dubai-bye nick...

went out last night to the jason george for a little get-together for my friend and former co-worker nick, who is leaving tomorrow for a year in dubai. i worked with him for years at c'est what. good dude. wish him an awesome time. hopefully i'll get over there at some point for a visit. wouldn't that be a trip? i got the travel bug hard now, after hitting europe three times in the last two years. i can't believe it took me 30 years to get my ass out of north america. i think i might go buy a world map today and put it up on my wall. (reminds me of a mitch hedberg joke that goes something like this: "i'm going to get a map of the world and put it up on my wall and put pins in all the places i've been to, but first i have to travel to the top two corners of the map, so it won't fall down...")

after spending a month - two years ago - in germany and czech republic, and then going back to czech again for that festival, and then last fall spending a month travelling around france and switzerland, i'm itching hard to see more places.

my english/scottish roots have me wanting to check out the UK (got some distant family there as well). i was planning on going to costa rica this feb./mar., but ended up going to montreal to record our new album, and blew my costa rica travel budget. i could go now, but sort of thinking "what's the point in going somewhere warm in the spring/summer?" save that for winter. i'm dying to check out asia. really thinking about vietnam/cambodia, that whole part of the world. south america? i'd love to do it, one end to the other, on a motorcycle. africa? truthfully, i don't have all that much interest in going there, although i'm sure that would change the minute i got off the plane. egypt - i simply must see the pyramids in this lifetime. china - at some point in my life i also must climb huashan. japan - okinawa... so many places to go.

ran into a couple of guys at the bar last night. rick and glenn. former c'est what regulars. guys i served for years. started chatting with them, and turns out both of them have been spending quite a bit of time in asia over the last few years. rick just got back two weeks ago from a seven-month stay in thailand. he's got a blog about it. good guys to know and brain-pick for info if/when i decide to get my ass over there.

talked to tim on the phone yesterday. his work schedule is finally easing up so he's going into full-on mixing mode now. should be done mixing the album by the end of may. then mastering, pressing, and hopefully you fuckers will buy some copies and help me get my ass on an airplane. i gotta get on top of the artwork too. we got the title for the album picked out, but i can't tell you the baby's name until it is born...

love,
ryan