Brad

I'm a little bit country, I'm a little bit rock-n-roll.

The Chronicles, Vol. 1: Clearing Decks

Aug 262010

The Invictus Writers will meet for the first time this Saturday, which means it’s time to clean my house after months of travel.

Normally cleaning isn’t an issue. I like an orderly house. (Thanks mom.) But somehow this time it feels different. It feels like the beginning of the last cleaning. Not that I won’t be doing this again some day. Certainly I will. It’s just this feels like one of those Big Ends.

Even this one, though, feels different than the other ends: High School Graduation. College Graduation. Leaving Cincinnati. Leaving Austin. Leaving San Francisco. Those all had a physical component to them. A move. A leave behind.

This one is more philosophical. More ethereal. Brad@40 is starting to feel more real with every passing moment.

Because I’m clearing the decks. Washing away the past and getting myself ready for what comes next.

***

I called Andy the other day to discuss selling the house in Austin. I’d been dreading the phone call because I didn’t know where he’d stand on the move. After all, part of the reason I bought the house was so that he’d have a place to stay in Austin without all the hassles of renting.

In Which I Speak at TedxCincy, or the Brad@40 Plan, Part 1

Life, Science + Tech, Teaching View Comments

Aug 162010

The TED conference, for those involved in technology, is one of those signature events. Say what you will about it (and the criticisms are many, including those I have made myself), but the event routinely draws some of the most accomplished people in the world.

I know because I use the videos from the main event – videos made publicly and freely available – in my classes. I use them to give my kids a world-class education at a bargain basement price. So for all its flaws, it adheres to the first hacker ethic: Information Wants To Be Free.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve taken the hacker ethic to heart. I try to only use technologies that are open, that support individual freedoms and allow for the greatest movement in innovation and education. I’ve turned down projects that stray too far (according to me, of course) from that ethic.

I tell you these two vignettes, this preface, for this reason:

A few weeks ago, I was asked by the folks putting on TedxCincy, one of the satellite versions of the main TED conference, if I’d be interested in submitting a talk. Apparently I came recommended by three folks – Kevin Dugan, Dacia Snider and Elizabeth Edwards.

I told the group putting on the conference that I’d love to submit a talk. And, as soon as I committed to that, everything else about Brad@40 feel into place.

Brad@40

I’ve alluded to my plan in the last few weeks, but I’ve been vague. Something that’s uncharacteristic of me. But I’ve been moving some chess pieces around on the board and I wasn’t ready to talk about them just yet.

What I can say is this: I’m tired.

Dating Chronicles, Vol 1: “All things end badly. Otherwise they wouldn't end.”

Life View Comments

Aug 152010

Anything else is always something better.

It’s been one of those “life in order” weekends.

Back from two months on the road. Dealing with nearly an entire wardrobe that no longer fits me thanks to The Year of Health. Which led to a complete re-organization of my house. That instigated a top-to-bottom cleaning (which in truth won’t be done until mid-week). And ended with a series of little fixes – purchasing a chair for my upstairs office, hanging the rest of my pictures – that I’d let fall by the wayside this year.

All wrapped around my decision that it’s time to Get Busy Living, which means back to the dating game.

There were little births and deaths that happened, the melancholy changing of the past into the future. The little goodbyes to parts of myself that needed to go, yet still remind me that no matter how many more days I string together with my sobriety, I won’t ever outrun some of the sadness of life. That is just part of deal.

Never show surprise, never lose your cool.

I’m shocked by how often I am surprised by my emotions.

In Which I Re-Start, a Dating Tale

Life View Comments

Aug 122010

I know it’s only August, but it’s already been a long, interesting year.

I’m amazed when people say that Time Flies. I don’t find that to be true (although I also say things like that from time to time so you can imagine the intense self loathing that happens here). At least I don’t find that to be true now.

In my sobriety, I’ve learned to really take the time to enjoy the little moments that happen each day, the little events that sometimes slip through the cracks. Because of that, I think the year seems to be moving more slowly. Or maybe it’s because I’ve laid out some rather large goals that simply time the passage of time (with some action) to come to fruition.

The Year of Health and The Year of Friends has really helped re-configure my life’s priorities. I’ve can feel how my life could be if I just keep moving forward. The Brad@40 plan is already helping me get my act together in the next few years.

The one thing I haven’t really done this year – other than a couple mis-steps – is date. I’ve purposefully removed myself from the dating pool, focusing on getting my sobriety and life in working order. Something I’ve never really done.

Now, though, it feels like it’s time:

Vibram Five Fingers, or the Start of Brad@40

Life View Comments

Aug 072010

A few months ago, a former student of mine – Megan Brooks – posted about her new shoes. I’d never seen anything like them, but I was intrigued. The “glove” shoes (or Alien Shoes as Megan called them) were little more than a rubber-like glove for you feet.

