Monday, May 16, 2011

The Dude with a Plane....(or how to be a kid again)


So I am the dude with a plan but last week I met "The dude with a plane"

I started jogging a week ago. Every morning i wake up at 6am and go to a park near by and jog in the running track for about 45 minutes. I am not too keen with sports but i got this from back in October when I was in the middle of the break-up and I couldn't sleep well. I'd wake up around 5am and not being able to go back to bed I'd put my running pants and go out and jog for about half an hour and then come back home to shower, dress-up, have breakfast and go to work. I lost almost 25 lbs that way.

I kinda let myself go and after 2 weeks of take-out i decided to get back on track. So back to the beginning of my story.

While in the middle of running I was sadly missing not having my ipod so I could run while enjoying the music i was trying to practice something It got stuck in my head from the last book I read. something about a woman who's travelling alone and she kinda left material things behind as she went and one of the things she complained about was not being able to miss the stuff around us and connect with the world because of being disconnected by an ipod or cellphone.

So I tried to pay more attention to the world around me, to listen, and there were other joggers and walkers with ipods, I heard the birds chirping, the seagulls yapping, the squirrels going up and down the trees, the cars honking even the train in a far distance, but all of the sudden i heard a buzz....

Just like a mosquito buzzing in your ear but louder and high in the sky. I tilted my head up and i spotted a plane. Not a real plane but one of those radio controlled ones flying all the way around the park..

I followed it with my eyes, trying to find out where was the responsible one for this and I found it...thinking I'd find a kid i found a grown up. A black male in his late thirties early forties was holding the remote and landing carefully the plane while checking on it and preparing it for take off..

I kept on watching him while finishing my last 2 laps and he was flying his toy, enjoying, in control of something (maybe something silly like a toy plane but in control) but with the smile of a kid and then it hit me...

That was his deal with life!

He might have a shitty boring job like the one I have, maybe a wife like the one i once had, maybe even kids like the ones i want to have someday but I think I figured out his deal with life....

From 6am to 7am he is the kid he once was....!

Maybe at 7am the routine starts. He goes home, showers, dress up, wear the suit and tie, wake up the kids, have breakfast with them, take them to school, take the TTC to the office and spend the longest 8 hours in an office doing something he wasn't expecting to do in life, something he never planned for himself. The at 5pm he'll leave the office, take the TTC back home, help around the house, pay bills, have dinner, put the kids to bed and all tired after an exhausting day go get some rest to start a new day again but.......excited at the same time...why?

Because the next day is another day where he has the chance to become a kid again, first thing in the morning, and that's something worthy waking up everyday at 6am. A whole hour to reconnect with that inner kid we sometimes forget it existed sometime in our lives...

We get so busy trying to play the responsible adult who needs to make money to pay bills and buy stuff that important or not, it makes us loose contact with what we ever dreamed of being when we reach mature age when we were kids...like for example a pilot.

This guy figured it out, and it seems to be working for him. I mean, it's just mathematical.

We take 1 hour everyday that's 7 hours/week. 28 hours/month. 336 hours/year of being a kid. Compared to 1920 hours/year of being responsible, holding a 9 to 5 job, wearing a suit and tie, and doing something we might not enjoy doing it sounds like a pretty sweet deal...

Much better than only doing the 1920 hours/year of stuff you don't like......

Maybe I should think of a reason besides jogging to wake up one hour early everyday, a thing that I used to do when I was a kid and enjoyed a lot, a thing that by doing it every morning for an hour as soon as I wake up it will make me face the rest of the day with a smile on my face, and go back to bed at night happy and looking forward another day of connecting with my inner child. To remember that thing once I dreamed of becoming.

I am looking, i promise. Is it music? Is it drawing? Is it writing? I don't know yet but i can tell you this, once I figure it out I'll make my own deal and I'll grab onto tight. I won't let it go no matter what.

Just like "The dude with the plane"

So to you my friend who had inspired me on writing this post....this song is dedicated to you

Learning to Fly by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers


Til' the next post, take care and keep enjoying!


Saturday, May 7, 2011

A Lot Like Love...

This movie brings me memories....such a good movie and no better way to start this post.

