Update On Stuff Going On

The last week has been pretty full with different meetings and talks with folks that matter in my life. I've come to a couple of decisions. Remembering that nothing is engraved in stone, this is more of a sailing course than a steaming course. Wind and tide will have a great deal to do with the destination. The old sailing masters used to understand well that while Singapore is the port of choice, given the vagaries of wind and tide Brisbane will do just as well, if only to take on fresh water and vegetables.

First Things First is one of the wisest clichés that you find on the walls at most AA meetings. Following that dictum I have some unignorable priorities to deal with. Top of the list is my own physical health. I have been having some serious problems lately with my left leg and hip (old war wounds). They need tending. I talked with a trusted sawbones who is ready to go through some diagnostics and formulate a plan of attack. While that is going on I'm also going to break the fuck down and go to the goddamned dentist. I've put it off and put it off and put it off, not for any good reason either. I have great dental coverage. I just hate the fucking dentist. I feel like Dustin Hoffman in Marathon Man the whole time. I hate the way it smells, tastes, sounds, and most of all, feels. I'm going to go and do it. I've found a dentist who assures me that he can make having X-rays taken a religious experience. So, I'm going to do it. Both the surgeon and the dental guy are in the San Diego area. That's where I'm going.

Another factor in all of this is that my mother is in the same area and her Parkinson's has been progressing as that disease tends to do. She needs more looking after than she is getting.

Yet another factor is that a very old, very good friend of mine is a producer who is also sidelined by the WGA strike. He and I were talking on the phone about how it feels to be closer to sixty than fifty and be faced with life as we know it changing suddenly yet again. We have promised ourselves to get back together playing. San Diego has a great live music scene.

Our tentative plan is to start out with very old stuff, played in the very old style. Our twist on it will be to add in our totally new high tech shit. By using my new Line 6 amps and PA gear, his ultra new top of the line Sony Digital Movie Camera and a laptop we will be able to offer anybody who catches our show a visual and audio mix, right off our soundboard, right there, that night. If they bring their own memory stick we will be able to download the night's show right there for them, or we will have a good supply of them they can buy at cost. Music. For. Free. If they want the visuals, if they promise to post it on YouTube and shit, they can have that stuff for free too. We figure that if we have people walking around with our shows in their iPods saying "Listen to this shit" and people download or merely watch our YouTube stuff the audience we are seeking will find its own way to us rather than us having having to travel our butts off (and if i'm having serious ortho work done traveling won't be in the cards).

I'm also going to be laying the groundwork to re-open my truffle shop.

The ranch here in Arizona will still be here. The only change will be that my son is going to be the main resident. When he's finished guiding this elk season he plans to take wildlife management and business courses at ASU and will keep the home fires burning. He graciously tells me that I can keep my key and drop by unannounced. The horses will stay here for the time being. Although, at Christmas, ownership and primary care of Sally the Mustang will transfer to my beautiful niece. She is at a point where she really wants her own horse and she and Sally are a perfect fit. She will take over feeding and maintenance chores too. That's the price of ownership. I don't even know if my old beat up skeleton will allow me to keep riding once the surgeon's done. That's the totally suck out loud part of growing older after an active life.

We shall see. That's the course I've plotted for the immediate future. I figure to keep posting on the progress and stuff. And feel free, please, feel free to bust my chops if one of the first posts about my new life does not include me whining about dental work. After all, this trip while we are sailing for Singapore might easily turn into Brisbane, or Papeete, or. . .who fucking knows but the wind and tide wait for no man.

UPDATE

Just as I posted this I remembered that I made a solemn promise to MedSchoolGirl and all my other children that I will quit smoking. Expect lots of whining about that shit too.

3B's