I’m moving to New York. This is no surprise to many of you. I joke that I have been half-living there for about five years from the sheer quantity of time I have been spending there for both work and pleasure. In 2008, I spent over 200 days camped out there! Every time I left, it would get harder and harder. I’ve decided to stop fighting that feeling. It’s obviously where I want to be. So I am relocating myself at the beginning of 2012 to Brooklyn.

Now that I am home from my world travels, I am beginning my job search actively. I look forward to finding a small creatively-focused agency with a great mix of clients, or a great brand, preferably including the entertainment vertical, which I miss working with very much.

New York is my favorite city and I look forward to living there full-time, with its incredible energy, diversity, creativity and business. I can’t wait to be closer to friends I don’t see often enough. I will have to make it a mission to find proper Mexican food in the city! I have yet to unearth any. I’m anxious to get started on a new project and am excited at the prospects I have already come across.

I adore Atlanta and the South, but I know I can always come back. Drive A Faster Car will remain focused on Atlanta, Decatur and Athens. New York doesn’t need it. DaFC turned ten years old this December 2. It’s a little hard to believe. I feel like I have a child. I have blogged for ten years. This mark feels like as a good time as any to proceed with the changes in store.

I believe that covers most of the questions that have come my way. If you have others, feel free to reach out to me. I’m saying my “see you soon’s” on January 7 in Atlanta, if you’d like to come out. I’m planning to be in New York as of January 9.

You tend to get told that the world is the way it is, but life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact; and that is that everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you… Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.

- Steve Jobs in PBS’ “One Last Thing”

You have to be brave with your life so that others can be brave with theirs.

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” Steve Jobs

Of course I was so anxious to get home that I forgot that my so diligently written and stamped postcards are still in my carry-on and not mailed in Amsterdam as they should have been. Well, damn. I guess it had to happen at some point.

I’m on my flight home. My last flight from Europe this year and it feels a little weird. This is only partially because it also happens to be the tenth anniversary of 9/11. What a day for air travel. The security leaving Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport definitely felt heightened a bit. At AMS, they have small security stations at each gate instead of the massive security setup you find at many airports. It makes it so much easier and less of a hassle and stress. Today, I arrived at the airport three hours before my flight, part out of anxiousness to get home and part because I had no idea what to expect flying today. Busy at baggage drop but the airport felt a normal kind of busy. At the gate, they usually have the normal scanner and TSA patrol but today an extra step. From our line at the gate, a TSA agent would allow you through the belted divider then ask you to stand at a podium. They scanned your passport at a computer located at a different podium before joining you and giving the usual Q&A about your baggage. From here, you were then allowed to the usual scanner but today, everyone was required to go through the full body scanner, followed for many, by a pat down. I’ll sacrifice the time for safety even though I have mixed feelings about the scanners. (I have after the fact been informed that this type of security is normal for AMS.)

Finally on flight, I listen to an older white American couple complain to the flight attendant about being seated next to a gentleman in a head wrap and his wife, obviously of Eastern background. He pleads to her to be moved to other seats if any are available after the flight is boarded. The attendant responded that the flight was full and asked if he wanted to be put on the next flight. He declined and sat back uncomfortably in his seat. Eventually, the couple was able to move seats. For the life of me, I hope their children, if they have any, are not of the same naive mentality. The Eastern appearing couple were both carrying American passports and even if they weren’t, why the prejudice? This drives me absolutely insane and saddens me greatly. It’s these people that I apologize for when I travel. The Americans (and I’m aware they exist elsewhere in the world too) who prejudice by stereotypes and bulk labels. It makes me want to apply for an Iranian passport. By birth, I inherited from my father dual-citizenship with Iran. I have no intentions of traveling to Iran any time in the next 10 years but it would serve as a recognition of my family and my background. Which has nothing to do with terrorists. These instances are simply infuriating to me. It took every ounce of me to not ask the older man what the problem was.

It’s almost 2PM in Europe and approaching 8AM on the East Coast. The man sitting next to me on my flight somehow managed to step on and break my glasses? My belly has been fed, my heart a bit heavy and the ignorant out of sight. My first order of business upon returning to Atlanta is to acquire a Willy’s burrito and lay down in Piedmont Park. It’s suppose to be a lovely 84F today and Europe does not have good Mexican food, i.e. my one of my lifelines. I will spend the next two weeks seeing family and friends, finding as much random short-term work as possible, driving to Houston, Texas to acquire my visa for India and a thousand errands, before heading out to Asia. It will be very nice to be home.

