Change of Plans

As part of our 30 day blog challenge, tonight’s topic was supposed to be about being a champion. I thought it would be a good fit given the BCS National Championship game is being played tonight. Truth be told, however, the topic is actually quite lame.

I was going to write about the experiences I remember as a child of winning league championships in football. I played four years for the Boys Club in Miami, and we won our league championship three years in a row. I was then going to transition to the blog I wrote about my son’s recreation league basketball team winning the championship a couple of years ago, and how watching him win felt better and was so much more rewarding than when I was his age and playing ball.

Still, as I sat down to write, I just didn’t “feel it”. I just didn’t find that groove I thought would come so naturally for me and this subject. That’s probably because my mind is still lost at sea. Lee and I just returned from our annual voyage on The Rock Boat, and it was such an excellent vacation that’s left me on such an amazing high. It’s not something I come off easily - nor would I want to - and I am still feeling blissful about the stellar memories I’ve just recently etch into my brain.

So I am going to completely ignore today’s topic and instead just rattle off some things I learned aboard this year’s cruise. At first, I was going to compile a numbered list. The more I thought about it, however, the more I figured I would just list thought after thought and see where we end up.

With that being said, I present to you my thoughts, observations, and random mind-clutter from The Rock Boat XI. (Warning: These memories are all over the place - happy, sad, funny, and weird - and go way past eleven)

• A drunken person will tend to do stupid things. A collection of drunken people will tend to do really, really stupid things.
• It’s okay to be late to the party. For years now, I’ve felt like I was missing out on something with regards to what my friends were saying. Finally, I had my breakthrough moment: Will Hoge is *bleeping* amazing.
• If I had to do it all again (career-wise), I’d make sure I ended up working for Sixthman.
• Smuggling booze on board DRAMATICALLY reduces the final total on your sail and sign card account (just say’n).
• There are guys on The Rock Boat that CAN walk around with no shirts on and then there are guys who can’t. I fall into the latter.
• Being able to just hang out, have a conversation, and share a drink with a musical artist is, value-wise, worth every last penny of whatever it costs to book a cabin. It’s all about the experience, people.
• Hearing two performers sing in perfect harmony must be what angels sound like.
• Live music can unite strangers, heal old wounds, give hope to the saddened, and reduce a grown man to tears. If you don’t believe in magic, it’s probably because you’re not listening.
• The phrase, “You don’t want to grab a guy’s junk via proxy” is one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard uttered in a bathroom. (Don’t ask …. you had to be there).
• Cap guns can be quite the attention getter.
• It’s possible to get goose-bumps on top of your goose-bumps.
• The age of digital photography is equally convenient as it is dangerous.
• Do not drink tequila that comes from a plastic bottle.
• Social media continues to make the world a smaller and smaller place. I was asked three times in line if I was @danaCreative. This was both kinda’ cool and kinda’ creepy, but mostly cool.
• Not sitting in the front row as Toby Lightman sings her song ‘Front Row’ is akin to watching the girl you’ve been crushing on kiss another guy.
• The idea of relaxing in a hot tub is great until you think about everyone else who’s been in the hot tub. Two words: Petri dish.
• Watching Aslyn sing ‘Wally’ on the Serenity Deck as the sun was setting and the waves were her back drop was literally breath taking. I think time stood still for a moment.
• It’s humbling to be able to ‘be there’ for friends. The beauty about the music community in which Lee and I partake is we get to interact with so many wonderful people, and every now and then we get to experience something deep and real.
• God doesn’t send memos. He simply presents you with a situation and challenges you to take action.
• There are few things in life that are better than Rock Boat pizza at 3:00 AM
• Inspiration is all around us at all time. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of just stopping and taking notes of what it is you’re seeing, feeling and experiencing.
• Sister Hazel still is, and forever will be, simply amazing.
• It is possible to meet someone in person for the first time after having known them for over four years but having it feel as if you’ve known them your whole life. I can’t put into words how amazing that feeling is.
• God works in mysterious ways, specifically in lyrics.
• God is a music fan.

I am sure there will be many, many more I’ll remember in the coming days, but this will have to do for now. Given this was supposed to be an entry about being a champion or being the best, I hope I didn’t fail with my ‘from the hip’ approach.

As for being the best, I can say without equivocation the team at Sixthman is the absolute best at creating experiences that will last a lifetime. They are the best at what they do, and they make it all seem so effortless. There’s no putting into words the positive impact this fun group of people have on the lives of others, and when it comes to creating something uniquely special, Sixthman definitely comes in first place.

Are We There Yet?

I’m not living if I’m not looking ahead to some thing or to some event. That’s just me. I know I need to stop and smell the roses more often, and I need to appreciate the here and now; but I totally get off on that giddy feeling of planning something exciting and the days leading up to it.

Holidays are great. Musical acts coming into town are awesome. Kids’ sporting events are a lot of fun. I get to add those to my calendar and be reminded the purpose of getting through the work week is so that I can enjoy those moments of celebration, exaltation, and, as was the case last night, inebriation.

Still nothing quite compares to the trip on which Lee and I embark this afternoon. It’s an annual get-together with hundreds of our closest friends - which really are like family now - and we all pile aboard this ship and listen to music and drink and celebrate life and drink and share in the power of the musical spirit …. and drink. This get-together is a little thing we like to call The Rock Boat, and this annual floating music festival gets me amped up like nothing else.

Speaking of amped, this is the eleventh year of the cruise and the theme for the event is ‘Going to 11’. Like the rockers from ‘This is Spinal Tap’, this cruise goes that extra push over the cliff and all the way to eleven! As far as the cruising is concerned, the folks at Sixthman, the affinity travel company that puts on the event, have added a wrinkle to the party and have not yet announced to where we’ll be sailing. It really doesn’t matter. The ship could stay in the Port of Tampa all four days and it will still be the best vacation ever.

There’s something absolutely exhilarating about allowing yourself to be consumed by live music and sharing that experience with the people you love. In a nutshell, that is why I get so excited with anticipation for the Boat. In fact, I am telling myself to type faster so I can wrap up this posting and get going to the port.

Excitement is a good thing. I do concede it needs to be balanced (didn’t we just talk about that?) with allowing yourself to absorb the experience you’ve been looking forward to. It’s not like I am going to spend four days on the ship thinking about the next event I’ll be attending. Still, the rush of ‘are we there yet?’ makes it that much better.

As we’re still in the season of the New Year, I hope that you have a wonderful and exciting 2011 planned for yourself. Part of what makes us feel alive is wondering what life has in store for us next.