Do You Believe in Santa? Part 2 of Justin Gear's Interview

If you Still believe in a physical, magic, jolly Santa, look away, major spoilers ahead. This is part 2 of 3 of the JustinGear interviews, adventurer, writer, actor, pirate, and oh yeah, etsy member. I asked two questions that somehow came crashing back to this one question, childhood....so prepare to peak inside one tricky mind....

2. If you could relive any moment in your life, what would it be, and why?

This one's easy. The happiest and most exciting time in my life was getting presents from Santa Claus as a kid. Having some magical being secretly looking after me and then granting my material wishes at the end of each year absolutely blew my mind!

Here I was in a world where logic and science, (plus the First Baptist Church of Forest City, NC) had taught me everything I knew about how my world worked. And Santa Claus somehow by-passed all these laws of psychics; cause we had a wood stove, so I couldn't even begin to comprehend him squeezing his fat a** down through these tiny pipes and then somehow unlocking the door to the stove from the INSIDE and climbing out WITH PRESENTS. But by God, somehow, he did it. Every freakin year! But the one moment I would want to relive would be the first Christmas I wrote in my letter to Santa asking if he would wrap all my presents
individually so I could have fun opening them in random order without knowing everything I got all at once. And he did it. And it was awesome.

And he continued to do that until, what takes me to the one moment I would NOT want to relive in my life.

And that moment is stretched between 2 moments including me in the 6th grade cafeteria stating my case, at the top of my lungs, that Santa Claus WAS real because there's no way my parents would make something like that up and have me believe it just for fun. Because in my mind I had already pondered this conundrum for years and came to the conclusion that it made absolutely no sense that my parents would buy me presents, and then let someone else take the credit.

The other moment is me in the car with my mom when I asked her, after telling her the events of the day, if Santa was real. She then began to explain that it was the spirit of Santa Claus. I was devastated. I had never felt so betrayed and so confused in my life. I then had to challenge every mythical creature I believed to actually be real. It was a weird year.

Looks like I may have given you more than you asked for with that question:)

PS - I still get presents from "Santa" and they are individually wrapped:)

3. Write more about your childhood or your work, or your creative struggles.

My childhood was a total land of make-believe. And I'm still finding quite a few traces of it to this day. I think that keeps me younger. I spent a lot of my time up in trees as a kid. So much so that my dad finally built me a clubhouse. And he went all out. It was built on an embankment so that one side of it was held up by cut telephone poles. It featured built in bunk beds, a lockable door, 2 lockable windows, a fire pole, a zip line and a trap door escape route.

"I lived in that thing."

It was built right above a creek that led to the Broad River and an enormous train trestle, right in front of the local slaughterhouse, which I used to explore at night when the watch patrol was
at it's minimum (I'm talkin' security guards and surveillance cameras - in fact, I used to sneak up there and put huge butterfly magnets on the part of the building above the security tower only to return another day to find them gone - i just loved the fact that it was a mystery to them how these butterfly magnets kept appearing, hehehehe). It was a virtual playground and having drawn the map of the entire lay out of the land, I practically owned it.


It's funny now as I still find myself up in trees on a daily basis as I work for a lighting company in Atlanta that decorates the city with Christmas lights, which gives me about 8 months of work a year. Although I'm finding my increasing age, weight and perhaps my state of mind an increasing hindrance when it comes to climbing trees and decorating them with light. I sometimes wonder how much longer I'll be doing this, when, as far as me being artistic and expressing my creativity, it naturally comes out in the form of music.

I've been playing the piano since age 4 but have always been more interested in making up my own material rather t ha n learning the theory and playing other people's music, despite my 12 years of lessons. This is a constant creative struggle for as I'm surrounded by people influencing me to learn songs with the purpose of being able to take requests. Because at the moment, I can't take any requests. I can play you hours of music, but I can't take requests. And as much as I think I'd like to be able to do that, I don't want to put the effort behind it. Just something inside me doesn't want to do that. I like making my own music and finding the people who like it enough to be satisfied with what I create...

If you enjoyed this, tune in April 17, Friday, for the last part in this three part series. The last picture in this interview is from Songs from a Piano B for more information, click the images. Next time, join us for a travel adventure.

Don't we all love features?

Once again I find myself grouped with a lovely set of fellow etsy sellers in a feature, this time the theme is spirals, or round round, "curves, hoops, swirls" to check out the full selection, click on the featured photo from new York, to the left within the next two days.

This image was captured near 59th street, in my favorite city, near the subways exit and entrance. The day I took this shot the intersection was under construction, and there was also a man with a clipboard interviewing passers by on their religious views and thoughts about the afterlife. I snapped this just after giving him my own answers.

