daniel kietzer

My family came to Austin this weekend – Mom & Dad, my brother Nick, his wife Danah, and my [still new] niece Emily.  A pretty full carload of warm bodies, to say the least.  They all had relatively free weekends, and decided to take a little road trip.  Austin is always a good destination.  I’ve developed a comfortable distance from my parents in the past few years.  Personal growth and development requires new connections and experiences; I’ve found my own, and I hope they have too.

In the eighteen years that we shared under the same roof, my parents taught me so much, and I’m not talking about the immediately obvious.  Still today, my mom and dad remain as my role models for a healthy, sustainable and loving relationship.  Of course they’re not perfect, but I think it’s quite clear that they’re perfect for each other.  In the last few weeks, I’ve been exploring new levels of comfort and intimacy in another’s arms.  It gives me confidence knowing that I have such a fantastic example to follow.

Seeing my brother these days, with a little one in his arms and another one 7 months away, really puts things into a new perspective.  Yet again, I’m especially glad we have such a great example to work from.  My parents gave my brother and I the gift of a nearly perfect childhood, doing everything in their power to guide us in the right direction.  If he can only follow a tiny bit of their example, I know his kids will develop into remarkable people.  More reassuringly, I know the day that I finally settle down and start making my own little ones, I’ll gain a new appreciation for all this too.

Yesterday morning, over a fantastic breakfast, I introduced Carolina to my parents.  It was a happy moment for me; she’s the first girlfriend of mine to take this step with me, which says a lot about my complete and total comfort in her company.  On the topic of personal growth through new connections, her and I together is probably the best example for my parents to see.  I know that they have a fairly limited view of the life that I live, but I try to give them little glimpses that I’m going in the right direction every once in a while…

I walked into the shop, and was greeted by pounding death metal and a rough looking guy with tattoos on his shaved head.  We yelled over the speakers, and soon he called out Steve Byrne from the office in the back.  When I told my friend Dean I was wanting a tattoo, he told me I had to check out Steve’s artwork, and I was sold from that moment on.  Steve had a casual but professional demeanor that clicked with me, and after a quick chat explaining what I wanted, I left with an appointment for the following Saturday evening.

Three days ago, after a long day at work, C and I headed back to his studio at Rock of Ages.  It was finally going to happen; the tattoo I had been thinking about for over a year was going to become real.  I was nervous enough to forget my design sketches at home, and almost get us lost on the way over.  When we arrived, with the design on the iPhone in hand, Steve got right to work.  He seemed to have a vision for my design before I had to tell him.  Glancing at the phone, and working with the lines and curves of my arm, he set each star with perfect spacing on my skin.  So impressive.

And then the needle started going, and my heart started beating a little faster.  C made me feel comfortable despite my circumstances, and I chatted a lot with Steve about the meaning of the tattoo, my time in the UK (where he’s from), and our worldly travels.  It didn’t feel quite as bad as I expected going on, and a lot of memories came flooding back to me as it went on.  45 minutes later it was done.  Perfectly.

We bounced around Austin, joining our friend and T4k teammate Miguel while he got a similar design inked on his bicep.  Then it was Carolina’s turn.  Her’s is probably my favorite of the three, placed beautifully under her left ribs, giving the lioness some company.  She squeezed my hand while it was going on, and I was reminded why she’s such a good rock climber.  The three of us made it back to my house around 11:30pm, and found the campfire crackling in the backyard and a handful of good friends waiting for us.  The day couldn’t have been more perfect.

I’ll post some pictures of it all in a few days after the lines have flattened out and healed a bit.  I love it, as well as everything in my life right now.  Things are finally making sense for this kid.

I woke up this morning wanting to write, but now that I’m here, I can’t think of anything to say.  Strange how it works out that way.  The start of 2010 has been good to me, and I’m paging through a lot of neat projects right now.  That being said, I feel like I’ve disconnected a bit from the hyper-social December month; the past month I’ve been reading a bit more, and spending most of my free time alone.  The quiet has been nice.  It can probably be attributed to the cold snap – the thought of riding in 20 degree weather is enough to keep me inside.

Project #1 excites me most: rebuilding my road bike.  I have a new saddle on the way, and as soon as BTI gets a rear derailleur in stock, I’ll have new components on the way as well.  Gore cables and Phil Wood bearings will keep it all buttery smooth.  It’s a bit of an investment, but you can’t really put a price on physical fitness and mental sanity.  I’m hoping it will all be finished by the end of the month.

