Touchdown! and the fans go wild

OK sports fans the journey has begun, here's the recap. On Tuesday night I headed into NYC to catch Pearl Jam one last time before heading out. After what seemed like a sleepless night with only a weird drawn out jam session and conversation with Eddie Vetter to let me know I was dreaming, I headed to Newark and boarded my flight. Hung over with 2 hours of sleep, or jamming with Vetter under my belt, I sat in my seat and popped an Ambien for the first time. I figure if I land in Amsterdam at 8:30 local time, I can sleep the whole way and convince my body that it's been a whole night and negate the effects of jet lag. WRONG!! I now understand why the commercial recommends you have a full 8 hours to sleep. To my chagrin the pilot announced the flight time at 6 hours and 40 minutes, 30 seconds after I took the sucker.

So I landed in Amsterdam still a little loopy from the Ambien experiment and I took public transport to my buddy John Jakes' flat. I feel like I crammed a week long European vacation into 24 hours; did some walking around the city, ate some fries with mayo (Do you know what the call a quarterpounder with cheese at McDonald's there? Royale with Cheese.), we rented a boat and cruised the canals, went for a drink on top of a plush hotel with a view, caught the Russia v Spain "football" game at a bar with some rabid fans, hit a Turkish place for late night grub and I ended up passing out on an air mattress on the floor wasted just like the previous night after the Pearl Jam concert. Except this time I had no doubt I slept, it was one of those dreamless deep coma type of sleeps.

I haven't figured out the picture thing too well, but here's an attempt. Here's some pics from the canals.














So I woke up from my deep slumber in the morning and took the same public transportation in reverse back to the airport to hop a 9 hour flight to Cape Town (sans Ambien this time). My friend Iris set me up with her friend Paul who picked me up from the airport, took me to his flat to drop off my stuff. And like Jakes took me to the bar as my first stop. We went clubbing with a group of French ex-pats. After getting humiliated at a couple of games of foosball we hit the dance floor. The DJ was spinning the same songs I used to when I was 19. It was nostalgic and cheesy at the same time. The ugly American inner monologue in my head was laughing and saying, "Hey, in two years this white rapper named Eminem is going to come out and blow up the charts." And then, like the night before at Jakes' place...I crashed at Paul's, which brings me to right now.

I've been shot out of a cannon up to this point and now I am chilling. Paul is off playing paint ball, I just did not have it in me to crash at 2:30AM and wake up at 7:30AM to go shoot some Afrikaans with paint. I opted to sleep in, organize myself and write to you good folks. So here I am in Paul's computer room with his 2 really loud parrots (Hey shut up already!!!). I've been in Africa for about 15 hours and most of it has been in a bar. We're supposed to go surfing this afternoon with some of the French guys from last night. I'll be back shortly with my impressions on Cape Town. For now, I leave you with a view from Paul's balcony.

Crescendo

Oh..... my..... God

I can't believe I actually did it. AAAHHHHHHH HAAAAAAAAA HAA HA HA HA!!!

The storm before the calm

I hit the halfway point between leaving my job and leaving my life today. The past 2 weeks have been, have been...it's difficult to describe, kinda like catharsis meets "Holy Shit! I'm backpacking around the world!"

Did you ever have a moment in your life when you feel everything at the same time? There's the sadness of saying good-bye, the fear of what lies ahead. You've got the release and forgiveness thing going on coupled with reflection and introspection.

Then there's the thrill of pending adventure, the guilt of leaving friends and family, especially nephews who, aren't old enough to realize that you're leaving and won't recognize or remember you when you return.

Add to it the anxiety of getting every last thing buttoned up to sustain you out in the world as the clock ticks louder and louder while time runs out and everyone wants a few moments. Lastly, there's the overwhelming joy accompanied by dancing through your mother's house when you realize that you've broken orbit and you're free!!!!

So, here's a quick update. I...finally bought a camera, booked my trip to Hermanus to go shark diving on my birthday (July 3rd), figured out Skype, have all of the medical supplies I need, registered with the State Department so they know where I am, and set up communications and contingency plans just in case poop happens. I've got my absentee ballot, and I think I am almost ready to roll.

Thanks to all of you who've wished me well and shared kind words. I never would have anticipated the response I received. In closing, I want to share an interesting observation. Over the past 2-3 weeks I asked a bunch of people, "If you can wake up tomorrow and do anything you want, N...E....thing, what would it be?" Most responded by giving me a constraint that's preventing them from doing whatever "it" is, rather than answering the question I asked them. I found it interesting. I think it's an important question to ask yourself, people should ask it of themselves regularly. And they should answer it honestly, regardless of how long it takes to answer.
Next up Geronimo!