Day 13: Busy luck (Ventura to Pomona)

Today was proof of how lucky I am to be this busy.

I’m two thousand miles from home, but that just meant the day started with a jog along the Pacific coastline. I treated myself to coffee and breakfast on the beach, then later, a killer vegan Mexican dinner.

We’re running this tour with no crew, just the five of us, pulling all the weight. That’s the flip side of my lucky coin: the work is nonstop.

Over breakfast, I squeezed in ninety minutes of emails, balancing protein and spreadsheets at the same table. On the way to dinner, I got the van’s oil changed. Back at the venue, a merch order arrived, so I sorted and sold shirts all night. That’s on top of setting up, playing, tearing down, and finally driving another hour to a hotel.

If this were a job interview, most candidates would’ve run before asking about pay or time off. Yet we do it without any entitlements or benefits, just the hope that the work will mean something to others, as it does for us. I spent countless hours preparing for this tour long before it started, hours I can’t bill as overtime.

The pay I’m after is in a different currency.

I recently got in a disagreement with the HR department of my nine to five; I'm not meeting my in-office quota because I'm away on this tour. My job is comfortable. It is my main source of income and it funds my art. I am grateful for it. And yet, if I'm not willing to give my every lucid hour, then I don't want to give anything at all. That's the goal, to be so busy it feels like luck. Not work.

I'm out here at the job that's non stop and pays the least. It's the only one I'm willing to be this busy for.