It's 9:44am on Thursday as I type these words. Been a couple of days since my last entry and although I promised myself I would get back into the momentum of updating everyday, it didn't happen. Oh well.

Coffee at Cosi (Dupont Circle) February 13, 2006 5:55pm

Anyway, on Monday before going to Citron I spent the whole day hanging out with a dancer friend and we ended up basically doing a lot of walking around town and drinking at Starbucks, Teaism and Cosi. Totally mellowed me out--which I liked! It definitely contributed to the success of my show at Citron later that night.

View of Cafe Citron from Cosi. February 13, 2006 6:34pm

It was a late evening, so I ended up crashing at a friend's house and the next morning (Tuesday) had to rush out to get on the metro, stop by the Pink Flamenco, take a shower etc to make it on time to a 2:30pm rehearsal at DC Dance Collective. I'll admit I wasn't as mentally focused as I wanted to be, but we still got a lot done.

Around 3:30pm, I quickly said goodbye and headed off to Cafe Citron to pick up my sound equipment so I could make it to Las Tapas to setup. They wanted a 7:00pm show, which is earlier than usual, cuz they wanted to squeeze in two seatings for the Valentine's Day crowd.

Las Tapas view from behind the stage. February 14, 2006 8:30pm

As expected, the restaurant was packed (including the second floor). We did our shows as we usually do--with as much as inspiration as we could muster for a weekly gig and we did a decent job! But what really made the night long was the waiting in between sets. You see, they wanted the first group of Valentine's couples to leave so the second wave of paying customers could come and enjoy the show. It's just business. It ended up being more than an hour before we went on again, ugh! One of the regulars bought me a couple of drinks and the conversation and alcohol helped the time pass a little more quickly.

After the second show, I heard someone call my name and it turned out to be a musican friend of mine, Patrick Alban, that I hadn't seen in years. I had been meaning to go check out his show in Adams-Morgan all these years but never made it. Even though I work on Thursday nights, I can still make it on that night.

Las Tapas view of the bar area. February 14, 2006 9:08pm

Fast forward to Wednesday, I didn't have any appointments or a gig. But I did get out of the house to enjoy the warm weather. It was in the 60's so I didn't even need a jacket. Loved it! I also squeezed in some leisure reading: William Gibson's Mona Lisa Overdrive--a science fiction (my favorite fiction genre) book that I've been reading on and off since July last year. It's one of those stories that jumps around so much that I have to read it in one uninterrupted sitting. To put me in the mood I listened to an old CD by Pat Metheny from years ago. Transports me to when I was a day camp counselor on my summer breaks from college. I remember going to Wolf Trap a couple of times to hear his group perform on a warm summer night. Fun times. I know it's still winter and I'm already thinking about my summer plans--more on that later. (The point here is that as much as I love flamenco, I need to take a break from it every now and then.)

This morning (Thursday), I got knock on my bedroom door at 9-something, which is highly unusual this early in the day. I opened the door a crack to see who was there and saw something I like: a cup of Starbucks! Yes! My housemate is so nice to me.

February 16, 2006 9:56am

Needless to say, that boosted my spirits and jolted me out of my morning grogginess. So thanks to the caffeine, I'm up and typing these words, yay!

A friend just IM'd me and wants to go see a movie this afternoon. I did a marathon practice session late last night so I deserve a little reward for myself. I'm going to take a short nap and check my email later before heading out.

Oh yeah, tonight, I'll be at Andalucia accompanying one of Anna Menendez's up and coming students: Sarah Hart. Come if you can and support the new local talent. Tomorrow (Friday) I'm going to Lisner for the Gala de Andalucia. Can't wait! :-) OK, ciao for now.