I bit into a carrot a few days ago and felt something hard, as I was chewing.

Turns out there was a plastic hook in the carrot.

To make things worse, it knocked out one of my fillings.

Lucky for me, El Guapo hooked me up with a great dentist who I went to see this morning.

My German is surely getting better, but it's not quite good enough to discuss dental procedures.

So I dragged El Guapo with me for emergency translation, which we definitely needed since the dentist spoke absolutely no English.

Anyway, it ended up being an amazing linguistic adventure.

Now, back to eating and singing with a full set of teeth!

:)

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This morning, we took down all of the trees in the garden.

10 huge perennial living things, some of which were easily over 100 feet tall and 100 years old.

Some of the trees were felled piece by piece, and some as one huge chunk.

That was one hazardous task!

The main tree guy, or "The Commander", as we call him, climbed to the very top and tied a thick rope to the highest branch. He gave us the other end of the rope and had us walk to the opposite end of the yard.

The Commander came back down and began cutting into the trunk, while we pulled the rope tight and even tighter.

Then came the signal!

The tree started tilting and making groaning noises as it began falling. That's one thing you don't want to get caught under.

The trees were so tall and in danger of hitting the house, we had to keep pulling the rope as they were falling towards us.

"Wait for it. . . oh crap. . . wait for it . . . "

Only in the last seconds could we run out of the way.

"Ruuuuunnnnnn!!!!!!"

It was one crazy experience.

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I spent a wonderful day in Holland with a fantastic crew.

Myself, Chanel, El Guapo, and El Guapo's dad - henceforth referred to as "Guapo Sr."

We were eating this amazing fried fish at the market, which you can only get in Holland, and El Guapo took a piece of mine.

What he didn't realize was that he ate the tail, which is completely full of bones.

El Guapo didn't chew, but swallowed the fishbones as a whole, which got stuck in his throat.

He began coughing and choking violently.

Guapo Sr., who is a doctor, was ready to lay him down and pull the bones out of his throat with this bare hand, but after a bit of discomfort and a bit of vomiting, the bones finally came out on their own.

We all washed it down with french fries and El Guapo was back!

Phew, that was close!

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The other night, we lit the outdoor fireplace and smoke went all over the place, but up the chimney.

It was pretty crazy, but we decided to inspect the non-existent draft and try again.

First order of business: chimney cleaning!

So, this afternoon we started doing just that.

By the time we were finished, my clothes, hands and my face were completely black.

The good thing is that the cleaning procedure worked like a charm.

I'm pleased to report that we blazed the heck out of anything burnable we could find around the house.

It was a wonderful night.

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Went to a great store today in a small town 100km outside of Hanover.

There was no attendant, just groceries on shelves, a notebook and a metal box.

People walk in, take what they need, write it down, and leave money in the box.

Love that!

When a woman came in to re-stock the shelves (not to check the money!) we asked her about this system.

She claimed it works really well.

It's so uplifting to see that there are still places in the world where honor and honesty hold true!

We should try opening a store like this in Jersey. . . hahahahaha!

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Hey buddy. Long time! Happy to see you're doing so well! Always knew you would. Anywho, let's try it out. 50/50 split... I'll even throw in for the lock box ;) be well my friend!

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I made a veggie juice this morning.

We had all the right ingredients.

Initially, this was the perfect plan, but there was one pretty significant problem:

I forgot to wash the carrots!

Naturally, there was mud in the juice.

I was ready to pour the entire container down the drain, but in a desperate state decided to try it.

It was delicious.

Seriously.

Who knew mud could taste so good?!

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That's because you were drinking the juice. If you would have tried to take a bite of it, the mud would have shown its ugly nature and made itself known to your teeth :-)

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I can't believe we're into September already.

This is the time when we used to moan and groan about summer vacation being practically over.

Going back to school was always fun though.

You got to see everyone and exchange stories.

But then came the homework. . . .

I still have lots of homework, I just don't get the summers off! Ha!

At least it's mainly music homework!

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Erinnere mich gern an Admiralspalast und Rolling Riesling show mit Martin T. Seither warte ich auf Deine Plattenaufnahme. Wusste nicht, wie lange du daran arbeiten würdest. Heute haben meine Kinder Dich via \"Hanan\" im Netz gefunden. Freundliche Grüße Dir, Bona (falsch geschrieben ?) Ulf und Alex.

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Trust is the foundation of every friendship.
Without it, it will crumble like a building.
Sometimes, it's lost due to bad judgement and very hard to regain.
Sometimes, depending on the severity of circumstances, it is impossible to regain.

I was told this by a person I respect tremendously, who shall remain nameless, and I wanted to share it:

"When you betray somebody's trust you actually betray yourself.
You first have to come to terms with your own failure and humanity.
What happened?
Why did it happen?
Is it a behavioral pattern, or just a one time mistake?
To move forward towards restoration, you must first acknowledge your betrayal.
This will hurt your pride.
Until you are humble enough to admit your betrayal, you are not deserving of regaining someone's trust."

That really had a strong effect on me.

