On Being Awesome

I nearly forgot to tell you! My life is changing shape. It’s a bit tricky to put down in one entry, but you’ll get the general idea. My job is changing shape. I’ll still be involved in environmental issues, but this time as part of a new project. Last November, my friend Sally-Jane, or pinkhairgirl, started talking about a road trip. I thought that sounded like a good idea- a holiday, maybe a week, being crazy.

We talked for ages about it, and, with my other friends Andre and Yme, it has turned into this: The Awesome Road Trip. ART.
It went from being a crazy idea to being a crazy reality. An awesome reality. See, what it is, is a series of road trips into the country, to explore communities, meet people, and also to test some technology and look at environmental/green initiatives. What we do with this is then write, both for blogs and other websites and other media, and take photos and film what we do. We’re intending on creating a collective of creative thinkers and environmentally aware writers, photographers, filmmakers, social media users and pretty much anyone who has a skill to add to the project, and the passion to join in. The aim is to highlight ways in which local communities and individuals are creating a positive impact in sustainable development, and to demonstrate how technology and social media can be relevant and of benefit to everyone in this country.

So tomorrow we leave for the first Awesome Road Trip. It’s a pilot, really, to find out what needs to be better framed in our direction, and also to create a pilot for a TV series we aim to create. We’ll all be blogging and writing, and Andre will be taking loads of pictures. He’s a locally renowned photographer, and an incredibly good guy (with a passion for gadgets and esoteric things like bandwidth). Yme will be writing, too, and giving us some techie advice. He’s also very tolerant about being urinated on. Ok, that was only once, and it was a child, so he couldn’t be too cross. Then there’s Sally-Jane. She’s going to be all over the place, talking to people, finding out their stories, and exciting everyone with her energy and also her resilience. Pinkhairgirl has an amazing story. You’d like her. Her two piglets are coming, too!

Then there’s me. What do I do? Well, I’ll be there to turn some of what we see into words, too. I’ll be formulating a bigger idea along the way. I am hoping to turn this into a project which allows me to work on it most of the time. I’ve already started negotiating with my office to let me do it, and they are quite excited about being associated to ART. We’re heading up the Garden Route, through some of the most beautiful places this country has to offer, and will end with a Tweetup in PE. A Tweetup is a meeting of people who are friends on Twitter, which is where this all began. We’re hoping to do some mad things, meet some interesting characters, and also make some valuable connections for the project.

I can see you are a little skeptical, perhaps thinking *cough*mid-lifecrisis*cough*. Nah- it’s going to be done in such a way that we use whatever skills we have to create work for ourselves, but also to highlight local communities, and, ultimately, to engage in social empowerment. So we’re taking a huge leap of faith, but already we have some sponsorship- places willing to let us stay, some phones to test, and lots of other interesting rapidly developing ideas. If you are on Twitter, follow us on @AwesomeRoadTrip. You could also keep an eye out for the rest of us. @Squidsquirt @andrevr and @MajorProblem @pinkhairgirl There are others involved, too, but we’ll tell you about those as we go along. Our website is aaaalmost back to normal after a slight hitch, so do check that out, too. I’ll let you know how it went…