Hide the children and the faint of stomach! It’s hideous! This must be what elephant man went through

Click on image to see it in its full horrific splendor!

I’m generally not a fan of holidays, except for Halloween, ’cause everone dresses up.  Valentine’s Day is the most opressive holiday of the year.  As a single person, you are reminded by everyone and everything that you are in fact alone… you do not have someone to spend all your money on getting them chocolate and a teddy bear.  You are lonely, and there’s probably something wrong with you. I call this holiday “Singles Awareness Day” (SAD).

If you do have a significant other, than you’re supposed to go spend all the money on getting them chocolate and flowers and a teddy bear.

Why not just do nice stuff for your significant other any random time of the year…. to be nice, or because you like them?  I’ve made the following image- feel free to share it with your friends-  it conveys the message

Hope you have a great day, regardless of whether you have someone to spend it with or not.

The Couchsurfing Radio Host- Couch Surfing Ori

What did I do in Dallas?

Billboard climbing

Art fair

warehouse party

consulting

met new people

got a speaking and mc gigs for next month

played poker (learned to play poker actually)

There was more… and that’s why you need to listen to Episode 7.  You can hear what the listeners who got their consulting thought, and check out a funny conversation with Jason Moffatt.  That reminds me– this is the first episode to have the word “shit” in it.  I was wondering how long the G rating would last

Check out the Couchcast

Download the episode for home/car/plane/etc.. listening.

I guess I'm also an interior designer

When a good friend came home from a great time in Vegas, to the negative energy of a breakup, he got in a funk.  I came up with an idea!  Let’s rearrange the place, and change the energy!

I wasn’t asking, and my energy caught on quickly. Within minutes we had a plan:

The master bedroom would be the new office.

The old office would now be my room.

The room that was mine will now get the kingsize bed from the master bedroom.

We quickly disassembled the large furniture, moving it, and quickly the plan took shape.  The entire energy of the house was changing!

When the girl came home in the morning to get more of her stuff Read the rest of this entry »

Notice a difference between these photos?

“Ori is the first photographer to get pictures of me that actually look like me. #onereasonheisawesome” Elizabeth Potts Weinstein wrote this after seeing the first photo I sent her from our weekend’s shoot.

I had promised her that I would give her a different look.  Maybe I’m a photo elitist, but I thought her old photos were pretty generic, and certainly did not capture her personality.

The outfits were corporate (turns out she didn’t even own a tshirt, and hasn’t worn one in about 10 years), the smiles seemed fake.  These photos did not say to me “I am adventurous, like to enjoy life, and even used to go spelunking!”

When I found out that EPW didn’t even own a tshirt, I immediately made sure that all our shots were in tshirts…. which led to an interesting phenomenon… Elizabeth actually had an awkward moment… she has not worn a tshirt in so long, that it felt alien to her.  She even looked different.

Once we got past outfits, I rummaged through my stuff… what would be different than corporate looking pics?  How about swords, helmets, skateboards, vodka, and wearing silly hats?  Oh yeah, let’s not forget Ziplining.  Read the rest of this entry »

Cahir, Lots of sheet music, and a voltran-lookings-sword

I will still carry more than I want.  But I want to rent out my place.  Last time I tried to rent it out, I met Angela, who is the deepest relationship I’ve had in my life (so far)…. but that’s another story.

To rent it out, I need to empty it.  By most people’s standards, that means packing and storing everything.  I’m sick of stuff… It kind of weighs me down.  I can’t leave permanently, ’cause there’s the stuff there… well.. I’m not going to rant about it, as I already did that.

Here’s a video that Read the rest of this entry »

Eric and Nelle

The other day I posted about my visit to Eric Farewell’s place, and I said that I’d post some pictures, so … here they are.  The funny thing is that one of the reasons we met was because Eric liked my camera.  This time, he liked my new camera as well, but I had a hard-on for this lens he had: 35mm 1.4.  It’s very crisp, and lets you blur out the background pretty well also.  And.. it’s also the lens all of these are shot with: Read the rest of this entry »

So THAT'S where my flip-flops went!

I woke up at 6am today.  Bamba was on the bed… he’s figured out how to jump. Bowser was trying to climb up… he hasn’t figured out that you can get on the bed with a running start.  He was chewing on something….. I had a feeling it was something he shouldn’t be chewing on.  Closer inspection reveals…. something he shouldn’t be chewing on, but I wasn’t sure what! 

This was some fabric… leather… with many cross stitches and a portion of a strap.  Mom later says “I think I figured out what it was he was chewing on…. your shoe!”  Yup… it was my flip-flop.  I had finally gotten used to wearing flip-flops around.  So… what to do?  A photo shoot, of course! 

Meet my parents’ new puppies (now a few months old), Bowser (the white one), and Bamba (the black one):  Read the rest of this entry »

Phil & Kathy

It’s strange when someone you know dies. My grandfather died when I was young.  My grandmother died when I was younger- I don’t really remember her.  I’ve seen various people die on tv and movies… but I have yet to have someone that I’ve couchsurfed with die… until 2 days ago.  Couch #9 passed away. It -like most things – made me think.  The people we interact with have their own lives, but we can impact those lives.  Sometimes a smile at a stranger is enough– or a dirty look.  I tweeted this quote by Brandi Snyder the other day:

“To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.”

Read the rest of this entry »

This normal for Burning Man

Everyone always asks me about Burning Man.  It’s a whole other world.  Here’s a glimpse into a normal moment at Burning Man.  You wake up (if you’ve gone to sleep), you wonder where the giant cannon that was next to your tent has gone.  There’s the usual people biking by in their costumes, the music coming from all directions as mutant vehicles drive by, and then you see a bunch of people from camp walking hurriedly to the next camp.  Something is up! You investigate.

Our camp was “Lego Land” – titled so because we had a house that looked like it was made of Legos, and a whole bunch of “life-size” Legos for people to come and build with (they took days and day to build!) – and it had an awesome location: 9  o’clock and Esplanade (right on the playa). I walked past the Lego house (which I was camped directly behind), and voila… there’s the cannon! With a big group of people smiling from ear to ear.  Oh yes, this was going to be good.  I forgot that I was tired and had just woken up. Cannon, Flame Thrower, Smiles…. Read the rest of this entry »

Why would I put a question mark as the picture to represent adventures, people, and photography?  I am announcing that I have just launched the Photography Page of my website!  In this section, I have over 1,000 photos (there will be many more added), and I couldn’t decide on what one image would represent all that.

In the last 3 years of couch surfing, I’ve photographed models, babies, animals, landscapes, parades, emotional moments (like when I bought Riplee & Brandee’s wedding, and they were crying), sports, and of course, my various adventures (such as rock climbing, hanging with the vigilantes, or training with cage fighters).

So… drumroll please:  I am pleased to announce that I have just set up the Photography Page of my website! The URL is http://www.CouchSurfingOri.com/Photography (or you can just click on it from the menu at the top of my blog).  Currently, I just put it up so you can see it.  I will work on sorting it into individual albums, and updating it (currently, it’s mostly 2007/2008 stuff).

Enjoy the images, tell a friend, tell me if you have anything that you really liked, and stay tuned for more exciting updates!

All sorts of Ballon Boy Tats are out there

With Balloon Boy getting so much media attention, you knew it wouldn’t be long till you saw him all over people’s bodies! Here are the most popular designs that I’ve been able to find in my travels.

Leave a comment- which ones’ your favorite? Got a good caption for any of ‘em? Read the rest of this entry »