I have gotten my Inbox down to 125 unreads, down from 405 at its peak the last few months. What a good feeling it is to clear your inbox. I'm kicking ass right now. of course I'm working round the clock right now. no down time. no movies. No socials. Just work. And I feel like I'm ageing a year a month right now, but I'm compelled like I haven't been in months so I'm taking advantage of that.

Good week. Band secured national booking agency this week. finally. So it looks like we will be playing bigger venues for more money and getting to more people. [the president of the company is a Christian and a republican. I keep my mouth shut during the negotiations. Perhaps he has never read the diaries. Has no idea who he is signing. The irony....]

Called Nextel tonight because I lost my phone. The guy couldn’t even understand what I was saying. finally I ask him, “where are you now?” “I'm sorry sir. we are not allowed to divulge our location.” He replies in his best attempt to cover up his Indian or Indonesian accent. “Oh o.k. so you're not in America then, are you?” “I'm sorry sir. we aren't at liberty to tell customers that information...” “you know man, that sucks. I'm an American. I'm in America. you have all this information about me and my company and I think I'm calling an American company and you can’t tell me where you are right now? Doesn’t that seem a little weird to you?” “I'm sorry sir. that is the policy here.... why do you ask?” “well... uh... because of our economy and everyone is losing their jobs here now to overseas countries... just thought I'd ask. I know you're not in America. you don't have to tell me.” “well sir, Americans don't want to pay high prices for things so it is better for American companies to go overseas to hire cheaper labor.....” “yeah I know man. I've heard it all before. thanks anyway.” “Is there anything else I can help you with?” “No. thanks. Have a good night. or a good day. where ever the hell you are...”

So now Nextel. Another one bites the dust. When will it end? the truth is I don't think its going to end anytime soon. as I told the man trying desperately hard not to sound like an Indian on the phone, “its going to get really really crazy here in the states over the next few years as all these millions of people lose more and more of their jobs. Reading Forbes annual billionaires list today at lunch. 64 new billionaires joined the list. And the actual gross revenue of all of them increased by (I forget how much) % from last year. so now it really is coming down to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. [I'm not saying this is a necessarily bad thing; for all I know this is the way its supposed to be---perhaps this is the evolutionary process in its most pure and pristine form. Who knows? But we’re watching it happen right before our eyes. [in the same Forbes issue, the wife of a very famous CEO of a very large company who has now outsourced almost 80% of their jobs—good jobs, college educated, professional jobs---out to another country in order to save money, asked her husband during the interview, “My God, what is going to happen to all these American kids when they get out of college and realize that there aren't any jobs out there for them?” America needs to create more industries where the labor stays here. I'm not against sending labor overseas that we can get cheaply. I think in general this is going to be good for us. because it keeps the cost of goods low for us and it forces us to invent new industries with new jobs that only we can do. [of course this begs the question, what CAN we do that no other peoples in the world can do?] I'm not an economist. I'm just a singer. so lets hope there's even a little bit of truth to what I'm saying. 

Can’t listen to music right now. Nothing turns me on. Only opera and barely... I am thoroughly bored with rock and pop music. give me something new and fresh and exciting please! cant drink caffeine all of a sudden. Drives me crazy. 
Last screening: jet lag, a little French romantic comedy.