Keeping it up

Well, it’s now the 18th of August, and I still don’t have anything lined up in New York yet. I’m still going to buy my airline ticket, though, and work out shipping the piano, etc.. I’m thinking I’ll make it up to burning man for the last two days of the festival. They’re the ones when everything burns, anyway. My hope is to get out to New York, join the protests of the Republican Convention (i think it’s important for the rest of the country to see there are a LOT of people who are dissatisfied (to put it lightly) with the Bush Administration. Frankly, I feel so alienated by and disappointed in Bush that the LEAST I can do is dig deeper into my pockets and go out and exercise the rights that many in my family have (and are) prepared to give their lives for.

I am choosing to go in honor of them. I don’t want to see them sent to a war that the entire planet was against and that was based on essentially lies, manipulations and deceit. They can’t (and wouldnt’ say) “No, thanks, country. I’m not going to follow orders from my commander-in-chief”. Many people would beg them to reconsider, but I understand their commitment to an orderly military, part of which is taking orders you may not agree with. From their perspective, I understand. On the other hand, it’s almost ALWAYS a political decision to send them into harm’s way. Which is to say, that there’s always more to the picture than is met by the eye.

I definitely believe there are ulterior motives for invading Iraq. Some of which have to do with oil. I think it’s also clear that we have created a “need” to have a stronger military presence in the Middle East, although that was certainly never stated. Nor is it ever addressed that our foreign policy (especially in the last 3 years) has done more to fan the flames of whatever threat is there than ever. “Liberating Iraq” (which was never a stated goal in the first place), I believe, has made the middle east WAY more unstable, has polarized even further and created ever more incentive for terrorists to recruit.

I do not feel the world is a safe place with GeeDub. I think Kerry will be a more conscious statesman than Bush could ever be. Even if the middle east situation doesn’t dramatically improve, at least we’ll have a better relationship with the rest of the world. And that oughta translate into a more broadly shared responsibility for overall global security.

That’s why I’m going to New York. What good would it do to sit back and complain in San Francisco? I can vote myself silly out here, but things are SO bad, in my opinion, that I have a civic responsibility to say and do something beyond casting a single vote.

So I’m going to do my best to line up gigs playing music out there. It’s down to the wire, and people are frantic. New York is a pretty chaotic place as it is. Trying to plan protests of half a million people? Fuggedaboudit.

I’ve been getting a pretty consistent message this week. Keep on the ball. One of the big lessons I’ve learned so far (and has been repeated to me in the form of many a conversation in the last few days) is that the way to make your dreams real is to a) be clear about what the dream is, b) do whatever there is to do in the moment. That’s pretty much it. The rest takes care of itself (when you’re on the Right Path). The trick is to Do Whatever There Is To Do In The Moment. This is called keeping on the ball.

I get a sense of “feedback” from Life when I’m getting a lot of things done. LIfe gets a little bigger. The opportunities grow commensurately. The notion of “Getting out of it what you put into it” seems like a post-Depression era slogan, but there’s apparently quite a bit of truth to it.

So my job this week is to stay on the ball. Get done what I need to get done. The BIG challenge for me is that I’m really lacking space to write music. I’ve been spending a lot of energy completing my move, getting DSL set up, etc.., as well as needing to generate some extra income. Not to mention trying to line up performance opportunities on the other side of hte continent. I’m missing the creative headspace. But… this is what’s up for me right now. There’ll always be time to carve out to write. There’s only 76 days until one of the most important elections of my lifetime.