JediWright.com | Number One In Tribal Entertainment

With so much happening at Lightning In A Bottle this year, I wanted to take a minute to share some final instructions for any of my friends or contacts that I haven’t been in daily touch with regarding festival details like ticketing system, emergency calls, etc.

If you’re one of these people not in daily contact with me on these issues or are but still have questions, please read on below for some final instruction. My time is uber-tight at the moment between final planning for LIB, an emergency container pack job for The Do LaB’s Portugal job/trip, the Distinctivefabric.com build-out and move into its new space, and some miscellaneous details like trying to find a new home with my girlfriend and still somehow maintaining time for the usual with my duties on the MINC board and as a Sugar Shack collective resident.

Needless to say, the last three are falling behind to varying degrees, for which those involved have my genuine apologies, but this scheduling mayhem wasn’t unforeseen, my life is what it is.

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Hello friends-

Hope everyone’s plans for LIB are coming along nicely! I’m really excited to connect with everyone on site, it’s going to be an amazing experience this year…just a few things to get out of the way and be totally clear on.

If anyone is planning to arrive at LIB before the gates open Thursday at 4pm, you will not be admitted unless you’re on the early arrival list.

If you’re not yet on an early arrival list, then most likely you don’t need to be as you plan to be there after the gates officially open. If for some reason you were planning to be on site before the gates open and are not signed up through the official volunteer channel, then please contact by 10am tomorrow (Thursday), to arrange these details.

For those speaking on a panel, please send me your preferred email to be used in conjunction with your event entry, details will be emailed to you, I believe (most likely with a link or print-out). Details on this still haven’t been made completely clear to me, so please bear with us as we’ve got a completely new system via Beticketing.com this year. I will make sure that the final details on this are made available to you as soon as possible…

If you have any final questions about entry, panel details, or any other needs, please be sure to email before this Sunday. I’ll be out on site as of this Sunday and will have limited time/Internet access to address last minute questions.

Please, please, please do your best to wrap things up in this time-frame: I want to take care of everyone’s needs and requests, but can only do so much, especially once we roll into high gear for build-out on site next week.

Also, once next Thursday night/Friday morning rolls around, I will more than likely be unable to reply to calls or text messages. If you absolutely must contact me and have already left a voicemail or text message once, please refrain from leaving others. If you’re at the gate and have a TRUE emergency (like your ticket print-out doesn’t work or for some freak reason you’re name isn’t on some list), then have someone with a radio there try to reach me, as I’ll be more likely to get a walkie call at that point.

Again, please do your best to finalize any details you’ve been putting off or were unsure of, now. I want to make both our experiences with this event from here on out as seamless as possible!

Thanks for your attention and cooperation with all of this. If you’re already receiving instructions from another Do LaB/LIB staff member, please just stick with them from here on out.

The snapshot shown here isn’t a complete picture of my life right now, but it’s pretty close.

I recently had to pack up the bulk of my personal stuff from storage at my internet fabric store’s warehouse.

I moved it all to the Sugar Shack, where I’m living, working and otherwise spending 2/3 of my time these days (it’s a great little microcosm), with the help of some my roomies from there, one of my biz partners Josh, and my closest confidant, Tristan. In the process I tweaked my back the worst I’ve ever done…getting too soft these days, way too much time on the computer, but that’s another post entirely.

So today while one of my roomies Ryan Wartena had another powwow with his Watts Up America buddies, I figured I’d get around to sorting through the mess that is my life in storage below the floor upon which I’m writing from.

Having made the migration from Sugar’s formal dining room to its warehouse (really just a glorified garage with loft space upstairs), I quickly set to work on the bare essentials of my new office: desk, chair, shelves, computer, soundsystem, and power. And let me say just how great it feels to be seated again in my own sacred space, which is really what this is largely about for me.

Check out these pics out to see what I mean. Here’s one in case you don’t:

Anyway, as I said in my Twitter post, now I’ve just got to get about 400+ lbs of books upstairs, sort and shelve. And the finishing nicknack touches. Then the art, lighting, window shade… Okay, so far from done. But it’s a great start at bringing the level of focus, detail and order to my life that I need, especially these days since I’m doing way too much still.

*Note: I’ve had the little soundsystem you see above since I was 13, talk about conservation, heh?

I believe it’s time for a Collective Council here in Los Angeles, CA (and beyond).

To that end I’m working on a new project but old idea (think Gathering of the Tribes, aka GoTT), something which I foresee benefiting all of the LA communities and others and am looking to get the word out to the various, key community leaders.

Below is an initial overview of the project. If anyone has any input on any of this, can suggest members, or wishes to get involved, please let me know.

Additionally, I see this expanding well beyond Los Angeles and our related communities at some point, as I often think big, on a global scale.

I’ve even worked on or discussed similar concepts with some of you out there before. I believe that this venture stands free and clear of anything else prior to this initiative and that any related ventures can serve some part in this. I am not looking to usurp anyone’s dreams or current ventures, but rather instead wish to connect and help strengthen them all, just as I wish to do with the community leaders and members here in LA (and beyond).

