Block 5: Action Hero Time: Checklist #2

A few items remain on the first checklist, but I'm on track with the thirty-day timeline, and pleased. Now's the time to take some time to fine-tune the overall game plan.

Room/Roommate Arrangements
( x )  Expand search beyond Craig's List, including roommate.com and an ad placed in 'Seattle's Only Newspaper', The Stranger (comparable to Creative Loafing).
( x ) Emphasize location desired, rental/job stability--and preference for initial 3-6 month commitment.

Physical/Image
( x ) Continue and intensify workout regimen: 3 resistance training days, 2 cycling sessions in between...and High Intensity Interval Training on Saturdays.
( x ) Daily protein drinks and juices.
( x ) One high-protein meal daily (chicken allowed till I reach the right shape).
( x ) Reboot hair style with senior stylist July 23.
(  ) Total juice fast for 2 days/nights this week, July 13-20.
( x ) Buy new running shoes before the August trip.




Personal
(  ) Return to daily meditation for at least 15-20 minutes.
( x ) Begin devoting, daily, as much attention to my thoughts and attitude as I do toward the trunk and four boxes.
( x ) Continue to try to reach C, the old school chum I've drifted from. He should still be in LA.
( x ) Also call or email S in Portland.
( x ) Try to further strengthen family ties before I leave for the West Coast.




Job
( x ) Prepare to visit my job references before the August trip.
( x ) Gauge disposition of my present boss from upcoming review.
( x ) Begin preparing the packages for Seattle store branch and book stores.

The next two weeks are critical, so it's time to sign off and fine-tune for dear life.

Block 3: Working Seattle Cross-Country: Part 2

So, you have a great plan you're protecting. What next? You work this second mantra to with an inch of your life:

PTM

The letters stand for Pay the Man. Time, energy, parts of your soul are expected as payment more often than cash. But pay you must and pay you will if that plan of yours is worth protecting at all.

EXAMPLES


Sleep in today or call out sick?



Issue: For now I need to work two jobs with sometimes conflicting schedules. Neither employer will flex on my hours.
Price: Too many lates or absences on job 1 may result in a write-up, lessening my chance for a transfer this fall. Two more call-outs on job 2 will result in termination. Meanwhile, every other week I face 3 days of back to back shifts with next to no sleep in between.
Pay the Man: Work the shifts assigned for now and get by on what sleep I can steal. But, to avoid paying The Man with my health, I'll take off a weekend in June from job 1. And I'll save my last call out from job 2 till I can afford termination. Occasional exhaustion now is the price of my September plane fare.

Shall I do this today or tomorrow?



Issue: To apply for work at Elliott Bay Book Company, I must go there before the move. Hence the first trip in September. But...
Price: If I wait till the last minute, following their protocol, I'll end up being just one of the herd. If I try to break their protocol or put advance pressure on them, I'm toast. The problems involved in my cross-country move must remain my business, as must my need for a job right away. But...
Pay the Man: In this case, The Man is not only Elliott Bay Book Company. The Man is also the Situation, in which I'll be competing with scores of other applicants--and also scores of business issues clamouring for the owner's time. I choose to Pay the Man with an introductory note this week meant to whet his appetite. Then I'll follow up monthly with postcards containing a couple of lines. Goal: establish my presence before I arrive.

Do I really need to work out before then?



Issue: No, I don't need to look that buff. But as a Slightly Older Guy, I'll need to look a bit hotter than simply 'better than average'.
Price: I'm already on an exhausting schedule. Just as important, muscle growth requires more rest than my schedule seems to allow.
Pay the Man: My no-excuses payment plan: adhere religiously to a core 15-minute circuit workout plan 3-4 times weekly in my biweekly third-shift gigs. Add, in the alternate weeks, cycling or interval runs twice a week--and a second 15-minute workout for my arms. Eat like a warrior and make time to rest.

Is it okay to blow off steam by venting at rude a-holes?



Issue: Oh, dear, nothing this extreme. But our dignity comes under daily assaults and--let's face it--sometimes we might like to...well, roar like Al Pacino. But...
Price: Your badass moment may cost you in ways you'd never thought to pay. There's no glory in letting a fool set you off, especially if s/he has something to gain. On the other hand, there must be limits to the abuse that you suffer.
Pay the Man: Suck it up when you can without selling your soul--which should lie at the heart of your plan. The day will come when you need to draw on a bank of good will and trust: be seen as a model of self-control and courtly cool. Pay now in this regard and learn to bite your tongue. Your strong record may help save your bacon when you need to take a stand whatever the risk to the Plan.


