Settled down in St. Louis

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Well... Here I am in Tower Grove South, St. Louis, running my own business and bartending here: http://www.citymuseum.org. I've had a fairly eventful year of traveling, within the United States.
I lost someone very dear to me last summer. He died tragically in a motorcycle accident at age 27 in the mountains of Italy. I just haven't been the same since this happened. It reminded me that life is short and that our time here is precious. At the risk of sounding totally cliche, I made myself a promise that I would do all the things I'd always wanted to do, but had been putting off for whatever reason. Carpe diem!
So in February, I went to my first Mardi Gras in New Orleans. What a wonderful experience. The parades were so much fun. The floats were whimsical and the city streets seemed to breathe beneath my feet. I didn't really enjoy the Bourbon Street experience. It was a bit crowded for my taste.
But I fell for New Orleans' special brand of mystery and mayhem. The romance, the history, the food, the music... Vampire lore and voodoo. Gumbo, Jumbalaya. Zydeco. All brilliant!
I returned to Tulsa and decided to get my first tattoo. Then, in March, I traveled to Austin for SXSW. My friends and I stayed in the seediest hotel ever. We actually found a crack pipe in the dresser drawer on the last day. Isn't that the sort of thing you'd like to find on the first day? The funny thing was, I had asked the desk clerk if they had wi-fi at check-in. Hahahaha!
I missed a lot of the acts I traveled there to see. Mostly because I didn't buy a badge. I did get to see Paddy Casey and Kathy Davey.
Let's see, the next month I went to Dallas for a few days to visit friends. Then, in May, i went to Wichita, KS for a birthday party. That was an interesting night.
In June, I ended up here in St. Louis. It just sort of happened.
In two weeks, I will travel back to Tulsa for two days on business.
None of this is probably very exciting to any of you, but perhaps this will be:

Scotland! July 2009! Homecoming! Clan Gathering!

So stay tuned.

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