Day 13: The beginning of the end for us. Until now, the adventure has been fairly calm and we've yet to attract the gaze of the enemy: sleep, tiredness, lack of focus, stress. I'm afraid, however, that our halcyon days are coming to an end.
Last night was the first of the grueling marathon we knew we would face at the end of our journey. We had a wonderful concert in Fukuoka, in another beautiful hall with an enthusiastic and appreciative audience. We're looking forward to another concert today, hopefully exhibiting those same characteristics. Then, another concert the next day... and the next... and the next...
The schedule worked out that we had four concerts in the first 12 days of our tour... and then five concerts in a row before we fly home. Yes, we've reached crunch time, ladies and gentlemen, when we separate the men from the boys, the women from the girls.
While this will be an endurance test, at the same time it's a chance we rarely have - continual, unrelenting performance and opportunities to grow and learn together. It ain't easy, but damn will we kick butt by the end of this trip.
I know we'll be exhausted by the end. I know there'll be times we'll wonder "why the heck are we putting ourselves through this?" But... when you're up on that stage, the spotlights on, sharing your music with your fellow ringers and your audience, and that single, pure moment of joy and expression alights on you... it's all worth it.
This is what we live for.
---Jason
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