Okay, so, here's the deal...

I've decided that saying, "White rabbits, white rabbits, white rabbits..." as the first thing out of your mouth when you wake up on the first day of every month brings one extremely good graces. But then again, so does having a lucky horseshoe up your ass! Don't ask me why that makes you lucky...I just know it works.

So I left Halifax for the chaotic Canadian Music Festival being held in Toronto last week. I arrived on Wednesday morning and was prepared for a couple of days of conferencing and showcases. I had a showcase myself, scheduled for midnight on Friday night at one of the hottest clubs in Toronto, a joint called the Rivoli. It was part of my booking agency's, LiveTourArtists, roster showcase presentation.

So I get to the showcase and it's killer....great spot on the bill, seriously wicked players backing me up... people dug it and all is good.

So here's where things start to add up. I had been up since Friday morning at 9 AM...went to the conference...went on to the rehearsal and then went back to the hotel to get ready for the night. I go to the club and hang until it's my turn on stage...do my thing and then hang for another hour afterwards. By the time I decide to leave the club and go back to the hotel it's pretty much 2:30 in the morning.... My international flight out of Toronto to Greensboro, North Carolina is leaving at 8:30 AM. This means I need to be at the airport two hours earlier.

So, to be at the airport at 6:30, I need to return the rental car bcak at 6. To do this I need a wake up call for 4:30. Okay cool I can grab two hours of sleep and then get on the go. NOPE!

My father had phoned me earlier in the night from some hotel a hour and a half outside of Seoul, South Korea...he's there on business and it's a 13 hour time differnce. Dad's message sounded urgent and he said it was about family business. I could tell by the tone of his message was was worried about something. So I try calling his hotel on my cell phone but I keep getting these automated prompts saying that overseas calling is not activated on my phone. This leaves me with the other option of using my room phone to place the call.

Let's see how much this will cost? I use the hotel room phone to dial the 15 digit number and hear a foreign voice on the other end. Slowly, I ask, "English?"

"English? Oh yes okay sir!" the voice replied nervously.

"Room 202?"

"Room 202? Oh yes okay sir!" the voice copycatted.

I eventually was connected to my father's room and we talked four about 40 minutes. When we finished the conversation, I hung up the phone and began packing for my departure. When all was said and done it was time to leave for the car rental dropoff. I'm checking out of hte hotel and the woman on the frontdesk informs that the price of the phone call was close to $360.

"Three hundered and sixty dollars?!" What was I supposed to say? I paid it and left...

Cut to the airport security and customs check point. For some reason that I'm not completely educated on, I think one of the x-ray devices had stopped working so agents had to physically search each traveler. There were hundreds of us in line waiting to catch our U.S. bound flights. It was pretty dramatic...one senior citizen even fainted from having waited so long for service. A little rest adn some fresh air and he quickly came around.

Eventually I was able to speak with a Customs agent and she was not in a great mood. I was as pleasant as could be because I didn't want to miss my flight which I was ten minutes from doing. I think my pleasantness pissed her off more...because all of a sudden, the approved documentation for travelling to the States as a musician I had presented was no longer valid in her eyes and she proceed to instruct me to fill out some other form. She sent me out of the waiting line to have a seat and fill in the info...I had a question about the form but the female agent was already dealing with other travelers. Luckily an airport liason had found another agent that was free to help...He looked me over and my forms and said that everything was in order and allowed me to pass.

Thank the Lord!

I still haven't slept yet and I'm not expecting to sleep on the little plane I was boarding. After arriving in Cincinatti to connect for Greensboro I had been flashing my passport to agent after agent until I had boarded the craft and was on my way to North Carolina.

I arrived safe and sound and picked up my rental car and a couple of hours later I was in Blowing Rock for my show there that evening.

This is now Saturday night...the show is finished and I'm back at the hotel. I'm scheduled to fly from Greensboro to Houston departing at 6 AM. It's a 2 hour drive to the airport and I need to be at the airport at least one hour before departure. This means I need three hours and...oh shit...I forgot about DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME!!!!! I'm losing one hour which mean I need four hours to pull this off. FINE!!! I'll get my wake up call for 1:30 AM... Man, this so sucks!!!

At this point I've been up for 36 hours straight with no end in sight.

I do manage to get 2 hours of sleep in before my wake up call hits.

At 1:30, my phone goes off ...Have you ever been awake for so long that when  you do finally fall asleep and then are abruptly woken up, you're body actually hurts?

So I'm packing up my things and have now discovered I can't find my Canadian passport. I'm freaking out now...I looked in my suitcase, my guitar case, and laptop case...nothing. I then look around the room, under the bed, under the tables and chairs...nothing. Well SHIT! I've got to leave now if I'm gonna make the airport in 2 hours. As I checkout I inform the front desk about my dilemma and the help I need. I'm assured that when housekeeping goes in they'll call me with any news.

Fortunately, I didn't need my passport for domestic flights, so I was able to begin my travelling for the day. I did arrive too late to catch my original flight and was re-routed to Philladelpia before flying onto Houston. Instead of arriving in Houston at 9:30 AM, I've now arrrived and picked up my rental by 3 PM, Sunday afternoon and now I'm driving an hour and a half to Beaumont, TX.

Once I arrive at the hotel I start collecting all the phone numbers to the airports and police authorites and consulates and to Passport Canada. I didn't know what to expect.

So I call Passport Canada first thing on Monday morning. The agent there didn't really offer any info that was particularly comforting or encouraging and suggested I call the airports first before opting to cancel my passport.

So I start making my calls and then my cell phone rings and it's a North Carolina area code. Because I was on the other line I didn't answer the call and it went to voicemail. When I retrieved the message, it was the hotel in Blowing Rock saying that the housekeeping staff had found my passport...get this...between the sheets of the bed. Not on or around or even under the bed, but between the sheets of the bed. How does that even happen?!  Hallefrigginlujah!!!!

The hotel FedExed my passport to me here in Beaumont and it arrived this morning. I ripped open the envelope and held up my Canadian Passport and kissed it! At that point I realized the aforementioned horseshoe is now, surely, a permanent fixture of my anatomy. God Bless the kind hearted people that found and returned my passport.