The Origin Story
So I'm writing this, but the big question is will I have the guts to post it. The big GAMBLE. The one that started it all.
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"How did you get in to that?" It's the question we've all been asked. Like any wanna be stand up comedian, my answer has evolved. It began bloated and not that funny. Eventually I trimmed the fat and have my clever quip.
...
Then my answer was long winded and over detailed. I did a semester abroad in London in college. Fall of 2005. While blowing off classes and traveling around Europe, I started my "European" glass collection. I put it in quotes because I'm now certain, while purchased in various countries, they were all imports from China.
..
I always liked glass. I was obsessed from the first time I saw a pipe. I had a collection long before London, but it certainly grew over there. One night in Amsterdam I met and was wandering around with a hockey player from Canada and a tattoo artist from Southern California. Back to the hostel and we lost the hockey player. The tattoo artist convinced me to follow him back to the bars after a quick stop around the corner.
..
We went into a tattoo shop and he began chatting up the owner. This kid from So Cal had been working in Scotland for the last few months. He and the Amsterdam Shop owner started talking about his boss. "You know that tattoo on his left calf? I did that one." The owner of the shop's eyes widened. "You did that one?! Look I'm closing up and have somewhere to be. We open early tomorrow. Can you come back?"
...
Just like that, he had a job offer. We walked away and my new friend said mostly to himself, "yeah I think I'll move here." I was hooked instantly. Not with tattoos, but the portability of a skill set. That was the exact moment I knew when I got back home, I was going to buy a torch. I wanted something where I was the important part. The rest of it was just tools.
...
Fast forward through 2 failed classes and 2 passed ones, I flew home and bought a Red Max.
...
Time for a quick side story?! I have a very clear memory of Amsterdam the second time I went there. I was taking an upper level philosophy class and brought my homework with me, Plato's Republic. I checked in to the Flying Pig and walked across the street to the Blues Brother's Cafe. I purchased a preroll. Sat alone on a bench against the back wall, opened my book, flicked my lighter, inhaled, looked down at the first page and thought "I'm going to fail this class."
...
Part 2 of 3 (I suspect) tomorrow.
...
Back home. I'm not trying to play this card too aggressively, but it's true when I say in 2005, there simply weren't the same resources these kids gave access to today. No YouTube instruction videos, no Facebook groups, hardly any info or even sources for equipment. Still, I found a California supplier and bought a starter kit. Red Max. A paragon kiln. Regs. Hoses. Some cheap tools. That and a $600 metal shed I built in my mother's back yard. My desk was 2 wooden twin mattress frames with drawers stacked on top of one another. The shed was 6 feet at the peak. Cramped is an understatement.
...
It was the beginning of the winter. Before long, with the help of my sister, I upgraded to a taller wooden shed. Put a wood stove out there. Ran some electricity. Started blowing glass.
...
In an effort to wrap this up and just get this story out, I'm going to do some serious fast forwarding. I got home from London in the fall of 2005. Bought equipment (pic 1 is me opening my box of equipment) and was blowing glass outside... in the snow. Upgraded to a shed. (Pic 2) Worked jobs and blew glass with every free second I had. Graduated college in 2007. Economy collapses. Couldn't find a job in my field. Couldn't even find. Job requiring a degree. This went on for a year and a half.
...
February of 2009, my father died suddenly of a heart attack at 54. There's a lot to unpack there as you can imagine. For the purposes of our story, here is how it pushes "The BIG Gamble"
...
When he died he was superintendent of his local school district. In his spare time he was a woodworker. When I was a kid, he was a teacher and a contractor. Some of the earliest memories I have are "helping" him finish basements and build decks. Over the years, he became quite the craftsman. Expensive tools and skills to match. He would spend early and late hours in his workshop. Mostly he made really nice pieces and gave them all away.
...
My career path WAS, I suppose, following in his footsteps. I had a B.A. in English. My goal was academia and teaching. In September of 2009, I was closing in on 2 years of not being able to even use my degree, nevermind become a teacher. I was grieving my sudden loss. I was wrestling with my own mortality. I don't know how many interviews later, I was finally offered a job. One that required only a HS Degree. It also required that I shave my beard.
...
Like most, I've always had this ever present fear of death. Now it was strengthened. I looked at the path my father took. Career for money and craft for passion. With this looming fear of sudden death at 54, I chose the opposite. I chose to take this new passion and make it my career. Started paying the bills with glass in September of 2009. Slowly, another 14 years have passed and I haven't missed a payment since.
...
Now, when people ask "how did you..." my answer is "I made a bunch of selfish decisions in my 20s and now I own them"
...
Now you know a little bit more of the why.
...
Instagram simply ISN'T the place for long form text. All these stories have been trimmed WAY down. I'm working on writing them out long form as well. We'll see what become of that. My timing also wasn't great as we should be wrapping up gambling and moving on yo HORROR! so this was a very abbreviated version.
