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What you’ll find in this newsletter

To the Islands: Whales, Dolphins, and Pelicans, oh my
I hired a coach
The future

Something in our salty blood draws us to the sea;
something in our imagination beckons us to the islands…

To the Islands

Last Monday I joined my friend, Mike, on a small boat excursion to the Channel Islands. He’s been asking me to come out for awhile and I, in my standard, non-committal way kept saying, “Yeah… sounds great. I’d love to go” while never actually setting a date.

He called my bluff and said, “I’m not asking your busy. If the weather is right I’m going on Monday and would like you to go.”

And in a surprise move, I said, “Yeah.. I’ll take a day off and go.”

The quote about the sea above is from a film, narrated by Kevin Costner, about the Channel Islands. It’s called, “Treasure in the Sea." They show it at a small theater at Ventura Harbor. It makes we weep to watch it. And yes, I weep at a lot of things, but its worth watching. I’ve seen it 5 or 6 times. Click the link above or the image below if you want to watch it.

Our hope was to see some Humpback whales, some dolphins, and just enjoy time on the water and the rugged beauty of the islands. Our specific destination was Santa Cruz island.

On the way out, we also visited Mike’s younger brother, Tim’s, final resting place to pay some respects and just think about him again.

“Thar she blows!!!”

We spotted our first Humpback’s after seeing a rare Minke whale and a super-pod of dolphins. I couldn’t get a decent photo of the Minke whale but did get a few shots of dolphins. Pics to follow.

Then, in the distance, we spotted two Humpback’s breaching. They were too far away to get any photos of that amazing behavior.

We headed their direction. As we got to the area, we spotted a spout of water to our right and then a Humpback crested the surface. As it started to go under, Mike exclaimed, “His tail is going to come up!”

I started shooting and got to witness a beautiful moment.

Here are some of the photos. You can see all the photos on a Google Drive, here.

Mike and yours truly eating lunch - Potato Harbor

I’ve told Mike I want to go back out and take some snorkeling gear. The water around Potato Harbor was clear to the bottom and there were several kelp beds that I am certain would be amazing to explore.

I would rank this a great and memorable day!

I Hired a Coach

I’ve coached IT executives and a few content creators. I see/know the value of coaches but I’ve never availed myself of one professionally. It was time.

My coach, Jim, and I, had an introduction call to discuss the process and then our first official session a couple weeks later.

My focus is on creative output - ie: music, videos, and written content. While there are some who feel I do a lot, I am not consistently achieving the goals I would like to in this arena.

I’ll share more in a future post but suffice to say, here are areas we covered and will go over in more detail.

Scheduling and Prepping for Creation
Remove barriers to my morning creative mind by a 15 minute prep the night before. This is particularly salient for recording new music.
Commit to a content plan
Even a rudimentary and changing plan is better than being frozen with indecision
Be the Hero in Your Story
If what you were hoping to achieve was a movie and you were the main character - the hero - what actions would you write into the script that would move the hero forward.

There is, of course, more but if I can do better with those items, I figure I’ll be in solid shape.

The Future

I contemplating re-branding this newsletter. I am, by no means, certain of this. If I do, it would be to better identify what I plan to publish. Right now, The Arrogant Sage, is fine but it really doesn’t say much. I love it as a band name and a moniker. However, I am also of the opinion that what you write is what your brand is - ie: the name is far less critical than interesting stories and writing.

We are also in process of organizing and cleaning up my YouTube channel to better reflect what is there and allow viewers to understand what we are about.

I hope you enjoyed the whale photos and, once again, thank you for joining me on this journey.

Sincerely,
Matthew Moran
October 6, 2022

The Arrogant Sage

I've got a whale of a tale to tell ya lads