tai-chi-one.com

The looping went off without a hitch and as August was coming to a close I bought time at TCI Cable in Ocean City when we could overlay the new dialogue onto the master tape. I also recorded my own voice over, a quote from the TAO TE CHING by Lao Tzu: “Nothing is softer than water, yet when it flows against something adamant or hard nothing withstands it and nothing will alter its way.”
I got to see Robert Gallo speak at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne. I had heard of the upcoming talk after he had been put in charge of some big thing. The reason he had attracted my interest is because of an article in Rolling Stone Magazine that came up with the theory that HIV was circulated in Africa through the polio vaccine. Of course having worked on IMMUNE with Alberta Charles and having read the Pendleton Papers the underground revelation of the work that had been done at Fort Dietrich Maryland and the creation of HIV and the Smallpox vaccine being the real culprit for the spread of the virus—and Robert Gallo stealing credit from the French over the discovery of HIV—I took time to signify. A friend knew the audio visual people and I was able to get a copy of the lecture. The only thing cut out of the video was the question and answer period when Gallo was asked a few controversial questions that he didn’t like and he ended the session.
I heard from Damien Rumsford and he had a toothache. He went to University of Maryland School of Dentistry and they told him that they would pull it but he insisted on saving the tooth. They gave him a prescription for an antibiotic and the tooth became abscessed. He returned to the hospital emergency room when he became disoriented fearing imminent death from tooth decay. We had a mutual friend, Frank, who actually died because of his bad teeth—this was discovered only after an autopsy since he had slipped into a coma and died before the hospital figured out why he slipped into the coma. Of course since Damien remained off the radar he had no health insurance. He sat in the hospital and was told they would pull his tooth. After eighteen hours the tooth was pulled and a tube was put through a cut slot in his neck for drainage and he was finally given a room.
“I didn’t know where I was,” he said, “It didn’t seem like a part of the hospital. Young Yo boys in uniforms sat at the ends of the hallways guarding the exits. They tried to keep me sedated with pain medication but I refused. I escaped at five in the morning on a freight elevator while the guards were asleep. I still had the tube in my neck.”
“University Hospital is a teaching hospital isn’t it? Did you learn anything?”
“Don’t get sick,” he said.

When I woke up after a short nap Etienne was the only one at home. Stephanie and Josien were off to work at the hospital. We had pastries and large bowls of fresh coffee and aspirin at the family table. Etienne drove me to Charles de Gaulle Airport and I was soon aboard US Air to JFK. It was still Thursday afternoon when the plane arrived at JFK. I spent a few hours walking the streets of Manhattan before attempting the drive south to the DELMARVA Peninsula. I stopped in a small motel when I could drive no longer. I arrived bright and early Friday back to Berlin and was making water deliveries without skipping a beat and without losing a customer. I called Professor and Capital Steps sound guy to see if we could schedule time for the dialogue replacement for Professor’s distorted ramblings. Sunday looked like a good bet.