POINT A TO POINT B (VIA C THROUGH Z)
or How To Remember That Many Pursuits Are Like Driving A Boat
I have my boating Captain’s license.
I should not have my boating Captain’s license.
Apart from a few brief trips in a small rowboat with a motor, I have never ‘captained’ a boat, however you used to be able to get your boating Captain’s license online for free. You just had to complete a fairly simple multiple choice test.
The government, in a fleeting moment of rational clarity, decided this was probably not a great idea and people who want to pilot watercraft should probably know more about piloting watercraft than just sitting at a dockside bar, watching the passing boats and thinking “I’d look so cool in a captain’s hat.”
So they announced they were going to be charging for the test and actually requiring some actual nautical knowledge and experience. They made the mistake of announcing when that change was to take place and then a flood of people like me, whose only mariner experience was knowing the Captain from Captain and Tennille or wishing they were Isaac from Love Boat (he was so chill), all signed up to become captains.
All that to say, I got my license but you probably should wait for the next boat if I’m captain.
Apart from my almost complete lack of boating experience, I have noticed that taking a boat ride is very similar to a lot of other things in life. Rarely do you go in a straight line between Point A and Point B.
So many variables cause you to divert course, even if only momentarily… rocks, other boaters, swimmers, bloody Canada Geese, even the current itself can push you in a direction that you were not intending.
But you still, usually, get there in the end.
I’ve mentioned numerous times in this newsletter that music played a huge part of my life and was a primary career goal for many years. I touched a little bit of success in music in 2005-2008 but never to the level I was aiming for. A few thousand CD’s and downloads, songs on TV shows… all great and I’m proud of that but it was not enough to keep me and a family of four afloat.
Then social media came along… and with it came… comedy.
If my musical goals were a boat ride from Point A to Point B, comedy was a larger boat that invited me on board for a few drinks and a meal. It also took me in a totally different direction that I was headed… which ended up being for the better.
But then, I get to get back in my little music boat and occasionally start sputtering back to my original Point B.
I did that this year with my release of “Put On Another Christmas Song” single. It scratches an itch and pushes the boat a little closer to where I was originally headed. Thousands of people have listened and watched the video already. That’s pretty great.
The path between a lot of life’s Point A’s to Point B’s is often like a boat ride.
It might take you longer than expected to get where you want to go.
It might take you to a totally different place.
It might take you to a better place.
Point A to Point B via C through Z (it sounds best if you say ‘Z’ the US way).
The key is, don’t stress over it. Enjoy the ride.
Trust me, I’m a licensed Captain.
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