Green Room - Week 17 - Day 7
Feb. 26th, 2019 08:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
clauderainsrm posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
therealljidolYour topics are right over here: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1044767.html
Your explanation of what Gary is doing is right here, in this post.
Those of you who follow me over on FB, I'm posting about this tomorrow. So this is a sneak peak. I'd appreciate it not being mentioned until I tell them,
All of the clues have been out there for some time. I've even mentioned it to a couple people. But I've been trying to mostly play it close to my chest, because this is genuinely something that is *exciting* to me. I know it won't be for a lot of people. But I hope anyone who is reading this *here*, who has been around Idol for any length of time, will appreciate it.
One of the, many, interesting things about this people and the people who populate it is the diversity. Maybe not in gender. ;) (although there is some) But definitely in the lives that they lead. There are some folks here who travel the world on a regular (or semi-regular) basis. Sometimes for work. Sometimes for fun. Or I know one person who, because she can, travels halfway across the country to take care of a sick friend. Just gets on a plane every month or so and goes - because she is in a position where she can help, and can travel to do so. (Which is awesome!) We have those who are homebound due to medical conditions, who haven't had that luxury. Or economic class, who just plain aren't able to afford that luxury.
I'm definitely not in either extreme, and I realize how lucky I am not to be in the latter, and always watch the former group with interest and admiration at the choices they made over the years that put them in the place to be able to do that. (Sometimes it was the choices of the generation before them. But still... you get what I'm saying.)
I don't travel much. You may remember that last year I went to my honeymoon in Texas and that was the furthest away from home that I've ever been, and the first time more than a U-turn length being west of the Mississippi.
I may have also mentioned how Celena's high school music department is taking a big trip to go play in Vienna and Prague!!! Which is amazing. I'm so excited for her. Also for Cynthia who was able to volunteer as a chaperone.
Because of that trip, we've been cutting back on pretty much everything over the past year. I *know* that I posted about my last trip to Disney World, and how my love for that place started with my Mom's dreams of going to Disneyland when she was growing up, that become Disney World once that opened, because it was much closer. The Disney passes were part of that cutting back process. (we renewed before the trip was announced, and money had to start being saved. So we had to pay monthly until it was paid off.)
A couple months into the process of saving for that trip - Cynthia told me one of the greatest things a partner has ever told me in my life - she said that I should take a trip of my own. The idea had literally never occurred to me.
Which seems silly, but all of my trips have been with family or friends. The idea that I could just *go somewhere* on my own was an eye-opener. The fact that I had someone I love actually giving me that permission, that encouragement... it was, and still is, an amazing feeling. She knew immediately where I needed to go.... you probably do as well, but I'll tell one more part of this story.
Back in 1999 I was married to my first wife. We were living in an apartment/bungalow where you could push the front door open even if it was locked. (we learned this because a stray cat ended up doing that once. We're *really* lucky there was never a hurricane during that time. But I digress.) We were living paycheck to paycheck and generally not happy with our lives the way people in their 20s can be.
So there came a point where we were going to have to move. (It wasn't quite at the "being evicted" point - but it was getting close enough that we started looking). Thanks to the internet, which we used at the public library, we had friends all around the country and, I don't remember which one of them was the first to suggest it - but we started getting offers to "stay with us for a couple weeks". So, given the choice between finding another apartment or adventure, we chose adventure.
We sold most of our things in several yard sales - and put the rest of it in a storage locker. And we left. (again, we were in our 20s. :D) The plan was to spend the rest of the summer traveling the country. The first leg was up and down the east coast. Each leg was going to move us further across the country.
The first place we stayed was in Providence Rhode Island. It was awesome. While we were there, our hosts took us out to Cape Cod for the afternoon.
Which is where “it” started.
When I’ve told this story to friend in the past, I’ve said that I put my right hand into the Atlantic Ocean. I’ve recently found the picture we took - it was my left hand. Probably because, in my 20s, I wanted to “not be cliche”, even though I was still being a cliche. :)
I’d been to the Atlantic Ocean before - but this was a special time. We were on our adventure. There was a “purpose”.
