misteraven

Mac or Linux is you can’t afford Mac hardware.

Progress update... Haven’t given the Headspace App much more of a try but feel I’m getting pretty good results from the Meditation Mini podcast posted above. She mentioned in one of them that she’ll be releasing a paid app that does away with the commercials and has some other stuff so curious to see what that’s about and what it costs. But again, podcast has been good for me. Usually listen to 1 - 3 episodes in a row before bed and in the morning and it’s calming for sure. Basically re-listening to them at this point, but don’t mind so far.

Oh and glad you’re posting. I see that you joined a year ago, but cool when people join in instead of lurking.

cc: @Mercer some even accept crypto currency but yes... Visa gift cards are no different than Visa cards in terms of acceptance and how they spend. If a service, any service, accepts it, it should be fine. Exception might be in how they do the AVS check to verify billing detail in the fraud check. But if you want to be 100% sure, email the service and just ask. Tell them your concern and ask them their suggestions on it. Their business is privacy and they want more customers so I’m sure they’d be happy to help you sort that out.

Damn, what happened there?

@One Man BannedLOLOLOLOLOL!

@Dirty_habiTmy high school story is somewhat similar. I actually got kicked out of junior high first. literally never went and just didn't care. half the time we'd go to this weird abandoned house that mostly still had furniture and fuck around all day. or just bolt and take the city bus. the junior high school I went to was pretty shitty and as long as whatever you did wasn't violent, they sort of mostly just let you be and go through the motions. then ended up at a better junior high, but barely improved. didn't really skip quite so much, but didnt give it much effort. got more into skating around that time cause the kids I skated with were at that school, so we were the dickheads in the back of the class. by high school I took a turn for the worse in that it was the transition from junior high to high school that I started getting into graffiti. plus kids had cars. so we'd skip school, hit burger king for the french toast sticks and then go rack paint. the school was pretty big, something like 3000+ kids so there was three lunch waves. Was pretty awesome having a 2.5+ hour lunch pretty much every day, which came at the expense of math and science. when I did show up to math one time, I wasn't even in the teachers book anymore, so got sent to general math, which was a step above special ed. between graffiti and punk shit, hanging out with @dekayfabasically every day, I started getting into fights all the time. mostly a group of skin head kids, with one kid in particular. I must of fought that kid over a hundred times since we were pretty evenly matched. first day of school, I kicked the crap out of him during lunch by the lunch trucks so that evening for back to school orientation he's giving me the stink eye during the orientation while were both sitting with our moms. at some point I ended up meeting some hardcore girl that went to a private school. Dekay had gotten himself kicked out for yet another school year and ended up in alternative school which he wanted. he was a model student there just by bringing a pen to class and got along good with all the hood kids. shortly after I got myself kicked out of school and decided I wasn't down to go to alternative school with him, so I just stayed home. this was like a third of the way into 11th grade. after a few weeks of doing nothing, the hardcore chick that I was dating by that point, invited me to the open house at her school as an excuse to hangout. it was a small parochial school (though they didn't so much push religion as they did decency and morality), with maybe 400 total students in grade 6 - 12. at my old HS, classes were 45 - 60 kids so a teacher wouldn't know your name even by the end of the semester. if you showed up late, sometimes there wasn't even a chair / desk. its was probably 90%+ latin, so there was so many kids with the same first and last name, that you had to write your student number every time you wrote your name on anything. anyhow, I go to open house, which is basically me shadowing a student for the day. it was so small and tight knit that it was a no brainer for my gf to ask the headmaster to let me shadow her. what I wasn't expecting was that at some point I had to take an entrance exam, but whatever... did my best so I didnt embarrass her and enjoyed the change of pace and hanging out. I was also pretty fascinated by classrooms that had like 6 - 10 people max and teachers that seemed genuinely enthusiastic about the stuff they were teaching. during lunch kids either played basketball or lacrosse; i'd never seen lacrosse before, so the whole thing was like another world. parents volunteering, teachers sitting with students helping them with stuff and students that seemed calm and mostly focused. so next day I get a call from the headmaster that he wants to see me. I enjoyed the day before and figured it was another chance to hang with my gf so I showed up. so the headmaster wants to see me personally and starts sort of interviewing me. straight up I told him my parent are broke is fuck and there's zero chance of me paying any tuition at all to go to private school. instead he's asking me about my background and then finally starts asking me about the test I took. said I was off the charts on some parts and failed miserably at other parts and that he'd never seen anything like that before and wanted to know my story. again, didn't want to embarrass my gf, but at that point really didn't give a shit about anything and had zero to lose as there was zero chance of me going to a private school. I didn't have a lot of experience with adults talking to me with obvious respect and genuine interest, so I told my story and answered his questions. was probably with him for a couple hours and apparently made an impression. he understood the position I was in and was respectful about it and at the end of our talk said that he'd love to have me at the school. that it was halfway through the school year and that salaries and budgets were settled and one extra kid wouldn't make a difference. he said if I could figure out the white polo shirt and khakis, that he'd even float the jacket and tie. but he was pretty firm about the fact that if he felt I was blowing off the opportunity I was being offered, that he'd terminate the agreement. I was really blown away that someone like that would take interest in me like that. between him and some of the teachers that were just as nice to me, I really gave it my best effort. I had struggled with math my entire life and the math teacher saw something in me I hadn't known of. I didn't know how to play lacrosse and I was also weary of the students because their lifestyles were so foreign... they were always cool to me, but going fishing in Bimini or attending gold fund raisers was way outside my reality. So I mostly ate lunch with the math teacher who enjoyed watching the basketball games during lunch. he started tutoring me during lunch and