I have lost my mind...in the very best way ever!

Hello.  I’m turning forty-four this year and I am deep in the throws of an epic mid-life crisis.  The thought of working on things that would advance my career makes me want to stick red-hot pokers in my eyes.  I get all revved up and determined, but then when I sit down to actually work on it?  Fried eyeballs.  I have no passion for it…it is drudgery.  In fact, I’d rather scrub the kitchen floor.  That’s a bad sign.

So after much reflection and the bountiful wisdom of colleges, peers, and friends with such massively smart brains, it’s down right scary…I’ve decided what I truly and deeply need to do with my life…

…go on tour with the Foo Fighters.

Ow.  I snorted pretty hard on that one.  But I’m not joking.  Seriously, I’ve worn the yolk of Corporate America *salutes dutifully* for half of my freaking life now.  My silly sparkly soul is worn down to a gritty nub from it.  I snarl more than I laugh.  So it is time for radical change, before it’s too late (although it likely already is, more on crawling back if I have to later). 

I’ll be laid off at the end of April.  I’ve known it was coming.  My contract is up.  So I have been saving all my little pennies to survive some time off.  Time, I have decided, that I am going to take to explore my brain, a couple of neighboring states, and my favorite hobby.   

A friend recently asked me what I would be if I could choose a career and be instantly great at it.  My brain has answered ‘photography’ to that question since I was 16.  Why in the hell did I become a developer?  *shrug*  Anyway, I hope the end result of my sabbatical is that I ditch my old career and take the freaking scary step of going back to school to become a photographer.  Carpe diem.  Take a fucking risk and LIVE!  Or maybe fall on your ass and have to crawl back…whatever.  At least I will have tried.

So my mid-life crisis sabbatical has been in my head for months now but on a separate channel.  At the same time, I’ve been following the Foo Fighters as they Tweeted their way through the recording of their new album, the theme of which has been ‘old school.’  From the recording to tape in Dave’s garage, to playing a few practice gigs around L.A., to now…let there be TOUR DATES!  With 6 weeks left for me of Too-Big-To-Fail daily torture (and the regular cash it yields *sigh*), this week the Foos announced the first of their North American gigs.  Tulsa, OK…Little Rock, AR…Memphis, TN…Council Bluffs, IA.  Shit!  All right around me!!!

Although I’ve already booked a trip to see them (and a zillion other delicious bands) at the Oxegen Festival in Dublin this summer, the timing of the mid-west shows is RIGHT AFTER I GET LAID OFF!  This is a sign that God digs rock and roll (and even if it’s not, I say it IS so THERE)! 

Tickets went on pre-sale today.  I have a ‘fan club’ super secret password and…now I have 4 tickets to see the Foo Fighters in different cities around the mid-west in late May.  *flails* The route of my sabbatical road trip is now set!  Oh, and to further prove this is a sign from above, Motorhead will be opening.  We all know who Lemmy is right? *collapses with rock chick glee*  Lemmy is GOD!

I will be free!  I will be unemployed!  I will be broke!  I’m taking my dog!  Welcome to the prelude to DoBeeDeux’s mid-life crisis rock and roll photography tour! 

Any coincidence the new Foo album is entitled ‘Wasting Light’?  Any coincidence that I already have a ticket to see Queens of the Stone age on April 6?  Any coincidence that I already had a ticket to see the Arctic Monkeys in Milwaukee May 27?  New Foo album comes out April 12.  April 25, I turn 44. 

I’m going to have the freaking time of my life and I’m gonna blog it and photo the hell out of it!  I’ll look for a job when I get back…fuck it, let’s ROCK!

April 6 - Queens of the Stone Age, St. Louis, MO
April 12 - Release of 'Wasting Light'
April 25 - My birthday
April 30 - End of my employment contract

May 17 - Foo Fighters & Motorhead, Tulsa, OK
May 18 - Foo Fighters & Motorhead, Little Rock, AR
May 20 - Foo Fighters & Motorhead, Memphis, TN
May 23 - Foo Fighters & Motorhead, Council Bluffs, IA
May 27 - Arcitc Monkeys, Milwaukee, WI

June 11 - Buxom Space Fish, St. Louis

July 7-10 Oxegen Festival, Dublin Ireland (Foo & Monkeys again and more more more!)

Oh, and here's a photo I took of my mid-life crisis today...