do like the cut of that coat still. What a high, prominent collar it featured. I can imagine the clothing designers being very proud of this when they saw their first prototype.
Then many years later around my hair grew out and I got highlights put in and little more facial hair, and started regularly wearing glasses that I should have been wearing daily since 3rd grade. Didn't everyone look like this at one point in they lives?
There was one time when I grew a beard for a year as a joke then shaved half of it off then posed for this picture and did a "tough guy" expression... a black shirt was not the best choice of clothing.
Years after that and years before today on a nondescript Saturday I grew a beard at the request of a then girlfriend, whom I assume is still a wonderful person, and decided to make a suit out of trash bags at my parents' house. It took me 10 hours to produce a hat, vest, jacket, pants and one fingerless glove...
"A moment of silence"
"A moment of silence"
"I'm here, let's settle down before things get too hot in here"
Jamiroquai inspired picture even though I didn't listen to their music...
I call this picture ALL4ONE, cause it looks what I think that band feels when those smooth men write songs especially "I Swear" ...
"Yes, still do the hustle, then do the robot" in a trash bag suit
Pushing up against a wall because that's what I feel would have been on a 90's R&B album cover and it may have conveyed solace or in deep thought about what to do about having to break up with the love of my life because it's just not working.
Then the jacket comes off... for this pose..
And later my trash bag version of early 20th century men's swimwear was produced...
A James Bond inspired pose...
A James Bond inspired pose...
This was a "What-happened-in-this-direction-that-makes-me-so-stylishly?" pose...
"Surprise attack" of excellence...
Later on a more sensuous note... the swimwear was removed.. sloooooowly...
Fast forward to today and I'm still clothed and now choosing to produce the kind of clothes I believe in and excited to wear. And below I'm in bright light from the bottom side of a glass window that made a rainbow on my face and the wall behind me.
photo credit: @scottbushaw
Lastly, which would have worked firstly, I want to thank my parents because they provided me a childhood in an incredibly stable atmosphere; I felt loved and supported, I felt safe and I was allowed to be a child. I had a house to live in, a swing set, a beautiful German Shepherd named Macy, I played with numerous 3.75" G.I. Joes in a muddy hole, I played with Toy Biz X-Men figures, had a My Pet Monster and a Cabbage Patch doll named Miles Pete. I had a home cooked meal every night. I was gifted with a wonderful education. I thought these things were normal for every child back then. As I got older I understood that wasn't at all true and I was just incredibly fortunate by chance and was privileged to have been raised by these two outstanding individuals, and sometimes my extraordinary grandmother.
Lastly, which would have worked firstly, I want to thank my parents because they provided me a childhood in an incredibly stable atmosphere; I felt loved and supported, I felt safe and I was allowed to be a child. I had a house to live in, a swing set, a beautiful German Shepherd named Macy, I played with numerous 3.75" G.I. Joes in a muddy hole, I played with Toy Biz X-Men figures, had a My Pet Monster and a Cabbage Patch doll named Miles Pete. I had a home cooked meal every night. I was gifted with a wonderful education. I thought these things were normal for every child back then. As I got older I understood that wasn't at all true and I was just incredibly fortunate by chance and was privileged to have been raised by these two outstanding individuals, and sometimes my extraordinary grandmother.
Me being an adult without children and way past the age my parents had me I can appreciate the immense effort it took to raise my brother and I because it's a full time job just taking care of myself. I thank my Dad for the effort it took to work so hard to support us and my Mom for being there and providing us an amazing amount of care and attention. I love you both very much and won't ever be able to fully realize the amount effort and energy and life you've spent teaching, working, cooking, supporting, caring for, hugging, loving and anything else I forgot to mention. I appreciate you both. As I write this I am overwhelmed with so many unidentifiable emotions that tears have made their appearance. I'm so very grateful and appreciative...
My grandmother and I. I don't know what I'm looking at or why I have that expression. In fact I can't even tell what that expression indicates...
Dear reader,
I am grateful for your presence in the world and I deeply appreciate taking the limited time you have on this planet to be here on my site! Your time is important to me and I'd like to acknowledge that I care.
I'd also like to connect with you so please reach out and start a conversation. I will talk exhaustively about health. I believe people are everything and believe greatly in human connection and would love the opportunity to get to know you.
Written 06-16-2019
Updated 01-28-2021