AN INTRODUCTION

If this were a want ad it might read"53 year old gay white male seeks means of self expression". I have recently discovered a desire to set down, in writing, my observations, thoughts, both random and linear and opinions, again, both random and linear. I should begin explaining the process by which this will be composed. As I am in my 50's my brain is hardwired to express itself via the WRITTEN word. What this means is that, for the most part, what you read here will be first written, edited, revised, reedited and rereviewed by hand before being transfered to this medium. While this process may seem cumbersome and repetative it allows me the time and distance to both decide what I feel is appropriate subject matter for me to comment on and that those comments are expressed in a matter I find satisfactory.

The name refers to the extreme good fortune that I have had in seeing many corners of the western world. Often, most often, I do not travel in a manner that most people would consider "in style". I travel in my own personal style. I seek, when possible, unique and historic accomadations. I have slept in an Amsterdam canal house, a 700 year old home two courtyards removed from the street in Venice and an old princes home in Paris. There was also the 1910's townhouse in Mexico City, a historic cabin in Zion National Park and the slightly tumbledown courtyard house just outside the French Quarter of New Orleans.

Before you think me hopelessly bohemian bordering on pretentious, I should state that I have also stayed at the Grand Hyatt in NYC (business, my employer paid for that one) The Luxor in Las Vegas and I recently returned from a Carribean Cruise aboard an extremely well appointed Royal Carribean ship (more on that later). These last three, however are the exception, not the rule. There have also been, during road trips, the ubiquious motels which are competely colorless and dull, but cheap, clean and most importantly, there when they are needed.

During my Junior High and High school years my parents were both teachers. My mother a professor at a community college and my father a substitute in the public school system. This left the entire family with full summers off. During one of these summers we drove from California, where we lived at the time outside of San Francisco, to the east coast, up into Canada and back through the Dakotas and the plains.

In 1973, we took a charter flight to Brussels and spent the summer motoring through Europe. We had no itinerary on these trips, stopping when and where we wished. Growing up, we never stayed in hotels but camped which is part of what made this travel affordable, not to mention, in the case of the European trip, occasionally adventuresome.

Outside of experiencing new places, another of my great passions is theatre. I find my soul to be enriched and restored by plays, musicals and dance and musical concerts. I have sat in the 2nd balcony and in the front row, in ornate theatres and black box perfomance spaces, in nightclubs and by bandshells on lawns both in daylight and under the night sky. I have had good and bad experiences and often true moments of magic. Those moments are what I seek while experiencing a performance and what I treasure when I find them.

I have great curiosity. I look, listen and evaluate and constantly strive to learn. One of my hopes is that by writing I will learn. What or whether I will learn I do not know. Time will reveal the answers to that question.