Like a Bee, I Tell Ya, Like a Bee.

1. Working. Somehow I landed a gig as the consulting content strategist for the Gates Foundation website redesign. It’s not particularly easy and they’re demanding, but it’s an amazing project to work on. The folks I spend time with at the Foundation are whip smart and quick witted and genuinely likeable. When I walk through the door, it’s like walking into a beautiful future where everyone cares about making the world a better place and there’s always juice and snacks. It’s crazy to think that across the pond there’s a company founded by the same guy  — working there felt like the antithesis of what I’m doing now. Thanks for setting me free from that, you know who you are.

2. Writing. I’m working on a book, a full length book. I hit the 10,000 word count this morning, and to my utter glee that auspicious word was ukulele. No joke. What’s it about? It’s a memoir about travel and music and oh, a bunch of things. Yes, I know I said I was content parked in that 1200 word essay slot, but that’s because I didn’t have the idea that I have now. I write for an hour on the mornings when I don’t have to be in meetings, longer if inspiration and time permit. I’m doing about 1000 words a day, five days a week. It’s going well, thank you, and if you want more details, ask me when you see me in person, I’m increasingly able to talk about it. I’ll see about an agent and a real proposal and all that, but not yet. I am writing, I’ll worry about marketing when I’m confident I have something solid to market.  Back off, you know who you are.

3. Rocking. I pretty much can’t shut up about how much fun I’m having making music. It took about three months of intermittent recording sessions and our bass player’s magic at the mixing console, but we’re nearly ready to let a six track sampler out into the wild. I’m nothing short of fucking thrilled about this, and yes, that emphatic profanity is required because have you recorded an EP? If you have, you may perchance remember what your first one was like. Having the files sitting on my hard drive mitigates my painful coming to terms with the fact that god dammit, the guys in the band are seeing other musicians, too. Rock and roll is going to break my heart, and I’m sure that’s how it’s supposed to be. I take solace in knowing that our combo has to be collectively better looking, smarter, more creative, and just more fun than anything else those guys are doing when we’re not all together. That’s my story, I’m sticking to it. Shut up and play, you know who you are.
4. Doing good. Our fundraiser, Passports with Purpose, is entering year five and we have some huge news on the horizon. (Don’t know what PwP is? In short, we activated bloggers and funded a school in Cambodia, housing for 25 families in India, and two libraries in Zambia.) We’ve been biting our tongues for about a month now and I’ll be glad when we can stop doing that. I’ll say that I’ve been toying with the idea of wearing a band t-shirt for the video… oh, I’ve said too much. As part this change and growth, I’ve been breaking the PwP website something fierce while I prep the information to be more effective for 2012 and making my cohorts crazy with that. Bear with me, you know who you are.

5. Staying home. As you might imagine, all this leaves almost no time to go anywhere. You might think I’d get cabin fever or be frustrated by this, but check it out, I was on five continents last year, five — and on some islands in the middle of the Pacific.  The travel I did last year was a lifetime’s worth for some people, so I do not feel the least bit ambivalent about being right here in Seattle. People keep saying things to me like “It’s okay, I’m sure you’ll get back on the road soon,” but that implies that I need to be in motion to be happy. That’s just not so. I get up in the morning feeling like a freaking rock star in all kinds of ways, literally, figuratively… If you need to be continually on the go to be satisfied with your life, well, go on with your bad self, but don’t assume that things are not mega awesome just because I haven’t been on long haul flight recently. Quite the contrary, friends, quite the contrary, and I hope you are having your own personal renaissance, you know who you are.