Stop whining and do something

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I was about to record a MyExit hour, and today was the day. It's a silly little thing, but intricately tied to my efforts to have a better outlook on the world. See, I spend too many hours behind a desk and sometimes feel like the good stuff in life is playing second fiddle. Before I started this blog, I found myself in a nasty cycle - oh, I'd rather be doing this or that, so and so has a great life, I just want to hang out and read Gourmet (so sad....) and play in my kitchen, blah blah blah. I started writing here not because I really believed anyone would be captivated by what I had to say but because it was a more positive outlet for my energy. It was the "stop whining and do something" approach. This MyExit hour is similar, as silly as it may sound. I've always been a frustrated music junkie. When I was a kid, I grew up a few houses down from the family that ran the local summer musical theatre troop. I was good friends with their youngest daughter and I grew up surrounded by talented people as a result. I still remember hearing countless teens auditioning in the house while we played outside and I thought, someday, when I'm old enough, I'll do that. It was one of the first dreams I really remember having.

Sadly, I am profoundly tone deaf. I couldn't sing my way out of a paper bag if it would save my life. I took some acting classes and loved being on stage, and tried my hand at singing lessons, but it just didn't work. I gave up and I never did try out for the theatre group - I just knew it wasn't in the cards. I still sing my head off in the car though, and I grew to really love a wide variety of music. At one point in my life I wanted to be in the record business until one of my band guy friends (I was an impressionable 17, he was totally cool in his 20s) said "oh, you want to work for the man?" So then I just hung out and drank beer with band guys.

I won't ever be a DJ at a cool radio station, spending my days listening to great music and hanging with bands. I chose a different path and I'm really ok with that, but that kid who gave up on a dream still nags me sometimes. (I recognize that musical theatre and radio DJ are potentially very disparate paths, but to me, being a part of something musical is a logical connection) So I decided I would participate in this really cool project my local public radio station runs - I picked an hour of music that means something to me and got to record the show. It was hard as hell. If you wonder if stage fright is possible in a room with a microphone and one other person, I can now tell you it is. I've gained even more respect for my friends that perform live on a regular basis and I truly know that I won't be giving up the sometimes ho hum desk job for the fantasy gig as some really cool DJ. That's perfectly fine because I can now say I experienced it, if only in a minute, semi-artificial way.

Now onto the goal of a productive garden.