Right after I eat another taco from the taco truck. Right after I get back from the beach. Right after I finish taking photos of Venice. Right after I wake up to the sounds of Palm tree fronds rustling next to my surf shack.

OK, cool.  Thanks.  But why so many so quick.  I started to do a little searching and all of a sudden I realized that Ashton Kutcher -- yep, the Ashton Kutcher -- had posted a retweet referencing my video:

For those who don't know, Ashton Kutcher has about 5 million followers or so by last count.  And when he tweets a link, you get insane traffic to the link in question.  Talk about marketing power awesomness.  

On Wednesday, my friend Holly called me to tell that her Mom had just seen a link to my wedding video on the home page of AOL!  Unbelievable.  Later that day, I heard from the kind folks over Sony Music, who said that Passion Pit had actually seen the video and liked it.  The next day, they posted it on their Facebook page as well!

The next three days saw my video jump to 150K views, with tons of emails asking about my rates, background, availability, etc.  I was even interviewed by www.omgimgettingmarried.com in the UK. A lot of those obviously weren't serious, but there have a been a number of those that do seem serious.  We'll see.  In any event,  to have that many people actually express their enthusiam about something I created was overwhelmingly positive.  

Now, a week later, the video has been spotted on blogs and websites all over the world including  Italy, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, UK, Germany, and Hong Kong I think.  I've spotted a few sites impersonating Lauren and JP, acting as though they were the couple featured in the video.  And I also spotted the first re-upload on YouTube today. I'll be curious to see what this massive spike in traffic to my sites will do for my Google Ranking, and also to see how many views the video will ultimately get.

What a way to start my time in L.A.

I thought might enjoy this video I did for a wonderful couple in La Grange, GA.  

Lauren + JP from Matt Odom on Vimeo.

So let's at least wrap ourselves in the silver lining of the unexpected: my writer's block is gone.  

I haven't been able to write much of anything the past few years.  I've often wondered if my source of all things creative is binary.  That is to say it's either expressed through my words or my images, but not both at the same time.  Since I haven't worked much in the past month or so, maybe the words are finally willing to come out and play.  Maybe.  I may very well book work and find that my words and images still play well together.

In which case, I suspect that my words won't come out to play when things are a little too far inside the comfort zone.  Which presents an unappetizing cone of irony dipped in melancholy with "I'm nuts for upheaval" on top. AWESOME.

Good thing the $.99 store had a sale on Toblerones.  I'll stuff down these thoughts with gobs of honey nougat and chocolate.

Take last night for instance.  

A few months back, my buddy Hans, meets an amazing, world class German photographer named Jens Lucking on a flight across the country.  They share a few bottles of red wine on the flight, entertain each other with stories of the absurd and bizarre I'm sure, annoy other first class passengers to the point of having some move back to coach for solace, trade info and move on.   Classic Hans.

So a few days ago, Hans thoughtfully sends an email to Jens, introducing me, and suggesting that maybe we meet up for a drink.  And to my amazement, Jens responds almost immediately, and suggests we meet up in Venice on Friday night, as he'll be there already.  Friday night rolls around, and I begin to squirm.

Making an appointment to meet someone new, especially when I'm so new to an area with few friends, is definitely in the "don't be too proud to accept someones kindness" bucket, and totally puts me outside my comfort zone.  "What if he really didn't want me to come by and was just being gracious?"  "What if he thinks I'm a total ass?" "What if he actually looked my work and thinks I'm crap?".  The thoughts rush in.  I remember that Hans would be dissapointed in me if I didn't follow through, and I shoot out a text asking if we're still on, before I can wuss out.  

He responds.  He's at The Cabana on Rose, just a blocks from my place.  Crap, now I have to go.  It's walking distance, and I'd be a complete failure if I didn't suck up my neurosis and go.  So I did.  I walk down the street in the dark, and let him know I'm on my way.

"I'M THE GUY WITH THE LONG HAIR AND BLACK JACKET."  Great, I sound like a roadie for Dokken. He texts me, "BACK PATIO. GUY WITH THE HAT."  Roger that. I walk to back patio, and spot him.

And his wife and child.  And their friends.  At at an already crowded table.  In a crowded restaurant.  In what is obviously an intimate dinner amongst friends. And in the space of one second I have this inner dialogue:

"OH NO.  I'm totally THAT GUY.  The douchebag who shows up to a friends and family gathering uninvited."

"Wait.  But I was invited. If I'd known I'd be crashing a private get-together I would've backed out for sure."

"Nice Matt.  Everyone is going to have to move their seats and drinks just so I can squeeze my interrrupting-outsider-needy ass into the circle of conversation. FRIEND MAKING FAIL."

"His wife and child are lovely.  She's gonna hate me for sure now.  I bet she chews him out later for inviting the friend of guy he had drinks with on an airplane a few months back to an intimate dinner with friends."

"I can't back out now.  I hope the chips and salsa are good."

And so I sit and join the conversation.  And you know what? They couldn't have been more gracious.  We talked about traveling, art, their baby, his immigration, and more.  They are legitimately amazing people, and if put out on any level by my showing up, hid it deep enough to let me feel comfortable.  I was enrapt with stories of FBI visits, burnouts on the Salt Flats, and a unlikely theft and return of a Rolls Royce. An hour passes quickly.  Dinner wraps up and it's time for them to get the baby home.  I thank them for the company and leave.

And as I walk home, I realize that this whole getting out of your comfort zone thing might actually be a good thing.  Thanks Jens Lucking.  Your awesomeness is noted.

And if for nothing else, it was good chips and salsa.

Atlanta to LA - Time-Lapse - July 2010 from ataricharm on Vimeo.

