Don’t Burn The Day

Many have asked me when was the exact moment the thought of picking up and leaving NYC for a life abroad had kicked into my cranium. Truth is, I’ve always wanted to live abroad a bit. I love America and the entitled opportunities that come with being an American but my travels have always taught me so much more about myself, true meaning of living, and deeper understanding of what it means to be an American (the good and the bad – but I will save this discussion for another post).

Not too long ago, a friend (Shout out to Sharon!) had passed around a quote to my fellow open-minded, traveler-friends:

“The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G.K. Chesterton

So true, so true! Whenever I travel, I love to buddy and chummy up with the locals for the real scoop – whether it is where to eat, where to grab a drink, where to hear good music, where to party, where to shop, where to escape etc. I’m curious by nature. I like to probe. I like to be wow’ed. I like to compare/contrast stories and ideals, since this is really the only way to test my own universal knowledge in addition to be open to gaining more. Knowledge = Power.

So when did this bulb hover over my head and decide to illuminate itself through my bones? – Saturday, October 27, 2007.

I was out in Storrs, CT, to run a promotional event for Sony Ericcson’s w580i walkman phone (at the South Florida vs. UCONN football game – my very first ummm tailgating experience.) The day started off as a damper… literally… as grey clouds loomed and spat on us throughout the day with testy winds. I don’t do rain, and I don’t do rain and wind combos. But for the most part, mother nature pitied and saved the real downpours for when we were wrapping up the day’s event. I was able to live with this. Plus, my staff was awesome to work with and super cooperative and were troopers to meet our day’s goals, especially under the weathering circumstances. But overall, I personally was in a dizzy. I knew my contract was ending the following week with possibility of extension, but was not 100% locked in (on my part and theirs). I truthfully, was pulling my hair at the thought of having to wake up and know that I had some stupid powerpoint slide or some stupid client issue to look forward to in my day. I knew I personally didn’t vibe with the 9-5ers either. They were nice folks and all, but there was a disconnect. They had the passion for it all – something that was lacking on my part. I was almost envious of their gusto because I know how that feeling can be so rewarding; I lived it when I was working with music. But in the end, all of which I was doing in agency life was meaningless to me. I hated the feeling and knew I needed a fix – FAST!

So, it was about 4:30pm and I was aiming to catch the 4:50pm Amtrak back to NYC. As I was in line to switch up my ticket to an earlier train, I received a call from a friend, Rico, who I hadn’t heard from for a little while. We shot the shit since I had time to kill, while waiting for the train. He then received a call on his other line from a mutual friend, Jodi, and I encouraged, of course, a 3-way convo. Again, I had time to kill and here were 2 perfect victims to keep me entertained as I waited, LOL!

In any case, the platform discussion commenced. R told me that he was planning on living in Brazil in the ‘08 and J was talking about finally pursuing grad school. Though I was happy for J to take the next step with higher education, I was more interested about how R was gonna live in freakin’ Brazil (sorry J, ). But really, I more/less asked, “How the hell are you gonna live in Brazil?!?” His response: “I’m going thru this program to teach English abroad.” DING! DING! DING! My keen logic-meter went off the charts. A PROGRAM that TRAINS and CERTIFIES English teachers. Ahhhhh! HA! This was the light I needed to permeate through the dismal, damp dizzies I had been feeling all day long! (A couple days prior, I had re-acquainted with a college friend who I found out was living in South Korea via teaching English, but he did it on the total whim/no certification style.) But THIS… THIS “PROGRAM” got me all sorts of intrigued and excited.

I went home that night and started my intensely focused search on varying programs that would turn this desire of fulfilling my travel jones – a reality. I knew I wanted to do this; I wanted to do this ASAP; and I was in a position where not much would hold me back. (“I ain’t got no kids” etc) I honestly hadn’t felt this excited since my very first internship at Arista Records. (See “The Good Ol’ Days“) After much homework, I narrowed my search between Oxford Seminars and Global Tesol. The training schedule with the latter program was a better match and for that simple reason I opted with Global Tesol, in addition to the optional practicum portion of the course which I thought would be a great training bonus.

Next thing I know, 2 weeks into November, I was enrolled! At the same time, I picked up another contract scenario with a book publishing company to oversee marketing efforts in support of medical/political thriller, Capitol Reflections (which actually is a really well written novel by epidemiologist and former Senior Health Advisor during both Bush & Clinton administrations, Dr. Jonathan Javitt; subject matter: genetically engineered foods).

Thanksgiving passed and I was participating in my 5-day intensive training seminar. Sunday, December 2nd – I was officially certified. I spent my 1st and 2nd weeks of December outlining a timeline and had set the end of February to be my end date in NYC… And here I am now… leaving in a week!!!

What can I say, I was/AM FOCUSED man!

So there ya have it!

From the dark side of even a dreary day spent outdoors, we can see a glow of something bright…even if found on a train platform.

. . don’t burn the day. .