!!!

Yes, and many more where that came from.

I think that the only thing better than seeing a Hiromi show live is seeing one with three of your best friends!!!

Also, I was very thankful to finally meet a friend's girlfriend (which has taken quite a while, as they live on an island in the Pacific). Introducing three wonderful people to their premier live dose of awe-inspiring Hiromi was a beautiful gift!

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I admit there are many diverse reasons why I chose the pyramids in Egypt as the apex of my global journey in 2010.

Many of them were very rational, i.e. a fun photo opportunity, it was sorta on the way from China to Germany, and I'd never been to a desert before.  And although such things are rational to my mind, I understand that some of my reasons would be categorized as very unreasonable (you know, like the fundamental basis of the universe; i.e. how can an electron be in two places at once? or how can the oldest stars in the universe be older than the universe itself?  and if matter is never created or destroyed, how can the universe begin in the first place?).  However, with respect to my choices, I would say I also had some mystical reasons as opposed to unreasonable reasons, although you might consider them to be one and the same (although, ironically, "one and the same" is a mystical attitude through and through).

A very respectable philosopher, who would disapprove of all of my mystical thinking, just reminded me of another secret motive I had for voyaging to the pyramids that, to me, represents one of the many activities where rationality and mysticism make love: writing.

Writing was invented in Egypt around 6000 years ago.

Egypt: thank you for inventing writing.  And writing, thank you for inventing Egypt.

Hey!  Shall we play with the numbers, have some mystical fun, and propose that the number of centuries between the invention of writing and its current use by this writer is somewhere around, um... 61?

Think: whichever character you decide, knowledge, wisdom and imagination will play with unique verse, and we enthusiastic adventurers can come up with a creative explanation from somewhere inside, so long as we enjoy the ride influenced by the story we provide

Visiting Home

I'm very lucky to have such good people in my life

Your Alive's Moving

I worked 10 hours straight today (11 if you don't subtract breaks from the shifts), on three hours of sleep, and I truly felt very good.  Tomorrow... we'll see.  I said many things, and heard many things, and I don't quite remember all of it, although I do remember smiles, laughs, interested looks, and the occasional human being looking up from a smart phone to feign amusement at my antics.

Actually, the classes were very good today.  I began the day by substituting for an ill teacher at the same location in the same room 3 where I teach in the evening, and it was obviously much brighter.  Then I went to midtown to teach my usual class, but we started a new session Monday, so there are plenty of new faces, and a handful of returning students.  We're talking about immigration.  After that I went back to 100th street to greet some of the most familiar faces I get to see on a regular basis.

Magic: in just two days I've met my first students from Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Belgium, and yes, even two students from Canada, home of the sweetest flag in the world!  Stars are brilliant, but my mouth waters every time I think of maple leaves and flowing rivers of syrup...

Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock aren't just two of the most talented, enjoyable and creative musicians in modern history, but they're also incredibly wise.  I hope you profit from their wisdom