So, 2 weeks ago...a rainy Thursday of April everything looked like it was going to be a regular day, the type where I go to work and then go home, except my best friend in Toronto asked me to join him to go meet this girl. The story goes like this....she's the friend of a friend of his who recently passed away and they were going to meet here in Toronto for the first time....how did I get involved, no clue, just came along for the ride....best decision ever!

While waiting in a Starbucks for the "mystery lady" we were playing with my new computer (yes, I did sold my old one and got an used laptop) and then she comes.....MC, the tall short haired girl whom I couldn't take my eyes away from....she sat with us and after an introduction they started talking and catching up.
Me, I was very lost, not knowing what to do I decided to go get the coffees/tea so I could gain some time and kinda try to figure out what was going on in my head....

Love? So soon? It's only been 6 months since the breakup.......No way dude, can't be....you're not ready yet...

Back to the table..keep on looking at her..trying to get involved in the conversation and at the first opportunity I am in, throw a joke...she laughed....bad move, now I am hooked with her smile. What the F...is going on Sebastian, get it together man....you are the man with a plan...

- What? you don't know many people in Toronto, yeah here's my number! Gimme yours! (ohhh come on Seb, well, no worries, she won't call, you've tried this before and they never call)

And true enough she didn't but when I got home the next day on a friday and very innocently went to check my emails there it was. An email from the "mystery girl" nothing too evident, just to stay in touch. Totally disarmed me, the smile on my face...ohh man, I am in trouble

I answered the email, she was supposed to come to see us play, she didn't come but on tuesday I decided to send her a text. I was supposed to go to the movies with my buddy and her wife so why not invite her? So I texted her....

- "Sorry but I can't"

There you go Sebastian.....late but you got the response......another text followed

- "How bout' Thursday instead? I'll call you later to arrange"

Really? Hope? Ohh man I am out of practice....the radar is not working properly and I am getting nervous....silly right?

The phone call turned into an hour call, where we talked and laughed. Thursday came, we met, went for sushi and movie after....it felt good, but maybe it is all in my head, maybe is just friendship...

Sunday we had another show, this time she came. Saw the whole show, all 3 sets, and when we were done she stuck around for the dismantle and I suggested dinner. Everyone bailed except for the singer and the "mystery girl". She played along and came....just to have some chocolate crepes and talk and laugh some more until midnight on a sunday...then, the unexpected happened

- "At what time do you take your lunch break tomorrow? I am off and maybe you wanna have lunch together?"

Are you for real? Not only this girl is cute, tall and and with a lovely sense of humour but she is asking me for lunch? Never saw it coming and i loved it!

- "Normally I go between 1 and 2"
- "I'll text you tomorrow then"

and there she was, at 1:05, we went for lunch, started talking, next time I checked my watch I was late for 20 minutes past my time to come back, time flew and i just felt like we had so much more to talk...I suggested to meet after work, she agreed..

What followed was a session of more talk, ice cream, laughs, beer, hummus, more talk, sweet potato fries, more beer, more laughs and.......a kiss.

The best feeling I've had in a while, and as we tried to explain to each other what just had happened without finding the proper words, we promise each other to take it slowly and take out time developing what comes after....

I knew right there what I was feeling, but I couldn't say it, so I thought of this song.....which the lyrics say exactly what I was feeling in that moment...call me a romantic or cheesy but I am a musician after all!

I wrote the name of the song, asked her to check it out at home, check the lyrics and text me what she thought...

We said goodbye, i left on a cloud, she smells great!

Tuesday 12:37am "What a feeling :)" was her answer..

She got the message!

Things have gotten better and better since then and i must admit that this girl has done something to me I wasn't expecting to happen. It just feels good. I want to spend days and nights doing stuff together and enjoying the present with her....without regretting the past or fearing the future, just focusing on the present.

Will i be traveling after all? The whole long term trip to find myself again? Has that plan just fell? I have no clue

I am still going to NYC and she's going away for 2 weeks, we'll meet again and see what's going on...in the meantime I want to enjoy the feeling...after so long I am not sure what it is but, it sure does feel....

A Lot Like Love!