LIVIN' IN AMERICA
Back home! Well, close anyway...Finally. Some imagery. Some thing worth 1000 words, cause I sure know my words aren't worth 1000 words. (I added show photos to the entries about the shows, so scroll down, take a trip down memory lane, and try to remember where you were when those shows happened...last week.)
I'll start by showing you how I have been forced to watch the World Series (and college football. And the NFL.), at all odd hours of the night in places with sub-par internet connections:

I mean, it's a neat application, but refreshing every 30 seconds at 3:30 AM trying to follow pitch-by-pitch or down-by-down is deflating in every way. Anyway, this was the top of the 9th of Game 4 this morning at 6AM from the Dubai airport.
Speaking of Dubai, here's a little bit of what it was like-
Views from my hotel room:


The soon-to-be tallest building in the world, under construction (one of thousands of buildings under construction in the city):

Dubai really went for it, all around. I hear they're building islands that will be in the shape of a palm frond, but that's not it - the next project is a set of small islands that are a replica of the map of the world. So you could live on "little Madagascar" or in "little Atlanta" if you wanted. Crazy. Also:


Hotels shaped like watercraft. Those hotels allegedly have more stars than Cassiopeia. I mean, 4 stars is pretty nice - what happens in 7 or 8??!? "Thanks for staying with us, Mr. Crowe. Your personal masseuse and chef will meet you in your room, which has the ability to break away from the mail building and fly you to the moon. Ah, and you will have the ability to become invisible as you choose until you check out."
Speaking of checking out, what about this mall:


That huge silver goiter looks a little weird, right? Well, it's this:


Yes, friends, a ski mountain INSIDE the shopping mall. Complete with snowfall every night. The day before the show, 2 guys rented ATVs and drove out into the desert. 2 other guys rented skiing equipment and hit the slopes. All four returned to the same hotel that night.
While they were doing that, John and i were shopping for gold and diamonds. We went to a four-story mall that sells only gold and diamonds. After much hunting, we finally found exactly what we were looking for:

Feels good to be a ring guy.
I didn't bring my real camera on this trip, but a shot of the show from the festival:

FINAL THOUGHTS
Crazy to be back out there - given the chaos that usually comes with an international trip, I had a great time. I miss all my boys on the road, and I'll take any 2 weeks I can whenever possible. Rolling with John everywhere was like a grown-up version of the days back in Abe, Hampton Inns, and *NSYNC watches. Good, good stuff. I gotta admit that I miss it a little bit. I love y'all.
Oh, and when chaos DID hit, I just looked at my mantra...

...and everything would work out.
See you soon.
-Scotty






























Photography by Carolyn Snell






















