Jersey

I'm off to spend the day in Jersey today.

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Two More Days!!!

Cleaning... working... cleaning... working... is it Saturday yet?

three more days....

So much to do, so little time.... cleaning my apartment now, working from 4 to 9 then home to clean some more...

ho tornato

The blogging has been sporadic, and for that I apologize. I'm not sure if anyone checks in or not anymore and in truth it doesn't really matter. I was sure that I had posted at least one entry since I returned from Europe in October but it seems that I was mistaken. So to get you up to speed - After Venice I went back to Milan for a night and then flew to Edinburgh. The wedding was great - fantastic to see family and especially to see my cousin so happy; I wasn't in the best state of mind at the time but I enjoyed it as much as I could have. The next day I did the fast train to London and spent a couple days there including a great evening with Ben and Arthur who introduced me to some fantastic people including most of the Lion King cast, all of whom I hope to see again (especially cheetah girl lol). The rest of October wasn't so great for me, I was still feeling really lost and sad. I spent a lot of time reflecting on the things that happened this year and writing a lot of songs. November was even harder, so many associations with her and November....... Did a big Chinese show in AC for thanksgiving which was a lot of fun but that was also replete with memories. A few days after the show I went out to Whistler for a few days to get some early season snowboarding in. That really cheered me up, cleared my head and gave me an opportunity to see some things in a different light. While I was there I made some big decisions about my life. The details are mostly too personal to post here, but basically I decided to get myself a job since the music gigs have slowed to a crawl. Turns out that working, even a crappy job, is a really, really good thing for me in a lot of ways, not just financially. It's put my head in a much better space and that seems to be opening up all kinds of possibilities for me. It's funny because around the same time that I started this job I met someone who doesn't seem to need to be impressed by money, or success, or status, or any of that bullshit - someone who seems to know how to be happy just being a normal person - someone who knows how to handle the drama in her life with grace and humor - someone who (at least so far) seems to like me only for who I am; it's kind of cool.

spritz

In Venice they drink Campari & prosecco over ice and call it a "spritz" which sounds Yiddish to me lol. I left my map at the hotel so i decided to have aperitivo nearby. I'm at Taverna L'Olandese Dolante which is close to the hotel but there's still a chance of getting lost in this place. There are no straight streets, really no streets at all just bridges and narrow passageways that open up into piazzi and campi. Also everything change names randomly. There are also no cars or scooters or even bicycles here which makes it distinctively different than every other place i've been in Italy.

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On the way to Venice

I'm on the train to Venezia.

Mobile Blogging from here.

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Milano pt 2

I Spent today exploring the central and also southwest part of the city. I'm going to the "isola" neighborhood in search of aperitivo and cena in a couple hours. I leave for Venice in the morning :)

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Milano

After meeting up with Angela at the exhibition yesterday, we wandered over to the Brera district and found a nice outdoor place for aperativi. A friend of hers from Parsons who is also in town, and who's name escapes me, joined us. After the obligitory small plates and negroni, we wandered around and dropped in on a party being held in a clothing shop. There was a DJ and they were handing out champagne and some odd bites of food. This picture is from the party. Afterwards we wandered a bit more and discovered a small alleyway with several restaurants. We picked the one that seemed to be the busiest and ate grilled octopus followed by risotto Milanese followed by a whole seabass. The food was frankly dissapointing compared to other meals I've had in Italy but they finished us off with two rounds of cold mirto which was a welcome surprise. I had fun with Angela yesterday but I'm really looking forward to spending some time on my own for the next few days. Milan is a big city and I haven't seen much of it yet. Not sure where I'll go today, but it's grey and drizzly so maybe I'll try to check out Il Cenacolo.

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Italia

I'm off to Italy this afternoon, it's an overnight flight so I'll arrive tomorrow morning in Milano. I've got a friend who's in the fashion industry who was invited to show her new line by Vogue magazine (it's fashion week there), so I'll be attending the opening party for that tomorrow night! Should be fun and exciting (hope i have something fashionable to wear!) Then I'll spend a couple days bumming around Milan and eating risotto, then a couple days in Venice to check out the Biannale and the amazing wines from the veneto, then up to Scotland for a family wedding, a day or two in London to visit friends and then back home - a whirlwind trip, yes but a much needed one.

This Year

Everything changed this year and it's not over yet; everything is still in flux. I'm hanging on and trying to ride the wave to the shore. I only hope that when i get there it's not too rocky, and with any luck there'll be a cabana with someone serving tropical drinks.

I'm not going to blog about my love life anymore - it was kind of a stupid idea to ever do so. I started this blog last year as a kind of travel journal and I'm going to try and get it back on that track.

Stay tuned.

Has it been a week? Really?

This week really flew by. The show last weekend was way better than I thought it would be; lots of fun and great to see all those people again. Howie's wedding was a blast too, especially seeing friends from the old North-Shore days. One of the bridesmaids was someone I had previously met a few months ago at a party, we were seated next to each other at the wedding and wound up talking a bit. There is a strange dynamic with us... i can't tell if it's good or not but she felt it too, so we're going out this weekend; should be interesting.

at the showboat

We're at the casino. Rehearsal went ok and we got here no problem. This shot is from the lobby, never been listed next to ZZ Top before.

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