Reverend Ken's Blog: August 15, 2012: Post 582 (2012 Day 228)

August 15, 2012

Daily Comment

One thing that always comes up when I talk about expatriation is how I'm going to bring my bass gear with me when I leave (with all my possessions in one suitcase and, maybe, a backpack).

The answer is, that I don't plan on bringing my bass gear with me when I go. At least, not right away.

Because I don't want to bring anything with me until I know where I'm going to live, and I'll be figuring that out over a two- or three-year period when I'm exploring different places.

Slowly.

Because I intend to go to a place, rent living quarters, and begin exploring the life there. I am looking forward to that adventure, that learning experience, that opportunity to reinvent myself...

And then, some indeterminate time later, go to a different place, and repeat the process, four times (I'm looking at my top 5 destinations, but anything can change between now and then, as I process new information about places and myself).

Then, after ten months of this (or whenever; life happens), its back to the US, for a two-month stay.

Repeat for 2 or 3 years. Or, not, if I find the place earlier.

The point is, at the end of the first trip back to the States after I have decided where I'm going to be headquartered, I will bring back a bass. Probably not an amp, just the bass. I will have to evaluate whether it would be cheaper to buy an amp there than to ship one from the US, but I will know that information from exploring my new location.

However, there is also the question of how important playing bass may be to me at that time, perhaps as long as six years from today. Right now, it seems inconceivable to me and just about everyone else that I could go from this level of activity with my bass playing to zero without feeling a deep sense of loss. But in the future? I'm not making any assumptions, just trying to allow for what may happen based only on how I feel now (what other options do I have, lol).

My plan, is as specific as it can be without venturing too deeply into the area of how things will get done (I'll be playing the "how" thing by ear, figuring it out as I go, trial and error, and a lot of going with the flow) has many virtues. The biggest of these virtues is its flexibility. I am not over-specifying or over-planning, in order to allow for on-the-ground adjustments, new information. In short, I am assuming change.

I expect a lot of changes, and I know I can't predict what or how those changes will be, especially the ones where I, myself, will change as a result of having new experiences (or having familiar experiences occur in different contexts). The expectation of change is not only practical, it is consistent with my belief system. Change is just what happens to everything in the Universe.

Change can be denied, but it cannot be ignored, at least, not for long. At least, in my experience.

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