Whenever I travel, it seems to bring out the writer in me. I guess I would attribute it to the fact of getting away from 'reality', and finding space to let my mind wander, let my creativity flow. Then I get home, flip on the TV and somehow convince myself that I care about whether or not the Trailblazers win the game, and who's on Colbert tonight? I got the strong hit, this time out that I want it to be different, so might as well start now, eh?
I'm so tired at the moment that my body hurts. I'm tending to cramp up in my legs and calves, my eyes are crinkly, throat a bit sore, and I'm damn happy all the same. The workshops today were about as good as I could have hoped for. I showed up an hour before I was to go on, and found out that they had me scheduled to play at Studio One in the Hult Center, which is a perfect venue for what I wanted to do. The room is the right size, and the tech is good. A bunch of people showed up for each workshop, and the response was great. I pulled it off, and that feels fantastic (in spite of the cramped calves, sore throat etc. I'll get a bunch of work out of these presentations, and I sold 40 CDs, which makes it a payday.
But more than that, it was the idea that I could travel for about 48 hours, not sleep much at all during that time and somehow have the juice to do the work and get the response. I guess I have some pride about that... tired pride, but pride none the less, hopefully the good kind.
And after my second workshop, I hung around to make it through the buffet line, (come on, people, I'm a musician, if there's a free meal to be had...) That way I don't have to go shopping yet, and can put it off until tomorrow. Actually the conference still goes on tomorrow, and with my presenter's badge I can eat then too, and I probably will, thank you very much. It's also good to make those connections with teachers all over the northwest. Wow, culture shock, I'm back home in the rain and cold after steaming in Chiang Mai.
M called me up out of the blue today, what a trip! The timing was perfect as I was waiting on the dessert line, so I stepped outside and had a nice talk with her. She had just finished her shift and was going out for some noodle soup at 3am, while it was midday here in Oregon. I think it's cheap for her to call the states, so that was a surprise. I'll need to do some thinking about how to respond to her from here. I know that she'd like me to promise to return at a certain time, but I'll need a little time and distance to make the right move at this point. To be continued.
My room is a bit of a disaster, but I don't have the energy to deal with it. There is a woman staying here named Megan, who was housesitting for us, and she moved a bunch of my stuff out of the living room into my bedroom so there would be more space for her to operate in her power wheelchair. All good, but I need to sort stuff out, both physically and mentally, and now that the conference is out of the way, there is some time ahead for sorting. and who knows, I may even go food shopping.... (if I have to) Where's the rice soup for a buck that I've been living on for months? I love it.
Well if I'm going to keep writing this blog, I better give myself some interesting things to do, otherwise we'll all be bored. So that will be the plan for now... finding a way to keep the creativity flowing, rather than backsliding into the media bubble. I'll try...
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