This morning, I had a wonderful dream in which I was at a giant music festival. The festival took place on an island, a little bit like Hawaii's Big Island where I am now, but scaled down. The southeastern quadrant of the island was the Volcano District, where Sonic Youth and the Pixies were playing! The Pixies were on at 6pm, and Sonic Youth's set started at 9pm. I looked at my watch and it was only 3 in the afternoon. (Why didn't I drive down to the other side of the island, where Tori Amos was? I guess I'll never know.) Toffee was there too, rolling around in her little hamster ball. And wild rabbits kept popping out of their little burrows and hopping about.

I am reminded of three things on the basis of this dream.
1) I gotta go to Coachella one of these years.
2) Time goes by too slowly on this island.
3) I miss home!

"Why am I always on a plane or a fast train?
Oh what a world... always travelling!"
-Rufus Wainwright

Hi, all two of you who still read this site! I just got back from a 2 1/2 week stretch of travel. First week was an all-expenses paid trip to Hawaii to support nuller installation at Keck Observatory. It was pretty exciting until I discovered there's actually nothing to do in Hawaii. You go to the beach a couple of times, and that's pretty much it. Don't get me wrong--it's a beautiful place... clean, blue water; breath-taking sunsets; sunshine every day... but I just got to missing home and the city. I spent one day in Pasadena before heading off to more exciting places--Europe!

We spent three days in London... which is enough, I think, if you skip all the castles and touristy stuff. We caught an amazing production of Les Miserables, then wandered around the theatre district and stumbled into the gay area of town. There, we discovered the Dominion Theatre, where "We Will Rock You"--the Queen musical--has been playing for the past three years! Rock! England + Theatre + Macho Gay Sex Rock = Queen! Coincidence? No!

After that, we did Paris for five days, which was phenomenal. Not quite as clean as London, but there were a lot of wonderful things to discover and experience. We did lots o' stuff--Tour Eiffel, Musee du Louvre, Champs-Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, Jardin de Luxembourg, Universitie Sorbonne, Montmartre, ate foie gras and crepes... plus met a lot of really cool people along the way. I gotta go back! C'etait magnifique!

I've separated my travel galleries into their own sections and put placeholders for the New York and Europe pics. For now, you can whet your appetite with the pics from my Hawaii trip. Have fun!