7C’s or 7 Open Mics?: You Say You Want a Resolution? (On Rotations)
Do you ever have one of those weeks when you feel like you just need to hit the pause button? You step back and ask yourself, “WTH am I trying to do, be, or accomplish here?”
I’ve been having one of those weeks.
Eight Days a Week, as Ringo might put it.
In today’s article, I want to spell some of that out for you.
One of the core ideas behind this blog, from the very beginning, was to experience the world, city by city. To do a deep dive into a particular place by experiencing all it has to offer. This is the “7C’s” Strategy:
Check out the Cool Town—its shops, tourist attractions, and unique features.
Investigate the Creatures it tells myths about (Squatch? Nessie? Aliens? Ghosts?).
Learn about its music history and Creative “geniuses” (e.g., Aberdeen, WA has become synonymous with Kurt Cobain and the start of Nirvana).
Sample its Coffeehouses…do they also play live music there?
Sample its Craft Breweries & Bars…do they play live music, too?
Perform a mini Concert at an open mic. (I have zero gigs planned or booked, and I’m not even sure when that will become a real possibility…)
Get to know Cool people, and hear about their life stories and attempts to get onto their own version of a Highway to Yeah.
It’s a great concept.
And I find it overwhelming.
When I was in the Southeast, I made “plans” to visit seven places four times during the summer. I might still be able to do that, but it is seeming impossible now.
Those locations were:
Victoria, BC
Port Angeles, WA
Port Townsend, WA
Gig Harbor, WA
Olympia, WA
Astoria, OR (and/or Cannon Beach, OR to Ocean Park, WA if open mics are going on)
“Wild Card”…perhaps Bellingham, WA. Perhaps just a local-to-me spot.
I have been to Bellingham, one time. I have about twelve more weeks to go before October.
That said, since the first day of summer, June 21, I have been to five different open mics now, and all of them are near water (the Seas part of the 7C’s—not completely necessary, but nice when you can combine it with the seven Cool Towns).
Bellingham – Aslan Depot
Kingston – Hood Canal Brewery
Manchester – Manchester Pub
Port Orchard – Brick House Bar & Grill
Port Orchard – Damn Fine Pizza (loved their ode to Twin Peaks/David Lynch)
Tonight I have the option of going to Kingston or Port Orchard again.
In Port Orchard there are two open mics. One I’ve already been to and one I haven’t.
and my gut is saying to go back to the one I’ve already played. That would make two out of my planned four performances there. Save the “new” open mic for a different 7C town.
So if I start counting four open mic appearances as four visits to a 7C…I might hit my goal.
Sort of.
Kind of.
I was going to go to Bellingham for the week, Sunday through Thursday, because I learned there’s an open mic there each of those nights. Four open mics. One cool city.
But then I remembered I have a very early doctor’s appointment Thursday morning. That meant getting up around 4:00 a.m. to drive back, assuming everything went perfectly.
So I decided to postpone it until a week when I don’t have that constraint.
7C’s…there are plans, and then there’s reality.
I’m learning.
And that’s a good thing.
Which brings me to the second part of this article: seeking more resolution on rotations.
What has been taking up a lot of my mind-space is the bi-coastal lifestyle I’ve set up and how I want to approach it over the next ten months.
Yesterday I had about an hour-long conversation with a dear colleague and friend from my corporate flunky days.
She has now achieved what I would call Barista FIRE. She no longer works for one company. Instead, she’s doing consulting work with organizations, helping them improve their organizational effectiveness and hiring decisions.
Her husband and she also have a second home, and we spent part of the conversation discussing how that arrangement works.
Here’s the learning in a nutshell:
Their second home is in Hawaii, which obviously requires flying back and forth.
They spend about two months there during the summer, then return for another couple of months around the holidays. So roughly four to five months in Hawaii and seven-plus months at their primary home.
They’ve been doing this since the pandemic.
She said it’s getting a little old, although they may begin spending even more time there now that her husband is about to become FIRE, too.
They bought an inexpensive car to keep there.
They have family near their primary home who can help keep an eye on things while they’re away.
Bottom line, it’s a beautiful thing they get to do, and it was fascinating to hear how similar our experiences have been.
I can drive between my two locations, but I’ve certainly been considering eventually getting a second vehicle and flying back and forth instead.
They’ve duplicated almost everything in each location, and I’ve been gradually doing the same. Not 100% yet, but it definitely makes things easier.
It’s a bit like what I described earlier this week in Actively Imagining Sailing Vessel Delos.
They were always pulling up anchor and heading toward the next destination.
Luckily, there were usually four to eight people making up the crew, sharing the adventure.
But imagine doing that as a couple—or like me, as a single guy—moving from place to place.
It’s similar, but perhaps more or less compelling…depending on a lot of factors.
Do you see the similarities between going to open mics and rotating the places you live?
One is the microcosm.
The other is the macrocosm.
In both cases, you’re continually becoming the new person who arrives.
Both are exhilarating.
Both are taxing.
And lately I’ve found myself somewhat consumed trying to determine my next most important steps.
It is a luxury I don’t take for granted.
I spent so many years following the same daily and weekly cadence.
Up at 4:00 a.m.
Out the door at 6:00 to commute.
Home around 7:00 p.m.
Eat.
Relax.
Bed by 9:00 or 10:00.
Repeat.
Weekends meant exercise, work on my PhD, write songs, and hang out with my girlfriend at the same familiar restaurants.
It was comfortable.
But it was also monotonous and very predictable.
Which would I choose now?
There is no contest.
How about you?
Nomad or homebody?
How do you know?
What would you do if you had the opportunities I’ve described here?