Funny how certain instances stick with you.

Stay tuned

One of this Month's etsy mini slots is for Tasa Lada.

"Taissa puts the D in decandent, and R in revamped and is not a believer in "less is more". She specializes in one of a kind vintage inspired hats and head pieces, high end evening wear and upcycled and revamped slip dresses. All items are one of a kind and are made by her. She loves all things leopard print, polkadot and plaid, and loves elaborate, drippy laces. She never met a vintage slip dress she did not fall in love with or a feather she did not like. Her thoughts on fashion and personal style are simple and straight forward. "wear what you like and are comfortable in and have fun with it"

Flaunt Design

1. Color: blue. It makes me feel calm & peaceful and reminds me of some of my very favorite things; my daughter’s eyes , the ocean, summer skies, my favorite old jeans… Blue is the color of eternity...

2. If you could live anywhere... Oh, we would so live in Provence, France, somewhere in the countryside near Aix… It would be wonderful; summers with lavender-laden breezes, trips to the ocean, old Roman monuments, buying fruit & honey from local markets. Winters with a wood fire inside an old farmhouse, good books, wine - and enough time to make lots of jewelry!

3.About the Muse

My muse is mainly nature – though that doesn’t always translate directly! Sometimes it’s a color combination or a feeling evoked by looking at scenery that I try to capture with silver & gemstones. I once based a beautiful necklace of pearls, smoky quartz & adventurism on a piece of driftwood I had seen floating in the English Channel! Yes, REALLY!


4.If you could instantly change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

If I could change something about me it would be to become more self-assured and confident, care less about what others may think about me…

11. Yes!

Wait, yes to what?

Many of you must be thinking...well, take a guess. I will post the winner on Tuesday April 14, best guess (not necessarily correct, I say, best) will win a choice of free ad space for one week in May, their own interview (Etsy membership not required) or an article about their blog posted on my blog.

My Corazon- The Shop of Miss Butler

An artists inspired by Frida Kahlo, loteria, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Sacred Heart, Milagros and Spanish colonial....the following is an interview with MissBulter, a Brooklyn Based Latin America Traveler....


To start, let's talk about....
....Day of the Dead, El Día de los Muertos...

One part of the celebrations that moves me most is El Día de los Angelitos, the day before the Day of the Dead, which is reserved for children who have died. That day is All Saints Day in the Catholic Church and is meshes well with the popular idea that children who die go directly to heaven. They are a more heavenly than the souls of the adult departed so they come back home and leave again before the souls of the adult deceased come to visit the next day, el Dia de los Muertos. Families leave candy and toys on their home ofrendas for the visiting little angels. A family's tragic experience of the loss of a child evolves into a celebration of that short life and I see the ritual as an expression of their absolute faith that the living are still connected to their dead and that both can still do good for each other even when separated.


As a fellow traveler, you make me curious, what is your favorite country?

Syria is the country I've enjoyed visiting most. I'm a real history nerd and Syria has so many treasures from so many different eras and cultures. In just a few hundred miles you have the ruins of Ugarit on the Mediterranean where the alphabet developed, the ancient desert city of Palmyra where Queen Zenobia fought off the Romans (they are known for its funerary art), a fairytale-looking crusader fort where the Knights Hospitalllars where head-quarted, the masterpiece of the Great Mosque in Damascus that has the shrine containing the head of John the Baptist... it goes on and on. It's a stunning country with really warm people and amazing food.


If you had to leave Brooklyn, and live anyplace outside the U.S. where would it be and why?

I'm pretty much a city person through-and-through. If I had to choose a new home outside the US it would be Buenos Aires. I spent a month there a couple of years ago after I quit a job. The rhythm of the city is comfortable for a New Yorker. I love tango music and you can see live performances almost any night you want. I also love Argentine rock bands from the 80's and 90's so it was CD shopping heaven for me. Late in my trip I stumbled upon the "hipster" tango scene. It reminded me a lot of Williamsburg in NYC but without the irony. The band played tango loud and hard and the kids danced with intensity. It was fantastic.

I noticed you've been an etsy member for some time, but only a seller for a little while. Who were your favorite people to buy from, and what was your all time favorite purchase?

The first thing I ever bought was a crocheted teddy bear named Roscoe from Marilyn Patrizio's shop So Softies. That was in the summer of 2005. I recently convo'ed her to tell her I'd just seen the little boy (no longer a baby) who got Roscoe and that he was still loved. She remembered him because it was one of the first bears she'd sold. It was a very wistful Etsy moment.


Brooklyn is vast, what is your local?

