What's Zach Doing

Whoaaaa we live in Wisconsin now?

JAN

These past months have mostly consisted finding our footing and starting to build our little community. Moving was hard, and I don’t think I was prepared for the complete loss of our social circle. Of course we try to keep up with friends, but moving somewhere new was hard in ways I did not expect. But we prevail!

As Vera started work, I started working on getting our apartment together. When we were in the process of moving I gave away a lot of small items that didn’t hold much meaning to me, but the lack of clutter and things to make clutter made our place feel empty to me. I regret getting rid of some things but I think they will come back to me in new ways.

After some struggle, I was able to get some gear set up so that I could continue to work with glass. This turtle is my first piece from the new studio setup.

I spent a lot of time searching for decor. Still cant believe I passed this up.

When I was not working on the ever important task of decorating our apartment – I applied for some jobs. Mostly random part time stuff but I ended up getting a cool position fixing arcade games at a local arcade. The owner is hoping to turn the basement into an arcade museum, so I am working on lots of rare and unique arcade games which has been fun.

This is our room filled with junk tvs. We sometimes steal parts from them to keep arcade games going.

FEB

It was COLD. I am used to cold. I lived in Rochester and Boston, how can it get any colder? I dont know what it is, maybe its because its so dry here, maybe its because of the lakes, or because of some spirit cursing us, but this was a new level of cold for me. Face frozen cold. yeesh.

While this cold was new to me, the people of Madison have no problem with it and continue their usual outdoor activities. My friend Dan came up to visit and we walked out onto one of the frozen lakes and got to see some good old ice fishing action.

We talked to a kid who had skipped the second half of his school day to come fish. He had just caught this little fish, but said he was just getting started. It was so cold my phone camera failed to focus.

Luckily, our home was starting to feel nice and warm.

MAR

By March, my glass studio was fully set up. I was working 3 days a week at the arcade and spending most of my free time making glass frogs and other silly little things.

I was making good headway on some of the rarer games at the arcade. I was able to revive a Sega Star Trek game from ’83 that is notorious for catching on fire. No fires here!

I also started working on an Atari Battlezone, one of the most classic (and difficult to repair ) arcade games of all time. I dont have a picture of our machine but you will recognize it.

The weather was starting to warm up, so I could finally stop shielding my face!

even the dogs were out!

The last thing I made in March was this collection of glass guitar picks + little holder for my boss for his birthday. They turned out pretty cool and I am getting more comfortable making hollow pieces. I am going to take a class on glass cup making soon!

oK thats all for now. byeeeee