About a friend

I have a friend whom I have known for a long long time. We grew up together in fact. It has been many years since we were young and care free, seeking adventures, pushing the envelope, living large and experiencing new things.

Back in our late teens and early twenties, we did amazing things together. And as we grew up and grew older, we both settled into the responsibilities that adulthood brings. I worked hard to develop my company as he did with his. We both settled down with our now wives.

My friend and I talk a lot, even though we are living in different parts of the world. And over the last few years, he seems to have become very unhappy. It seems that he is disappointed with his particular lot in life. He works too much on his job, he finds the responsibility almost too much some days (even though he is successful). His personal life seems quite unfulfilling, he and his wife act more like roommates than a caring committed couple. And each day, the clock ticks for him.....

Somewhere in our mid twenties, we took two separate forks in the road from what I can tell. I too have a business, and the responsibility is overwhelming at times. I know that I am responsible for the income and security of not only myself and my business partner and our respective families, but also our staff and their significant others. In a way, my partner and I hold the responsibility of ensuring that our team has the means to live a good life too.... There is definite pressure in that.
With my soulmate, (and she is) I am the luckiest person in the world. We share the same outlook on life and have almost identical goals. We know each other intimately, she knows what I am thinking and why I am thinking it.. We live in adventure.. we do it together facing forward. And each new turn in the road we take with vigor, not peering around the corner but instead plowing full on so that we can relish every moment for what it is.

My friend on the other hand, seems to be doing the exact opposite. Where he was once adventurous and free spirited, he has become muted. He is embroiled in his own "faulted" relationship, but is unable (or unwilling) to find the means to solve it. He allows the pressure of work to strip him of what was once his overwhelming joie de vivre.

I worry about him a lot. Not just for the fact that he might succumb to the pressure and cave, but also because he is transitioned from living to just existing and he doesn't seem to know how to change that. He has become complacent in his life, and from all our conversations it does not look like he has any way to find joy or amusement in his existence. Most importantly, I mourn for the man he once was, the one who lived life to its fullest and enjoyed all it had to offer good or bad.

There is one thing I have learned about life and people. Everyone is the master of their own destiny. But I wish there was something I could do to help him rediscover what he knows he has missplaced. I would like to see him come back to living instead of just existing.

Houston Toyota Arena has a couple of Segways for the mascots. While meeting the General Manager, I convinced him to let me ride the mascots machine. Much to the chagrin of all the security staff, I motored around all backstage for about an hour. I think even the GM was thinking... "that is about enough"
I would never buy one of these things ($4500 on Amazon.com) but like everyone else, I relished the opportunity to try the ride. In no time I was riding like a pro and I enjoyed the experience. But I still would not buy one....

Stepping back from the gig..

We are two weeks out from the end of this one. It is awe inspiring to the fact that we will have had over 350,000 people see our little extravaganza in seven and a half weeks. Tonight we are in San Antonio, and over 11,000 people will sit in the sold out SBC Center. Tomorrow we are in Dallas and 19,000 people will see us in two shows. Sunday, we are in Houston and playing to 22,000 people. Monday will be a letdown when we play to 9,000 in Austin.

After this, we head north. Our destination is Green Bay for Christmas with stops in Little Rock, Kansas City and St. Louis on the way. I will fly home on the evening of the 24th to Toronto so that Jennifer and I can spend Christmas together. 36 hours later, I will fly back out to Green Bay to join up with the tour. It will be a struggle, once I get home I will not want to leave. But at least I will be comforted in the fact that on the 31st of December, I will be with my wife at our local pub and I will be able to have a drink without thinking too hard about the 70 people whose lives and work I now worry about. Sometimes the responsibility is overwhelming, but in the end I know that I have done it to the best of my ability. I look forward to the end, when my commitment is over and all I will have to worry about is my wife and I....

And the big rock concert kicks it to a sold out audience at Glendale Arena. This is the house that wayne (Gretzky) Built, down in Phoenix AZ. The Jets moved from Winnipeg to here, and the MGMT gave my the 11 guys on my crew who are Canadian hockey jerseys. It was the best reward they could get... The simple things are the best. 

Sometimes I wish I was just hangin out like this fellow... Without a worry in the world but the next branch of leaves... But it would only work if my wife was in the branch beside me during the day and cuddled up at night.....
Only a few weeks more till we are back together and a few weeks after that till we are enjoying a vacation together.....

Cool blog.....

Once in a while, I take a spin around the blogger collections. I like the randomness of hitting "next Blog" and seeing what comes up. There are a lot of different posts and reads out there, and a lot of strange rants as well.

There are a few interesting reads that I have come across, and I would like to leave the links here for you to check them out for yourselves.

This is my sister's Blog:
http://butlersdidit.blogspot.com/

Alice does a great job of telling stories about this and that, and it is another interesting way for me to keep in touch with our family.

Haley's space:
http://theunmarkedtrail.blogspot.com/
An Anthopology student from somewhere in Canada, she leaves some good ramblings here and there about life as a student. A lot more responsible than most in university, she is also a regular contributor to her blog.

Mella's Place:
http://mellahoney.blogspot.com/
This is one of the more interesting reads out there. A mother with a one year old, Mella has a very developed writing style and gives lots of feedback. This blog is also very very popular, with many visitors and people posting comments. I have enjoyed reading the posts and replies.

It seems strange that I cannot find blogs from males that are worth reading, but it is true. It seems that all the mens blogs I have come across so far have had undeveloped writing styles or else contained silly profane laden rants....

If you spot other interesting blogs that are worth a read, drop the URL into my comment page.

Can you send it to me again!

Hello all.

As you might know, I am out on tour with Trans Siberian Orchestra. About two weeks ago, a fanatical fan from Cincinatti did up his house with christmas lights to one of our songs from The Lost Christmas Eve. The song was Wizards of Winter, and he did a video of it and posted it on the internet.

Since then quite a few things have happened: I have received it via email about 50 times, the video has become a national sensation and Miller Beer has even bought the rights and are now producing a national Ad for the US.

I do not know if it has helped sales of our tickets, but it is impressive to see what worm marketing has done with the song. Now a ton of people are hearing the song via the web and soon to be beer commercial and we are now getting a ton of radio play for it.

In case you have not seen it, cut and paste this post:

http://media.putfile.com/WizardsofWinter-SM

Safe travels and looking forward to your comments.