Is it weird that I’m sitting indoors wearing my converse hoodie… with the hood up?

It’s just that this thing is so darn cozy; that and it’s kind of chilly in here. I’ve even got the sleeves pulled up over my hands.

I should turn the air conditioner off… but then the cozy factor goes away.

Nevertheless. 

I actually slept last night, would you believe it?

My body was telling me I needed it all day long yesterday. So much so that I could barely think straight. It makes sense, I suppose, since I was up for three days straight.

Last night I was supposed to attend a friends birthday festivities over in the Brentwood area. I was looking forward to a little gathering… and cake. Sadly, I was so zonked I had to let them know that I wouldn’t be able to make it over. I finished sending out a few client emails (my third job is a graphic designer) and pulled up a corner of the couch to die on. I flipped on the TV because I really wanted to relax a bit and watch something interesting before falling asleep. I rolled through my typical selections.

• History Channel… nothing interesting.
• NatGeo Channel… some bizarre thing about druids that sounded cool, but ended up looking like a 12 year old did it. 
• Military Channel… too many people dying.
• PBS… something about… “your mom was a ballerina”.
• Science Channel… something beyond my interest and over my taped up glasses.

Before having to settle for a mind-numbing re-run I clicked over to the movie channels. I hit the family movie network just as ‘Made of Honor’ had begun. Yes, I must confess, I left it there thinking, “eh, this might be funny.” 

Within minutes I rolled over facing the back of the couch. And when you do that, you know it’s over. I was asleep within minutes. The next thing I recalled was waking up around 9:30pm hearing Danny Elfman’s “This Is Halloween” blasting the walls as ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ was now playing. Apparently, that’s a good follow up to ‘Made of Honor’. I quickly shut the TV off and drug my half asleep leg down the hall and collapsed in ye olde sleigh bed before I could regain consciousness. 

My eyes opened and saw the light of dawn entering the room.

My ears heard the sound of a hundred birds singing.

Could it be? Did I really sleep through the night? I was pretty elated at the thought. I rolled over and turned on the iPhone.

6:15am.

Miracles do happen.

I laid there for a good 30 minutes and said my morning prayers of thanksgiving before shaking the sleep out of my eyes. I hadn’t slept that long in ages. For the most part it felt pretty good, with the exception of my back killing me from being still for so long. Perhaps I should mix the traction therapy and sleeping? 

I showered (Become a fan). Dressed myself. And headed down the street to grab a coffee before needing to pick up a friend of mine at an auto repair shop and run him back home to Cool Springs. 

I pulled into the Starbucks on West End, next to Rumba, where the traffic was like the top of a cliff with a million lemmings awaiting their turn to jump off. I found a snug little parking spot just as someone was leaving.

I gotta tell ya, the sight of that many people in desperate need of their morning shot of coffee - before their morning shot of coffee - is one to behold.

At least coffee is still legal.

I approached the musician at the counter, I mean - barista, and placed my order for the usual. 

Black and White Peppermint Mocha.

Yeah, even though it’s summer I’m still holding on strong. Cold coffee in the morning doesn’t sound right, ever. I waited for my drink - received it - thanked the dude (Become a fan) - and found one vacant cozy chair in the corner. Pulling out a magazine, purchased a few days back, I took a seat and began to read. 

Only a few things will provoke me to purchase a magazine. A Photoshop design that I’m dying to figure out how to create, an article on U2 or… anything Johnny Depp (Become a fan). Out of a VERY short list of people who inspire me to aspire -he’s at the top. In my book he’s done it all right. [Please save your emails about how I shouldn't promote people who don't line up with your expectations, the last time I talked about Elvis I received a backlashing lesson on what a horrible human he was, whatever - save it.] 

The article in hand was titled “Johnny Depp’s Great Escape”. Everything I read sounded ideal and picturesque. Like something out of a movie, of course. Depp owns a 45 acre private Bahamian island. File that under “things that don’t suck”.

Let me take an excerpt out of the article for you:

A wind gong vibrates. Tiki torches flicker in the shadows. Depp raises a daquiri glass and toasts the parting sun with Havana rum. 

 

Sounds like my kind of break after working for a year on the film ‘Public Enemies’. Depp also owns a yacht he so aptly named Vajoliroja, after the first two letters of the names of his four family members. I’ll shut up about all-things-Depp, and if you’re as intrigued as I am - go grab the magazine. 

After reading about such amazing accomplishments, and the reward that comes with such hard work and dedication, I closed the magazine. Letting out a huge sigh I thought to myself how nice that must be to finally see the fruits of your labour.  

“In due time.”

I then quickly thought through all of the things I still had to do to get to the place I want to be, ten years closer then when I started - yet still quite a ways to go. Rather than be overwhelmed I decided the next best thing to do was…go pick up Mike from the auto repair shop before I was late.

