Hey how's it going? Made it in one piece! I wrote the entire flight, it was really something, felt like a time warp. Set up camp at Huckleberry Roasters on Pecos Street. Did not have any worthy contenders for 'Passenger Shaming' (see Instagram) but the 9'8" dude in front of me did his share of slamming back and forth in his seat, with violence. One of my dad's most famous (and there are many) sayings/gripes is whenever he uses public transportation whether it be a bus, plane...he is the guy who always sits directly in front of the ONE person who has 'projectile whooping cough...so strong it parted my hair down the middle!!' and on it goes.. that was my childhood, listening to that wizard of comedy tell stories of his pain. I feel like I inherited his luck most of the time.

So I'm on the prowl for veggie burgers and soups and maybe a fine ginger beer. Groceries are next on the 'to do.'

What are you all reading out there? Any good books? I'm finishing The Warrior Elite by Dick Couch. For fans of: determination. It's really eye-opening, if you let yourself really imagine the commitment those young men examine themselves for. And I'm not even talking about the getting to the try out - I'm talking about the being there. Any one of us could handle one smoking work out because we all can make sleep up the next day, rest. It really lies in the day after day after day grind of getting punished to the limit, for 6 months. If you're lucky and you don't get injured, and you perform well - you get the privilege of staying for more pain. I'm interested in what makes a person resilient. What can a person take. Where are my limits? What are they, are there any? I got up at 4am central today on less than 4 hours' sleep and it took me a solid half hour to get in gear to catch the cab. All I had to do was catch a cab and sit around - I'm STILL doing that. Those dudes get up at 4ish to prep equipment and themselves for the 14+ hour day of punishment. The endlessness.

There HAS to be a love attached to it. I think I've just figured it out. Those young men have to find a reason to stick with it when everything around them is hell. They MUST love it. They must feel like they HAVE to be there. There've been a handful of issues I've clung onto in my life for dear life. And it's people, and you want love, and you want to fix someone. And you find yourself conditioned over years if mechanisms in your heart and brain have not been recalibrated to seek out people who have similar absences as those you looked to when you were young. I'm brushstroking with a scalpel, here. This may not be how it is for everybody but it was this way for me. Illogical doubling down efforts on quests that were impossible. Kids don't know no one can fix no one.

I've come across good internet articles lately on how one of the worst things you can do is tell a kid not to cry. I'm guilty of that. Not often but when the patience is gone words snap off and you can't get 'em back. We're doing a lot of damage trying to make kids not react with emotion. Someone cries as a response to a hurt. So crying is the process of healing. Why would we tell anyone don't heal, let alone a small kid? In high school I was around a maniac (beloved) high school football coach and in the 4 years I knew him I can count on one hand the compliments or nice gestures I feel like I got. And Lord knows it might have been 50 or 100 nice things but when a dog is beaten past the perky ears okay I'll come back and you're just shattering the shards of a spirit, at some point the positive stuff goes right out the other ear, no one hears it. We've all got to be more careful with each other. BE MORE CAREFUL. Intentionally. Don't read this and smile and nod, you have wasted 15 minutes. I just felt compelled to go here as I'm sitting at this coffee shop in Denver, letting the thoughts line up like jazz. No editing. Just things falling where they'll land and it's all right.

Denver I got songs for you tomorrow night at Fort Greene starts at 8. It's gonna be hot, and free. Jacob Russo will be trading tunes with me. Come on come on!!!

I see you Denver