Blurred Lines and Gratuitous Selfies: A Sign of the Times

I swear I have been working hard-- too hard for a sabbatical some might even argue...  but there is lots of fun also shoved into the nooks and crannies of every day and, thankfully, the line between work and play is pretty blurry for me (I won't give links to the video referenced here-- if you want to find it, you can google as well as I can...).  Last week, for example, I went and gave a talk at the Nairobi National Museum.  Technically, this was work, but I had so much fun that I took a selfie with Jacob, the curator of the snake park at the museum and my host, after the seminar.  Professionalism, shmofessionalism. Thanks for the awesome invite Jacob!

Then, this past weekend I went north of Nairobi to the foothills of the Aberdare Mountains to check it out.  This is a region of Kenya I have spent very little time in, but it is essentially the breadbasket of the country-- extremely beautiful quilt of forest, small-scale tea farming, timber plots, orchards, and lots and lots and lots of vegetable farms.  Where we were was overlooking a gorgeous river flowing down the eastern side of the mountains, which fulfills my bliss requirement of being within earshot of running water.  I suppose, technically, there was no real work involved in this excursion-- but I thought a lot while hiking.  That counts, right?

The hiking was a must, anyway.  We have been spending really long days at the office prepping for the advanced workshop.  But Leah is a great musical influence, and has introduced me to all kinds of awesome dance, hiphop, and rap music which makes jamming at work way more fun  (my favorite new artist-- Hoodie Allen).  The best general tip so far: a website where people post mixes they made (http://8tracks.com/).  I can listen to all the guilty pleasures and acoustic rock I want, without knowing exactly what will come next which I don't enjoy nearly as much.  Listening to rando mixes doesn't adhere to Robin Hilton's rules on Mixtape Etiquette (read his passionate treatise here, if you are interested) and it isn't as good as Lake CDs, but until summertime comes it'll have to do.  Hot off the press gratuitous selfie of me and Leah burning the not-quite-midnight oil between jams, below.