After working Craigslist for about a week straight, and feeling super discouraged about the general quality of affordable places to live, I feel like I totally scored.  I hope whatever luck I had in finding this place will continue to work in my favor as I turn to finding work!

I got ready to leave Atlanta with Boris and Blanca packed into the Vue with most everything else. I'm talking 'tetris' style packing. I even got a camera mounted just underneath the rearview mirror, so I could do a timelapse of the trip. Everything seemed like it was going along OK. Ha. The dreams of the naive.

Saying goodbye to everyone was hard. Saying goodbye to Ashley was beyond hard. Gut wrenching, soul rending, lose-a-piece-of-you-heart-in-the-tears kinda hard. Still we managed to pull ourselves together long enough for me to drive away.

So I get on the road, already emotionally exhausted, with 2000 miles to go. And right on cue, the first gut check. My AC goes out. Totally out. In July. I couldn't believe it. But I figured, hey, it's probably just the freon or something. Surely a car with only 30000 miles on it wouldn't be suffering something major. WRONG. I stopped in Pensacola briefly before getting on I-10 and had GM service people look at it. They wanted $800 to replace the whole compressor. $800 I couldn't (still can't) afford. But they said they thought the car would make the trip anyway, so I figured why not. It's just heat. Surely I could survive that.

It's hard to sum 35 hours of driving in the windows down, in July. It was hot. Unending hot. The poor animals suffered along with me. I'd stop every 3 or 4 hours during the hottest hours and pour water over Boris, and soak Blanca's bedding. That seemed to help them make it through. Blanca surprised me the most. She didn't meow much, and pretty much just found a nook between some camera cases, out of the sun, and slept the whole time.

Doug and Courtney let me crash their home outside Houston, which was a welcome surprise. I hadn't seen them in about 7 years or so. Funny how no time at all seems to have past when you sit down with old friends and have dinner.

West Texas was beautiful. Which surprised me. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was geniunely moved by the beauty of it all. If I ever have a million dollars laying around, I'd consider buying a large piece of land there and building my very own compound.

I made it all the way to El Paso (easiest the ugliest stretch of road I've seen in the US) around sundown, and decided I would try to push all they way through the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona so I could avoid the sun. Before it got dark, I saw the most magnificent sunset I think I've ever seen. As cynical and as stubborn I might be, sometimes the magnificence of nature trumps everything else. I about drove off the road a few times while I tried to snap photos and video with my iPhone.

In retrospect, what made the sunset so pretty was the dramatic contrast of storm clounds in front of the setting sun. Actually not so much 'storm' clouds as 'monsoon-hurricane-apocalyptic' clouds. I have never experienced a storm like that. It was night, which didn't help, but at one point the winds actually blew my car off the interstate and into the shoulder. At that point, my pants about soiled, I decided to pull over. And on cue, all the cars in front and behind me did too. I guess they were waiting for someone to be a chickenshit first. I was glad to oblige.

The storm passed after about an hour and I pushed on. It was cool while it rained, but it shot right back up to 97 or so afterwards. Insane to be 97 degress at night. I pushed on.

I made it all the way to Blythe, California before I started to hallucinate a bit. Hallucinations aren't my favorite thing, so I pulled over and crashed at a Knights Inn for about 5 hours or so. I got up and finished the drive to LA, with temperatures averaging 107 degress or so. It was gross, hot and miserable. But we made it.

I got us checked into a Motel 6 outside LAX. Boris immediately chugged too much water and dog food (he was parched and starving) and then puked it all back up all over the room. Awesome.

I've been here about 48 hours or so, and so far, I haven't been able to lock down a place to live yet. It's hard to find a place that's affordable, that isn't a total hole. But I'm not giving up yet.

Stay tuned.

"Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer." ~ Niccolo Machiavelli

Now, I'm not sure if Machiavelli ever drove across country with a full car, in summer, with both a dog and cat -- but if he did, I hope he'd consider that bold.  Right now, I'm considering that a bit more closer to stupid.  We'll see how this plays out...

There is so much emotion and thought and frustration and hope and sadness and excitement; it makes it hard to organize my thoughts.

I’ve decided to leave Atlanta. There, I’ve said it.

I could probably write volumes on the all the inner dialogue, analysis, soul searching, and conflict I’ve had coming to this decision. But let me some it up for you. In spite of the rocky financial reality of trying to build a career in creative media (photos, video, etc.), I want this life. I’m nowhere close to my potential yet, and I want to keep slugging away at this.

In order to get my career to the next level, I feel like I need some experience working in a major market like NYC, LA, London, Tokyo, etc. I need to be able to work on the sorts of projects that I feel like I excel at, on a more regular basis. I need the opportunity to assist other more established photographers and filmmakers, and learn from their experience. I feel like I need both the experience and cred of hustling in a larger city.

So I’ve decided I’ll give LA a try. I had to pick between NYC and LA, and there are pro’s and con’s to both for sure, but I opted for LA because it’s driving distance to a lot of my family, whom I rarely see anymore. I’ve been wanting more time with family in my life, so moving to LA seems to get me closer to that.

While I feel like I’m making a decision that will ultimately pay dividends for me, professionally and personally, it’s not without consequence.

When I think about all the close friends and relationships that I’m having to effectively leave behind, it makes my heart fall 30 stories into my socks. I hope any of you reading this(you know who you are) know that words can’t express how much you mean to me. I am the sum total of all the love, counsel, friendship, confrontation, and happiness we’ve shared together. My heart will always be in the South.

So there it is. It’s out there in the universe. I’m gonna give a try to life in someplace other than Atlanta.

Stay tuned.