By Ash Catcher.
​Once a week, I think it is neat 
That we like to put something out that is tangible, and concrete. 
Every time it happens to be, a Wednesday that I can see. 
Under sharing, over posting, I need to stop highlighting my coffee.

You wrote a song about this day. 
And I work on this day at the cafe.
Something about Wednesdays.
Ash, bring it back to present day. 

That I am out there working, and you are on your couch. 
Slouched over a computer, fix your posture- ouch. 
Trapped in a place where nobody can stand to be. 
I sometimes question the legitimacy of your “company”. 

Take that however you please. 
I can still taste the animosity. 
One day a week where I spill my guts. 
Kinda like you did with Chestnuts. 

Koalas seem like little bitch bears,  and waffles are too sticky. 
I should be more careful of my wording, But it all starts to get fuzzy. 
I am glad we both just get a day.
Well good night, I am gonna go away and hit the hay.​

The other week, my brother, and I had a free day, something that has been a huge rarity in my life as of late. I chose to go to this abandoned Terracottas Factory in New Jersey. What I don’t like more than  a 3.5 hr round trip to see abandoned shit on a sunny day, I will never pass that up. Off the weirdest Blair Witch like road I have ever encountered, past train tracks and down a ways I always have this weird feeling in my stomach when I am going somewhere new for the first time. It reminded me of a bit of Walking Dead and Mad Max. Someone I am pretty sure was also getting their engagement photos done here with their Bronco. Like I said, a bit dystopian so close to the beach too, but still 20 minutes from Surf Taco. 

The Brooksbrae Terracotta Factory in the Pine Barrens gives me some major nostalgia for Centralia if you don't know me or you live under my rock collection. I have been there over 10 times- it's just an abandoned highway. This is just an abandoned structure in the middle of the woods. If I was a 7th grade boy with a paintball gun I would have a small heart attack. 

The decaying Brooksbrae Terracotta Brick Factory sits over the railroad tracks along Pasadena Woodmanse Road in the tiny New Jersey town of Pasadena. Though the location is in Google Maps, the directions bring you to a dead end of residential homes. Upon my arrival, oddly, there was a shit ton of graffiti on the road thus indicating we had arrived. Sweet, rad, cool we made it alive. I got spooky vibes but didn’t pick up anything really that unsettling. I know the Pine Barrens in NJ is kinda known to house some questionable activity. I did get Rob Zombie, Devils Rejects vibes. 

I think I just like having a niche little hobby that only a few other people can get. I get excited seeing other people outside at the same spots as me. It feels like a little club. I am always doing research, asking my other photography friends where the best little spots are. I just want someone to go on cool summer adventures, I  practically live at the beach on my days off, this summer I have a whole check list of places to go, boxes to check and pictures to take. I would certainly come back here again. It was a quick hit in and out in 30. I am really there for the journey you know- the destination well that can change. 

I have a feeling that this summer is going to be interesting for sure. 

Until next week I promise it will be a bit longer.  

-Ash

​9 
By Ash Catcher 
Photo Credit: Harley Maile, Photodelphia

It is all a numbers game, or so I am told. 
7 is supposed to be lucky, and it shows. 
But for me it has been the number nine. 
I have no idea how it started, but it happens all the time. 

In ’99 I saw Phantom Menace. 
Oh good god another Star Wars reference, lord help us. 
In 09’ I saw that movie nine. 
It was pretty good, and got me interested in graphic design. 

That was also the year I saw AFI with you 
I was freshly out of my upmtenth 302. 
Fall was tough that year, and winter also
That was it, one and done, gone and blocked now, built up a wall. 

It all comes back to that number nine. 
I have lost track of how many times you have used “ I am sorry, lets try again” 
Iets chalk it up to 9 give or take. 
Each time I let you back in my life it has always been a mistake. 

But damn can you blame me, you raised an optimistic. 
But buy ’19 I know better now, fuck you, fuck off- I am done with this. 
I will never let someone run me like I let the 9 of you. 
I am done with that submissive shit, this lesson was long overdue. 

-Ash 

​

The past couple of weeks have been interesting to say the least. Uh not sure how to put this any other way other than I have been on a somewhat informal spiritual manifestation kick.  What exactly is manifestation, one of my new friends asked me that question the other day, and in response I gave the most Ash like response, I changed the topic to something else. I am not 100% sure what it is but it has been happening an awful lot. I think about people, and then they appear, I am listening to music while running and a song comes on that I am thinking of unprovoked. I was looking for a rock the other day in Wissahickon to take home, and then this girl walked by and gave me a rock that was in her hands. It is small things like this that I know can add up to something bigger. The house I was looking at the other day, I got that now ( I am just not looking forward to moving for the 1,000th time but that is okay) This new place has a sunroom, a grotto, a huge tub A Christopher WALKIN closet, I had to - everything I can ever want- and I can't forget the most important thing I have manifested this year was Banner. <3 

But Ash you always go on about nothing without saying something so I am going to school you on a little crash course on manifestation. It is 110% a mindset. Get your mind right, and everything will follow suit. Manifestation is defined as an event, action, or object that clearly shows or embodies something, especially a theory, on an abstract idea. ( I have a shit ton of those) 

Now Spiritual Manifestation is something that I have been more centered on is that the theory that through regular meditation and positive, constructive thought, you can make your dreams and desires become reality, Spiritual Manifestation holds that if you really want something and truly believe it's possible, it will happen. It's kinda like that feeling you have in your gut, you know it's there but you can see it- it's a feeling- that the whole universe is behind it kinda thing. 

I moved to Manayunk a little before Christmas of 2019 and ever since then there has just been an odd ass series of events that have led to this huge chunk of self discovery and independence. I barely notice other people anymore. I think the odd thing about the Yunk is that it is like this weird limbo state, moving here taught me that whatever I put my mind to I can not only achieve it, I feel super at home, I love being around trees, and still being close to the city. It is a really good location. I have found weird little things and people and I have to say I just think it is the universe confirming it all. I feel like everything is divinely guided one way- I will be sure to touch more on this in another blog post. I would love to talk about it more.

I find the more friends I make in the area the more I can look past the  “Inauthenticity” that I see on occasion. It is easy to look past when things have made an enormous turn around. I love being at home, with my cat, records, art, and books, I just have this infinite need to create things that I care about.  I love going out, now that things are opening back up and seeing music again, and hiking and doing Ash things too but I am doing them more sparingly. I reserve my energy now for myself and put myself first, something I have struggled with for a super long time. I haven’t had a lot of time off yet from work but I have never loved what I have done more- and yes I miss teaching but  I think I just like the fact I can make people happy, and I am a very good listener. I love what I am doing with my life- I am nowhere near as complacent as I once felt- I just feel so light. 

One more thing I want to say about Manifestation- cause I am writing this in the car on the way to the beach-  you gotta put yourself first when you manifest. Avoid what I like to call low vibe people, energy vampires, people who always complain, and bring drama your way. Avoid those people and it is amazing what you can accomplish: Spiritual Manifestation is the theory that through regular meditation and positive, constructive thought, you can make your dreams and desires become reality. Spiritual manifestation revolves around the New Age concept of the Law of Attraction. Simplified down to a single statement, the Law of Attraction states that think and act in a positive way, good things will happen to you, but if you think and act negatively, bad things will happen to you.

So think positive, eat some veggies, drink water (not alcohol), stick to those boundaries, and keep your mind right! 

I’ll ttynw 

-Ash Catcher