Many pieces are already in place or soon will be, to further fuel and catapult all of us to new realms of wonder and enlightenment. Some present pieces include:

Abundant Sugar, Amoration, Burning Man, Coachella, Creative Citizen, Dianovo, Empowerment Works, GLiving, GoTT, Green Nectarine, Green Sector, Growing Architecture, Hipgenesis, Lightning In A Bottle, Lucent Dossier, Moontribe, Mutaytor, Orangekids, Pocket Underground, Space Island, The Do LaB, The Sugar Shack, Tribe, Twitter, ToyShoppe Pro, WordPress, Words For The Many, Virgin Music Festival, YouTube, etc.

Official Description (subject to change):

You, the leading members/representatives from each of the major communities within the greater Los Angeles collective underground, are hereby cordially invited to join the Collective Council to help stimulate, educate and otherwise empower stronger bonds between each others organizations and the communities they represent.

I believe the time has come that each of your respective communities be brought together in a sacred and respectful manner to offer up each others strengths and wisdom to insure a healthier, wiser, safer and more protected collective community. From questions on business, to legal matters, to fundraising for projects, legal and health matters, to greater community outreach, we can all come to benefit from each others experience and wisdom for greater prosperity and evolution.

To that end I have begun several viral web initiatives including a tribe online to start connecting those that wish to play a part in this. For those who enjoy the micro-level of connectedness, a Twitter log has been initiated as well. You can find us online at these locations, more to follow soon:

http://tribes.tribe.net/collectivecouncil
http://twitter.com/thecollective
http://collectivecouncil.com

As a participating member to varying degrees, of a number of Los Angeles based collectives: Green Gurus, Green Sector, Mid-City Neighborhood Council, Moontribe, The Do Lab, Sugar Shack, etc. and as a maturing entrepreneur, Capricorn, and all around social architect if you will (those who know me well should understand this better) of collective bits, I’m confident I can help shape and lead a unifying body of consciousness to help council, develop, assist, and otherwise insure a stronger web of resources to be called upon as needed throughout all communities.

Should you wish to become active in this endeavor, I will greatly honor and appreciate you as a valued member and participant and take any suggestions, criticisms and all around council with the utmost respect and gratitude. All I ask is that you honor this vision with an equal amount of respect and formality, as this is an attempt to propel and unite each other into the unfolding universal flow and convergence that is now occurring and rapidly accelerating around us all.

I will be contacting many community members through the coming days and weeks to further shape these efforts. Plans are also loosely coming together for a first, formal meeting of interested parties.

I eagerly welcome your response, input and any questions that you may have.

Jedi Wright / Founder
The Collective Council
collectivecouncil [ @ ] gmail [ dot ] com

One of my Sugar Shack roomies and partners in multiple business endeavors, Dr. Ryan Wartena, recently whipped out a bad-ass, personal photovoltaic electricity system.

His brother, an equally talented artist/designer/photographer type posted a blog about it recently here.

Be on the look out for Ryan’s “Sol Blossom” at an event, website or maybe even retail store some time in the near future.

Last night saw the birth of a new dish: Curry, Mexican…slop, but a grand slop nonetheless.

Dinner preparation began with a refresher from Ryan on how to prepare tofu (I really don’t cook that frequently). Then things kind of just escalated from there as his scientific mind took over in the kitchen and a slew of ingredients made there way from the spice shelves, pantry and fridge onto the chopping block stand by our industrial-strength stove.

Curry, canned coconut juice, black beans, yellow corn, jasmine white rice, pepper, salt, curry powder, curry sauce, hot sauce, honey and more passed from his hands through mine preparing everything and then finally into the pots and pans bubbling away on the stove.

Then Robb strolled in with his usual gait and hopped on board, whipping out nearly every available veggie left in the fridge: celery, onions, carrots, and more, then the star ingredient…fractal broccoli.

The resulting concoction was amazingly delightful, filling and um…therapeutic; the dish was so spicy by serving time, I couldn’t keep my stopped-up nose clear for more than a few seconds.

In the end, it was one of the most satisfying meals I’ve had in a long time, though it really doesn’t look like much here. Probably had something to do with the fact that it was a collobrative effort and…the fact that I was actually cooking for once!

I hate to complain but I must voice something that just continues rubbing me raw when dealing with some people’s behavior in communal living.

When there’s a serious discussion on the table and everyone else is addressing the issue at hand with an appropriate level of attention and maturity, it becomes increasingly frustrating and even a personal insult to me, when one member disregards that level of seriousness through constant joking, sometimes outright ridicule and just an all around blatant disregard for order, respect and maturity.

Relationships thrive on communication and intentional communities require nothing less than that in a clear and respectable manner.

So when one “bad seed” if you will, starts to impede on that and is constantly disrupting the natural understanding of such things in that time and space, what do you do? Do you call that person down outright? Or do you take them aside after the fact?

