Hey there,

Today I caught the train into the city, and was feeling quite relaxed until I became suddenly aware that I had left my mic stand at home. This kind of “shat” me (past tense of shit, other forms accepted are “shitted me right off”, or could be put “gave me the shits” - not sure if this is just an Australian saying, but I like it). It shat me because I would either have to catch a train back home and then to the city again, or buy a mic stand from the city. After I stopped mentally abusing myself for my oversight, I decided to walk to the music shop in the city and buy one. That was sweet until I walked 10mins back to where I was about to start playing, and realised that I had forgot to buy a mic clip while I was there. Okay, so… day off to a great start!

I had lunch and coffee from my usual coffee spot and then played for a couple of hours on Bourke St, just east of Swanston St. I met some sweet people and shared many sidewalk glances with many beautiful people (that’s all of you!).

Before the second session, I had a cup of tea which was a personal milestone for me since I normally go for a coffee again. I’m cutting down you see…  sure, whatever… The point being that I sat down with my cup of tea and met an amazing man named Borris. This is the part of busking that I love the most. I never know what kind of people are going to come my way. Borris spoke to me about the importance of doing what I love which he reminded me was music (thanks Borris), and he told me from experience that money alone wont make me happy. He said that anyone who tells me otherwise is full of shit! Haha! This dude was funny in how plainly he spoke to me, but clearly he was a man who has a lot of money and could see in his own life that he had sacrificed some elements of happiness in his pursuit of money.  Borris listened to me, and so I didn’t hesitate in sharing some personal areas of my life that are of concern to me at the moment. He offered me profound insight and reminded me that we all end up in the ground someday. He said not to listen to anyone who wanted to dictate to me how I spent my days above ground at the expense of my own happiness. We spoke for over an hour and then I was ready to perform for a couple more hours.

Second session took place around the corner of Swanston and Lonsdale St. This was when the wind got really chilly and my hand kept cramping up. After this session the man from the ice-cream shop that I was busking out the front of, asked if he could swap my change for notes. I didn’t hesitate. It’s amazing how many people like to eat ice-cream at extremely low temperatures. Why not… i guess?

On the way home on the train there was a young teenage male and female couple who carried bags of paint that they were obviously sniffing. They looked spaced out as you can imagine and I felt sad for them. More so because of the permanent brain damage that is happening that may be irreparable . It’s crazy that this is happening, and that I’m meeting stacks of young people lacking self love and respect, who do things that fundamentally make them disapprove and reject themselves even more. To you to teens, whoever you are, may you find love and peace within yourselves and be healed from the cycles of negativity!

Goodnight,

Joel

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