Africa Out, Surgery In

For reasons I cannot fathom, I apparently did not make the cut on the National Endowment for the Humanities grant to study African cinema in Dakar, Senegal. Boo-hoo. I would love to know the qualifications of the 15 who WERE selected. Ah, sour grapes.

This changes our hopes and plans for this summer of course, but that is probably just as well. We will be going back to Africa probably within a year if the funds magically appear. This summer I hope to accomplish some writing again. I haven't been exactly prolific lately.

FYI: Wednesday I go in for a major hand surgery operation to fix my whacked off finger tip. The good news is the reattachment has worked, but I still have a sizeable area of open wound that will require not one but two skin grafts. One graft will come from the back of the same middle finger. To replace that skin, another graft from just below the stomach will be used. I am very phobic of anesthesia, so this two hour surgery is NOT something I am looking forward to.

Grading student papers is real fun -- NOT. Keyboarding isn't too swooft (old Memphis word -- ed.) either.

Hey is anybody still going to Trivia these days? Haven't heard from old teammates in a long time.

Bintu now has her green card so she will be looking for other opportunities soon. Any ideas are appreciated. Her driver's license -- well, we have some work to do on that one. If anybody sees her out after midnight peeling rubber in midtown, taking the keys while I'm asleep, well, give me an anonymous tip. : )

Spring has sprung and we hope to do some good cookin' this season. I'll soon be smoking a bunch of fish for Bintu's recipes. I'm pretty much addicted to Vimto, the soft drink popular in England, Africa, and the Middle East.

Last but not least -- are you aware that Russian watches and cameras of super high quality are availabe on Ebay, etc. for ridiculously low prices. I have on order a Russian made Leica copy with reportedly a great lens for $26.00. My friend Kenny convinced me that taking photos with this is a great way to get back into photography. His photos are great.

Watches of Rolex quality with somewhat similar design as well as dress watches in the Cartier vein are to be had sometimes for less than $30 on Ebay. Check them out.

Tom G.