I decided, right there on the beach of Provincetown, that I had a new goal in my life. I was sticking my left hand into the Atlantic Ocean. I would put both hands into the Mississippi, and I would put my right hand in Pacific Ocean. I knew this would happen because I was young and I had declared that it would happen. We were going to continue the trip until we reached the Pacific Ocean!
We stayed several places along the east coast - and then went back home to save up money for the next leg of our trip.
We never left.
It’s not surprising. That’s how life works out sometimes.
We divorced a few years later. It’s not surprising. That’s how life… you get where I’m going….
In 2007 my best friend (at the time) and former Idol contestant wanted to take a trip to Florida with her daughter. She could drive all the way, but preferred to have some company. She would be stopping to see some friends of ours along the way. It sounded like an awesome trip, one that I dreamed about going on. She offered to pay for my plane ticket to fly up to her in Chicago.
On a day in June of 2007, we stopped in the town of her birth, Cairo, IL. - The confluence where the Ohio joins the Mississippi, transforming it into a far greater river.
I put both of my hands into it. The trip made me feel like I was becoming a far greater person, in so many ways. People who knew me before and after that trip know just how much it transformed my life.
There were things that were supposed to happen in the years following that trip - that didn’t end up happening. Life, well… see above.
Almost 20 years after I made the declaration of my goal - this Friday in fact - I will be sticking my hand in the Pacific Ocean in Newport Beach. CA (the first stop on a tour of the “Ocean County Beaches/Whale Watching).
It’s the furthest I’ve ever been from home. It’s my first time on the west coast. This is what I’ve been planning the past year. This has been my focus. Trying to pay my bills, and pay for this trip - a little bit out of each paycheck. First the plane ticket. Then the hotel… then the next thing… piece by piece, I’ve been paying on it, putting in the overtime to help make this happen.
Tomorrow I will be getting on that plane and completing my adventure.
The day after, I will be going to Disneyland for the first time. With my Mom. (Who heard that I was going and asked if she could come too. Because this was *her dream* first.)
It took far too long, and life had a lot of surprises in between. But I’m doing this. I’m finally doing this!
Your explanation of what Gary is doing is right here, in this post.
Those of you who follow me over on FB, I'm posting about this tomorrow. So this is a sneak peak. I'd appreciate it not being mentioned until I tell them,
All of the clues have been out there for some time. I've even mentioned it to a couple people. But I've been trying to mostly play it close to my chest, because this is genuinely something that is *exciting* to me. I know it won't be for a lot of people. But I hope anyone who is reading this *here*, who has been around Idol for any length of time, will appreciate it.
One of the, many, interesting things about this people and the people who populate it is the diversity. Maybe not in gender. ;) (although there is some) But definitely in the lives that they lead. There are some folks here who travel the world on a regular (or semi-regular) basis. Sometimes for work. Sometimes for fun. Or I know one person who, because she can, travels halfway across the country to take care of a sick friend. Just gets on a plane every month or so and goes - because she is in a position where she can help, and can travel to do so. (Which is awesome!) We have those who are homebound due to medical conditions, who haven't had that luxury. Or economic class, who just plain aren't able to afford that luxury.
I'm definitely not in either extreme, and I realize how lucky I am not to be in the latter, and always watch the former group with interest and admiration at the choices they made over the years that put them in the place to be able to do that. (Sometimes it was the choices of the generation before them. But still... you get what I'm saying.)
I don't travel much. You may remember that last year I went to my honeymoon in Texas and that was the furthest away from home that I've ever been, and the first time more than a U-turn length being west of the Mississippi.
I may have also mentioned how Celena's high school music department is taking a big trip to go play in Vienna and Prague!!! Which is amazing. I'm so excited for her. Also for Cynthia who was able to volunteer as a chaperone.
Because of that trip, we've been cutting back on pretty much everything over the past year. I *know* that I posted about my last trip to Disney World, and how my love for that place started with my Mom's dreams of going to Disneyland when she was growing up, that become Disney World once that opened, because it was much closer. The Disney passes were part of that cutting back process. (we renewed before the trip was announced, and money had to start being saved. So we had to pay monthly until it was paid off.)
