New Oil Pastel “Treed Out”
Used I picture of fungus mold for inspiration for this one.
A.Yobi B.
I am a firm believer in communications and transparency, so allow me to give you information relevant to the formation of YobiWorks. Any sincere endeavor involving others, especially professional endeavors, are arguably more dependent upon the story of their genesis, than on the utility of their commercial or community offerings. Yes, a necessary product, or amazing and useful service, or widely dispersed interest in, and/or enjoyment of offered entertainment is key to all endeavors outside of our personal lives; the level of success of those offerings is intrinsically tied to the story that is attached to its inception and the fundamental “why” of its continued engagement. Indeed, there have been found exponential growth correlations between the authenticity, transparency, and empowerment of a professional endeavor, and its story explaining how it came to be and why it continues to want to be involved in the lives of its participants. It is with this understanding that it was necessary to reflect on how I came to be in the San Francisco Bay area, what my original dreams had been, and what course of actions I could next take to be an example to my sons of what a man, father, brother, and son could and should be after my first ever layoff Sep 9th, 2015. I am a 46-year-old Marine Corps veteran from West Texas living in San Leandro, CA. I’m a divorced father of 3 sons: 23, 15, and 13 years old; with 22 plus years in Operations and Logistics, and over 12 years in management in Transportation, Warehousing, and Distribution environments. My layoff from Brenntag Pacific, after returning from my 5th Burning Man event, back in September of ’15, began a deep reflection on my life’s journey. I had just returned from being the volunteer transport and logistics lead for a $350 thousand dollar Dreamer’s Guild volunteer project called The Temple of Promise. Since the temple project itself was an offering to the “burner” community of a space in which to reflect on the passing of things from our lives and moving on, I was in a unique headspace for deep reflection. I dove into the design of an idea I had had that I was calling the Whispering Temple, a 154 sq foot structure that took over the next 5 months, and taught me much about architectural design, project management projections, and feasibility. It was to become, ultimately, one of many inspired ideas that is “shelved”, awaiting its time to “be”. Confident from my experience gained while being a “fixit man” for operations in efficiency trouble for Coastal Chemical Co., LLC, and ostensibly why I had been recruited and hired by its sister company, Brenntag Pacific. I had always wanted to be a writer, artist, actor, and musician growing up in Odessa, TX, but was encouraged to be sure to have a “backup plan” to fall back onto that paid well in case my dreams didn’t pan out. Finding myself graduating high school without a scholarship or means to afford college, the military seemed a plausible solution, especially if I made a career of it, and was able to become an officer while in. I calculated that I could retire at 38, and still be very much young enough to attempt my dreams if they had not materialized by then. I had been nominally accepted into the NROTC officer program while on active enlistment. Unfortunately, the same month the Officer Selection Officer was to review my application, stamp approval, then release me into inactive duty to attend college and OCS, I came down with an illness from an infection. Naval medicine could not determine the nature of the illness and I was unresponsive to general antibiotics. My naval doctor opted for a biopsy of my lymph node from my neck. Assured of the ease and commonality of the procedure, I trusted the doctor to know his business better than I. The biopsy revealed the illness to be caused by "Cat Scratch Fever", which only responds to a very specific treatment. No one had asked if I had a cat before the surgery, which would have triggered a different treatment and no surgery whatsoever. Unfortunately for me, during the surgery, the doctor had damaged some nerves in my neck, resulting in the inability to raise my right arm for approximately 3 years, and leading to many series of events, most notably my honorable discharge from the Marine Corps, and PTSD from an event on my last day at my squadron, Sept 9th, 1994. "Cat Scratch Fever
Also known as: bartonellosis, sub-acute regional lymphadenitis
Image for Condition
A bacterial infection due to a scratch or bite from an infected cat.
How common is condition?
Very rare (Fewer than 20,000 cases per year in US)
How is condition transmitted?
Transmitted from a cat to a person during a scratch
Is condition preventable by vaccine?
No vaccine available
Does diagnosis require lab test or imaging?
Requires lab test or imaging
Is condition treatable?
