Whew
Well its been a hell of a summer so far...
Just to catch you all up I last worked in January. Then In March I traveled to Thailand and Loas for 50 days. I returned to Germany on April 21 to collect unemploymnet money. Then in June, on the 8th my son came to Europe from Louisville, Kentucky to travel with me to Italy and Spain. By this time I had moved out of a room after having my cameras stolen out of it by who I suspect was my roomate and was now couch surfing at my friends house ( a condition I still find myself in when Im in Germany). So Quinn and I spent 10 days traveling from Venice to Rome via Ravenna and had an up and down time.
Whew!
When we reuturned to Germany my son went to spend some time with his grnadfather on June 22 (my ex´s father who lives on a US army base here and works for the military). Well Things didn´t go as expected, my son decided he would rather remain with Grandpa and so he ended up staying in Germany instead of coming with me to Spain. I went to Spain alone and depressed about the situation on June 29th. I spent 10 days in Andalucia visiting Gibralter, Cadiz, Granada and a town where the ferries come in from and set off for Morocco. This is where I met Claire. We hit it off right away and began a love affair. We spent two short days together in Spain before I had to return to Germany to see my son off back to America. I arrived back in Germany on July 8th and spent two more topsy turvy days with Quinn. On July 10th he flew from Frankfurt back to Chicago alone to be picked up by my father at Ohare.
Whew!!
I had rented a room from a friend for 3 weeks and had a list arm´s length of things to do like check in with the unemployment office (to make sure the cash keeps flowin), do my German tax return, get some photos ready for the Phish shows in Vermont. I got a bunch done, moved my stuff from Frankfurt where it was stored in a basement to Wiesbaden, packed it all up to go back to America. Spent a week in town doing stuff, visiting friends and then on July 18th I was on tour again. First to Frankfurt to see David Murray and the Gwo Kai Masters and then the next day off to Karlsruhe to catch Tortoise and the John Scofield Trio on consecutive nights. After the second show at 2am I caught a ride from a German ride board that took me to Holland to see Claire. I arrived in Amsterdam early in the morning on July 21st. Spent the next five days there.
Whew!!!
Then back to Germany for another marathon round of shit... moving out of the Wiesbaden flat. Mailing 50 kilos of shit of mine back to Merica, dealing with ebay auctions, etc. etc. etc. Then last Tuesday I was off again (this time on the 7-hour bus via Brusses and Antwerpen) to Amsterdam. Now it´s early in the morning of Monday the 9th of August.I left her side to drive back to Germany this afternoon so I could mail a portion of my bootleg concert Cd collection away to people who bought it from me on ebay. Tomorrow I´m off to the post office and to have lunch with friends in wiesbaden. I´m working with at the end of the month at a festival called Folklore im Garten. Im going to have lunch at an Afghanis restaurant. I´ll be working for them selling stuff from Afhghanistan at the festival where they will also be catering, like they have been for the last 16 years. Then On Tuesday, August 10th, I have an 8 am flight (be at the airport at 6) to NYC to meet up with Walter and QXZ so we can all go to see the last three Phish shows together in New Jersey and Vermont (August 12, 14, 15).
Whew!!!!
Then on August 18th I´m flying back to Germany. I have to be in Amsterdam during the day of the 19th in order to meet Claire and go to the Lowlands festival together and then spend another week together. Then back again to Germany (hopefully to really wrap up all my business here) on August 26th to be here for the Folklore festival on the 27th throught the 29th. Then on the 31st I´m flying to Adagir, Morocco for three weeks. After that back to Germany on Spet 21 and then.... then .... then .... finally off to see Claire again in Amsterdam for a few weeks and then sometime before Halloween fly back to Chicago.
Whew!!!!!
So how does it all sum up? Stick around Chicago for a few months and then I´m moving to Louisville to live in 2005 nearby my son. What happens with me and Claire...? Don´t know yet. Already talking about me going to Amsterdam for X-mas and New Years. Then She would come to America for summer tour with the Dead in 2005. Then maybe with the proceeds from that and the sales of the 50 kilograms of trade goods I shiped back to my mom´s house from Thailand (1000 euro investment with an expected return of 6 or 7 to 0ne) - plus the furthur shopping I´ll be doing in Morocco... then, and only if we´re really lucky and have maintained this thing for that long over such wide distances and gaps of time, then, I think we might head back to Thailand and do some real shopping (500 kilograms or more) and then open a shop somewhere, either Chicago ro Luisville. Not really sure, can´t see THAT far ahead. Just want to catch my plane, just want some sleep, good thing I brought the Power Plant with me from Amsterdam...
ahhh