lovebeard

(Author's note: This posting is not about China at all. Sometimes travelling gives you a chance to think about where you came from, and it's just as important for that reason as any other.)

Opportunities come and go every day. Some we take, some we pass up, and these can be good or bad decisions in either situation. About two weeks before I left Korea, I half-drunkenly mentioned to my friend (who we will call "Upsayo") that it was too bad we had never started a band and didn't have any time left to. He called me the next day not suggesting so much as demanding that we put together a show before I left. This was one of the opportunities I didn't pass up.

Despite the fact that my final two weeks were already a little booked with entertaining Taylor's mom for a week while Taylor finished her classes, entertaining BOTH of our mom's for an additional week, moving out of my apartment, planning and arranging all the logistics for a four month trip to China and Southeast Asia, writing a manual of how to perform my job, and tying up loose odds and ends, I managed to squeeze in time for band practice. These were always after 10:00 at night on quiet nights at the bar where we would have our "final" show. It was difficult, exhausting, but extremely enjoyable. Miraculously, we managed to put together a full set in just four practices, and pulled off a show the Saturday before my departure.

The reason I mention it (aside from wanting to show off (videos can be found here) and give some proper credit to Upsayo (as well as Snake James)) is to encourage everyone to take a chance sometime on something that sounds crazy, difficult, or just plain too much. I've passed up a lot of things in my life because I was too busy, too tired, too grumpy, etc. Many of these I'm happy I passed up. But this experience was one that I could just feel was worth it, and I gained a whole new dimension of friendship, musical experience, and rockstardom by taking the crazy chance.