Sittin' Around in L.A.

So being on East Coast time, I was wide awake at 4am this morning. I'm usually up at 6:45 back home, so this was actually sleeping in for me. No reason to just lay there, to I got up and putzed around on the computer until 8am when I finally decided it would be safe to call Blaine and Darren to meet up for breakfast. They were both on East Coast time too, and had been up since 6am.

We walked to the Denny's a block away and had a leisurely breakfast. Long day ahead, as our flight to Australia tonight isn't until 11:40pm.

I was gonna rent a car next door (29.75 a day, wow) or take a taxi up to Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, just to hang out for a few hours and eat at Poquito Mas. Best damn burrito you will ever, ever eat. Promise. But it started to rain and try as I might, I just couldn't get motivated to leave the hotel.

Called mom a couple of times during the afternoon. She got put back in the hospital late last night, but seems to be doing better since arriving.

Never did eat lunch, but Dennis (the TM), Blaine, and I met downstairs for an early dinner around 6pm. After a little more hang time in my room, I made my way downstairs, met up with Blaine, and headed to the airport just before 9pm.

The international terminal was complete chaos. All of the trans-Pacific flights leave late in the evening, so it was crazy with people. Fortunately, we're in business class, so we pretty much walked right up to the counter and got checked in.

Blaine and I proceeded outside – he to smoke, me to make phone calls. My sister Donna had called me while I was checking in. I needed to get the update on mom's condition. She got another blood transfusion, and it looks like they're gonna let her out on Monday. Good news!

After talking to Donna, I got a call from my buddy Danny who offered me a gig that looks like it'll start up in April. Strong salary and benefits, too! Needless to say, I told him I'd love to take him up on it. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Oh, yeah, that new gig includes 3-4 weeks in late spring touring in (guess where)…

Australia

Again!

That would make 3 tours down under in just a few months time. Pretty cool.

So to start my year, I'm looking at Australia/Japan with Rage in January/February, a few weeks in South Africa with Josh in March, and then a new gig with yet another run Down Under in the springtime. I'm lovin' it!

Got boarded around 11:15. Big ol' 747-400. Nice seat in business class. Tons of room, lays out nearly flat. I'm loving Qantas. I've got movies on demand, CD library on demand, all kinds of goodies to occupy my time. The flight is 15 hours and 15 minutes long, so I'm happy about that. I don't anticipate getting much sleep cuz I've never really slept well on planes. One good thing, they don't censor the movies. You get all the language, all the action.

The dude next to me is coughing and sneezing up a storm – I sure hope I don't catch whatever he's got.

Off we go…