Greetings!

First: Thank you for voting. Thank you for any effort you made to elect decent people in the mid-term election. Thank you for any extra effort you made - donating to candidates; working for initiatives; and making a difference. Thank you .

Well, that was something, wasn't it? I'm sure like me, you're head is spinning about the election and the aftermath. My take? The results are good and this will help get our country and the world moving in a better direction. Are we out of the woods? Not by a long shot. Are we closer to removing the orange menace and having a fairer and happier society? I think we are. I read a lot of NYT articles - particularly Paul Krugman. Recommend

The elections in Oregon couldn't have provided a better outcome, IMHO. I mean they could have, but given who and what we voted for/on, I'm happy with the outcome. There isn't one article that encapsulates all the goodness, but my summary of what I've read and watched = good result. One thing I'd like to see is the press (and us) focused less on what Trump says - and repeating it. He has nothing new or useful to add - his script is limited (like a 5-year old's). I'm working to find better, more interesting voices to ingest and share with others. Join me. Let's move the conversation forward.

Switching off politics for a moment I want to share something I'm really excited about. It has to do with building my/your local community. I'm going to demo this process in a webinar on 11.28 - If you're able, please come join me. If not, and you would like to get this going yourself and need a hand, please let me know and I will be glad to assist you.
OK, here's the big idea .

You live somewhere. You're surrounded by people.

Problem : How can you connect with the people you live closest to who have the greatest potential to be friends or co-conspirators on how to improve your neighborhood/world - or to play music with, for instance?

Currently : We have chance meetings over the years - meet people through our kids; supermarket connections; or through activities that we do. In my case that's led to a nice community of people who are wonderful and amazing (mostly people from the ecstatic dance world). And, they/you live all over the place - so, getting together is challenging and thus the relationships take a strong effort to keep them going. Add in time; changing interests; and changed lives (moving, for instance/love relationships ending...) and boom , you might find yourself back at square one. What if there was a way to build locally and quickly. Enter Nextdoor.com

I've been on  Nextdoor.com  for a couple years. It's basically Facebook organized by neighborhood. If you're not familiar with it you can learn more @ http://albertideation.com/nextdoor and http://albertideation.com/nextdoor2 - You may have a vibrant Nextdoor group near you or perhaps you'll need to use CraigsList or some other platform.

Solution : Making my life richer through connecting with the smartest people in my community (who I hope will make me laugh a lot, too) and who I hope to build things with.

Here's the process I'm using to do this.

A. Review my Nextdoor conversations and keep my eyes open to who responded and showed their fun/smart colors. Or, just keep an eye out for people who respond to conversations in a manner that interests you. They are prospective friends!

ďťżB. Private message (PM) some of them and invite them to join a "newsletter"

C. Create "meet-up" like events/activities for us to get to know each other. Thank you to the World Domination Summit for showing me the value of Meetups and how to use them :) This also takes an email service provider like the one I'm using to reach you. Or, you'll need some other way to collect contact info and reach back out to the people who respond.

This is a little different approach to building community than anything I've tried in the past and I'm tickled to share the idea with you. I'll keep you posted about this as I go. So far I've created the "system" to get the ball rolling, and I have 2 people who've joined in. I am open to any and all feedback.
In the " I miss you " and " I love to play music " category. I'd like to invite you to join me for Puget Sound Guitar Workshop's New Year's Eve weekend . Near Seattle. 12.28.18-1.2.19 - It's $415 for 4 days - comfy cabins; a lake with kayaks; great musicians/people; delicious food; and you can also come for less time for less $. It's a wonderful way to bring in the new year. You don't need to play an instrument - you can come and sing. You can come and listen. You can come and sleep!

Music is better together - that's my good friend, Alex Kain over there on the right - see how much fun we're having?

If you have questions about PSGW, please write me back and ask. And, feel free to suggest another time and place to get together! Mexico?
And life goes on. Please write me back and tell me what you're up to. If you didn't get a birthday note from me this year, write me back with your birth date . I have something special planned for 2019 :)

I hope you've enjoyed this month's 11. Today marks the 100th anniversary of the end of World War 1. Peace.

Take care of yourself, family and friends and let's keep working to make this a better world together while having some laughs along the way!

Love,

Albert

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Sing along to the video below:

Armistice Day

On Armistice Day
The Philharmonic will play
But the songs that we sing
Will be sad
Shufflin' brown tunes
Hanging around
No long drawn blown out excuses
Were made
When I needed a friend she was there
Just like an easy chair
Armistice Day
Armistice Day
That's all I really wanted to say
Oh I'm weary from waiting
In Washington D.C,
I'm coming to see my Congressman
But he's avoiding me
Weary from waiting down in Washington D.C.
Oh Congresswoman
Won't you tell that Congressman
I've waited such a long time
I've about waited all I can
Oh Congresswoman
Won't you tell that Congressman
Truth