Time to go and Pay the Man with a weekend of back to back shifts. Protect the Plan, Reb. Pay the Man. A little while longer.  And keep this in mind when the price seems too high:

Action Log

05/13: Had the first of two meetings I've scheduled this week regarding a Top Secret Plan. It took three brothers to convince me that I can have both more money and time, resigning from one of my two jobs, if I follow their advice. The first meeting went well--and, just possibly, I can move in style and comfort this fall. Meantime, somehow I have lost or misplaced a special wallet containing the ID I'll need. Tore the apartment apart last night.  I have one more place to look tonight before applying for replacement ID, setting me back a few weeks. Pay the Man and do it, kid.

05/15: Paid the Man by not sleeping in, despite the thundering weather, and going on to the second meeting. Paid the Man by sitting for hours till my name was called, then by being pleasantly grilled for the better part of an hour. Things look good for my receiving that extra money beginning in June. But I'll Protect the Plan now by not quitting either till the money's in the bank.

05/16: Completed and mailed introductory letter to Elliott Bay Book Company.

Block 2: How to See Seattle: Part 2

One by one, the pictures start to crystallize in mind. Capitol Hill. My Seattle.




I see a city brimming with brio, spunk and attitude. As I struggle with my picture of a place I've never been, I'm drawn to seek visual echoes of parts of other towns. I think of San Francisco when I view the Puget Sound, the mountains and the steeply angled streets. Capitol Hill reminds me a bit of both North Beach in San Francisco and the Village in New York. I may go on to find echoes of NY's Upper East or West Side...SF's toney Union St. This is natural enough, I'd think: a defensive mechanism against a sense of total estrangement. But I'm keeping my mind straight about this as well. For I can't see Seattle truly if I'm focused on repeating some other place I've lived.

So even while I cozy up from 3000 miles away I need to seek out the strange heart of this town. I need to draw a better bead on what makes Seattle unique. At the same time I must search for ways to best enter the life of Seattle as it really is. Just so, I may seek qualities I loved in people from my past--but I mustn't force my memories on the histories of new people I meet. Revere the best while embracing the new and living in the present.

I see Elliott Bay Book Company:

Seattle's most famous independent bookstore was founded in 1976. It relocated from Pioneer Square to Capitol Hill in May, 2010. Here it houses 150,000 titles on cedar shelves and sponsors a robust number of author readings and events. Imagine how this calls to a man living in a city without one major indie bookstore. Now imagine how this calls to a man who'd worked for ten years in the business.
    Though I've been away from the trade a long time, my two best job experiences were at world-class indie bookstores. But Atlanta's Oxford Books went bankrupt...Portland's Powell's City of Books just wasn't a good fit for me...and I drifted into dull, meaningless work, convinced that I'd run out of options. No, I'd run out of vision. Now I see a chance to rejoin the Holy War and fight on the side of the indies. I see myself surrounded not only by books but people who love reading them and people who love writing them.

--I see Vegan restaurants:

I reached peak physical condition as The San Francisco Kid in the 1980s. Moving there, I stopped drinking and began working out while I followed a mostly raw diet. Men and women whistled when I walked the streets. But a move to New York and a bad marriage sent me plummeting hard from the peak. And the South hasn't been conducive to a health nut diet. Oh, there's no going back in time--and I wouldn't if I could. But I can return to something close to S.F. Kid condition by working out and eating as I used to eat.

--I see a wealth of great cafes:

For a man who's lived and loved in two cities with wonderful indie cafes, Seattle sounds a clarion call. I dig cafe society and only now realize what I've been missing since Portland, Seattle's pretty but flat-chested sister. Go West, you laptop hobo--and be certain to always tip well. 

So, a theme's emerged in this second part: seeing in Seattle a chance to recover the best of the lost while I stay true to today.

Till part 3!

Action Log
4/17: Sometimes it helps to see Seattle by taking yourself by surprise. Today at dawn I bolted up, fearing my playbook's still not bold enough. I'm on schedule, yes, and proceeding apace. But where's the Caesar in my soul? What's with these niggling fears and doubts? Caesar crossed the Rubicon while I'm gingerly wading across a small ford. Get in gear! Act like a king to become one! I bounded up and tackled a task I'd set for May: condensing and fitting my DVDs and CDs into a single box...just as I did with my books for box one. Two boxes remain: for personal and professional papers, notebooks, manuscripts. I've been putting this task off because I know what a huge mess awaits me. But, with Caesar's help, I'll start next week. Hey, who knows, maybe Cleo will join us.