I just got back to Paris from Budapest & since that means a dedicated DSL line again I feel at home*. (whew!)

What did I do in Budapest?….. Why, I performed live in front of my adoring fans of course:

You MUST HAVE QUICKTIME 7 to Play the Movie

90 sec small video version (2.8MB)

90 sec big video version (8.6MB)
(looong download - but worth it)

Well actually, my cousin (the cameraman & Mr. never-done-karaoke-before!) & I stumbled into a “Hungarian Idol”-type night at a local club & after much hemming & hawing, I went for it. Unfortunately, the contest was over before they let me on, & much of the audience had left, but dammit - someone needed to bring the funk to Budapest!…. so I pressed on…. and lest the video fools you, there were more Hungarians there than the footage shows….

Can anyone figure out what the announcer is saying at the end? Near as I can tell from my 3 day immersion course in Hungarian, it is something like “and his hovercraft is full of eels.”**

‘deep
writing from Paris…

* The other thing that made Budapest feel alien was the fact that you can spend hours upon hours with nary a latin root as far as the eye can see! These people should have been conquered by the Romans better or something. The only respite lay in words like, my favorite, “szandvics” (sound it out). Makes Paris & French feel downright homey.

** bonus points if you know the reference Click HERE for more…

So 2/3rds of my trip to India were spent visiting my Mom’s sisters & their families. The term for an aunt in Hindi is Massi. My research indicates that Massi’s are strong, sweet, intelligent, understanding women whose ultimate goal in life is to fatten nephews beyond reason and to generally fuss over them no end.

Here are a few amusing moments of my trip into Massi-dom: Click HERE for more…

As some of you know, on my recent trip to India, I spent a good bit of time trying to see a tiger at Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan. After many attempts, this is the tiger as I saw it:

Actually I was pretty happy with that until some folks on the next %$#@#$% safari saw this (BUT NOT ME)

Oh Well - I had fun hunting anyway…. & I’m pretty lucky to be able to see what I did…

BIG thanks to Stefanie Phillips in Hong Kong for taking the pix! Lucky Bastard!

I’m writing this somewhere over the Pacific on the way home from 16 days in LOMP - the Land of My People - India*.

I guess my favorite moment of the trip was the most surreal one & it happened late in my stay. It was this Dance Off / Freak Show (guess who was the freak) / Guest of Honor (guess who was the VIP) Experience at a wedding in Rajasthan. The pinnacle of that pinnacle was a surreal close-dance with a grinning 50 year old Rajasthani man with red betel-nut juice stains on his front teeth to “Who Let the Dogs Out” on 5 hours of sleep. I suggest trying this & trying and not to freak out. Go ahead try it. I dare you.

I’ll warn you now that this story is a little rambly, and I’m not sure it has a point (or a plot) but it is definitely amusing to me at least. It was one of those great travel moments when you find yourself outside your comfort zone and unexpectedly learn something about the world and the way you move through it…. Click HERE for more…

The last few weeks have left me obsessing about the upcoming Presidential election as if it were a movie with hobbits in it, in fact I’m so obsessed with it, the movie would have to have hobbits riding dinosaurs fighting sharks…. and somehow Charlize Theron would be involved…. Wow….

Sorry, anyway, my obsession has lead me east and I’m writing this from ground-zero itself, Florida. That’s right, Hurricane Deep has hit FL!

Click HERE for more…