my big day

the panic attack

it started at 3am. i was up, walking around, seriously wondering what the heck i had done with my life. all my creature comforts were dis-possesed, given away, done with, and here i was in africa with no leather sectional sofa, no 65" plasma tv, no customized vertical work station, no stainless fridge, no groovy loft space, no more closet space or shelves for clothes and stuff, no more car, no more nothing. all gone. whaaaaaaaaaaaaa. the big spoiled american had hit rock bottom and it was only day 4. geesh. what a baby. but living out of one suitcase is hard. living out of 5 is kinda crazy. but i have food and lodging and shelter and good company to stay with, so what's the big deal? did i just miss my things? or was it the bigger elephant in the living room...what had i done with my life? and what the heck was i doing here? i mean really, what i am doing here? what's the plan? the target? the strategy? i don't even have a car to get around in! or a place of my own to properly unpack all my stuff. i'm a transient orphan. waiting on god to move on my behalf, and scared to death. people said i was brave and courageous for leaving. well, chicken little was showing his true feathers. i was overwhelmed with loose ends and had a slight panic attack. it happens to everyone who goes all in in moving to a foreign land. i had a one way ticket here. literally. i was all in. and now what? what did i think was going to happen? i was freaking. trying to keep it together. i had coffee with my new pastor form karen vineyard at the karen blixen coffee graden at 9am so that helped. he felt my panic and reassured it was quite normal. a mere case of everything that was familiar in your life was now 12,000 miles away. and it was a cold reboot of a new operating system of life as i knew it. hey, it could only get better, right?  i just thought i was cool for another week or two before i hit rock bottom, a little longer honeymoon thank you very much, not day 4 of the first week. nonetheless, it had hit. i was out of sorts, as in i was no longer sorted. pastor doug dropped me off at the karen center where i ran into chris and lindy and got a ride home. whew.

then some magic happened

their english mastiff, wallace, greeted me outside the rover and it's hard not to lift your spirits by this big gallunk of a dog. he's big and clumsy and loving. just what i needed. then i got an email from my secret connection here to get me work directing commercials. a top freelance producer whom we'll call winston. well, i had emailed winnie to say i was in town and ready to hook up whenever, when i got an email back asking if a had a dvd of my commercial reel. truth was everything is posted on my vimeo commercial channel, but i could burn one easy enough, so said sure. problem was we had no blank dvd media in the house and this reel was needed asap. so...i drove the 1966 land rover to karen center to get some blank media.

this old bucket of bolts is pushing 40 years old, has the turning radius of the titantic, and is a bear to drive. no power steering, no power anything, and the stick shift knob comes off in your hand. plus i'm driving on the wrong side for the first time in years in this train wreck. scary!  but i made it. got  the media, and caught sight of an old bmw rt 100 for sale on the community bulletin board. very interesting.

no telling how old it is or the mileage, but it was stinking cool and had rear bags. and for a guy striking out and having anxiety attacks over finding a decent used car here, this looked rad. more later.

the big dream reset

when i was here in january, winnie said the top ad agencies to work for were ogilvy africa and scangroup. the top commercial production company was sounds & pictures. here's where it gets freaky. winnie wanted my dvd reel for ogilvy. asap for something in the works. i thought it would take me 8 weeks to get this email. not day 4. but alas, they wanted my reel and i was burning one to get to them. today. no fancy stickem labels, no fancy jewel case, just a basic dvd with some handwriting on it. not pro style looking at all! but it was all i had. so now it's time to deliver it in town, at oglivy africa offices neat the ya ya centre off ngong road. so, i call my driver peter to come fetch me. and walk down to the main hwy to meet him. but he doesn't come for an hour. i had turned off my new cell phone by accident and couldn't reboot it without the factory pin number back at the house, so i missed peter's text saying traffic was too bad and he couldn't make it. enter kevin, a kid with a 100 cc motorbike ( a glorified moped really with me on it) and kevin drove me home, i got the pin, peter was out, so now kevin and motorbike were my transpo all the way into ya ya centre. like going from bev hills to santa monica. except on a two lane road, driving on the dirt shoulder, the sidewalk, splitting lanes, you name it. mr. toad's wild ride, like some video game, an old school E ticket, with so many close calls you just had to let go and hang on and say okay, i may fall off this thing. so be it. problem was lil' kev didn't know exactly where the ya ya center was, so we passed it by a few miles and had to turn back, meanwhile trying to get to ogilvy africa by 5pm at the latest! 

we had to find the atrium building on chaka road and we finally made it. and i swear my blood pressure was no higher than my last check up in century city before my colonoscopy! i was zen, cruising ngong road on this moped like i owned it. i mean, this was the adventure i had signed up for! splitting traffic on a motorbike, in insane traffic in africa! too cool! and alas, we made it. got to the lobby, waited for my contact, DM, and he offered a coffee and i gladly accepted. any excuse to hang and feel a part of it. we gabbed and then he said BTW, the sounds and pictures (remember, my hero prod house), had just lost one of their top directors and i should give them a bell. eureka! really? seriously? that too? all in one day?!! what cool news! so, it appears i'm in the mix to direct my first spot over here AND may get a shot of being in S&P's stable of directors. all by day 4! insane! the day went from zero to hero! yay!

that BMW

we had to stop at said ya ya center to get some proper dvd labels and guess what? i see the bmw rt100 from the bulletin board ad. in the parking lot. just sitting there. a sign? i'm definitely open! i'll call tomorrow.

too funny

then on the way home, lil kev got lost on the way to the dinner party i was going to on miotoni rd, so we stopped to ask a bloke, who then got on the moped behind me to show us the way! as in, got on the seat with me so now there are 3 of us on this tiny motorbike cruising around speaking swa trying to get to my dinner. too funny. the big mzungu in an african sandwich. very sorry i didn't have a picture of that one. but the day's adventure was now complete. and then DM texted to say S&P may be calling me tomorrow. all too cool. unreal. i thought S&P might never happen, or again, 8 weeks from now. but now things are looking good. fantastic finish for week one. god is good, memsahib. from panic to excitement. 

car solution

then, after i get home tonight, my car broker guy sends me this old defender which could be a perfect solution for my vehicle needs.

i wanted a green rover deep inside and here it might be. i'm second in line, but it could be cherry. and the ole bmw bike too. now THAT would be fun. and if the work gates open, panic attack problem solved! i'll worry about hangars for my clothes another day! and keep you posted as to what happens next. zero to hero is good. the adventure continues. and today was quite a day. i've been waiting 6 months to take that meeting at OA. chaka road, the madison ave of nairobi! ha! we shall see. but today was a turning point. a big hurdle crossed, emotionally and possibly professionally. all is well. i'm sure i'll sleep well tonite. good night you nice people. lala salama. 

ddm