I am a huge believer in listening to & trusting your instinct; whenever I (rarely) ignore my gut, I end up somewhere I shouldn't be and don't want to be. At this point, I'm sort of waiting for the "green light from within" on when to head home. I haven't the slightest idea when that will be, which is why "when do you plan on coming home?" stumps me every time.
That being said, November 18th was a really scary day for me. For a full 24 hours, it looked like I was finally headed home. No funds + no employment = no way to keep on keeping on. Don't get me wrong; home is not a bad place by any means. When I do eventually return home, it'll be oh-so-sweet. However, I just *know* its not homeward bound time for me yet. Thankfully, I landed the job at Mac's BrewBar and more recently, a three-month position with the government. Phew. Funds replenished and mission extended.
Along with the aforementioned low points, there have certainly been some pretty sweet highs. In fact, you might have noticed that every time I've let myself hit rock bottom with finances or opportunity, something amazing usually happens. This time, my sweet reward came in the form of 4th row seats and backstage passes at the Bon Jovi concert in Wellington. Let's start at the beginning...
While working at Mac's on Friday afternoon, these two guys came up to me and asked me if it was a holiday in NZ or something. Basically- why is everyone dressed in costume? I explained that in Wellington, people dress up for no good reason. Any gathering that involves adults and alcohol will include at least a handful of costumes. Its weird, but I've become used to it. From there, they asked me where I'm from and it turned out we were all Americans: they're from Vermont and Minnesota. After a brief intermission so I could pour a few more pitchers and pints, I found them at the end of the bar and we discussed what brought each of us to Wellington and turns out... they're sound techs for Bon Jovi, who had a massive concert here the next night. Without much effort on my part, they offered backstage passes and tickets to the show. For free. Since Liora was vacationing in the wine country for the weekend (tough life), I invited my friend Kyle. I met him at JJ's Playground -THE bar in Sihanoukville- back in July and after talking, we figured out that we were both from California AND that we'd both be living in Wellington at the end of 2010.
Me & Takumi
Fast forward to Saturday, which just so happened to be the most beautiful day I've had in Welly, so far. After sharing a bottle of Chardonnay in the sunshine down on the waterfront, Kyle and I walked over to the WestPac Stadium, where Takumi met us at Will Call and handed us our official Guest Passes. Score. He escorted us around backstage, where we saw Jon & Richie's dressing rooms, met the rest of the sound techs, checked out the guitar selection, and were gifted something like fifty guitar picks from Takumi's collection. AC/DC, Kid Rock, Bon Jovi, etc. I don't play guitar, but I suppose they could be valuable at some point?
Above: Backstage with Richie's favorite guitar
Below: Richie onstage with his favorite guitar
We were invited to eat dinner at craft service with the media & crew and then met Takumi backstage to get our tickets. Turns out, he had scored some 4th row seats for us and managed to grab two extra copies of the show's set list for us to follow along. What a guy. The concert was fantastic and at times, felt like one big 30,000 person sing-along.
Jon Bon
JBJ definitely still has it going on, and he knows it- he was bouncing around all over the stage and even though he hasn't updated his moves since Bon Jovi's glory days, he looked pretty good up there. Personally, I found Richie to be far more talented than Jon Bon; better guitar skills, more powerful voice and less of a "look at me, I was huge in the 80's" factor. Although I was really only familiar with about 7 out of the 23 songs, I really loved the show- how can you not enjoy a live show when you're 4th row out of 30,000 seats? For free. The highlights for me were Bad Medicine, Lay Your Hands on Me, Runaway and Livin' on a Prayer (see clip attached).
Sweet, sweet view from our seatsThe moral of this story has two sides. For starters, good things happen to friendly people. Had I not chatted up Takumi and Andy the same way that I chat up anyone who seems harmless and interesting, we wouldn't have even gotten to the whole "Bon Jovi" topic. I'm not bragging, I'm recommending.
On stage before the doors openedSecondly, its ok to hit rock bottom. As the saying goes, "once you hit rock bottom, the only way is up". If you can manage to go with the flow, even it seems like you're drowning, hang in there - before you know it, you'll end up exactly where you're supposed to be. Take my hand, we'll make it, I swear. Oh, livin' on a prayer.
I had the pleasure of meeting Michele Martin while volunteering with Cambodian Children's Painting Project in July. She had such a positive and exciting experience while volunteering with CCPP that she decided she had to find a way to continue her work with the beautiful children of Cambodia. After a few months of planning & raising funds back home in Pennsylvania, she returned to Cambodia earlier this month. Sihanoukville is the first of many stops to come; Michele is planning to spend the next few months painting murals at orphanages & various childcare centers throughout Southeast Asia. If you want to learn more about Miss Martin's fantastic and inspiring adventure, you can visit her site at : http://www.teachingmitchell.org/ 