It’s my own fault for traveling to almost exclusively capital cities but my entire time in Europe has been a sport in avoiding tourists. Here inside the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, I don’t know why I find myself surprised that so many visitors spend longer reading the descriptions, listening to their audio guides and playing on their cellphones than actually seeing the art. I keep getting run over.

You can view these pieces online, in books, and likely, even on television if you catch the right program. Why go to a museum? Is it just something to do? The acquisition of ticked boxes that make individuals feel like they are feeding themselves culture. Providing postcard and dinner fodder? They jump from one famous piece to another, quickly brushing by the rest. Do these individuals view these heralded artists because they have been told they are of importance?

Do these individuals not have interest in the artist’s journey? The general public seems to have an affinity for mankind’s (and other kind’s) journey and development when you apply this idea to film or literature. Is it our own fault for not teaching art like we teach literature? What about the artist has earned them such notoriety for their work? Do these individuals realize that they are even cheating their experiences? Does it even matter? Their dollars (euros, in this example) still help the museum survive. Is this why museums don’t seem to care?

I posted a quick tweet about my plans for the day on my way to the Van Gogh Museum and another notable Amsterdam museum, Rijksmuseum, responded to my comment about their current construction:

I responded that I could just save my visit for the next time I was in Amsterdam, when I could pay the same admission, and see much more of their collection, after their construction was completed in 2012. No response. It’s a bit frustrating when those who dedicate so much time, energy and passion to preserving and sharing some of the world’s richest media don’t even stand up for the experience and appreciation of it.

Perhaps this is a question, more largely, of differences in experiencing media. If you still purchase and read print books, are you more likely to spend twice as long or at least have a focus on the art, while in museums? How about in comparison to individuals who are strictly bound to their Kindle and mp3s? These experiences are very personal for some and less for others. Is there any correlation with media delivery or consumption?

The two men sitting on either side of me are both reading their Facebook News Feeds on their iPhones. Maybe this is why Van Gogh escaped to the countryside. An appreciation for the simple and a lack of distraction from relatively meaningless interactions.

Our economy might be in pursuit of mediocrity because too many of us put what, why, and who makes us want to go into a fetal crouch, plug our ears, and bang our foreheads against our knees above, beyond, and before what, why, and who we love. – Umair Haque

This article from the Harvard Business Review is a great follow up thought to my most recent post.

While traveling over the past two months, I have had a lot of time to think about “work.” Does a job have to be work? Should it be? I’ve lived my life up until this point under the idea that you should love what you spend your time and energy doing. There must be some level of passion.

When I return from my travel at the end of this year after four months in Europe and two months in Asia, what will I do? What is next? Will I stay in Atlanta? Will I finally try a new city? I have about ten years of experience under my belt. By the time I’m forty years old, I will have more than doubled that. How should I spend that time? I could learn a lot in thirteen years.

There are many possible answers to these questions but a few paths. I could choose to continue down the social media rabbit hole, which is very interesting and dynamic but not as fulfilling for me as it once was. Re-excite me. In many environments, the creativity this field once required has been stripped away. I want the creativity and bend back in my routine. I have been studying user experience design and mobile development. I can integrate this into a role. Perhaps combining these with my previous experience, I am looking at a broader digital role that requires an individual who can wear many hats. Oversee a digital team or work as a link and communicator between fields. Strategy!

These ideas appeal to me especially if I can find a way to acquire more global experience. How can one conquer the world if they don’t know how to handle the world? Where the lines and boundaries are? What is appropriate? What are new considerations? How does all of this scale? These are challenges I crave.

In short, I’ve begun exploring options for when I return and I don’t expect it will be easy for me to find this dream job. I’m considering school though this largely depends where I land geographically. I will figure it all out over my remaining four months of travel. Bring on the rest of Europe and Asia.

Note: Written 23 July 2011

The original 27 Club was Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison, who died within 2 years of each other in 1969-1971. Kurt Cobain is usually added to this list next who committed suicide in 1994 at the age of 27. Then there’s a score of other famous people, largely musicians, who have also died at 27 for one reason or another including: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Pope John XII, Robert Johnson, Dave Alexander (The Stooges), Chris Bell (Big Star), Pete de Freitas (Echo and the Bunnymen) and so forth. Today a new one on the list: Amy Winehouse.

