Catching Up Again

Busy times here as always with schedule changes, working on 2 different mastering projects, hiring a new cleaning lady, getting my teeth fixed, and preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas here. The twins continue on with Strayer University and are both doing real well. My brother in law Bob Tucker finished his chemo and radiation therapies (I think using therapy here is a bit of a stretch personally.......) and is now working to regain his life again after months of grueling treatments. If anyone was ever a true hero it's Bob who's always been so upbeat. It tested all of us who love him so to see him go through this.

I'm working on 2 mastering projects both of which are very close to me. Hopefully before the end of the year or early in the new year the very first Too Smooth release will happen which has been 35 years and counting www.myspace.com/toosmoothaustin for one of the greatest rock bands ever that never got to be famous. This project has been a labor of love for the last 4 years and it's very close to coming true. I'm so humbled and proud to be a part of it to help this music reach everyone like it should have so long ago.

The other project is for another influence of mine who I met briefly in the late 80s who at the time was in a band called Mose Jones who's other members I'd met and hung out with in the late 60s and early 70s in Atlanta when they were called Stonehenge. His name is Marvin Taylor and he's doing a project with a singer from the Atlanta area named Judy Browne. Sometime after this project is finished, Marvin has consented to do a project with me which will take me back into rock and roll again which is something I haven't revisited since 1981 when I sang with the Roger Wilson Band.

We now have a new cleaning lady after all that was written about our travails in that arena this past summer. She's from the Philippines and her name is Cathy and she kicks ass plus she speaks English! She came to us through an agency here called DIP which is run by an amazing African lady from Ghana named Gifty who's as beautiful as she is cool.

Cassie continues to be slammed at work but is enjoying it immensely and is really settling in to her new job. We're all so proud of her and happy that she's fulfilled in her career.

Over the last couple of months I accidentally bit the inside of my mouth perhaps as far back as August. Usually when that happens there's a knot for a while and then it goes away. This time the knot didn't go away and recently grew into something that shouldn't be there which I can honestly say scared me a lot. Last Monday I called the American Hospital here to inquire about getting an appointment with an oral surgeon and they saw me the same day. Again, so much for the screaming TEA Party folks who think that everyone here has to wait for care. I was seen by a Dr Davarpanah who immediately told me that my growth wasn't cancer (whew..........*) but that I had problems in my mouth and I naturally had to eat cold crow as I hadn't been to the Dentist in many years. There's a story to that but it doesn't bear telling in here. Suffice to say, Dr Davarpanah is going to fix everything in my mouth and no visit there can ever go higher than 300 euros which of course we're going to have to submit to our insurance back home who will remain un-named as I have a very low opinion of them. Cassie assured me as did the doctor that all of my fears of dentists will be taken away chemically while they have their way with me. There will be more on this as things happen.
Any way you slice it, it should be a party.......*

What can I say about the twins and Strayer University? That they're both thriving in this online environment and the decision to enroll them there was one of the best I ever made. By the time we get back to the US they'll be far more prepared to go back to a brick and mortar school as their confidence levels are so much higher now and their grade averages reflect that.

So all is well with us. Over the next week, we start on Christmas and Thanksgiving. There will be a Thanksgiving entry that will feature photos of food and friends. Unfortunately, I won't get to go kill extra possums for this one. I guess that will have to wait till we get back.

Have a great Thanksgiving.........

Love to all everywhere.........

A bientot,

Sid