A couple months into the process of saving for that trip - Cynthia told me one of the greatest things a partner has ever told me in my life - she said that I should take a trip of my own. The idea had literally never occurred to me.
Which seems silly, but all of my trips have been with family or friends. The idea that I could just *go somewhere* on my own was an eye-opener. The fact that I had someone I love actually giving me that permission, that encouragement... it was, and still is, an amazing feeling. She knew immediately where I needed to go.... you probably do as well, but I'll tell one more part of this story.
Back in 1999 I was married to my first wife. We were living in an apartment/bungalow where you could push the front door open even if it was locked. (we learned this because a stray cat ended up doing that once. We're *really* lucky there was never a hurricane during that time. But I digress.) We were living paycheck to paycheck and generally not happy with our lives the way people in their 20s can be.
So there came a point where we were going to have to move. (It wasn't quite at the "being evicted" point - but it was getting close enough that we started looking). Thanks to the internet, which we used at the public library, we had friends all around the country and, I don't remember which one of them was the first to suggest it - but we started getting offers to "stay with us for a couple weeks". So, given the choice between finding another apartment or adventure, we chose adventure.
We sold most of our things in several yard sales - and put the rest of it in a storage locker. And we left. (again, we were in our 20s. :D) The plan was to spend the rest of the summer traveling the country. The first leg was up and down the east coast. Each leg was going to move us further across the country.
The first place we stayed was in Providence Rhode Island. It was awesome. While we were there, our hosts took us out to Cape Cod for the afternoon.
Which is where “it” started.
When I’ve told this story to friend in the past, I’ve said that I put my right hand into the Atlantic Ocean. I’ve recently found the picture we took - it was my left hand. Probably because, in my 20s, I wanted to “not be cliche”, even though I was still being a cliche. :)
I’d been to the Atlantic Ocean before - but this was a special time. We were on our adventure. There was a “purpose”.
I decided, right there on the beach of Provincetown, that I had a new goal in my life. I was sticking my left hand into the Atlantic Ocean. I would put both hands into the Mississippi, and I would put my right hand in Pacific Ocean. I knew this would happen because I was young and I had declared that it would happen. We were going to continue the trip until we reached the Pacific Ocean!
We stayed several places along the east coast - and then went back home to save up money for the next leg of our trip.
We never left.
It’s not surprising. That’s how life works out sometimes.
We divorced a few years later. It’s not surprising. That’s how life… you get where I’m going….
In 2007 my best friend (at the time) and former Idol contestant wanted to take a trip to Florida with her daughter. She could drive all the way, but preferred to have some company. She would be stopping to see some friends of ours along the way. It sounded like an awesome trip, one that I dreamed about going on. She offered to pay for my plane ticket to fly up to her in Chicago.
On a day in June of 2007, we stopped in the town of her birth, Cairo, IL. - The confluence where the Ohio joins the Mississippi, transforming it into a far greater river.
I put both of my hands into it. The trip made me feel like I was becoming a far greater person, in so many ways. People who knew me before and after that trip know just how much it transformed my life.
There were things that were supposed to happen in the years following that trip - that didn’t end up happening. Life, well… see above.
Almost 20 years after I made the declaration of my goal - this Friday in fact - I will be sticking my hand in the Pacific Ocean in Newport Beach. CA (the first stop on a tour of the “Ocean County Beaches/Whale Watching).
It’s the furthest I’ve ever been from home. It’s my first time on the west coast. This is what I’ve been planning the past year. This has been my focus. Trying to pay my bills, and pay for this trip - a little bit out of each paycheck. First the plane ticket. Then the hotel… then the next thing… piece by piece, I’ve been paying on it, putting in the overtime to help make this happen.
Tomorrow I will be getting on that plane and completing my adventure.
The day after, I will be going to Disneyland for the first time. With my Mom. (Who heard that I was going and asked if she could come too. Because this was *her dream* first.)
It took far too long, and life had a lot of surprises in between. But I’m doing this. I’m finally doing this!