Project #2: finally getting the tattoo I’ve been thinking about for the last two years.  I’m still kind of conceptualizing the final design, so I won’t give anything away yet…  But, thanks to a strong recommendation from a friend of mine, I do think I’ve found an artist.  I’ll work on getting everything sorted out tomorrow, but I’m pretty excited about getting the ball rolling.

Project #3: new job.  Yeah.

I’m working late this evening, helping out with our annual inventory count of everything in the store.  Oddly enough, I’ve actually been enjoying my days at REI recently.  I work with a great group of people, and with the holiday rush finally settling down, things have been pretty chill.  That, and I finally have enough money in the bank to take advantage of our best perk.  I won’t give away numbers, but project #1 is going for an insanely low price…

Ok, it’s cold outside, but the sun is shining.  I’m going to play in it.

Two nights ago, I was telling a few friends of mine about an exciting new Uno rules variation invented in El Potrero Chico.  It takes the typically geriatric game of Uno and spices it up a bit, enticing players to be loud, combative, and generally involved at all moments of the game.  I wanted to get it all down before I forget.

Canadian Rules Uno:

• Each of these additional rules are in existence with the games original rules.
• Players must call out “six” or “nine” if playing a 6 or 9.  Failure to do so results in drawing two cards.
• If a player calls out any other number but 6 or 9, player must draw two cards.
• Players may play a card at anytime (i.e. out of turn) if that card matches the deck card in number/type and color.
• However, a player can only place one card with one deliberate arm movement at a time (i.e. can’t place more than one card with one arm movement).
• If a player mistakenly places an incorrect card, player must draw two cards.
• “Draw two” cards may be stacked on top of one another when applicable, adding two with each additional card placed.  (i.e. if two draw two cards are on top of one another, penalized player draws four cards.)
• Same rule applies with draw four cards.
• Game is best played with six or more players, and a double deck of cards.

Alright, now that those are off my chest…  Things have been pretty good the last few days.  My parents drove up here over the weekend for an incredibly short and poorly timed visit, but it was nice seeing them despite my lack of time.  Work has been keeping me too occupied.  On Saturday I visited with some friends of mine I haven’t seen in a while, bouncing around to a couple of Christmas parties in South Austin.  It was quite cold outside that night, making each departure and arrival at warm surroundings even more welcoming.

I read somewhere that today’s a Monday, but it’s been a while now since I’ve payed any attention to the date.  I’m excited about the 24th and 25th, but only because I get to go climbing.  All day, for two days straight.  I’m even more excited about New Years, because I get to start 2010 off on the right foot, camping and climbing with Caro.

And that’s really it.  It’s sunny and happy outside, but I’m lacking anticipation for any moment beyond this one.  I need another vacation.

I don’t really like Christmas anymore.  It’s been a long-formed opinion, and I think it’s been especially solidified by working close to the retail world during the past two holiday seasons.  I love how this time of year brings people together.  I like how it inspires ordinarily uninterested people to focus on aesthetics – decorations and such, for example.  I enjoy the cozy atmosphere a lot of places seem to adopt.  But, the senseless and meaningless consumerism depresses me.

About three years ago I started requesting that family and friends stop giving me Christmas gifts.  I was at a point in my life where I was breaking away from a lot of traditional “capitalist society” thoughts and actions.  I didn’t want any more possessions beyond those that facilitated the things that brought me joy – a bike, a laptop, books, and a bed.  Anything more than that would do nothing for me but clutter my surroundings.  A simple act of cutting possessions out of my life connected to so many other things I cared about.  Generating less waste.  Living in a smaller space.  Spending less money.  Having more time for social interactions.  The list is endless.

And the trend has stuck.  I think people have finally caught on to what it means to me.  But it’s a lifestyle choice that means so much to me, that now when I see the opposite happening all around me with such intensity, I’m disgusted.  It makes me want to run far, far away from it all.  In nine months, the chemicals from the disposable electronics will start seeping from the landfills into our ground water.  The plastic packaging will be there in even less time.

And for what?  The idea that the act of gift giving can somehow replace a social disconnect between gift giver and gift receiver perhaps.  People spending too much time working, so they can afford to fill their homes with more worthless possessions, in turn ignoring those they know they should be paying more attention to instead.  Maybe it’s just habit, or maybe it’s a chicken vs. the egg cycle of reciprocity that has no end.  I don’t know.

Whatever it all means, I’m certainly not participating.  I’ll do my best to keep the holiday spirit rolling – to see and talk to as many friends as possible, and to be warm and friendly.  I’m just not buying anything…