Blue Steel or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Face

OK, this is for your time to interact with Pan and help me with the first installation of many interactive posts...many being very abstract. Many for me might be few to you or even ONE to another...do I even know what I'm talk about? One thing I have noticed when looking at pictures of Pan...is...were is he looking? I know where he is looking, because I took the picture but can you? One of the objectives with this blog was not only to fulfill "The Urge", that is the Marzipan Moment, but also to do a study in giving life to an inanimate object. He needs a face. Not a face face but a Pan face, does that makes sense, right? It could be anything but I would like your feedback.


While you ponder and ... what's a better word than ponder..., while you ponder and do whatever that other word is, Pan has been at it again. From CVS to looking for a little coin in the parking lot. You got to love him.

I drool over bread sticks too!






Always looking for the free stuff.

Pan or W.A.M.?

Pan and I have been spending a lot of time together. I have been taking him everywhere in the car, to the store and on a road trip. Yes, I even took him to Wal-mart... he enjoyed it but I had to tear him out of the produce section. The guy just really loves fruit...not necessarily to eat..he just loves fruit...? I got some weird looks at the store but I don't mind. So far nobody has approached me as to what I am doing. I haven't even come up with an answer yet. I think I'm going to play it off as normal like "What, you don't have a Little-wooden-man who has a strange fascination with commercially grown produce?" or (shrug) "Hey, this is America." or maybe I'll stare at their left ear until they leave. As you can tell, I really haven't come up with a good plan but that is just par for the course for me. I figure it out when I get there.

But it has been a fun ride so far and speaking of ride...on Saturday Pan and I went on a road trip. Our church went on a trip to the temple in Baton Rouge, LA with our youth group. We had to meet the bus our stake rented at the church building at 0500. So Pan and I had drag our sleepy heads out of bed at 0345. Why that early? Mostly because Pan had to get ready. I know...you wouldn't think that a little-wood-man would need much prep work but you would be suprised!

Pan slept most of the way. While I was in the temple Pan stayed in the car and I warn you never, and I mean never, leave a little-wooden-man in a car for more then two hours- things get nasty...Trust Me! All in all we had a great time and I didn't leave without snapping a few pics.

Another person in the car suggested we rename Pan to W.A.M. (Wooden Articulated Man) I don't know...what do you think?

Caught him snoozing again on the way home. cozy, huh. But-I did have to get onto him for neglecting to wear his seat belt. Safety first, you know?!

Out and About

After coming up with the idea of Pan and then posting a blog about him and then the reaction that i got...not knowing that people would be so interested in the life of Pan... I found myself unsure as to where to go with this. I didn't know if i should just post pictures of Pan doing his Pan thing, if I should make a story about his life we (including me) could follow, or if there was some other way of presenting Pan to the world. You know, seeing were his potential lies. Maybe...maybe he would be an astronaut or or maybe a spokes little-wood-person for all the other little-wood-men or little-wood-women, out there whose voice hasn't been heard. The little-wood-men sitting on the artist desks and drawing tables putting in long hours with no pay and very little attention and NO RECOGNITION FOR THE WORK THAT THEY DO...I think that i have digressed a little. Needless to say, i still don't really know what path to go down, but I did decide Pan and i need to spend a little time together.

While we were out i had another epiphany. Every group, group meaning more than one person, has to go through a series of phases. Pan and I are in the Norming Phase-

-At this stage, group members will be uncertain of the group's structure and its goals or a strategy for achieving them; they will as a result be quite dependent on the leader.

...I guess I'm the leader-but...let's leave our options open.

There is still Storming, Norming and Conforming phases to get through. We'll see were they take us, but while you wait we have some pictures of our outing.

Even a little-wood-man can mourn over gas prices!

Pan showing me how hard it can be (sometimes) to be a little-wood-man in a human world. Kind of hard to call your Peeps in China if the phone is bigger than you.

...? your guess is as good as mine. He gets weird like that sometimes.

Meet Pan

Made in China, packaged and shipped to a distribution house somewhere in this grand country-land of the free and home of the brave- a small art shop in Mobile Alabama put in a order in for a 12" wooden manikin. Pan was then shipped to said City and placed on display until there was...a Marzipan Moment. The attack happened on the way home from work. On I-10 between Michigan Ave. and Dauphin Island Parkway to be exact, the phone call went to my loving and understanding wife while staring at who now we know as Pan. Keep on the look out, for you should be seeing more of him, for Pan is going on a grand adventure. One neither I or nor anybody in that dark Beijing sweat shop of his birth, knew upon his creation. Hope you enjoy.

The Marzipan Incident - The Begining

Marzipan-

Although it is believed to have originated in Persia (present-day Iran) and to have been introduced to Europe through the Turks, there is some dispute between Hungary and Italy over its origin. Marzipan became a specialty of the Baltic Sea region of Germany. In particular, the city of Lübeck has a proud tradition of marzipan manufacture (Lübecker Marzipan). The city’s manufacturers like Niederegger still guarantee their Marzipan to contain two thirds almonds by weight, which results in a juicy, bright yellow product.

Basic Marzipan Recipe:

Uncooked:
1/4 pound ground blanched almonds
1/4 pound powdered sugar
1 egg white
1/4 tsp. salt

Cooked:
3 cups sugar
1 cup water
4 cups ground blanched almonds

The above would be all and good if this Blog was about Marzipan... but it's not. For everybody who really knows me knows that i have a little quirk. My attention span is not long and i get obsessed with (fill in the blank) very quickly and due to one particular moment in my life my family has dubbed these spontaneous moments as "Marzipan moments". You'll have to ask my brother-in-law to describe it to you. So "The Marzipan Incident" is dedicated to those moments. What ever it is and how ever short it might be lived, it will be here. So stay tuned for the first because it was what inspired the blog. Excited? I know i am.