Feels like we’re officially in the second “part” of this trip. During the initial two weeks we were still settling in. Also, Steve and Kory both left the OC for a few days at the same time, so I had space to feel everything out, read, recover from the initial blast of traveling. Now that we got what we need, know where the basic necessities are (including knowing where the closest açai bowl, taco, and coffee places are), it feels like every day’s hours are valuable.

This weeks readings were from Made to Stick by Dan & Cheap heath. The book talks about how to make your ideas “sticky” so that they are successful in the world. Even the authors say it’s a little corny, but it walks the reader through the S.U.C.C.E.S’s acronym and so far I’ve learned that a sticky idea is simple, unexpected and concrete. “If you say three things, you don’t say anything” a simple idea is not a short sentence – sound bites are not the ideal. Proverbs are the ideal. We can use surprise, to grab people’s attention. But surprise doesn’t last. For our ideas to endure they must generate interest and curiosity – be unexpected. For an idea to be clear it’s got to be explained in terms of sensory information. We cant picture an abstract idea like truthfulness because not many pictures pop into your head when you hear it, but we can understand a concrete idea like a watermelon because we tie taste, feeling, places we bought it, people we were with, all together to remember idea.

So, I started to take some of these concepts out past the walls of the surf shack up to Huntington Beach pier yesterday. We wanted to get a feel for HB especially because Steve hadn’t really had a chance to check it out. We skated for four hours and watched some surfers – from the pier – for about 30 minutes. It was a terrible day for surfing except if you were right up along the North or South side of the pier, which implies you’re either a local or a really talented ripper. I was watching one of the two, or both. I asked Kory and he thought based on my descriptions the surfers name was Kyle(?)

From my Journal:

“I knew he was consistent, first, because he was got two waves on the walk out, but he was more attentive too, on a poor condition day he was aware of a shift in swell. He paddled away from the line-up even before I was aware of a more northerly pushing set. By being aware he allowed himself more time prior to the set to position himself perfectly on the peak of an incoming wave, minimizing the amount of paddles and maximizing the amount of time on the wave”

I was trying to synthesize the ideas from Made to Stick and apply them to single idea of standing up on a wave. I figured there were three things that made this idea successful: Awareness, Consistency, and Positioning. But, like the authors say, these are abstract concepts and in order for them to relate they need to be explained so that they evoke our senses. I was thinking as if I were to teach someone how to be a good surfer when I came to my conclusion. A good surfer is like an owl. They’re aware always have their heads on a swivel. They’re consistent, self explanatory, they get what they want… often. And they always have precise positioning. Picking mice out of the field at night.

All these ideas sprouted from one sensory image of an Owl. It was a very useful lesson in helping me try and find ways to make my ideas, songs, brand, etc., stick in the worlds of music and marketing. I could be a little self-righteous of my lyrics right now, but I also don’t want to share anything too early, but there is some major progress happening in my writing game. I’m filling up my notepad with skeletons to songs that Steve and me are collaborating on (Steve’s Website) and wish to compile together the last week, when we are in Olympia before returning to class.

It’s eighty something degrees out right now. I’m so blessed. There has been so much progress, good food, laughs, intelligent conversations, meeting new amazing people, … and there are three weeks more of it. This is ridiculous.