I'M STILL ALIVE!

Good day to all of you! Yes this is the real John, no he has not been kidnapped by some mad French rapist name Guy (pronounced Gee) who is using his xanga address to start a revolutionary... umm... I think you get the point. 

So, what's new with me? Well, in short:

I live in Yekaterinburg, Russia, the capital of Sverdlovskaya Oblast (which I'm sure all of you have heard of)
I work as an office director for American Councils (the organization I worked for in Vladivostok)
I am the proud father of an honor roll student (although he doesn't know about it yet)
AND I'm coming back to Florida for a week in August (making a short stop in NJ on the way back to celebrate the birthday of one of the greatest Karaoke singers in the history of the town of Lyndhurst)

That's the short version of what's going on. And the thing about being a father of an honor roll student was a joke - my little bastard can hardly pull a C average... IN GYM!

Johnny

Hey everyone!

Haven't written anything in a while, so I thought I'd say 'ello. I'm currently working on my first album "Sessions" (the title is meant to be ironic, which I'll explain later). It's a lot of hard work and the quality of the recording leaves much to be desired, but I've been writing songs for a long time now, and I'd say the time has most definately arrived for me to record a few. I am already well into my work and I hope to finish this project before next weekend, before I ship off the Utah to see my sister. At that point I will be sending the album off to my old friend Ryan to throw some jazzy piano and synth into it. I'm not sure what I'll do with it when I finish, but I think I might try to send it to some radio stations in small developing nations. You's all know I'm not interested in fame and fortune (well, not unless I can enjoy it OUTSIDE the confines of my humble little home country). Yes, my dream may become a reality: the dream of being hugely famous in some far away country and just another average Joe in my own!

Day one in Panama was pretty fun. After an evening of chicken and beer we retired early and got a start on our day the next morning at 10 with a trip to the local breakfast joint. The food was excellent and the pineapple juice was out of this world. Next, after running a few errands we cruised over the causeway overlooking the entrance to the Panama canal and the gigantic bridge of the Americas, which connects the southern and northern halves of Panama. The causeway is something of a long landbrigde from, which in addition to the aforementioned sites, one can also get a great look at the city and some of the incomming ships. Wes, Tracy, and I decided to rent this four wheeled "quadcycle" of sorts. We rode up and down the causeway braving harsh road conditions such as man hole covers and tiles, which caused our humble little vehicle to nearly tip over a few times, but in the end, we made it to the nearest bar in time for tequilla con gujo de narange (Tequilla with orange juice).

On the way back we caught a cab and as we were inching our way through midday traffic, Wes and I along with the driver spotted a man in a wheel chair in the lane next to ours moving faster than us. We made the comment to the driver "Formula Una!" and he laughed - my first joke in Spanish! (if you don't count "Juan es poo poo pantalones" although I can't take full credit for that one either).

That night I cooked my famous Penne alla vodka for Wes and Tracy and it was a smash. We called it an early night again as we plan to have some more interesting adventures later today as well. But until then Addios! 

Hey all!

So since I've been home I've sang karaoke until 1:30, got whacked in the jaw by my sister's elbow, and played guitar for a bunch of drunken old farts on Christmas Eve. You could say it has been an interesting few days, but finally it's slowing down, which is good. Hope all is well with everyone and that they're having just as great of a Christmas as I am!

Happy Holidays,

John