This afternoon I went on 3.65 mile hike, then delivered my blanks to Jimmy at Downtown Screen Printers so they can print me a new batch of San Jose (EMNSJ) shirts. Later, I went to Meeting of the Minds, the collaborative paint party, and painted a fun piece with my fiends Catrina & Eddie. When I got home, and in bed I started sketching out the design for a new mural I’m working on. Tomorrow night I’m DJing & hosting karaoke for a high school graduation party at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk from midnight till 2 AM. Busy, busy, busy…

I’ve only gone hiking once a week for the last three weeks but I’ve been making them count. Today was another 7+ miler along the South Rim at Alum Rock Park. I’m working my way up to hiking both the north & south rims in one trip. I’m calling it the “Rim Job.”

I’m still recovering from yesterday’s hike up to Mission Peak. My feet, legs and even shoulders are sore so I took it easy today. Tomorrow, and this weekend, I’ll be working on my taxes so everything will be ho-hum till Monday. After tax day I’m gonna try to get a hike in at Grant Park then prepare for a flea market day on Saturday to get rid of a bunch of stuff.

I went hiking today and came across this dude chilling on the trail. He was about 10-12 inches long and a bit camera shy.

Two things I love to do. I bring a small sketchbook with me when I hike so I can draw when I stop for rest breaks. I’ve been thinking about inviting others to join me but I don't know anybody else that likes to do both.

Little baby sketches from my hike earlier. I was thinking of different layouts & ideas for zines

Today, while I was hiking, I sketched out some important periods in my life in regards to art & drawing. My earliest memories of drawing rocket ships with my cousin when we were little. Being a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fanatic and learning how to draw them like the cartoon. Being bored in middle school classes and doodling on my class work. Taking my first art class, meeting other artists and acquiring my first sketchbook in high school. In junior college, still uninterested in class, my first job working in a clean room and going out and doing graffiti at night. I haven’t figured out which specific events I’d like illustrate to cover the last 20 years of my so called artsy-fartsy life.

This is important.

While I was hiking today I started thinking about memorable movies about aliens. One of them was Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Specifically the dinner scene. When I got to back to my car I sketched myself as Richard Dreyfuss’s character with the mashed potato mountain on his plate.

Today I went hiking at Joseph D. Grant Park for the first time in almost ten months. I specifically went to revisit one of my favorite places inside the park. As I was leaving I had to stop my car to let a family of wild pigs cross the street. The piglets are super cute but they grow up to be ugly AF!

Here’s what I drew in my little sketchbook while hiking at Alum Rock Park today.

I’m still hiking and feeling a little stronger every time! My last two hikes have been shorter distances with a higher elevation. Today I stopped at a few benches to rest and draw in my little sketchbook.

Yyy

Today I hiked the Penitencia Creek Trail at Alum Rock Park again. I was able to hike without stopping till I reached the end then I took a 40 minute drawing break before heading back.

Today I hiked Penitencia Creek Trail at Alum Rock Park again and I drew this little sketch of a UFO being viewed from inside a bedroom window. The thought of aliens coming into my room at night and being abducted by UFOs used to scare the shit outta me when I was a little kid.

This morning I met with a couple guys at their establishment to talk about doing a mural there. So far, so good. I measured their walls and will start working on a quote and maybe some sketches tomorrow. After that meeting I went hiking at Alum Rock Park. I hiked the Penitencia Creek Trail again and did a little better than before. It still kicked my ass but not as bad. At night I met up the Meeting of the Minds gang. That's where we get randomly paired up with other people and have to work on a canvas together. I got matched up with Tom and we did what looks like a giant red eye above the horizon, a yellow planet and a red sea monster.

Another ass kicking. My legs were cramping up right from the start. I had to take a a few breaks to massage my shins and calves. When I reached the end of the Penitencia Creek Trail I plopped down on a bench to rest and drew in my sketchbook for half an hour before heading back.

Hiking the Penitencia Creek Trail at Alum Rock Park was relatively easy for me last summer. Before it got really hot. Before my knee injury. Before packing on the extra weight. Today I had to stop and rest multiple times, both ways, where as before I would only sit at the bench at the very end of the trail to draw before heading back. Another ass whooping. 

Tonight I went to watch the new Scream movie at Eastridge. The best part was leaving the theater and walking past my mural. I saw, for the first time, the freshly installed placard on the wall. The placard was proofed right after the community paint day, where mostly small kids left the mural looking so bad I didn't want my name attached to it anymore. I didn't want anyone to see the mural and think I painted it. Local Color insisted I keep my name on it so we settled on Designer credit. That's why it says, "Design by Frankie Mcfly, Painted by San Jose Community." This was before my artist friends Elba & Lucia helped me clean up the mural and made me feel proud of it again.

I hiked up to Eagle Rock again. It's still kicking my ass. While I was up there I parked my ass on a bench and drew in a sketchbook for 20 minutes before going back down. After the hike I went to pick up my new prescription glasses. My first pair. It's cool to be able to see things clearly again but it's going to take some getting used to. They're progressive lenses that my see farther away through the top half of the lens and read things up close through the bottom half. I'm already thinking of getting dedicated glasses for driving and reading so I don't have to constantly tilt me head up or down.

Today was my second time hiking at Ed R. Levin Park in Milpitas and my friend's first. As we were walking back to our cars we heard a strange noise across the parking lot behind us and saw a huge tree branch fall. We walked over and saw that it fell inside the dog park. No one, or any dog, got hurt. Even the fence survived with minimal damage. It was pretty exciting on such a peaceful day at the park.

At least I'm trying to. After a long hiatus due to the summer heat, a knee injury, and a month and a half of working on the Eastridge mural, I can't hike the same distances, or elevations, like I used to. I was able to hike 10 miles in 5 hours with 2,000 ft elevation gain and now I get my ass kicked hiking a lot less. Today I did 4.68 miles, with 500 ft of elevation, at Alum Rock Park, in just over 2 hours. It feels like I'm back at square one. 

Today felt a lot more productive. I received a call I'd been waiting on since yesterday morning. That freed me up to go for a 2 hour hike at Alum Rock Park. And, at night, after the mall closed, I went to Eastridge to get interviewed about the mural for a video that Local Color is putting together. It'll probably be a few weeks before that video is ready.

I went for a hike at Alum Rock Park today. I hiked up to Eagle Rock, which is depicted on the Eastridge mural, which I also saw this evening when I went to the movies to watch Spiderman again. I saw that the anti-graffiti coat vendor left the masking paper on the mural. I wonder if he's going to come back and remove it or someone else is expected to do so.