A picture's worth 200 Rand (at least the ones I buy, apparently)

I bought a hat.

It's a nice one, I bought it on the top of Table Mountain. We took a cable car up to the top, the peak of which is approx. 3500 ft above sea level, which normally wouldn't be all that high but since we could see the sea from where we were, it felt like miles. From this vantage point, we could see all of downtown Cape Town. Downtown itself was relatively compact; for a town with ten times the population of Nashville, the actual downtown area was probably about twice as big.

We walked around what's called the Company Gardens in downtown, a beautiful area that houses the South African Parliament, the former Presidents house, and an immaculately groomed selection of plants and trees. We ate lunch at a cafe in the gardens, where, out of a typical selection of American standards like hamburgers, sandwiches, and omelets, I chose a lamb curry and rice dish (pick your jaw off the floor). It was pretty good too!

After lunch we went to a market where people were selling their wares. I am a terrible haggler, and bought a couple of paintings on my own, and was then pressured into buying another (such a sucker). I also went swimming in the ocean today. And, by swimming, I mean I ran in and out because the water was so unbearably cold! They say the water is about 50 degrees, and I believe them, but it certainly felt like 35. After the second wave crashed over me, I lost my breath for a few seconds and decided it wasn't worth losing my life for an ice bath.

Now, back to the hat. The reason I bought a hat today is because I got so sunburned yesterday. I put on sunscreen in the morning, but didn't reapply throughout the day, and with the variation in latitude my skin freaked out. My skin also freaked out from what I think is a developing allergy to grass; woke up today with red sores up the bottom half of both legs.

We spent all day yesterday with the Life Skills Educators and other staff of Living Hope. It was so encouraging to see their passion for the people in their communities, their resilience, their hope. These 19 people spend their days teaching the children of the community where they live such basic life skills as proper hygiene, the importance of education, and the love of Christ. We started out at Kirstenbosch Gardens, and then went to a church in the area for worship, teaching, and games. We ended up back at our team house and had Brai, or barbecue. A great way to give them a break, and a great way to give us a glimpse into their ministry. Due to changes in management of American AIDS relief funding, the prevention side of Living Hope that these people encompass have had $350k pulled from their budget, essentially everything. They are hanging by a thread, and while they are honest about their struggles, they still soldier on.

I believe, help me in my unbelief.

Show me that smile again

Well, we made it to Cape Town!

Travel was...long. The flight from DC to Johannesburg was my first time on a jumbo jet (I'm not the type of person to know or care about what type of plane it was; if it's bugging you, let's assume it was a 747), and thankfully I ended up with an open seat next to me. I watched: Ratatouille, The Informant!, an episode of How I Met Your Mother, and listened to Coldplay and Beyonce, all on the in-flight system. I also made the mistake of watching Marley and Me while surrounded by a bunch of strangers. Now, if you know me, you know I'm not an animal person, but I was fighting back tears several times during that stupid movie! I knew what was coming, and it still got to me! Who'd have thought?

I also spent a good amount of time reading "What the Dog Saw", a collection of New Yorker essays by Malcolm Gladwell. Some very interesting stuff, and because each piece is independent of the others it's easy to read one and take a break.

I would like to take this opportunity to admit that I have a problem with Gummi Life Savers: I like them too much. I ate two(!) bags of them in the first 12 hours of travel, and my body hated me for the rest of the day.

And, in news of the random, Joanna Kerns (the mom from Growing Pains) was on all of our flights from DC to Cape Town.

All told it was 25 hours between the first takeoff to the last touch-down. My body does not really know what's going on, but I was able to get 7 hours sleep last night so I think I'm on track.

We spent today taking a tour of Cape Town, mostly focusing on the various Living Hope operations. Such a beautiful city! It's like a combination of the West Coast and Mediterranean, with a random shanty town thrown in for good measure.

