I don’t know how to start this. It’s been a crazy couple of months that is for sure. I guess a good place to start is how this happened. I was in Maui in October . I am sure many of you saw my pictures and posts. My wife and I vacationed there with our good friends Tony Gamboa and Christie Esparza. It was a wonderful holiday. I have been to Hawaii several times starting in 2000 when I first went out for Reza for Love Festival. Hawaii has been one of my favorite places to vacation. I just love it there. The vibe, the people, the food, the culture. I was in Maui in 2006 with my family and I went into a book store in Lahaina and purchased a book “So You Want To Live in Hawaii”. I have often daydreamed about moving to the islands. So, while I was out there in October I went on indeed.com and found a couple of positions that would fit my skillset. I applied, thinking that of course nothing would happen. It’s just a dream, but I loved the fantasy. Well, when we got back to LA, I got a call from Hawaii Health Systems and was asked if I wanted to interview. It took a couple of weeks but on November 19th I interviewed with them. I was celebrating my birthday in Tucson and was driving up when I had to do my interview. I stopped by a Marriott in Phoenix and asked to use their conference room and was able to be interviewed without disruption for my allotted hour. A little over 2 weeks later, my wife and I were at work when the call came. I took it in private and expected the “It was really nice interviewing you but we went with a different candidate” call back that usually happens in situations like this but to my absolute surprise, they made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Earlier this week I got my official offer and I am proud to say that on 01/14/2019 I will be the Director of IT for Hawaii Health Systems. Crazy.
So right now I am in the middle of preparing for my new life. Shipping out my car, booking flights, getting a rental,, packing, purging and selling things. It has been a whirlwind. My wonderful wife will have to stay back for a few months to get the dogs ready, get our house ready to rent out and all the little details of uprooting. So many details in making this move. It will be very hard to be away from my wife and fur babies for a few months but I have a lot to do when I get there. Start a new job, settle into our new place. All of that. Just thinking about it is daunting.
The hardest part of this is leaving my friends and family. Especially my mom. We are super close and thinking of not being a short drive away to see her is a bit maddening. But I got a two year plan and I plan on visiting regularly.
I don’t have a lot of time to say my goodbyes to everyone I would like to but I have a few gigs coming up and I would love to see you at one of them. I will also be having 2 going way events. A park party on the January 6th and a beer and vinyl social on Dr. Freeclouds on January 11th. Kim and I would love to see you before my departure. I plan on coming back to LA a few times a year. We both hope to come back for Slinky in May to help celebrate the 20th Slinky event.
2018 was a crazy year. A lot happen to me professionally and personally. Most of it was good but it is still a lot of change to process. Last night I DJed at Teleport and people started to really say their goodbyes to me. It was rough. Everyone is happy for me but there is still something very bittersweet about all this. To be honest though, I think this is good for me. I hope then when I do come back to LA to visit and DJ that those events will be special. I think it will be different for me to to be around the scene in LA every weekend. The scene has given me so much. It has provided so many lifelong friendships. It is hard to say goodbye. Which is why I am just staying I will see you later.
I do look forward to getting involved in the scene in Hawaii. I already have some gigs there that I will be announcing soon. Since I will probably be DJing less I plan on really focusing on music production. It will be nice to focus on some studio work.
Well, yeah. I am leaving. And yeah part of me is sad. Really fucking sad. But to me this is a huge personal challenge. I willed this situation into existence and now that it is actually here, I have to try. If I didn’t go for this I will always wonder “what if” and I have never wanted to live a “what if” life. So to my friends in LA. When I am in town next, come find me. Come give me a hug and dance with me.
