In elementary school, when the teacher required writing with a ballpoint pen, Jory produced illegible scribbles that the teacher couldn’t read. The root of his problem was actually delayed small motor skills in holding a pencil to write small script letters, but at school, “chicken scratch” penmanship was just not acceptable.
“Jory, you’ll have to rewrite this assignment tonight for homework,” the teachers demanded.
He’d march into the house indignantly furious, dumping his backpack on the floor, and storming directly to the refrigerator door.
“I won’t do it!” he proclaimed to the carton of non-dairy milk substitute. He was allergic to milk. “I already wrote it once and I won’t write it again. I hate writing with a pen. You can’t erase mistakes and everyone makes mistakes in writing. It’s a waste of my time!”
Slamming the refrigerator door, he swiveled to the pantry, yanking out the box of Fruit Loops, upon which his name was inscribed with a Sharpie.
Because Jory could devour an entire box of cereal in one sitting, his brothers complained that there was never any cereal left for them. My brilliant solution was to buy three boxes of the same cereal and write each boy’s name on the box. It was a great idea that didn’t work very well because after Jory finished his box, he helped himself to whosever’s box was available. Asking for forgiveness instead of permission was always Jory’s mode of operation.
“I have an idea,” I suggested to Jory. “How about writing your assignment onto the computer and then you can easily print it out and turn it in to your teacher?” Technology always won out and it was the easiest way for me to choose my battles.
Jory, in time, found two other creative alternatives that worked for him. First, he asked his Grandpa Morris if he could have a Paper-Mate ballpoint pen just like the one that Grandpa always carried in his shirt pocket protector. Grandpa gifted him with an exact replica and Jory equipped it with blue erasable ink refills. He used that pen for the rest of his life and it was safely tucked into his pocket when his deadly motorcycle accident occurred.
Second, when he was a junior in high school, Jory bought a used Newton with a portable, plug-in keyboard. Of course, he applied his forgiveness vs. permission strategy with his parents. We found out when he strapped a leather Newton holster onto his belt, and they became inseparable partners. He could type faster than he could ever write, so classroom notes and assignments were speedily completed with tapping rhythms on his keyboard. High school teachers and college instructors never objected because his assignments were always legible, and many of them requested printed copies of his classroom notes for their own use.
Jory always spent his time focusing on the good, the positive, and what was fun. Often, though, he became furious and shared his frustrations loudly. Like an erupting volcano, he’d spew his complaints in all directions until he bottomed out. During his cool down phase, we counseled him to let his brain overtake emotions while he looked for creative alternatives to solve the issues. Once he had a plan, Jory left his frustrations behind and proceeded with a confident smile and/or a deep, belly-laugh.
At CalArts, Jory entered as a music composition major, using Finale software, a midi interface, and a keyboard to write music on his Mac computer. He was immediately engaged in collaboration with the animators who needed music and sounds for their films. It wasn’t long before he discovered that the film school owned exciting AVID technology equipment that could enhance the quality of creating sound on films. He fussed and fumed that only film students had access to AVID. He was frustrated, it wasn’t fair, and he made sure that everybody heard about it, including us.
“What does it take to gain access to the equipment?” Sam asked Jory.
“Only registered film students can use it,” he replied.
“So why don’t you apply to the film school and get a double major?” suggested Sam.
“There are no double majors at CalArts. It’s never been done,” he replied.
“Well, there’s always a first time. Why don’t you propose a double major and submit it with your application to film school?”
Over the summer, the two of them created a list of essential courses that would comprise a new major called Music Composition for Film and Video. Jory submitted his proposal and his application for admittance to CalArts Film School, along with an essay on why a new degree of combining these two arts was useful, essential for the future, and in keeping with Walt Disney's philosophy of integrating creative arts. In the fall, Jory returned to CalArts as a registered film student with full access to all their proprietary technology. At the end of his Senior year, he was the first student to graduate with a double major and the only graduating student of the film school who never made a film.
After college, Jory migrated to Northern California to work for George Lucas at LucasArts. He established himself in Fairfax, a community of nightly live music venues, forever Hippies, artists, and creative thinkers. He fit right in and became a vibrant part of the community. He knew everyone in town and always volunteered whenever someone had a need. With help from Fairfax locals, he built his recording studio, and became a business owner. When neighbors had problems, they took them to Jory for solutions. When he wasn’t around, it was common for townsfolk to ask themselves, “What would Jory do?” It didn’t take long for him to earn the reputation as honorary mayor and town psychologist.
One day he received notice from the Town of Fairfax that his business license needed renewing and that the fee had doubled. He was furious! He called the Fairfax Business Office and was informed that the process of renewing licenses was now being outsourced to an out of state, private business. He began investigating and discovered that the city did not benefit in any way from the increased fees, as all the excess money went directly to the outsourced company. He sputtered and fumed! He calculated the time and cost of processing the licenses by a Fairfax employee and found that it was relatively inexpensive and took very little time. Now he was seething and spewing that laziness was costing local business owners abusive and unnecessary expense. While cooling down, he decided his next step should be to attend the next Town Council meeting and present his facts.
“Doubling the costs of licenses only reduces the work load of one civil servant and does not contribute in any way to the well being of the community. It is unacceptable and ridiculous to support a private company on the backs of Fairfax business owners,” Jory maintained.
He left that meeting feeling that the Town Council didn't take his complaint seriously. He was late and a second eruption followed. Convinced that there was more to discover, he decided to look into the Fairfax budget, which is always within the public domain. He scrutinized every penny, discovering discrepancies and questionable expenditures. When his concerns were dismissed at the next Town Council meeting, he established an internet website to openly share his findings.
He left that meeting feeling that the Town Council didn't take his complaint seriously. He was late and a second eruption followed. Convinced that there was more to discover, he decided to look into the Fairfax budget, which is always within the public domain. He scrutinized every penny, discovering discrepancies and questionable expenditures. When his concerns were dismissed at the next Town Council meeting, he established an internet website to openly share his findings.
After several calls home to vent, Jory was cautioned by Sam, “You are now delving into established politics and it could all backfire on you. You are a small business and the Town could decide to never approve your business facility. They might give you problems that could ruin your business. You need to back off.”
Like a volcano redirecting its lava flow, Jory decided to run for Town Council on a platform to bring fresh ideas to the Town Council. He didn’t win, but he remained active in civic affairs.
When the Fairfax townsfolk publicly protested Chemtrails, a fictitious belief that the government was trying to poison Fairfax residents by putting poison gasses into high flying airplanes that left streaks of white gas exhaust over their town, Jory became irritated with the absurdity of the issue. After the Town Council approved the ordinance to ban Chemtrails over Fairfax, Jory combatted his frustration by proposing that the Town Council should also pass Puff The Magic Dragon legislation banning all fire breathing dragons from entering Fairfax city limits.
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| Chemtrails activists in downtown Fairfax |
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| Puff the Magic Dragon |
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| Chemtrails over Marin |
Because he believed in public transportation, Jory sold his truck with the intent of using public busses to get around. Simultaneously, Marin County reduced bus service into practically nonexistence, so he lobbied at County Transportation hearings to no avail. He bought a bicycle, pleaded at Town Council meetings for bike stands to be installed in downtown Fairfax, but gave up riding his bike after several close calls with negligent drivers on narrow country roads. He borrowed or rented vehicles when needed, but ultimately gave in to buying the used motorcycle, which led to his demise.
Equipment failures or breakdowns, as well as incompetence in business were huge frustrations for Jory. He ranted relentlessly, spouting picturesque vocabulary, hoping that something would be done to remedy those failures. He wrote letters and posted his frustrations on Facebook and Apple.
Jory began a board game group for Fairfax residents. It met regularly and was well attended. Slowly, membership began to fall. Jory went faithfully to each meeting, expecting attendance from those who swore they’d be there. Eventually, he sat alone when nobody kept their commitments. He was already spending time in Norway, so he mitigated his source of frustration by starting a board game group in Oslo. The popular group had 140+ members at the time of his death.
Norway had its share of frustration for Jory, as well. He complained about the Norwegian phone company. He wrote to them and made trips to their offices, getting nowhere, just more frustrated. In desperation, he called them, which led to a lengthy phone call with a long wait time. The end result was that they surcharged him extra for the time he was waiting and never resolved his complaint.
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| Lecturing at Hamar University |
Getting through bureaucracy was also a nightmare, as he tried to legally obtain Norwegian residency and the right to work. At his wits end, he hired a lawyer to help him navigate the bureaucracy. In the meantime, he bartered his way to obtain studio space and volunteered to teach and help out at the universities. When billable work came his way, he bypassed the bureaucracy by channeling it through studio.jory.org in Fairfax.
From his childhood, we tried to teach Jory to be self-sufficient, but my attempts at cooking lessons were futile. He loved eating, but was frustrated with the time it took for food preparation. He absolutely hated the clean-up component. Breakfast was his easiest meal, for he loved frozen waffles and simply popped them into the toaster every morning. For most of his adulthood, it was easier for him to eat out than to cook a real meal. In Norway, it was simply too expensive to eat out all the time, so he tried his hand at cooking. Frustration set in and he called me from Norway for help. Over Skype I tried to coach him as he attempted to cook, Fårikål, a Norwegian national dish that I had never heard of. The ingredients were cabbage and lamb, two things that I would never have put together.
