I met someone...
Sign at the entrance of Iris Doha.
The new venue is unique for it's waterfront lounge, chill vibe, great views & smooth music.
Hey fellow adventurers! How was your January! Did you enjoy these first 31 days of 2019? I cannot believe the entire month is over, and yet, I experienced enough things to fill a diary worth of stories.
My New Year’s Resolutions seem to be working out quite well, I’m still the crazy adventurer I was last year and have always been. Wait, what? The title of this blog? Don’t keep you in suspense anymore?! I met someone?
Ha! Click Bait. Don’t get too excited... I met myself this month. I finally met myself on the journey.
Oh, sorry to disappoint your click-bait habits if you were thinking something else! Ha! My sister is (always) right - I have to stop liking boys… I have to like real men.
I can see her smacking her head right now going OMG THAT IS NOT IT, haahahah, but, whatever, G. hahaha! I think #heyyoukeepup is working out quite well for me. The universe sent me new, adventurous friends to keep me company for 2019. A few can keep up pretty well. They arrived in January at the correct time in the correct places to take notice of them. Casey tip: Don’t stack your dates, it’s really rude. Not specifically "romantic-type dates" but "all-calendar-dates-days". Give your full attention when you are in each date and time and place. You have to be somewhere you wouldn’t normally be to find something you wouldn’t normally find, so if your brain is keeping watch on the clock to get to "Date B", you might miss some really fun times with "Date A". I’m going to let the universe lead me ahead this year. I’ve got some goals, some projects, some fun things, but I am going to “Quit watering dead plants” and place my resources elsewhere... (wink).
"Quit Watering Dead Plants" look
aka "Don't $^!T me, I've practically heard it all, but go ahead, I'm in a market anyway..." look
I believe you now when you tell me I am pretty awesome. I didn't always believe this. Thanks for helping me see it! Here’s what I have met so far. I hope it will help you discover yourself too. 2019, you promise to be one heck of a good time... You can learn a lot about something after one month of study. I am working on Month 6 in Doha. I have learned much.
One thing I learned is that I can make one box of Gertrude Hawks Jordan Crackers last 32 days. If anyone wants to try to mail me a box, or knows how I can have them shipped here, message me.
But seriously.
I am no longer going to settle for anything that isn’t right or try to force anything that isn’t meant to be mine. I feel confident walking away from anything that doesn’t seem right for me. I’m eclectic and while I am happy no matter where I am for the adventure, I now feel like I have a clue about what I really enjoy and want. I’m “not yet” tethered to anything, so if “what’s meant for you won’t pass you by,” that’s not just a bus or train schedule, it’s people, places, concepts, and ideas too. Some things are just not meant to be – but others are, so I’m going there with my resources. I am my own party.
“If I’m not all you need, then just set me free”. Bebe Rexha, Knees.
I like cities, and give consideration to those near a waterfront.
New Year’s Eve Doha, I went to Society Lounge, (my cover photo on facebook), a rooftop venue with a beautiful sea view, which reminds me of all the things I love about New York, Philadelphia, and some Vegas Nights. When I walked through the doors that night, the club video screens were playing drone video clips from cities all over the world. Seeing the Philly LOVE statue as I got to the top of the steps and turned to take it all in, having just returned from there 10 hours earlier, made me realize how much I love city life. I have also spent a few nights on the rooftop at Nobu, and being at the waterfront with the sea breeze and ocean view is something I need in my life regularly. The Iris venue I was at last night was on the beach, we were on a pier with some nice conversation and friendship, and as I thought of all of you freezing your icicles off, I realized I need water too - preferably the unfrozen kind though.
I think I have enough airline miles for a ticket in April to visit a friend. I'm going to go! My 11th grade self in a World Cultures Classroom is jumping up and down saying THANKS FOR THIS LIFE. I am looking at a really neat summer travel experience and knowing a Pilot (this is a really good story) helps with planning excursions.
I love meeting new people.
Being in a region of short-lived contracts, here-for-business-for-a-month, and people who have just moved here from other enticing cities , I am energized each time I attend an Expat event and meet someone new. I’m learning more about Dubai than I could ever have imagined from an extremely captivating and intriguing new friend. My heart grows each time I hear him talk about the city he lived in for many years. I am curious to know more about his home country too and he freely shares information. I have met engineers who work on projects bringing the city to life and learn more about this city and others. Pilots on rotation with a few hours to explore the city before they depart again for short and long-haul flights. Lots of Expats with fun laughs and stories and regular lives. Not to say I haven't met my fair share of real jerks, spiteful, un-authentic, and unkind people too. But the positive thoughts only, it is exhilarating being around people all the time and still having a chance to be alone and explore. I can safely say I have a close-knit group of non-work friends and we get ourselves into some shenanigans. My work friends are fabulous people and make life here lots of fun too. The people I have in my circle here just “get it” about education and life and friendship. I’m lucky.
But people here leave as quickly as they arrive, and losing people is hard for me. Our Bus Driver is back to India on a medical leave. He is my first friend to ‘leave’. After a week with a new driver who sometimes thinks he is cruising around corners in a Kia Venga or Kia Rio, I not only miss my driver, I miss my friend. (Blog post on him coming soon!)
Most importantly though, this month I realized I love my job and I will do anything to protect the privilege of teaching here. I will not do anything to jeopardize the opportunity to teach, and to teach here is an opportunity I am so honored to have. I love teaching music to kids. There are fun meetings and events happening next week at work and it’s exhilarating to be part of the process. I love being at work. I love teaching. I also realized how deeply I enjoy talking about school - school design, scheduling, curriculum, classroom design… I really honestly seriously love my responsibility as a teacher.