showed me a different approach to math that suddenly made it all make sense. I started doing really great in math and since the school had such a wide range of grades, accelerated through the levels until I was in a solid place for 11th grade (for reference, the AP math kids doing advanced Calculus were in the same class room and were taught separately than the rest of the class that might have been Algebra 2. in fact, those students often tutored the ones that weren't as far as along). I got to be super cool with a history teacher, which was considered the only true hardass in the school. He was especially strict and taught the class as is he was raising the next generation of political elite (and probably was). but his approach to history wasnt memorizing dates and names, but rather deep diving into the catalyst and context of historical events. I enjoyed his classes immensely and I assume he knew my story and greatly respected my efforts. I studied extra and would often get ahead so I was able to string events together and just got really great at his class. got bumped to AP history and still did awesome. also took AP art, which to me was an easy A and just a chance to relax. teacher was nice and was always super impressed with my work, which was pretty well dialed in from years of graffiti. so end of year, the headmaster calls me in and said he's spoken to all my teachers and even some students and that I'd exceeded his expectations. said I was welcome to come back, but only if I agreed to drop back a grade because my education before that was so dismal that I wasn't in a place to be applying to college. further, I'd have to go to summer school and take some college classes to help make up for the huge gaps in my education. at that point I wasn't really thinking about college, but I did want to come back so we shook hands on it and I got to come back on a scholarship for that next year. by then I was a solid A/B student taking regular math, but AP everything else. half way through the year, still eating lunches with my math teacher, he tells me I should apply to colleges despite what I was told. I really wasn't sure what it entailed or what I wanted to do... total dumbass, but I trusted him and started reviewing options. I loved history, so thought I'd be a history major with the intent to maybe go to law school after earning a degree. so I ended up applying to a few colleges, which was submitting apps and doing the essays. after a while, it was time to submit transcripts so I went back to the math teacher saying I wasn't sure what to do. he called a meeting with the headmaster, then a second one that included me. since he was so highly respected at the school, he won over the headmaster by lobbying that I had exceeded all expectations and then again the next year and that I was ready to move on the next year. so the three of us literally sat around and essentially invented an entire transcript (insane and nothing I can imagine happening today). they asked if I spoke another language (I grew up speaking Portuguese), so they said to go to the local college, have a conversation with the head of that department and get a letter stating I was proficient... Bam, 4 years of A/B grades in a foreign language! then, take the SAT and combined with that score and the track record I had at this new school, they came up with years worth of English, Math and Science grades. Go volunteer and they added community service. basically an entire HS transcript based upon 1.5 years worth of what I did since I got there. meanwhile, every day my art teacher is lobbying me, the head master and my newly appointed college counselor that I needed to be applying to art school. that I had too much talent to not think about a creative career. headmaster and college counselor said that it would be a smart strategic decision as a safety. that I could get in on art, focus on liberal arts and then move laterally into another degree. so I applied to a few more schools. in the end, I got into every college I applied to. I received scholarships to three of them, including a full scholarship to the school I ended up at, which they only offer 3 of per class (ironically at the college fair I went to, the people representing the school said I probably shouldn't apply as it didn't seem like I was the right ft). a second school, which was a liberal arts college, offered me a full ride, off campus housing and extra money for books and food because they were trying to build up their visual arts programs and really wanted me to attend. it was a pretty wild ride in hindsight and I guess an early example of yet another unorthodox path that seems most of my life so far has been. I'm eternally grateful to those people and recognize in hindsight how critical that juncture in my life was. to this day, it seems like divine intervention as it's almost unbelievable to me, how far out on a limb some people went for me. Being honest, I'm not sure I'd have followed the college path if I had the benefit of hindsight at that time. I certainly acknowledge that it gave me discipline and continued to cultivate the desire to dig deep and pull out my best effort, but I also see that in terms of my career, the degree itself isn't really worth much. in the years since, and especially when running a creative agency in downtown NYC, I've reviewed portfolios and talked to young people trying to decide which course to take with a creative based profession and believe that there's obvious career choices that require college, but that creative degrees aren't one of them. that rather than do 4 years of college, you'd be far better served if you beg your way into an internship at a respectable agency, because if you stick out the 4 years, not only will you have zero dept, you'll likely be earning a healthy salary. that if you pay the types of dues required to excel and standout in college, that you'll not only have a viable portfolio after 4 years of working at an agency, but that it would be real world work and likely of a caliber that far exceeds even good student work. I'm not saying don't go to college, only that college is a major investment and that it should be scrutinized very carefully and with as much objectivity as possible. that in many instances, you'll see more personal and professional growth in the real world and that the $200k or so spent, would serve you far better if invested in other ways. this is particularly important these days, when many studies are showing that average increase in salary for a degree holder will often not result in a return of the value of the education across an entire career. again, not throwing that out as a blanked statement, but just saying that there's an intense social pressure for young kids to run off to college by default. many of those educations are just a continuation of high school and the "college experience" is a disingenuous selling point to sell services that simply aren't worth the cost of admission. like all significant investments of time and money, people really need to be honest about the return on investment, as well as explore their options and make an informed decision. sorry for the long post. hopefully it was entertaining or informative.