No support. No cushion. Nothing that you’ve been told you needed to run properly.

Of course, the idea that you need padded shoes to run is – when you think about it for a minute – silly. After all, we exist. We are the only sub-species of Homo genus who survived in part because we could walk upright and run. And as far as I know, there were no shoe factories back then.

I’ll spare you the details and science that suggests barefoot running is best for you (you can find much of it in this amazing book Born to Run, if you believe in things like science), but I was hooked on the concept as soon as Megan pointed out the shoes.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Twenty-six weeks and one day ago, I smoked my last cigarette after spending most of my adult life doing so. It wasn’t a big decision although it certainly wasn’t fun quitting. But I’d eliminated drinking from my life and smoking seemed the next logical step.

Loveland Comes to Shakespeare

Travel View Comments

Jul 312010

I left London for the last time this year on Friday. It was bittersweet, of course. I love that city more than any other major capital city on the planet. I have great friends and I genuinely enjoy the town.

But all good things and such. Plus, I was heading north for my last English trip where I was meeting up with Laura (an old friend from Loveland) and her husband Tim.

Tim was working in London on Friday so I met him at the Canary Wharf, which is in Zone 2. I’d not been out that far and we pleasantly surprised.

However, it’s the least London-y part of London. The financial district it seemed. Or a place where financials happened. It looks quite American in its bigness, which is how Tim described it to me in an email. I believe he was pretty spot on.

Life at The Soho Theatre

Travel View Comments

Jul 292010

Last summer, I met Nina in Liverpool. It was a serendipitous meeting. We’d been circling around each other for awhile apparently.

She’s the director of the Writing Center at The Soho Theatre, a cool multi-level joint smack dab in the middle of Soho in London. She’d been working developing new avenues for theater, particularly those tied in with emerging technology.

We kicked around some ideas for teaching a transmedia workshop for playwrights, artists, actors, writers and the like who are associated with the theatre. We weren’t exactly sure what we wanted to do, but we knew we wanted to do something.

This summer, we had the chance.

How I’m Ending My Time in London

Travel View Comments

Jul 282010

There will be more on this in the coming days, but my last great adventure will be tomorrow night when I have the opportunity to see Marc Maron at The Soho Theater:

The Year of Friends: A (Picture) Retrospective

Travel View Comments

Jul 262010

My mouth gets me in trouble. A lot.

I’ve come to accept this as part of my life. I embrace it. I have rolled it into my personality. I’ve taken a liability and turned it into an asset. It’s a story that’s been working for the last 2 years, 2 months and 15 days.

At least I think it’s working based upon some anecdotal evidence.

You see, this year I challenged my students. I laid down the gauntlet. In writing. In health. In life. I have challenged them to write 90 blogs in 90 days. I have challenged them (and tried to support them) as we all lost weight and attempted to transform our lives.

But the most significant thing I have done this year is dedicated 2010 to The Year of Friends. Specifically: to visit as many friends as I can. To spend time with them. To see them again. To laugh with them. To love them. To be inspired by them.

To remember that we’re here not for fame or glory. We’re not supposed to be trapped by the expectations of others. We are here for the people in our lives who make time for us. Who make us better people. Who lift us up when we don’t have the strength to do that ourselves. Who sit and laugh with us for no good reason.

Other than getting sober 2 years, 2 months and 15 days ago, The Year of Friends has changed my life more than I’ll ever be able to express to my students, my family, my friends. Because for the first time in my life I’ve been able to truly enjoy all of you:

My friends Jason and Andrea (Austin) had their first child this year. So of course I had to see Ozzy.

Continue reading »

Someone Leaves Town

Travel View Comments

Jul 262010

It’s 1:52 pm on Monday. I’m sitting on a Southern train heading back to London, my last week in the city before I begin my journey home.

It’s a bittersweet day, these travel days. I’m always anxious about what’s next but surrounded by the sadness of what I’m leaving behind.

This weekend was yet another welcome respite from the rigors of traveling.

Sunday was brilliantly lazy. Aleks talked me out of my morning run, which she did my steadfastly refusing to leave the house. It was a brilliant tactic, one which I couldn’t counter since it wasn’t my town. It’s difficult to simply leave out the front door when you have no idea where you are going, how to get back or where to run in the middle.

It’s the first Sunday I haven’t run in months, which concerned me. (We made up for it today on the most brutal run I’ve yet had, plagued by tired legs and stomach cramps.) Eventually we meandered through downtown with Max, cafe-hopping while tracking down more photo opportunities for Aleks’ 1984 project. Once again, I became an unwitting accomplice: