November 17, 2003

Let's start with MORE ABOUT ME.

I don't know yet why I've created this diary, or who will be invited to read it. I have a personal journal, and I keep a Road Notes section on my band's website, so it's not as though I'm not writing things down. But one is completely private and the other is public enough that I keep it pretty p.c., so maybe I have a need for something a little more down to the bone, that's accessible to the caring and curious. Maybe I'll password protect it at some point.

(One inspiration certainly was poundy.com; someone sent me the link to her Weight Watchers recipe cards and I about fell off my chair laughing. Then I proceeded to read her entire journal of about 3 years, laughed some more, cried some, and got very interested in this "public diary" thing.)

I'm a singer songwriter; I tour for a living. I love my job in spite of how hard it is and how insane things are sometimes. We're ambitious and hopeful and everything else in our lives has become subordinate to the band. Much of my life is spent before the public. I get to decide on a daily basis what parts of me I will show to people. I like my "public self;" I'm witty and fun and personable and gracious. There's a kid inside, though, who still just wants to go home and hang out in familiar surroundings and have my stuff around me and not answer the phone. Sometimes, when I go to sleep in another strange bed in a strange room a thousand miles from home, I wonder if I'll remember where I am when I wake up.

My neighbor has just come home from the gym; he recently returned from visiting his family in India, and said he has some gifts for me. I should go across the hall now and visit a little. I'll be back later.