@One Man Bannedtook me a little white to get some posts up, but did post some of your stuff as well. Was sort of busy, but also trying to avoid what ended up happened. Put up two posts and basically ran out of material. Ideally, I'm hoping that there's a diversity of content so I'm not just reposting the same person over and over again. I definitely want to get some of your freights posted, though the square aspect ratio sucks for that type of shot, but again... Hoping to keep a consistency with it. ----back on topic----- Someone was just asking about DAO and seen a few other names dropped that I dont think I've seen logged in. I have been steadily recovering accounts... In fact, every time I put up one of those forum type posts on Instagram, I usually get at least a few requests, but is anyone in touch with someone that isn't back on or back on regularly? More people we can reach out to and get back, the more fun and fulfilling it all becomes.

Thought he stopped by at some point not too long ago? Anyone in touch? I can unban any or all of his 147 usernames if someone can send word.

Heads up to all you guys lurking and not posting or even logging in... Nows your chance to register, login and drop a first post. This thread is definitely more interesting than I thought it would be so shout out to those posting. Also a heads up that I might make the thread content member only, so you might as well get a head of it and register.

@iloveboxcarsWild... Can't imagine how climate control can be so top secret but guess I've heard of stranger things. Super interesting though.

Negaprops.

Bench Made Mini Griptillian Tanto

What type of production manager?

Great stuff man... From both you guys. Talk to @Dirty_habiTregularaly and didn't know half that story.

Just started a job / skills thread... Maybe find something that allows for more sleep? 🤷‍♂️