I live in an old Irish neighborhood called Windsor Terrace. They film a lot of movies around here when they're going for a sort of 50's Brooklyn feel. I'm about a block from Brooklyn's big park, Prospect Park.




Let's talk mermaids, tell me about your favorite Mermaid story...

My favorite mermaid story is about Alexander the Great's little sister. After one of his quests he brought back a bottle of water from a sacred spring and he anointed her hair with it. When she heard he'd died she threw herself into the ocean out of grief, but because of the holy water she didn't die, she turned into a mermaid. She lived in the Aegean for hundreds of years - swimming around looking for sailors to question. She'd ask them what was the news of Alexander. If they were smart the answered "Alexander is alive and is ruler of the world" and she'd let them go. If they told her that he'd died ages ago she dash their ship into the rocks. I'm a devoted little sister of a lot of big brothers so I like and remember that story.

For more see about Miss Butler click bellow

Adventures in Film Part 1 To Steal a Purse...

Maybe I've Decided to Quite Blogging...Nope...

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS Day!

What follows is not your typical crafter interview. This month, and these coming weeks I'll be hosting a three part interview with Etsy creator Justin Gear. As an actor, I can't help but relate to actor survival stories, if you are any good at what we do, (or even if you are just lucky) you end up doing wicked strange and dangerous things all the time, and you love it, even when it get's you in bad predicaments...

1. Tell me about one of your adventures/misadventures in film/the film industry...

Being in the film industry, you can always count on adventures and misadventures. And as an actor, you never know what scenarios you'll be asked to enact. I've experienced being the dead body at an open casket ceremony (and then having my corpse thrown in a dumpster, which was really fun and horrible at the same time), stunt driving a classic vintage RV, being dragged through the mud from an exploding truck and running around dressed as a pirate aboard The Black Pearl. It's all fun and challenging.

But I'd say the one moment that stands out as the most memorable misadventure would have to be working on ABC's Primetime, "What Would You Do" with host John Quinones. I was hired to be a part of a staged purse snatching at a restaurant in Atlanta. Luckily I knew the actress I was stealing the purse from, so we had a bit of fun with the whole thing. She was seated in the outside patio next to the sidewalk that leads to Piedmont Park. It was my time to make an entrance onto the scene and scope the area out. With about 75 people eating outside, I was definitely about to attract some attention. I was basically following the cues of the producer, who i was hearing in my ear piece. When it was time, I made my move and approached the subject. After asking her for a pen, and watching her dig through her purse a moment, I grabbed it, we struggled, I bolted, then turned to yell at her to sit down (as directed) and then made my exit. Except my exit was actually gonna wind up taking longer than the purse snatching itself.

"...in my ear piece I could hear,
"Oh God! Oh God! What do we do?!

When I turned around and ran, I slammed right into a patron walking in. He instinctively grabbed me while in my ear piece I could hear, "Oh God! Oh God! What do we do?! What do we do?!," but I was able to jerk free from him fairly easily, playing off of him being stunned. But behind him were 4 rugby players that had just walked up from the park and they instantly created a wall. The kicker was, I needed to get passed them to the cop that was standing half a block down ready to help me out of the scenario. But with them blocking my path, I decided to run the opposite way. I didn't get very far when I made the realization that I had to turn around and get to the cop. There was no way I could outrun these guys headed away from safety. So I darted back dodging 2 guys but before I could get the chance to get passed the rest, a punch was thrown at my head from behind me. It just so happened that I was raring down to jump through the other guys as the clenched fist grazed the top of my head, but immediately after wards I found myself up in the air suspended by a bear hug from behind me.

It was over. I was busted. What made it weird after that was the fact that the cop, as he came to rescue me/take me away, was acting so nonchalant about the whole incident AND didn't take the purse away from me. So as we left the scene all I could hear was how confused everybody was. They were yelling to put me in cuffs and to hold on to me, because he was letting me walk right beside him. Everybody was obviously concerned that I was gonna make a run for it again. But we ducked into an unmarked white van where nobody saw me.


My heart was racing!! It turns out, the guy who threw the punch and then bear hugged me was an off-duty undercover federal agent who had just gotten out of reconstructive knee rehabilitation. And during the scuffle he threw his knee back out and had to go to the hospital. But before they took him to the hospital, he along with other key eye witnesses were asked to the back of the restaurant where they had a line up with my picture in it. Which was the whole point of this particular show; that eye witness accounts are unreliable. And after guessing the wrong guy, I had to go out and face the crowd.

Needless to say, the federal agent looked pissed. That was definitely one of the most awkward and exhilarating experiences I've ever had as an actor.


Cheers, and we are out, drop in next week for part two, "Do you believe in Santa?", next week, Friday, April 10.