The result of my January work efforts - fifteen two sided curriculum documents from scratch. I proudly call my own... with 18 years of teaching experience, these represent my entire soul for music education.
Which is why I did nothing but work the entire month of January. Ok, wait - I did a fair amount of downtime with some friends, trained for a 5K, I am watching YOU on Netflix (OMG SO realistic and FREAKY and is making me extra vigilant)…and it made me realize how amazing I am to get all this done... but STILL, I did all of this: 15 documents - 10 point font on two sides, since January 8 at 4pm. Ready for my DMA at any time, Temple University, but you can keep the student loan debt, K Thx! Usually, I’m humble about work because it is students, not me performing and they need the credit for their work, not mine. They’re the one doing all the singing and dancing. Usually I am not one to toot my own horn, because I play trombone and we’d give you a good glissando about it (check out Lassus Trombone on YouTube), but I did a whole lot of work this month for a good cause. My job, my students, my career. I’m really proud to put my name on this set of documents for the curriculum for my school. My theme was “I do, I will, I can, I have, I am Music.”.
A year ago, 3 February 2018, I sprung the news upon my family that I was making plans toward a short-term leave. I sat with a Head of School in Qatar in the most engaging, inspiring, and personal confidence boosting interview I have ever experienced. As a big educational theory nerd, this life-changing job interview made me homesick for a school building I had never seen, to work with faculty I hadn’t met "yet", and to work with students and families I didn’t even know. I was inspired by the confidence of my (now) Head of School on so many levels. I am grateful to him for giving me the chance to do something amazing and believing in me. He will often remind me, “When I asked you, ‘Why Doha?’ You told me you wanted to do something really amazing with your life.”
Friends, I wanted to stay inspired like my boss inspired me that morning and I want you to be inspired by your own willingness too. I came here because I wanted to figure out who I was and what I was willing to stand up for, and become, and see, and do with my life. I didn't want to settle for something or wait for something that was never going to show up. I wanted to become one of those Explorer's Club Members with the leather library of books and globes and treasures collected from ships on trips around the world.
So… here I am. It is a paradise. Having coffee at The Pearl and Qanat Quartier. Walking the corniche. Sitting on the beach. Walking around a park with a friend I am learning so much about as he speaks about his home and culture. Examining the city from the view of an Engineer. Meeting Expats from everywhere and places you’ve never heard of before. Last night at a beach lounge with a kind and beautiful soul. Traveling, exploring, adventuring. Being Amazing.
But it took courage and a whole lot of sitting with myself in a variety of settings to get here. Not just over one month, but the whole last year. The whole last 6 years. 10 years. 18 years.
Your assignment: Sit with yourself and THINK.
Elle Woods, Legally Blonde. Living her best life and making it her own. Using her amazing self to go on a journey outside her comfort zone. She has the best quotes. I’m always remembering this is my mother’s and my favorite movie and we quote it to each other when needed. Forget the Bend and Snap for 2019. Here’s some of the ones carrying me through:
Warner: You got into Harvard?
Elle: What, like it’s hard?
Elle: If I’m going to be a partner in a law firm by the time I’m 30, I need a boyfriend who is not a complete bonehead.
Elle: It is with passion, courage of conviction, and strong sense of self that we take our next steps into the world. Remembering that first impressions are not always correct, you must always have faith in people, and most importantly you must always have faith in yourself.
Don’t be nervous about making a change. Have faith in yourself. I believe in you! It is February now, page 2 of 12 this year, and you might be arguing with your New Year’s Resolutions. Shout to my Neighbor Sam and my friend Jaimee who really stuck out some January resolutions! You rock! Don’t let anyone or anything tell you “You can NOT”, “You’re not good enough”, “You aren’t”, “I’m only with you because…”, or “You’re nothing without (concept)”. Because you are. YOU ARE good enough. YOU are YOU and that IS enough. You have what you need.... simply you.
Finding yourself is difficult, Waldo is always getting lost, phones and 5 riyal bills go missing. Sitting and talking with your missing self can get ugly. Once you’re done beating yourself up about life and things, GET OUT THERE AND BECOME A PARTNER IN A LAW FIRM BY THE TIME YOU ARE 30… or whatever that equivalent is in your life. Go meet yourself, take yourself out for a cup of coffee, and have a chat.
It is becoming clearer what I want to stand up for, what I deserve, and what I in each day in Qatar. Thanks, Q. I’m grateful for the ability to have met myself.
I hope you don’t wake up as you jump in your sleep.
If you jump it means you’re falling, falling in a dream.
If you’re falling in your sleep, I hope you’re falling for me.
"Falling In Your Sleep" - Faraway Martin
This is a new single out today – you must have it - add it to your Spotify and iTunes. I am so very blessed to teach music with Martin and have him in my life. He reminds me of someone I knew once… and it’s refreshing to have Martin from Ireland in my life… he’s my best and truest Doha pal.
In the words of Martin, because he's worth quoting, I’m falling for myself this year… I am always hoping for someone with fast enough feet to keep up - but right now I’m heading to the pool. A coffee at the Coffee Tea Chocolate Festival, to keep looking for tea because I didn’t see much of it the other night when I was on a Doha Adventure… to a music release party tonight on the waterfront... but wherever I am going, I am on my way. Going. Living. Being. Meeting more of myself on the way.
Who are you? Tell me.
Slainte.
Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment, would you capture it or just let it slip? (Eminem)
I do, I will, I can, I have, I am Music.