As you may have noticed the blog has been relatively quiet the month of September, but my life has been anything but. I have a lot I’d like share and look forward to writing some more comprehensive life updates and keeping in touch with everyone who has been in and out of my life. But respites are few and far between the next few weeks.
Here’s a quick rundown.
Throughout the month of August all my friends from high school packed up suitcases and hopped in cars and planes, scattering around the country. Then it was my twin sister’s turn to take a 1 way to Boston and begin her adventure at Tufts University. I’m very excited for her and I know she’s having an amazing time, but it marked the closing of a large chapter in our lives and was a sad day for the Marmer Family, indeed.
As August closed and September 2009 was born I was up in Black Rock City having an amazing first time at Burning Man. What a transformative experience. Understanding cannot be shared vicariously, though I might be able to offer a few tastes in a upcoming post.
The day I returned from Burning Man I turned 19. Reflection of the last year ensued and I couldn’t believe how much had changed. It was the best of year of my life by far. But I’m confident this year will top it. The stage is set for a wonderful gap year and for the first time in my life I am in control of my most precious resource: my time. Hopefully I’m setting a trend for the rest of my life where things keep getting better all the time. Yes, you can sing it.
Many of my entrepreneurial friends who are veteran Burners described the following weeks as the most productive of the year. I must agree. I returned high on life with all cylinders firing. I clocked 14 hour days for 7 days straight without feeling a hint of lethargy and sailed straight into Tech Crunch 50, in what turned out to be the most productive conference I’ve ever attended. I did the conference the way you’re supposed to. Skipping the most of the content, because it can be had later from the comforts of my desk and instead seizing the opportunity to talk with the plethora of people in attendance I’d been wanting (needing perhaps?) to meet with.
My company took a major leap forward due to large volume of connections made, partnerships forged and targeted feedback I gathered. And after another busy day following the conference, I crashed. I woke up with a fever and was out for over a week, spending most of the time in bed, managing to get an email off every now and then. It hurt. It was a knife straight through the surplus of progress acheived in the preceeding overtime workweek. When you’re scratching and clawing for everything you can muster, being stuck on the sidelines is just agonizing.
But as the cloud over my head was lifted and the mental haze melted away the sun came careening through. As I eased back into work after a week of fitful slumber I received the news that I had received one of the 30 residencies for the Palomar 5 camp. A huge smile swept across my face punctuated by 3 forceful first pumps. The theme of the camp —the future of work— could not be a better fit because it’s so well aligned with all that I’ve been thinking about and working on. What an opportunity. So I’ve been running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get everything done in the few remaining days I have on the west coast before I leave for Berlin for 6 weeks on October 9th.
Most people when they take a gap year decide to travel. I decided I had bigger fish to fry than to chase perspective. I wanted to create. I still planned to travel some, but was unsure how I was going to fit it in. But now I have the perfect opportunity to combine work and travel. While most of my time will be spent exploring my home base city of Berlin I hope to get in a few weekend trips traversing other magical cities nearby in Europe. London and Amsterdam top the list right now.
I welcome any suggestions or reccomendations of things to do, places to see or people to meet while I”m situated in Berlin until late November. Let me know.
Feel free to email me anytime.
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