"Hello, I'm back!" - Where have you been? What's your excuse?

[cornbread714]

Thought I'd drop in and say hello. It's been quite a while...

As they say in Romania (where I am now) - Noroc!

That means "cheers".

[steved2112]

When in Romania, do as the Romanians do. Noroc!

[cornbread714]

Okay, I'm bored and no one is around, so I'll just blab a little, anyway. I'm sweltering here in Bucharest, drinking Mastika (47.5 %) alone at midnight. Girlfriend went to bed already. I'm trying to avoid turning on the air conditioning until necessary.

Mastika isn't a Romanian drink, but the girlfriend asked me to bring her some from Bulgaria, and of course I obliged. Mastika is sort of like Ouzo - not my favorite, but it's certainly drinkable - especially when you realize it's the only alcohol left in the household. Bulgarian tradition has it that you drink Mastika with Tarator, a chilled soup made with yogurt, cucumber, dill and garlic. It's not nearly as disgusting as it may sound, and my first attempt at making it has turned out okay, if I do say so myself.

Anyway, I have (for reasons not entirely clear to myself) decided to drop back in here to say hello to my old friends and perhaps get involved again.

Looking back on some old posts, and particularly my "goodbye" thread, I alternately wince and laugh - I did have a lot of fun here, and made quite a few friends, some of whom I still stay in touch with.

After I left, I got heavily involved in another forum, became a moderator there and learned a lot about forums in general. One of the things I learned was how lame goodbye threads truly are, hence the wincing on my part when I re-read my own lame goodbye thread posted here.

All water under the bridge at this point - but at least I didn't come back a week later (or even a few hours) as many goodbye thread posters tend to do on forums. I have to give myself a little credit for that, at least...

I resigned as mod on the other forum a few months back (without posting a goodbye thread, ha) and who knows? I might even show up there again someday, but who the fuck cares?

Just for the record, I have remained a diligent and unapologetic drunkard for the few years I was gone - even without the daily support of the forum members here.

Yes, my drink hand is still strong.

Shout out to Peetie, who originally introduced me to this forum in the first place, and who is still one of the absolute best blues piano players on the planet. I've been trying to set up some gigs for us here in Eastern Europe, where I've been living the past couple of years. I'm pretty sure he will dig it here and he seems willing enough.

Also, a shout out to all the people I knew and had fun with from when I was hanging out here before - I could try to list names, but you know who you are.

I look forward to talking to many of you again.

Once again - Noroc!

[peetie44]

Me & Brian goin driving into Spain on Thurs...got some gigs...

Dude...did you know Bob Christopher? Ft Worth...@my age...been living in Brussels for a long time...anyway, he died last Tuesday in Brussels.

[cornbread714]

Didn't know him, Peetie, but sorry to hear it.

Where you gonna play in Spain?

[ThirstyDrunk]

Hey Cornbread! Welcome back bro.

[Bur]

Hi.

[l...]

welcome back :)

[peetie44]

Where you gonna play in Spain?

Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia and some other places whose names I can't keep straight. We're driving down, Brian's wife's gonna fly in later and join us (if you recall, she's from Ecuador and of course speaks Spanish) and it'll sorta be a "gigging vacation"...kinda.

Check my website http://www.gene-taylor.com under TOUR

Hope you're doing well in Romania, corny!

[kowalski]

You gave me a good welcome when I first joined this board - good to see you back. Cheers!

[cornbread714]

Sounds nice, Peetie. Vaya con queso, amigo!

Thanks to Thirsty, Kowalski and the rest of you for the welcome back.

[Patchez]

Hello, first time we've met if I recall. welcome Back and cheers!

[cornbread714]

Thanks, Patchez.

Cheers to you, too, and nice to make your acquaintance.

[Mr Boozificator]

Welcome back my friend, to an other encounter in some random castle.

[cornbread714]

Hey, Boozy - how the hell are you, mon ami?

Are you in Bordeaux or some god-forsaken dry war zone?