A word of advice.

I've got a lot to write about, From hiking mountains to swimming with Sharks. But not tonight.

But I've got one piece of advice, for anyone looking to come over here, or even where ever you are in the world.

When you first get here, You go through phases of invincibility and vulnerability. And honestly, you feel like you can do things without thinking them through. I did a lot of it myself, and I've watched and am watching some of my friends, and not so friends do it now. Honestly we feel like it because for the most part, we get away with it. Either it's not a big enough deal, or everyone ignores the elephant in the room. So here's the advice. You aren't invincible, the choices you make matter, a lot. So please watch your back and don't be an idiot. Because if you do, you'll regret it. I promise. But by then you might be too late.

Night guys.

The things you find.

It's been a little over a week since my last entry. As always I am sorry for the tardiness. Honestly not too much has happened of importance in my life over here in the East. My big news is that last week I played my first open mic at Speakeasy's. I have to admit I was nervous, really really nervous. And I'm not sure why. I mean I've been on stages more times than I can count and I've spent 3 summers now performing on guitar for tourists and travellers from all parts of the world, both as they wandered past and when they came to see whatever our theatre show of the season was. So one would think that I wouldn't be too worried about my first musical venture on a modern stage wouldn't be too stressful, but it's a different animal and before getting on stage I had as many butterflies as the first time I ever performed a monologue on stage. But it was fun, Actually it was a lot of fun. Most of my normal weekend cohorts were there, and the night was even more special as I had a bunch of friends who don't normally mix with the Speakeasy crowd show up to support me. Whit and Linds, Tony and Caroline and Annie all came and were great fun to have in the audience. Of course Lindsay had her camera present and somehow made me look like I knew what I was doing! But like I said, being up there was fun. I made mistakes and flubbed some lyrics, probably missed a chord here or there but it felt fun. I have to admit, I really love being on a stage.

Not much else is new from this past week. I saw Watchmen, and while it does take some small liberties in the end I found it faithful to the source Material and an absolutely excellent and creative movie with hardly a mistep. A word of warning though, Watchmen is Graphic. It has to be really and I never found anything in it, whether it was sex, violence, gore or language to be there simply for the sake of itself, but it deserves its R rating to be sure.

Last thign to write about today is that one thing I enjoy about this country are the things you find by mistake. Yesterday my friend organized a Hash run, and I really wanted take part. Unfortunately I made a mistake on where it was starting and got myself lost. Realizing that I wasn't going to be able to get there in time, I txted an apology to one of the folks running and decided to explore down near the Reservoir, as I hadn't really walked down around here yet. Here's what I found. Have a good day guys and gals! Talk to you later.

J