I love it when people get self referential with each other - it reminds me of the days when Bowie and Bolan would do it, even if it didn’t last very long. My friend Beccy just fired up a new blog where she does what I would term as ‘whatever she likes’ which is the very best way to run a blog. She grabbed hold of my idea of projecting herself forwards 12 months into next September 2018 - see this if you missed it and you can read about her state of affairs here. She has a baby now - which is great! She’s on the road with her man in their van - which is just as it should be. In fact, just like when I roughed up my original '9:18' entry, things look peachy.

Except now, it’s October - only 11 months to go to nail shit to the floor!

Fuck. I lost a month already. See what happens when you’re not paying attention to driving your life car. If I check properly, I think it’s really only two weeks, but you see how these things - namely time - can get behind you until one day, you’re a news item like Tom Petty... except, unlike with Tom Petty, there is nothing to report because you didn’t leave anything worthwhile behind - you didn't do anything that was different to the thing you always did.

You just let the time slip away.

So what did you change in the last two weeks to make 9:18 rock like a hurricane for yourself, the human race and the spinning ball of dirt we call home? Here’s what I have got on the cooker:

The books will be ready when they’re ready. One is coming soon. On this front, as previously told, I threw my all in with a new kind of publisher so I didn’t have so much work to do behind the scenes. If I’m right, that will be a much better place for me to be in come 9:18.
You’re never too old to get Blood on the Tracks and Deadbirds continues to grow in the home studio that is my head. I love my Gretsch and we are working on it - things are moving forwards one day at a time.
I’m stepping up my action on Big Bear Rescue behind the scenes. It’s all moving far too slowly for my liking but it’s moving and I’m looking for some ways to throw petrol on the fire. The bear thing doesn’t seem enough though. I’ve been looking at the oceans (again) and big cats too. I’m thinking that I should find a way to bring them all under one roof. It can be done. Somehow.
I prepped up five radio shows, with another 3 to go, giving me a total of eight hours... or four x two hour episodes of Black Dye White Noise that will be ready to roll when my buddy presses the button on a radio station he bought. I may not have mentioned any of this previously and none of it may happen but I’ll be ready to go if and when he is regardless. Having a radio show could be handy come the revolution. You can reach a lot of people with a radio show.
I’ve booked up some trips between now and then - three so far - on which I plan to write… a lot. This makes me a travel writer just like I always wanted to be. Sometimes, you can fulfil a dream even when nobody else is watching you know. Lonely Planet don’t give a damn about how I look upon the world but that’s OK because I have never used one of their guidebooks either. This is a big tick in the Column of Life for me. I don’t need validating with it - I do it therefore I am. I need to bring this thinking into all areas of my life - and in all probability, so do you.

There are other things to add here but they're too small to look at today. If I ask myself the question again though - ‘what do I want my life to look like in 9:18’ - I can at least say I have thrown enough stones in the lake to make some ripples. The trick now is to continue throwing stones in the same lake and building them up until they become waves.

In one single year. You can change your world. I’m certain of this.

In one single year, you might even be able to change The World. All you have to do is begin.

#9:18

This looks like a good place to drop in something smart but I can't think of anything better than this, so I won't bother: