Well today I visited an old friend from Japan who is teaching a special traditional Japanese Martial Art that he trained and studied while in Japan. It was good to see him and watch one of his classes. It was so strange reconnecting with him because it was a total fluke that I found out his dojo was really close to my apt. He is going on a trip to Japan tomorrow for a week and he has graciously agreed to pick up some guitar picks for me. It just turns out that the thumb picks I use seem only to be available in Japan. If I had known that before I left the island I would have bought a bag full.

A year has passed since I have been back in LA and now it seems like I am begining that stage where I really construct the way my life will flow from here on out, at least while I am in LA. A fair amount of the reverse culture shock has worn off, though I cannot say that all of it has . I have made some really great new friends, met some really cool musicians, and I have started to play soccer on Saturday afternoons. Actually today was the first day I joined in and man am I feeling it now. It has been awhile since I have played and needless to say there are a ton of muscles I haven't used in that way. I even kind of strained my ankle which was in serious pain earlier, but now has mellowed out, much to my relief. I need to have it back up for next weeks game. It was great to feel that achiness that comes over the body when it has worked hard.

I have been working on two new songs. The tone of both are different than most of my stuff which is exciting because if I am able to work them into the set and get them on the CD it will have a broad band of sounds, styles and textures, which is always what I am shooting for. The latest one I will have a Trumpet player lay some licks. I would do them myself on the coronet and may still do it when it comes to recording it for the CD, but I think I will call on the services of M. Moynahan, he really plays a sweet sounding horn. The lastest tunes also imploys a chord structure that is different from what I have used in the past and I am looking forward to playing around more with the soundings.

I catch myself every now and then having moments of being caught up in what I can only better term as the "LA Energy" which basically translates to other people's craziness which swirls around the air and if you are not careful you can get pulled into a wave and before you know it you are dealing with some stuff which if you take a moment and step back, you realize it is someone else's energy or in most cases chaos that you have some how adopted. When I say this I don't mean not to help friends who are going through a rough patch, or being supportive, but sometimes it is easy to adopt that energy instead just helping someone handle it. And sometime people just have to handle things themselves.

Well, I'm beat. I have many more thoughts that will have to wait for another day. Till then as always Peace.