I can see, perhaps, where sometimes in older times tribal societies and the like (even not that long ago in American society) that the elders might have disciplined these types of trouble-makers on the spot, perhaps humiliating them, to drive the lesson home so that respect and what not may be instilled. But now in today’s modern societies, this type of instructional discipline is way out of style, and probably in every case, rightfully so.

That doesn’t make the impulse to slap some fool upside the head when they’ve overstepped their boundaries more times than is tolerable, any less desirable. But, society dictates we reprimand in other ways.

Anyway, the next time you see someone acting out of line, perhaps you can speak up and let ‘em have it, otherwise they’ll just continue running all around uninhibited, pissing a slew of other people off.

Last Friday evening around 7pm I took off from my warehouse in Downtown, Los Angeles and headed back to Mid-City for the MINC elections, stopping on the way at the Sugar Shack, to coordinate transpo with some of my roomies and Tristan. Together with her, Susan, “Florida” Dave, and Robb, we made our way over to vote for both Susan and I in the Mid-City Neighborhood Council.

Then it was back to Sugar for dinner, drinks and discussion for a bit followed by a few hours at Das Bunker, which we were fortunate to have within mere blocks from our location. I met an old friend there Steven Dalton, who was actually first responsible for showing me the place, Tristan met one of her co-workers from Trashy, and together we all danced:

Welcome to the first of many, many overly detailed accounts of my day, many days, countless days, with well-nigh a fanatical commitment to repetition. So, on with it…
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Mondays and/or 18+ hour days are usually some of the most productive for me.

Take today for instance:

Up at 6:30am PST, off to school at SMC and in by 7am: parked, breakfast served and eaten, and pre-class review all before 8am. Then 3 non-stop hours of valid XHTML design work and review, followed by nearly 2-hours of uber-dry, lecturing on I don’t even (nearly) remember at this point in a required, entry-level, computer science class.

Then at a quarter to 1pm, it was off across town by the 10, to my new diggs at the Sugar Shack:

-for a little respite from the cramped computer labs, parking and what have you.

I finally got around to installing Office 2008 on my newish MacBook Pro, while cramming down a poor man’s lunch of PB&J and veggies chips (yum). Incidentally, this install was required for school, otherwise I stick with Google Docs, OpenOffice or NeoOffice/J, depending on the task at hand.

Yes, I’m digressing already, but I’m coming ’round the bend on a 24-hour day, so bear with me. ;o

So, continuing:

I completed my Excel assignment for my CS3 class, bounded out the door to beat down the Meter Maid…and, O.K. not really; but I would, damn them all to hell! So, with the narrowly avoided life imprisonment sentence, I was back on the trail West, via Pico blvd. Making a quick stop at BofA for a timely (insert Rubeus Hagrid voice) withdrawal, I was soon back in SMC student parking garage, and as luck (or something) would have it, was able to slip right back into my morning’s previous slot, just as it’s previous occupant was egressing for the day…nice.

Then it was a quick hike up three flights of stairs and into one of my more favorable spots in the lab, for nearly another solid 3-hours work in which I submitted my Excel project (after a few minor corrections to account for OS differences, all the school’s systems are Windows), a quick review of my 3rd class assignment and chapter material, then a self-administered, online quiz: bam, done and thank you may I have another, and it was on to the bulk of my work in XHTML; yay for validation!

Homeward bound, I stopped quickly for one of my fav’s from Trader Joe’s: their potato and cheddar perogi, which incidentally, was far from quick. Seems everyone’s jumped the gun on Thanksgiving this year. Then it was back on the road, another (real) quick stop for gas, then finally home by a little after 8pm. Set the dinner ta’ cookin’, fed the felines, finished prep on my new raw, soaked almonds and finished dinner prep, along with 2-3 other roomies. We all broke our bread over the last half or so of the 3rd, final and some say awful, Matrix: Revolutions.

Yet on to even more binary arteries and a quick back-story to my life and yes, even more digressing, woot! (-has this been trademarked yet? Hmm, I wonder…).

So, about 3.5-years ago a then acquaintance Adam Wiggins, through a SoCal crew called the Orangekids, gave me a great opportunity to pull my head out of my ass, working at his first of 10 companies (he figured 9 out of 10 businesses fail so why not create 10 to insure success? Damn good reasoning I’d say…). Well as fate (or something) would have it, the first of the 10 succeeded. Not long after he made me partner and well, now, fast-forward several years and he’s eyeing up his exit-strategy. Can’t say I blame him, he’s since gone on to form several other companies, including the Heroku venture.

Ahem, anyway I was talking about tonight, yes tonight I continued gathering data for one of the latest parties interested in our internet fabric company; I’ve posted some shots from over the years at our shared warehouse with The Do LaB, here on our new, Ning social fabric network.

And now, deliriously stupid as I’ve become writing this brain dump, it’s time for a blissful night of celestial ether-eavesdropping, on my sub-conscious self.

Yay and woot (to the power of 3).
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Onwards Christian soldiers!