...
"How did you get in to that?" It's the question we've all been asked. Like any wanna be stand up comedian, my answer has evolved. It began bloated and not that funny. Eventually I trimmed the fat and have my clever quip.
...
Then my answer was long winded and over detailed. I did a semester abroad in London in college. Fall of 2005. While blowing off classes and traveling around Europe, I started my "European" glass collection. I put it in quotes because I'm now certain, while purchased in various countries, they were all imports from China.
..
I always liked glass. I was obsessed from the first time I saw a pipe. I had a collection long before London, but it certainly grew over there. One night in Amsterdam I met and was wandering around with a hockey player from Canada and a tattoo artist from Southern California. Back to the hostel and we lost the hockey player. The tattoo artist convinced me to follow him back to the bars after a quick stop around the corner.
..
We went into a tattoo shop and he began chatting up the owner. This kid from So Cal had been working in Scotland for the last few months. He and the Amsterdam Shop owner started talking about his boss. "You know that tattoo on his left calf? I did that one." The owner of the shop's eyes widened. "You did that one?! Look I'm closing up and have somewhere to be. We open early tomorrow. Can you come back?"
...
Just like that, he had a job offer. We walked away and my new friend said mostly to himself, "yeah I think I'll move here." I was hooked instantly. Not with tattoos, but the portability of a skill set. That was the exact moment I knew when I got back home, I was going to buy a torch. I wanted something where I was the important part. The rest of it was just tools.
...
Fast forward through 2 failed classes and 2 passed ones, I flew home and bought a Red Max.
...
Time for a quick side story?! I have a very clear memory of Amsterdam the second time I went there. I was taking an upper level philosophy class and brought my homework with me, Plato's Republic. I checked in to the Flying Pig and walked across the street to the Blues Brother's Cafe. I purchased a preroll. Sat alone on a bench against the back wall, opened my book, flicked my lighter, inhaled, looked down at the first page and thought "I'm going to fail this class."
...
Part 2 of 3 (I suspect) tomorrow.
...
Back home. I'm not trying to play this card too aggressively, but it's true when I say in 2005, there simply weren't the same resources these kids gave access to today. No YouTube instruction videos, no Facebook groups, hardly any info or even sources for equipment. Still, I found a California supplier and bought a starter kit. Red Max. A paragon kiln. Regs. Hoses. Some cheap tools. That and a $600 metal shed I built in my mother's back yard. My desk was 2 wooden twin mattress frames with drawers stacked on top of one another. The shed was 6 feet at the peak. Cramped is an understatement.
...
It was the beginning of the winter. Before long, with the help of my sister, I upgraded to a taller wooden shed. Put a wood stove out there. Ran some electricity. Started blowing glass.
...
In an effort to wrap this up and just get this story out, I'm going to do some serious fast forwarding. I got home from London in the fall of 2005. Bought equipment (pic 1 is me opening my box of equipment) and was blowing glass outside... in the snow. Upgraded to a shed. (Pic 2) Worked jobs and blew glass with every free second I had. Graduated college in 2007. Economy collapses. Couldn't find a job in my field. Couldn't even find. Job requiring a degree. This went on for a year and a half.
...
February of 2009, my father died suddenly of a heart attack at 54. There's a lot to unpack there as you can imagine. For the purposes of our story, here is how it pushes "The BIG Gamble"
...
When he died he was superintendent of his local school district. In his spare time he was a woodworker. When I was a kid, he was a teacher and a contractor. Some of the earliest memories I have are "helping" him finish basements and build decks. Over the years, he became quite the craftsman. Expensive tools and skills to match. He would spend early and late hours in his workshop. Mostly he made really nice pieces and gave them all away.
...
My career path WAS, I suppose, following in his footsteps. I had a B.A. in English. My goal was academia and teaching. In September of 2009, I was closing in on 2 years of not being able to even use my degree, nevermind become a teacher. I was grieving my sudden loss. I was wrestling with my own mortality. I don't know how many interviews later, I was finally offered a job. One that required only a HS Degree. It also required that I shave my beard.
...
Like most, I've always had this ever present fear of death. Now it was strengthened. I looked at the path my father took. Career for money and craft for passion. With this looming fear of sudden death at 54, I chose the opposite. I chose to take this new passion and make it my career. Started paying the bills with glass in September of 2009. Slowly, another 14 years have passed and I haven't missed a payment since.
...
Now, when people ask "how did you..." my answer is "I made a bunch of selfish decisions in my 20s and now I own them"
...
Now you know a little bit more of the why.
...
Instagram simply ISN'T the place for long form text. All these stories have been trimmed WAY down. I'm working on writing them out long form as well. We'll see what become of that. My timing also wasn't great as we should be wrapping up gambling and moving on yo HORROR! so this was a very abbreviated version.