And of course life still goes on...

Regardless of the prep work and press talk and studying and learning involved in a trip such as this, one is reminded hourly that life as it is for each delegate still goes on. Our normal day to day lives do not stop because of this trip or any other. Money still needs to be made. Errands run. Friends or family members still sick or in need or just want to talk, etc.

I cannot speak for the other delegates on this trip but i guess they are in similar positions. For me personally it is a balancing act that takes tremendous focus. My bandmates and our manager are constantly on the phone. In the last few weeks we have been negotiating two different contracts regarding the release of the two new albums we want to release this year. At any other time that would be the BOMB. It would be the all that i was thinking about. And indeed according to the guys in the band it should be all i am thinking about. "Frankly i think you have too much on your plate and i wish you would just focus on these record deals man," Fernando our guitarist tells me openly and honestly.

"So Mr. ambassador where are you today? Afganistan?" Our baritoned-voiced manager the Big Man in Black shouts at me over the phone. "How am i supposed to get a hold of you if you're always off on one of these effing peace trips? Jacobi is calling me nonstop. I would like to be able to tell him something,"

I'm listening to him and sincerely interested and at the same time I'm trying to soak in the complexities of the Suni-Shia conflict in a State Department Report in my left hand out of the corner of my eye...

Crazy times indeed. So how does this fit in with the band? Are my bandmates right? "It doesn't man. This is you. It has nothing to do with the band or with music." Or is there something bigger that we aren't seeing yet with all of this? How does it fit in with my love of all loves -- music? I don't know yet. But i'm willing to keep on with the balancing act. I know this: people are balancing much more than this quite sucessfully all over the world.