Welcome to first double-digit edition of this road trip newsletter! 10! 1-0!

Thank you for tuning into the latest and greatest from the front lines of my ambitions as a martial artist and author. I'm glad you're here and am exceptionally grateful for your support, interest, and investment in this journey.

If you’re new, welcome. If you’re not, welcome back! However we know each other or however you found this newsletter, I hope sharing some stories and thoughts on a monthly-or-more cadence will inspire you to find and follow some courageous and crazy dreams of your own.

If you'd like to catch up on the previous editions, you can check out the full newsletter archive here. You can also view this edition of the newsletter on the web if you don't want to keep reading from your email client. Please pardon any wonky formatting, image blips, or other slight bugs in between platforms.

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Those who subscribed this month got a peek into the "Soundtrack 2 My Life" (any Kid Cudi fans in the audience?) and the musical score I'd generate for the trip so far. I'll be releasing another exclusive post this week.

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Before we dive in...

I'm reporting live from Marietta, GA and am…relaxed? Relaxed is rarely (if ever) a word I'd use to describe myself. It's an unfamilair feeling, but almost-certainly a healthy one. My first few days of living in Georgia feel a whole lot simpler and more peaceful than my last six months of living in Southern California.

No midnight trains were taken to arrive here, but this particular verse of Gladys Knight's "Midnight Train to Georgia" feels particularly fitting for me right now, having returned to the east coast:

He said he's going back to find

What's left of his world

The world he left behind

Not so long ago...

While coming back to the east coast, my "world I left behind not so long ago," feels like a concession of certain dreams, it feels like the right move for the moment.

Travel Updates: The Big Drive from CA to GA

We made the cross-country drive over the course of seven days, clocking in about 4-7 hours of driving per day. Despite six months' worth of accumulated crap, we managed to fit our lives snugly back into the Subaru, having no issues driving the steel shell containing our possessions (dog included) from coast to coast.

For the recap/field notes from the journey back east, click here.

Favorite view of the drive: the one of the new backyard

Writing Updates: Three Things to Report

I'm preparing to send my first queries out to prospective agents before the end of the month(!) I'm still chugging away on my manuscript, but have refined my proposal enough that I'd feel comfortable sending it out upon an agent's request. Enormous thanks to those on this list who have offered to review the proposal and/or have provided feedback.
I got off the wait list for a weekend writing workshop with one of my all-time favorite writers: Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild.
I wrote two pieces earlier in the month, which you can check out here and here. The first piece is about pacing and finding limits in training, inspired by Matt Fitzgerald (a running coach who spent a summer training with elite racers half his age and wrote a book about it). The second piece is about March Madness and ways I can (unexpectedly) relate and empathize with the beginning or end of their professional careers in basketball.

Training Updates

Bid farewell to San Diego and Atos HQ. This post pretty much covers my feelings about my six months there: some things you just need to see for yourself.
We found a place to train in Atlanta that seems very promising, friendly, and welcoming. It is also a six-minute drive from our apartment. We’ve trained twice since arriving, and the spot checks all the boxes for good teaching, nice people, and technical training. There’s a solid chunk of full-time BJJ athletes and a lot of consistent but more casual people. Based on my goals for the next few months, I can float between these camps.

What’s been on my mind

Passover: Passover as a pilgrimage holiday that aligned 1-1 with my pilgrimage back to the east coast. I spent a lot of the car rides thinking about the Passover story more broadly as it relates to this road trip: seeking freedom, witnessing miraculous things, and plodding through doubt wandering through uncertain lands pursuit of a “promised land” and place to call home.
The Boston Marathon: I’ve felt my share of FOMO for people and events in Boston while on this trip, but Marathon Monday hit me harder than I expected it to. The first time I ever saw the Marathon was in 2013 (the year of the bombing—fortunately, I watched the marathon in Brookline rather than Back Bay) and I distinctly remember how moving it was to watch the race again the following year. The spirit of triumph and renewal was palpable in 2014. I bet it felt that way for those watching it live last week, too. After all the pandemic panic, to be able to have the Marathon back on schedule and in full force is a big and uplifting step toward a return to “normal.” Few things are as uniquely Boston as a Patriots Day spent with a cold drink in hand and watching the marathoners in the home stretch from Comm Ave to Boylston Street.
The Concept of Returning: in May, I’m headed to see a ton of family at the Jersey Shore, followed by my 10-year college reunion in Princeton. Returning to these spaces is going to be interesting. I haven’t seen most of my family since before the pandemic, and, in the case of my college classmates, haven’t seen most of them since our fifth reunion at the most recent. I’ll also be doing a weeklong “return” to Boston after the college reunion. If you’re around in the week before MDW, let me know. I’ll be visiting old haunts, writing in various places downtown, else rolling around in the basement of the one and only Broadway Jiu-Jitsu. If you’re at leisure to catch up for coffee or lunch, hit me up.
The Delights of Domesticity: After the lsat few months of living in an especially-seedy Airbnb, it was luscious to go to a TJ Maxx and buy some housewares and decor that weren’t unclean, hideous, or worn threadbare.
“The Patriot Way”: I’ve started reading “It’s Better to be Feared: The New England Patriots Dynasty and the Pursuit of Greatness” by Seth Wickersham. I am very late to reading up on Brady, Belichick, and Kraft, especially as I no longer live in New England and the Patriots Dynasty has officially concluded with Brady on the Bucs. It’s a dense but rewarding read on the backstory behind these three powerhouses, their approach toward excellence, their mindsets around performance, and how they made themselves legendary in the NFL (warts and all).

Spotted in my first proper meal in Georgia: a peach-colored key to positive thinking?

Closing out

Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed Issue #10 of this newsletter. I'll catch you next month.

With ♥️ from the land of 🍑 and pecans,

EZ

PS: Reply back, say “hi," and let me know what’s new with you if the urge moves you. And if you’ve got feedback on where this newsletter should go, what you like about it, and how I could grow it, definitely send me your hottest tips..

Issue #010: Zen in the Art of Fighting