Figured this one might be fun and perhaps a first. All of us are obviously mostly old enough to have a profession, if not be well into it. As I've mentioned elsewhere and also the basis of the Jekyll Island Group, I really think that as the forum grows, there's a profound impact we can have. Obviously there's already tons of long time friendships, as well as marriages and kids that came out of this forum. We've also seen how back in the days you guys would rally up and crush drawball and other forums. Would be awesome if we could find ways to network, connect and perhaps help each other out in other ways. If nothing else, it's interesting (I'm curious anyways), but maybe there's opportunities possible that are mutually beneficial. Knowledge, skills, job opportunities or just general insight into aspects of life that might help you or your fellow Oontzer. I know a few of you are hyper privacy concerned so up to you how specific you want to get into detail. Mainly I was thinking more top line detail and we could go from there. I'll go first... Actually have a BFA in Illustration. At the time I was planning to be a fine artists / painter and wanted a more structured education, driven more by technique than conceptual learning. Essentially minored in print making because it quickly became something I loved and have a minor in Art History. While in school and then full time after school, I worked on 12ozProphet, which at that time was a zine. The internet sort of came into its own in the 1990s, so that drew my attention and thanks to guys like @Misk-TheDragonand @abysmalI got a quick crash course on development, networking and system administration (Now get the advanced knowledge and emergency help fro @Dirty_habiT). Launched the site and soon after the forum... The first version of what you see now. Anyhow, got deep into print publishing and learned the production side very well, as a compliment to the design / art side I learned in school. Fell into a few opportunities that got me deeper knowledge of print production, t the point that I know how to impose spreads onto plates, expose them, hang them on press and essentially run a 6 color, sheet fed Heidelberg, as well as the finishing and bindery process. Due to the timing, I also learned how to do things analog via films, through to digital direct to plate systems. Because I developed a strong prepress skillset, I got sucked into photography since most photographers don't know dick about print production and the final result isn't just a pretty picture, but a printed reproduction of a picture. That lent itself to doing a lot of stuff for clothing brands, so by association I got to see behind the curtains of how brands operate. Fast forward and I end up doing many years of creative services (along side trying to keep 12oz going) and I start getting deeper into the the process of bringing product to market instead of just providing the assets used to bring them to market. Thanks to the success of 12oz, I was frequently looped into strategy meetings on directional brand building and marketing. A large part of talking about product is creating reasons to talk about, which meant building in talking points at the conceptual stage of product development, which then brought me full circle. Anyhow, guess that makes me jack of many trades and probably the master of none. My skill set extends from product development to creative services, as well as marketing. I think that the development side is likely most tangible as there's true clarity on how well it performs, so I've sort of shifted towards that. Obviously I'm mostly focused on 12ozProphet these days, but still occasionally pickup some consulting or creative gigs and most recently, launched a screen printing facility with the hopes of delivering the level of quality I was chasing with 12oz and helping other clients with, but which was mostly elusive or non-existent. Anyhow, that's a summary of what I do / done. Look forward to hearing about what you guys are all doing. And likewise, if anyone works at a place or knows people doing screen printing or looking for creative services, obviously reach out. Same goes for whatever skill sets and experience get revealed from the rest of you. Maybe this is just a fun exercise and more shit for us to talk about, but maybe we connect a few dots and build something.

Crazy dude... Sounds like a recipe for burnout.

Sort of surprised to see any response to my last post. Guess the news / conspiracy topics are getting tired?

Okay, so we're many weeks past the 'suicide'... Wondering what the latest on this is? Seeing as how there were literally memes that this would happen in the weeks leading up and dude was set to testify and spill his guts about all the private plane parties to rape island with the rich and famous, just wondering if anyone ever got in trouble for dropping the ball and letting the guy suicide himself on their watch? After all, he's under custody of the government while incarcerated, which legally means they are solely and entirely responsible for his safety and well being. Or did it all just get swept under the rug like so many of us assumed, even before he officially 'suicided' himself?

@6Penniesstill living that good life brother. Great work.

fAkE nEwZzzzzzz?!

Thank you.

Yeah, hopefully I can get continued help with content and find time to keep that up. Wouldn't think contests would work so well, but I can try. Seems like there';s so many on IG that people never really win, that now they dont bother trying. Makes it tough to give stuff away if it's not a large volume of people participating, but will consider the options a bit and see what we can do.

I don't disagree. I'm largely the same way and we just recently dismissed the idea of running a trickle campaign for https://12ozcollective.com for that reason. Our stats on email campaigns for the shop is about 30 - 40% opens, sometimes as high as 60%. Not terrible and tons better than the under 1% 'likes' we get on Instagram. For the record, I do plan to redevelop the main 12oz site as soon as I can. It wont have a full news section, but will have a content section to allow for the occasional article and planning to put up some old highlights like collabs and stuff we've done (sort of a portfolio area), as well as new photosets and look book sets for the brand. I've also been exploring bringing a sort of variation on the blogs by maybe doing a weekly newsletter that is sort of a 'best of' for that week, both in regards to 12oz and what caught my eye. I'm signed up to a few email newsletters like The Hustle, which I think is an old format, but seems more relevant and effective to me these days than a lot of bullshit like social. Have a feeling, targeted tailored content like that will make a come back. Anyhow, might be worth trying but yeah, unsolicited emails do kinda suck.