The same person also said:

"The best way to know if you can trust someone is to trust them".

Amen.

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We buy our fruits and vegetables from a very small local store run by an extremely lovable Greek couple.

They are so nice that when they heard of my CD coming out, they requested to help by selling it in their store!

How sweet is that?

.... I'll take 2 tomatoes, celery, 4 apples and "The year I lived" :)

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I've implemented a new rule.

No more "youtube'ing" before bed.

Instead of feeding my brain, I try to wind down.

I read a non-music related book and then fall asleep.

Ever since I started doing this, I get much deeper and more effective sleep.

Sometimes, even when we think we're relaxing, we aren't.

Constant stimuli is not necessarily a good thing.

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As of now, 20 million people in Pakistan are homeless because of the devastating monsoon floods.

1,500 people have lost their lives.

The ongoing situation and living conditions being shown on TV are just horrific.

I cannot imagine how these weary families must feel.

To lose your loved ones, your home and most of your belongings, while constantly looking for higher ground to escape from the floods is unimaginable.

And as if that wasn't bad enough, these people are dealing with a serious lack of food, drinking water, and heinous water born diseases. Not to mention the lack of medical care for the sick.

My heart goes out to the victims.

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The funny thing about gadgets that are supposed to make life easier, is that you become dependent on them very quickly.

Once this happens and they break or run out of batteries, your life becomes more difficult than it was before they entered it.

For example: the wireless mouse.

Awesome thing. I love it.

Today, it ran out of batteries, so I had to stop everything and go get new ones.

Total inconvenience for something not really necessary.

You know how they say "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"?

I got a new one: "If it works fine, don't upgrade it".

The way I see it, there's no real reason to get a wireless mouse, if your old one works for you.

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I'm currently really, really digging the Gov't Mule album "Dose".

It's such a rich sounding record, yet not overwhelmingly cluttered with information.

Also, Warren Haynes' guitar sounds on this album are among the best I've heard in a long time.

Great player, great singer. . . lots to learn from this guy.

Anyway, if you don't know it, you should check this record out!

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El Guapo took me to a killer food shopping spot today called "Galeries Lafayette".

It's a branch of a French department store with all kinds of classy stuff, but the food is what we were after particularly.

We ended up getting all kinds of delicious stinky cheeses and some "mystery meat".

Among other items El Guapo procured bunny and pork tongue pâté.

He wouldn't stop till I tried them, which I did.

It wasn't too bad at all, in fact it was delicious, other than the guilt of eating Bugs Bunny.

We'll see how we feel tomorrow.

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After extensive research, I've finally reached a conclusion:

left over pasta tastes waaay better than fresh pasta.

There's something about the re-heating process.

It seems the flavors of the sauce really get to take their time to marinate and ripen.

I'm not even going to eat the new pasta next time I make it. Putting it directly into the fridge.

Hmmmm. . . on second thought, I think I'll just make a giant portion and enjoy it in all its wonderful stages!

Ha!

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I totally agree!

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Lasagna is even better ;p

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Got a dining table for the garden.

It's amazing how something so simple as eating outside can transform your mood.

Had a busy week? - Dinner outside to wind down. . .

A little stressed? - An outside meal to calm you down. . .

Overwhelmed? - Clear your head with some fresh air. . .

Got some friends over? - Fun for all. . .

Any excuse will do.

:)

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Classic novels that unfortunately, I have not yet read:

1. Brave new world
2. Catch 22
3. Crime and punishment
4. Lord of the flies
5. 1984
6. Of human bondage
7. Robinson Crusoe
8. The Stranger (not the Billy Joel song)
9. A tale of two cities
10. To kill a mockingbird
11. Ethan Frome

Suggestions are very welcome.

Don't be shy! :)

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12. Animal Farm
13. On The Road

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14 War and peace
15 Lolita
16 Animal farm
17 Great expectations
18 Oliver twist

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Scarlett Letter, Jane Eyre, Huch Finn.. =)

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Larry Carlton is such a tasteful guitar player.

He has all of the chops in the world, but he always takes the elegant route.

He never plays anything for the sake of impressing anyone.

He only plays for the sake of making great music.

I really look up to his approach to music.

A great example of Larry Carlton's amazingly tasteful guitar playing is a record called "The art of tea", by Michael Franks.

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My manager introduced me to Glee.

I was a bit reluctant, since I'm REALLY not into musicals, but I watched it on her recommendation.

Ok, here it goes: I love Glee.

I also love Jane Lynch.

My confession for the day:

I'm a Gleek.

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I was sitting on the train, when a man next to me sneezed.

Everybody in the opposite row just stared at him.

I told the man, "Gesundheit!"

Then, everyone stared at me.

This is just one example of the growing communication problem of our time.

Face to face time is just not what it used to be.

Sure, now we got email, text, chat rooms, but real life interaction is on a major decline.

In my opinion, technology should enhance personal connections, not replace them.

I urge everybody to consciously increase their "real world" interactions.

Start by saying hello to someone....

See how it feels. :)

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