This is especially disturbing for a 27 year old girl. (Am I alone here?) What is it about twenty-seven years of life that encourages so many suicides and suspicious deaths at this age? You are officially an adult though not yet thirty – the age that many people feel is their deadline for responsible living. A house, a wife/husband, a car, a career path, plans to reproduce. The pressure? The stress? The expectation? Or is it all just an odd coincidence? I’m on my way to the halfway mark and have no current inclinations to off myself. Curious to see how I will feel about life, in the abstract, as this year continues. Send your age theories.

There is a scene in the fabulous collection of shorts, Paris Je T’Aime, with a very stereotypical overweight American tourist clad in fanny pack, sneakers and her Lonely Planet Paris guide. As amazing as all of the shorts in this collection are, this one haunts me the most. Her terrible French, her lonely but highly fulfilling travel, and how gauche she is in Paris makes me feel like an ass for every tourist I’ve ever made fun of in any city. Their intentions are true and eager. The short makes you unable to do anything but empathize for her experiences.

I’m very glad I decided to stay in Paris for almost a month. It’s given me the opportunity to hit the touristy places, see the places my mother used to frequent forty years ago when she lived in France and become comfortable. It’s given me the opportunity to get my food stolen off a park bench. To acquire some level of orientation from different locations in the city. Make friends and hangovers. Learn the metro. Watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle over rooftops at night. I still feel the sentiments Orwell described in “Down and Out in Paris and London” walking around. It’s a rough city.

My French is just as good as when I got here. I still feel it is Europe’s New York City while London is it’s San Francisco. I could live here but I don’t want to yet. I have one week left and while I’ve enjoyed it greatly, I am ready for a new adventure and city.

I can’t believe it is already almost August. I started the year eager, secure and hardworking. This quickly transitioned into just as eager, happier and traveling. I can’t help but wonder where the end of this year will find me. What country will I be in? Will I have decided by this point to get another “real” job? Will I be back in my apartment? Will I want to be?

Seven weeks from today, I will be back in Atlanta. I will have landed the afternoon previous, had Fellini’s Pizza with my little sister and crashed at my mother’s after stories of travels. My hair will be a little longer for me, much shorter than when I had left. Atlanta will be mostly the same though much warmer at this time of the year. And I’ll have two weeks to prepare for my next adventure: two months in Bali and the South Pacific. As if my four months in Europe weren’t a departure enough, I was placing myself on the other side of the planet and missing the leaves change colors in the name of mental well-being. How much is enough? Is there a too much?

I initially intended to travel for a year. This is going to be difficult for me to due to postponed freelance work and my lack of effort (so far) to find more. There is only so much money in the bank. This weekend is the first time I began to feel homesick. Eight weeks since I left home. Maybe that is my needed recoup time. Perhaps I need to find myself a way of life that allows for two solid months of travel a year to stay motivated, clear minded and inspired. The more I talk with others about “what I do for living” and what inspires me the more and more I lean towards starting my own company. After six months of travel this year, I don’t anticipate another long haul just yet.

My brain wants to grow. My heart wants a home. My soul will wander regardless of where my person is. They all need to be fed and I need to figure out what this means. The creativity has been stripped out of my work and I will fight for it back. I do not want to apply for or entertain a social media job. I will push back on Human Resources and others who insist upon this as I keep running into. I refuse to be pigeon-holed and miserable. I will study and practice and complement my previous experience. I don’t care how long I have been working in my role and similar roles, I am only twenty-seven years old. I have more than enough time to learn many new skills and roles. Help me grow. Or I will have no choice but to create this environment for myself. The last thing I desire to be so gauche in my own life.

I created a text document this afternoon while sitting in a park on the side of the Seine, not too far from the Eiffel Tower but far enough that I avoided most of the tourists. The document is called “life plan” and I have begun a series of lists within it that were primarily generated via brain dump that helps me visualize and guide my options, wishes and path. It’s a growing document and I expect to update it often. I have made many lists similar to this before. This time it will be a more active list. One that will lead me directly to the next step and force a certain continuity of progress throughout. Let’s see how it does. I know where I want to go. Let’s get me there now.