“I put them both in a big pot with water and turned on the flame under the pot,” he began.
“How about salt and pepper?” I asked.
“I can add some,” Jory responded as he ran back and forth to his kitchen. “It’s starting to smell burnt!” he continued, “What should I do?”
“Check the water, Jory. You probably need more water. Put in lots of water and cover the pot with a lid. You should probably lower the flame so the food will cook slowly, “ I added.
There were several more Skype sessions as the cooking progressed. Finally, Jory called to say that the Fårikål was ready and he was going to eat it. He texted later to say that it was ok but he wouldn’t make it again.
“I learned my lesson. Fårikål was tasty the night I made it. Yesterday, though, it was rank and I had to dispose of the cabbage as quickly as humanly possible! This morning, however, I couldn't jettison the remains and clean the bowl out fast enough! Egads! I sure am glad I found a canister of baking soda for the fridge last week. I hope I can open my fridge once again soon,” wrote Jory.
With a smile and a giggle, Jory would have heartily agreed with his favorite stand-up comedian and social critic, George Carlin. “No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, you're screwed because it's all fixed and rigged. There is a club and you ain't in it.”
Jory. 2009
I am always engaged on projects of various kinds. One recent project was getting rid of my car and learning how to survive using just a bicycle & busses.
I am a member of my community and strive to see it constantly improve and thrive.
Jory January 13, 2015. From the admins at LinkedIn's Norway group:
"Based on carefully reading your profile, we are afraid you do not meet the criteria for membership to this group. As a result unfortunately, we had to decline your membership application. You need to document in your LinkedIn profile that you are either Norwegian, live in Norway, work for a Norwegian company or have any other strong affiliation to Norway."
Uh, yeah. So I live in Norway half the year, I speak Norwegian, I have an office in Norway, I'm starting a new business in Norway, and I work with a significant number of Norwegian game developers. Clearly I don't have a strong affiliation with Norway. And *clearly* you jackasses have read my profile carefully.
Jory Facebook—November 13, 2015
If I never speak with a phone company again, it'll be too soon. Fucking Telenor. Fucking Netcom. Telenor can't figure out how to not hang up on me or get my phone working. Fucking Netcom can't figure out how not to deplete my prepaid balance when I'm supposed to have a month of service prepaid. I fucking hate telephone companies. I'm *trying* to get a good data plan. That's the goal. But these assholes are costing me money just trying to get a fucking mobile plan at all. Because that's no different than being on pre-paid anything, and especially not different from being on pre-paid Netcom (which is the shit network One Call uses). I've had enough of not being capable of having international data when I go to a neighboring country simply because I'm still on pre-paid. And I've had it with Netcom's shit network that drains iPhone batteries at record speed.
Martha Elizabeth Ture
Thank you for sending this. I am happy to read it. Jory should be remembered also for the acute analysis he did of the town budget, which saved us money and revealed some dubious proposals. There was nothing funny or wacky about that. I have always thanked him for it.
Cindy Ross
As some of you know, in 2012 Jory wrote "The Puff Resolution" and the two of us presented it to the Fairfax Town Council.
Elaine Asa
As I have said before, Jory really knew which parents to choose. Both of your teaching skills and understanding of Jory were something to model for other parents. I’m sure that it wasn’t easy raising him because he set the bar very high. Jory continually refused to accept what didn’t make sense to him and fought for those things that he believed to be right. That’s a quality that most people don’t have and it’s a quality that many times tests not only parents but society but it’s a quality to be admired. Too few people stand by their principals. Again, thank you for sharing a part of your life with Jory and letting us get to know him.
Karen Herzog
It felt great to be with Jory again for a short while! How hilarious that the “stole the drum” tantrum was so poignant toward his future career!
Dee Nevares
I do not know which I love more, the story of the bass or the story of the double major.
Bobi Hirschbein
Another winner. Thank you for sharing.
Mike Rogers
Thank you for your new set of stories on Jory. I love reading them and learning more about Jory through these stories. His battles with Fairfax city hall were very interesting. I can see why he would have been very frustrated with those folks.
Judy Sowell
Enjoyed your latest Jory story.
Enjoyed your latest Jory story.
Fran Komansky
I religiously read your Jory posts. You are a wonderful writer!! Thank you for sharing.
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