Nothing eventful on the drive to Cool Springs and back - just processing. 

I arrived home with enough time to hash out a few emails and edit through the photos I took of Cameron in New York so that he could have them on a disc. I met up with Cam around 1pm and we walked down to MAFIAoZA’s pizza on 12th South - only to find they weren’t open until 2pm.

Not feeling adventurous enough to wander the streets looking for a new spot to eat at we nestled into the Frothy Monkey. It was funny to see a sandwich on the menu dubbed Ned, named appropriately after the small ski town my parents live in above Boulder, Colorado.

I went with the Starla, I believe, turkey with romaine on wheat. Good enough. We found a seat just as someone came barreling in jabbering about tornado sirens and swirling clouds. OF COURSE I had to run outside to have a look-see.  Sure enough, blasting annoying noises and killer clouds above. As the rain began to fall and the lightning flashed I headed inside to eat. Keeping that o’ so weathered eye on the windows. 

The building we were in was basically made out of paper, Cameron assured me that they had a basement the matron of the cash register said we could go into if necessary. I finished my meal as Cam and I began to discuss the few changes that needed to be added to the website write-up, also known as “the controversial biography”. I loved it the way it was but a few too many people, who know what they are doing, insisted that a few more of the “gloating accolades” needed to be inserted.

So I finally agreed. 

As the streets began to flood and the need to stay inside, wherefore to remain dry and on solid ground, continued. After having such an incredible week in Manhattan, stress free and drama free, we decided we’d made pretty swell travel mates and should move on to greater heights… So we moved our thoughts to Europe. 

Cameron had previously sent me a laid out plan for the cities he wanted to revisit and visit for the first time - this time around. I myself have never been to Europe so I pretty much said, “Yeah, whatever - I want to see it all.”

I made certain that Ireland was on our list.

We looked through websites and photos of all the spots and checked an online map of the routes and countries. I was getting so excited I wouldn’t let myself speak for fear of my voice crackling out of said excitement. 

Cameron, a close friend of mine, is leaving the states for a total of two years as he has joined the Foreign Legion Peace Corps. He will be teaching English in Cape Verde, a small island off the central coast of Africa. Ideally we want to take this trip next Summer while he is on break. However, if it doesn’t happen for another two years I’ll be alright with that.

Our plan is to meet up in Morocco. Could you imagine?

Wow.

I can’t wait to see the world. I’ve been locked in the states for far too long. We will be roughing it again, staying in hostels and backpacking on trains and such, but I will still need to save up quite a bit for expenditures. All whilst saving up for production costs on this new album. It never ends.

That’s why we set goals, people. You can’t climb the mountain if you aren’t even standing at the bottom of it.

The rains let up enough for us to walk back to Linden Street. So we did.

I arrived at my car and had to make a client call before arriving home. After l left a voicemail I turned up my radio and proceeded to drive taking in the storm around me. I can’t believe how hard these storms can blow through here. Trees torn up left and right. Definitely something I am still getting used to having lived in Nashville almost two years - approaching that mark this July. 

When I’m driving in my car and not on the phone (hands-free) I am listening to one of four things.

• Silence.
• The XM/Sirius classical channel.
• The XM/Sirius singers/standards channel.
• Wearing grooves into the latest album of my addiction. 

Today it was option two. I often see life around me as I would shoot it in movie form, putting music to it in my head. Today I didn’t have to do the later. The song that was playing fit the mood and atmosphere so perfect it was eerie. The song went on for over 7 minutes and was absolute heaven. Matching the winds and the rains almost as if it were choreographed. I pulled in the driveway of the Hollow and listened to the last minute of the song hoping to God that someone would conclude with the title and composer. I tried the Shazam App on my iPhone… it didn’t recognize it. Not cultured enough I suppose. 

Lo and behold a guttural portly fellow came on the air and chimed out so quickly the name of the composer and song title that I needed more than a decoder ring to decipher his mumblings. 

Luckily, I had just that something.

I had set the iTalk App to record the last 5 minutes of the song and capture said fellow speaking at the end. I came in the house using it, iTunes and Google to discover the song online.

Sadly, it could only be purchased from a niche website in some dudes basement. Which I may do at some point. I did find the same song, done differently, by another composer and symphony orchestra and downloaded that one, it’s close - but not the same. It was good enough to go through all of the trouble tracking it down.

Yes, yes. I’ll tell you what it was.

The title was simply “Nocturne” to which I believe there are three parts. It was written by Claude Debussy and performed by, are you ready? Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the May Festival Female Chorus.

Mouthful. 

Next time you are caught in that standard tornado, download it - press play and dream of someday visiting Europe.

Someday soon.