Treatment from medical professional advised
Time taken for recovery
Can last several days or weeks
Caused by a bite or scratch from a cat infected with Bartonella henselae. A bump or blister at the bite or scratch site, swollen lymph nodes near the bite or scratch site, headaches and a low grade fever are the common symptoms. This disease generally clears up on its own; In some cases, antibiotics may be required." I researched returning to graduate school to seek a Master’s in Art, or Architecture, or Art Therapy. My degree from Texas Tech was in History, with a double minor in Anthropology and Sociology that I obtained by cramming 148 coursework hours into the period between Jan 1995 and August of 1998, requiring that I would need to level some education up and out to qualify. My education had been paid for under Chapter 31 of the Vocational Rehabilitation benefit accorded to me by D.o.D. once it had been determined that they were at fault for the termination of my enlistment, and inability to enter the N.R.O.T.C. officer program after my acknowledged qualification for it. I had also been actively engaged in theatrical ensembles, had an acting agent, and was auditioning for television and film while stationed in North Carolina. Now, living in the Richmond Annex, the single father of a borderline autistic son who is also immensely gifted in spatial subjects, I felt as though I were waking from the dream of another life. I was good at my profession, however, I did not love it. In mid-life, I have grown cognizant that my swiftly growing sons are likely in positions of life where the best means of imprinting a caution to them NOT to find themselves stuck in their backup plans, while working to become the astronaut, animator, and successful family men they each want to be, was to SHOW them how to, by avoiding a fall into said “backup” plans through lesson learned while modeling “how to achieve your dreams from scratch”. We had networked hard to gain employment in the Bay area because my youngest son had gone with his mother, my ex, when she moved to Berkeley from New Mexico with her then new (now soon-to-be-ex-) wife. My eldest was in college back in Texas, and the middle son had elected to live with me, and we found ourselves sick with missing Judah. What I had failed to consider for employment was the fact that while I was typically the top 1 to 3 applicants of any operational or logistical position I might apply for in the Midwest, in the San Francisco area, I am merely one of 30 or more equally qualified and experienced people applying for every opportunity to live in an area that feels like early Spring for most of the year, has an amazing breadth of social options, and unparalleled opportunity for wildly successful professional achievement if one could figure out their “key” to opening the right doors. Having gotten close to financial inability to stay in the area a few times, and untenable situations in employment, I purchased a 30 foot, 2017 Airstream Flying Cloud, a 2017 Dodge Ram Diesel 2500, streamlined my finances, paid off my student debt, and found a place to park and strive for discovering the right mix of idea, pitch, talent, networking, and resources that would create a line of revenue streams involving writing, production of audio narration/podcasting, acting, stand-up comedy.
I do WordPress and webpage admin webwork for NPO’s, veteran engagement and empowerment, artistic workshops, occupational retraining, animation, and part-time positions, that, the plan has been, taken in aggregate, would provide enough resources to stay in the area to continue to pursue my dreams in any of the mentioned fields without the requirement of returning to school and having debt again. I also hoped to model a career where happiness is more important than financial achievement, and manifest asset resources that would be viable enough to sustain the next 3 generations of my family line. At present, I am on day 5 of a 21 day trial use of Toon Boom’s Harmony Premium 17 and Storyboard Pro 6, which I have never used before, working towards completing my first 3 minute cartoon for a self-created series called The Cave 2.0: Plato’s Allegory Updated for a Modern World. A successful artist I met recently advised cartoon creation as the best means for obtaining notice in the art industry at my age and without formal training or professional credentials. I am also hosting a “Find Your Medium” monthly art event the 1st and 3rd Sunday’s of each month at the Veteran’s Memorial Building in town, that is free, endorsed by two Marine Corps League Detachments, and the City Council of San Leandro. YobiWorks is working on a “Service Series” of 10 oil pastel works off art focused on anyone engaged in a “service”, with Aikido Printing agreed to provide 10 prints of each painting for fundraising purposes once the series is complete. The 25% of the funds from the sale of which, will go to PTSD research, homelessness solutions for veterans, as well as addressing hunger among homeless veterans and retraining/counseling. I am partnered with AmeriCare Community Services, Inc, a 501.3c, run by Dorothy and Felix Guillory (Felix being one of the last living “frogmen” from Vietnam who then trained the 1st of the SEALS, and 82 years of age) for submitting grant applications, and obtaining property for the establishment of a brick and mortar locations for housing and occupational training. I have just launched a Patreon Account in a bid for patron community support. The page can be found at https:// www.patreon.com/yobiworks.
I have fully outlined plotline with character explanations for 2 novellas/novels, and a 3rd in works. I am applying for part, or full-time employment with any companies that align with my mission goals and keeping my eyes open for opportunities in the same fields. Doing stand-up comedy this last 3 or 4 weeks has been therapeutic and a good networking avenue. While working on podcasts, livecasts, and creating audition submissions for audiobook narration I am also writing emails to potential partners, mentors, or patrons of my endeavors with YobiWorks. Feel free to email me anytime! Adrian "Yobi" Blumberg