Probably the most fun today was spending an hour playing with 5 and 6-year-olds at a preschool near Masiphumelele. We were serenaded by the children and then just got to throw them around the playground. Precious, precious kids, they knew enough English to express their gratitude and excitement with our presence, and it was such an encouragement for me to be able to just spend that time with them.

Tomorrow we are leading a day-long retreat for the Life Skills Educators of Living Hope. These people have chosen to live in the shanty towns, ministering to the children and educating the community on HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment. It is an honor to give these angels a chance to relax, reflect, and be revitalized.

Until tomorrow, further up and further in!

Cue Toto

I started today without any real plans, and am just now getting a chance to type it all out.

I'm working on a freelance publishing catalog sale for a former client right now. Basically, I'm in charge of collecting all of the royalty information for the last five years and get it organized efficiently. The tough thing is there are two pieces that are being sold together, and the owners of each side despise each other, leaving me to attempt my best Switzerland impression. Side A is telling me to give them and only them the data, and that they'll then share it with Side B, while Side B says they have rights to the data at the same time as Side A. And the crappy thing about it all is that Side B is totally in the right, and the sale will be under undue peril if I don't go with them, which sucks for both sides. I'm gonna have to do some creative processing to make this all go smoothly...

...Which makes it the perfect time for me to leave the country! I am going to South Africa with my church on Tuesday! I've been waiting for my passport to come through, and got confirmation tonight that it's processed and in the mail! Sooooo exciting! And one nice thing about the place we're staying is they have internet access, so I can blog about everything while I'm there. Also, the team has a blog (click here).
There aren't any posts yet, but each team member is encouraged to post at least once during the trip, so there should be consistent updates over the coming weeks.

Additionally, I now have a work e-mail address, business cards and a website in the works, and I made as much doing freelance today as I used to in a week.

Life rocks.

Africa (Album Version) - Toto

Let the adventure continue

I just quit my job.

Well, not really, it was three weeks ago. And even then, I really quit my job four months ago, I just didn't tell my boss.

Why did I do this? At 24, I was essentially the #2 at a young and growing company, doing something I was good at and that I liked doing. My boss was better than I could have asked for. I had a ridiculous number of vacation days, including two weeks paid at Christmas. I was interacting with some of the most creative and successful songwriters in Nashville on a daily basis. Shoot, I was exactly where any music business grad from Belmont dreams to end up.

So why would I give this all up? Because I needed to.

The company had become something I didn't recognize; certainly not what I had signed on for. We were running a business model that was not sustainable without the owner absorbing significant losses for the foreseeable future. To top that off, the owner didn't care about losing money. You would normally think that's great news: no pressure to turn a profit, great job security, all that jazz. But, for me, that was the worst thing I could have found out. My future went from one determined by my performance and the company's success to one determined by the whims of the owner. In this light, I was essentially being paid to be the owner's friend, and in this light I knew it was only a matter of time before my friendship became too expensive. And that's saying something, given my salary.

But, as I said, I love doing what I did. And I'm good at it too! So I decided to start my own company, doing exactly the same thing I did, just for myself now. It is so freeing to think that I can now control everything about my life. I now make my own schedule, I can take on the clients that I want, I can have the fee structure that I want; my future is wide open!

I've said several times over the last several weeks that the rest of my life begins now. And that's true. But that was true four months ago. That was true a year ago. At any moment, we make the choice to keep doing what we do or to make a change. Choosing to stay where you are is still a choice, and you live with those consequences for the rest of your life. So I guess now I just made a different choice. It's like I've been reading the same part of the "Choose Your Adventure" story that is my life for the last two and a half years, and this time I chose Option B.

And now the adventure continues. I've been at this point several times in my life, and it always feels the same, and it always feels right, and it always works out best. There are nerves, there are fears, there are unknowns. But there is promise, hope, and peace, and that's all I need.

Here's to the future!

And in honor of the Olympics, I give you one of the greatest recordings in music history:

Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell