Monday, December 20, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
VT rank 1,143!!
virtualtourist.com is a great travel website i use, and take part in, to give and receive travel advice from other travelers. along with tripadvisor, it is the top travel site around the world for gaining knowledge on tips involving things to do, transportation, accommodation, warnings, local customs, etc.
millions of people all over the world use this site as a "go-to" for travel information. hopefully someday, my illustrated book will be a beacon for all who want to travel to brazil, live in brazil, and know all things about travel.
millions of people all over the world use this site as a "go-to" for travel information. hopefully someday, my illustrated book will be a beacon for all who want to travel to brazil, live in brazil, and know all things about travel.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Thoughts on Brazill
it's hard to survive in brazil, unless you get a job with an american company i suppose. the wages are low. it's so strange how you can just jump from place to place without signing a lease. at least, that's the way it was in rosa.
rosa is a strange and magical place. most of the people who live there have been there all their lives. but there are some transient people like me, and people from curitiba and porto alegre. it's a small town, maybe pop. 2000. then they have the surf season (wct) and it gets packed. so it's quiet most of the year and crazy during the new year.
i did meet some good people but i never felt i could trust them. they were always talking behind each others' backs. everything you did, everyone knew about. they would cheat with their friends' husbands and get in fights. it's just weird to imagine that friends treat each other so poorly. they're open armed, don't get me wrong. there just seems to be a "live for the now, no matter if it's wrong or right" mentality, from what i experienced.
but it was a beautiful experience and i WOULD move back to brazil at some point, if i had a job figured out. i didn't teach english. there was no place to do it in that small town (i had some leads) but brazilians seem to be fickle. she just kept postponing it and postponing it. that was my experience with most people. they are lazy. they say they will do something, and in the states, it gets done at least the next day. in brazil, it takes months. from burning cd's to fixing roads to building houses... and they wonder why they are poor. they don't want to work !!
that was my experience there. but good food, fresh food. and they seem to utilize what they have. they conserve and they are resourceful. i think this attitude should be the same in the states. i mean, they use a bottle of cachaca to roll out pizza dough. they use empty yogurt containers as tupperware, and the list goes on. i really liked and respected that about them.
the people i knew mostly sat around and got high and then went to the beach. that was my life for 7 months. i don't get high, but i would just drink and hang out. they watch favelas (very important) but when work seasons come around, they do work. i have to give them credit for that.
it seems that they never have money, or so they say. i began to feel resentful because we would go to get groceries, and they would say "i only have this much money" then someone would chime in "regina tem". i was like fuck, what am i? the money tree? i'm on a budget with no work and because i'm american, you're asking ME to pay?? fuck that. they NEVER HAVE MONEY. because they don't work. it kind of sums up why they steal from each other, or at least foreigners. we're bate. i was bate.
i hate to reminisce about the bad parts. there were really sweet moments as well. i met some great friends with whom i still keep in contact, people who will welcome be back with open arms and warm food. i loved learning the language, laughing with people and being able to have the experience of doing absolutely nothing while my american friends are all working 9-5's. it was refreshing. my parents never liked the idea because they believe in productivity. i believe in balance, and i have worked a lot in my life. i prefer to work, then play as a reward. so that's what i did!
overall, i can say i would do it again. but i would do it differently. i would get a job, something permanent in rio, maybe working at the copacabana palace as a hair stylist or something. i would have to do more research. i think with more time, i can finish my book on living in brazil.
rosa is a strange and magical place. most of the people who live there have been there all their lives. but there are some transient people like me, and people from curitiba and porto alegre. it's a small town, maybe pop. 2000. then they have the surf season (wct) and it gets packed. so it's quiet most of the year and crazy during the new year.
i did meet some good people but i never felt i could trust them. they were always talking behind each others' backs. everything you did, everyone knew about. they would cheat with their friends' husbands and get in fights. it's just weird to imagine that friends treat each other so poorly. they're open armed, don't get me wrong. there just seems to be a "live for the now, no matter if it's wrong or right" mentality, from what i experienced.
but it was a beautiful experience and i WOULD move back to brazil at some point, if i had a job figured out. i didn't teach english. there was no place to do it in that small town (i had some leads) but brazilians seem to be fickle. she just kept postponing it and postponing it. that was my experience with most people. they are lazy. they say they will do something, and in the states, it gets done at least the next day. in brazil, it takes months. from burning cd's to fixing roads to building houses... and they wonder why they are poor. they don't want to work !!
that was my experience there. but good food, fresh food. and they seem to utilize what they have. they conserve and they are resourceful. i think this attitude should be the same in the states. i mean, they use a bottle of cachaca to roll out pizza dough. they use empty yogurt containers as tupperware, and the list goes on. i really liked and respected that about them.
the people i knew mostly sat around and got high and then went to the beach. that was my life for 7 months. i don't get high, but i would just drink and hang out. they watch favelas (very important) but when work seasons come around, they do work. i have to give them credit for that.
it seems that they never have money, or so they say. i began to feel resentful because we would go to get groceries, and they would say "i only have this much money" then someone would chime in "regina tem". i was like fuck, what am i? the money tree? i'm on a budget with no work and because i'm american, you're asking ME to pay?? fuck that. they NEVER HAVE MONEY. because they don't work. it kind of sums up why they steal from each other, or at least foreigners. we're bate. i was bate.
i hate to reminisce about the bad parts. there were really sweet moments as well. i met some great friends with whom i still keep in contact, people who will welcome be back with open arms and warm food. i loved learning the language, laughing with people and being able to have the experience of doing absolutely nothing while my american friends are all working 9-5's. it was refreshing. my parents never liked the idea because they believe in productivity. i believe in balance, and i have worked a lot in my life. i prefer to work, then play as a reward. so that's what i did!
overall, i can say i would do it again. but i would do it differently. i would get a job, something permanent in rio, maybe working at the copacabana palace as a hair stylist or something. i would have to do more research. i think with more time, i can finish my book on living in brazil.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Itacuruca, Rio de Janeiro
this is the house i am saving to buy
http://investmentsonthebeach.com/private_islands_and_properties_for_sale_in_brazil.html
http://investmentsonthebeach.com/private_islands_and_properties_for_sale_in_brazil.html
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
VT rank 1, 211!!
taipai in 40 days and counting!
been looking at some things to do while there... maybe renting a scooter and getting out of the city. i guess there aren't many nice beaches and chinese people don't swim. i don't care. i am going to milk it for a month. in the meanwhile,
here's some marky mark taiwanese goodness. no, not really.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvTllYHl4rM&playnext=1&list=PL73AFA2728BB2425A&index=6
been looking at some things to do while there... maybe renting a scooter and getting out of the city. i guess there aren't many nice beaches and chinese people don't swim. i don't care. i am going to milk it for a month. in the meanwhile,
here's some marky mark taiwanese goodness. no, not really.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvTllYHl4rM&playnext=1&list=PL73AFA2728BB2425A&index=6
Monday, November 15, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Best Brazilian website for great stories and images and music
http://www.hillerphoto.com/brazil/bahia_2.htm
Candomble`
Candomble is the brazilian, african religion where they kill goats and chickens and stuff, and call the gods to enter a person's body while they pour the blood of the animal over the head. that's my description. wiki description below.
anyway, i was in a town around sao paulo when i was 26. me and my friend went to a house around the corner that was having a candomble` "mass" or "ceremony". we entered and small room, very modest and quiet. you had to take a number when you entered and then they would call on you and it was your turn to be baptized by the blood of the lamb, so to speak.
when you enter, there were a bunch of black women dressed in white with red neckolaces (probably bahianas). they were chanting and dancing and there was precussion and a person in the middle with their head bowed, on their knees. the other people with numbers were waiting on the sides. it was a middle-class neighborhood in campinas, a pretty big city outside of sao paulo. but there was quiet on the streets, trash to be picked up, dogs barking, very residential and quiet.
we decided to leave after about a half hour because our number hadn't been called.
i wish i had stayed. who knows what could have happened??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candombl%C3%A9
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
st. louis and all my beautiful friends
i've been back in st. louis now for a few days, staying with my friend zach. i met him at webster university 5 years ago. we've remained friends ever since. i got to watch him knock out 125 t-shirt prints in his basement with a bunch of friends. he's a great artist, doing mostly design work, some freelance on the side of his regular design job.
zach is a smart, funny and honest person with a work ethic like you would never imagine. he's got a delicious sense of style. our day begins at 6:15 a.m. and i lie in bed trying to fall back to sleep after hearing his alarm. he leaves for work at 7:00 and i eventually fall back in and out of sleep until around 8:30. i get up, let the dog out. mojo is his huge black lab. a total sweetheart who will jump all over you and put his head, then his entire body in your lap if you let him. he likes to snuggle. i went on a long bike ride through tower grove park and beyond. i recall living right next to the park but don't venture over to where me and my ex husband lived. i guess i am over it. i made enchiladas and they were devoured.
then, i get on the computer and mess around for a while... see what all my facebook friends are doing. there is an extra bike for me to ride here, so i call up lambert, another friend i met about 5 years ago here in st. louis. he's at a construction site building pools and landscaping and such. i ride zach's extra bike over and we have lunch. i meet him again later after work and we go to his house and shoot the shit after grabbing some great pork rib bbq. i'm back to eating meat. i had a bad stabbing stomach ache one night after eating pork ribs, so i stopped. but now that i'm in st. louis, and there is bbq everywhere, i have to have it! san francisco has every type of food you can imagine, but in the bbq dept., slim pickings. i guess i'm biased since i'm from santa maria, the mecca of west coast bbq. and st. louis is also known for it's awesome bbq. they're rivals with kansas city.
anyway, so we shoot the shit at his apt. let me talk about this apt. and zach's apt. for that matter. they are old brownstones with hardwood floors, a deck, a foyer, two bedrooms, an extra office space, a living room and full kitchen and bathroom. they pay $550 a month. split two ways, you can do the math. i mean, it IS in st. louis, but that's what drew me here in the first place. it's hard to complain about that.
lambert is named after lambert international airport. i think his grandfather owns(ed) it. we don't really talk about it. adorned at his mom's house are old aviation photos. pretty cool. lambert is a man with a huge heart. he's absolutely gorgeous, self-deprecating but honest as can be, hard working, and sober. he's someone you want to protect, and someone you want to have protect you. he's still a boy in his personal growth process, but he's wise beyond years in self realization, if that's not an oxy-moron.
today is friday and i have nothing to do until this evening. tonight, i am going to some fancy shmancy restaurant with lana, my hilarious russian friend who will never tell anyone how old she is. we met here while i was going to art school and taking a sabbatical from doing hair, and decided to work as a gift wrapper at a family-run gift shop. we were instant chums, always making each other laugh our asses off. lana was an air traffic controller in russia until she moved here 19 years ago. now, she has a radiology degree, and is a single mother. she's an amazing woman, a very strong and independent woman with a sense of humor and a smile and laugh that lights up my spirit! her accent itself cracks me up. she makes up her own "sayings". one of my favorites is "i am on cloud 69". i say, "you mean cloud nine?" she laughs so hard. another good one: "i feel like i been hit wiv bag of flour". this is what she says when she's hung over. and when she has bad breath, she says, "i have mouf full wiv kitty litter". she's hilarious!!!
tomorrow i will go to visit my old gift wrapping people. i love them! there's an old crotchety lady named wanda who everyone thinks is the devil. she's a 75 yr old chain-smoking little black woman. she's totally unapproachable at first, stand-offish, arrogant, and cold. but i broke her. she is one of the loveliest, most honest, experienced and practically funny women i've met in my life. she still talks about getting laid. i can't wait to see her. then, there's helen. oh helen, this angel. she's a big old black lady who sings that humming sing when she works. she's very quiet and so so so so sweet. she's about wanda's age and is still working. i'm afraid she may pass away soon and i want to see her and hug her before she goes. these two women are polar opposites, yet they have been working side by side for over 25 years and they get along swimmingly. when i hug helen, she's going to almost cry and laugh. when i hug wanda, she's going to say, "get away from me girl!" and then hug me and laugh anyway.
sat. night, it's a pot luck hay ride drinking extravaganza with lana the russian out in some far away county. why did i agree to this??? i'll make enchiladas again. that should do the trick.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
haven't posted in a while and this is a nothing post
sitting in the apt. doing nothing but this. totally blanked on what to write next in my book. really stoked about going to st. louis in two days, san antonio two days later and taipei over the new year for a month. all i've been doing is working. i gave a friend $100 because he was stuck in portland with a dead aunt and a dying sister, and no money. i got a new netbook. it's only a 10 inch screen, so it's like a barbie computer. i can hear the crazy people downstairs at the bars yelling. not the bar people, but people on the street. like, crackheads. i also hear the bottle collectors. i have begun to appreciate that sound. it happens every morning and it reminds me i'm in san francisco.
the giants lost. oh well. i'm glad that's finally over. who cares about baseball? the most boring sport outside of golf.... i'm not sorry to offend. but whatever, to each his own. no! i'm not finished! in baseball, you wait around for the ball to come to you, wait around to bat. there are 9 innings and fat guys running around in circles. tell me this is a sport! now soccer is a sport.
speaking of which, too bad spain won the world cup instead of brazil.
in other news, i'm going to taipei for a month over the new year. nothing special. just me alone in another country.... sense the sarcasm? i'm scared as hell but i do have one distant friend who will show me around. i am new to the language (meaning, i know nothing). i wouldn't even know how to get from the airport to wherever i'm staying. it's all one big adventure. so is life!
speaking of adventures, i had the pleasure of eating veal tongue and pig face yesterday. andrew zimmern from the bizarre foods show, showed up near my neighborhood and served weird food out of a school bus, of all places.
i met him and he's a stand up guy.
well that's my rant for the night.
all is well that ends well.
the giants lost. oh well. i'm glad that's finally over. who cares about baseball? the most boring sport outside of golf.... i'm not sorry to offend. but whatever, to each his own. no! i'm not finished! in baseball, you wait around for the ball to come to you, wait around to bat. there are 9 innings and fat guys running around in circles. tell me this is a sport! now soccer is a sport.
speaking of which, too bad spain won the world cup instead of brazil.
in other news, i'm going to taipei for a month over the new year. nothing special. just me alone in another country.... sense the sarcasm? i'm scared as hell but i do have one distant friend who will show me around. i am new to the language (meaning, i know nothing). i wouldn't even know how to get from the airport to wherever i'm staying. it's all one big adventure. so is life!
speaking of adventures, i had the pleasure of eating veal tongue and pig face yesterday. andrew zimmern from the bizarre foods show, showed up near my neighborhood and served weird food out of a school bus, of all places.
i met him and he's a stand up guy.
well that's my rant for the night.
all is well that ends well.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
ultimate laugh
men and women. do they work together or don't they?
i suppose it has to be the right man and the right woman.
Friday, October 1, 2010
taipei
well it looks like i'm going to be in taipei all alone for a month over the new year. my friend kind of got pissed at me for something and now doesn't want to hang out. BUT i do have another new friend who lives there and is willing to show me around. he's from there, which is better because he speaks the language. this is him.
i'm looking forward to snake alley, where they have snake cooked in all different ways. i'm looking forward to grabbing things from the local markets, whether it be food or unique trinkets. i want to see museums and sacred spaces, whether it be a building or an outdoor space. i want to see their lively night life, their culture close up. i want to converse with the people, do what they do.
i would be so lucky to be invited to someone's house for dinner. a really authentic taiwanese dinner. i would do quirky things too, things people in the u.s. don't do. i would go to some crazy show or shoot someone with a water gun. i imagine all the things that are different. i want to eat the crazy food i may find repulsive. everything is new. that's why i love travel. it's an exploration into my own potential and my boundaries.
so taipei it is. ticket purchased. me in taipei for the first time! what a rush!
Friday, September 24, 2010
touching on some travels....
who are your favorite artists? i like egon shiele, laurtrec, manet, matthew barney and of course van gogh. i love peter paul ruebens, not to be confused with his brother. i went to the sistine chapel and within 20 feet of the pieta, i started crying. it was amazing. i am without words. i had an art professor who told me that when michaelangelo finished his pieta (and many people did the pieta), people went to see it, and he heard them commenting about what a lovely job david did. (david, the artist). that night, he went and carved his name into the sculpture.
when i went to see the statue of david in florence, the people say "he's italian from the waist up" cause his penis is so small. hahahahaha
i love italy. i love florence and madrid. i could write a novel based on my travels (i am!) but madrid is particularly splendid. it retains an authenticity i don't see in many urban cities. barcelona... psh. international whatever. i want unfiltered culture. and that's what madrid is.
another beautifully rich city is valparaiso, chile. you get old town. it's the oldest shipping port in s. america. dirty as fuck. beautiful as hell. they have these crazy funicular elevators that take you up the hill. i always forget the names of them so i have to wiki it, but they are crazy old wooden elevators that creep up the steep hills into the crowded mess of colored houses. it's an experience.
another city i love is rio, of course. but i am biased. i'm from there. and i also don't know a lot about it. i have never been to the favelas, and copa and the favelas live side by side. i read a great quote about rio from a prisoner there.
"rio's biggest symbol is the figure of christ that holds out his stiff, concrete arms to the world beneath him. never did his words mean so little to those below. never in my life have i seen so little charity or compassion in any city where extreme wealth and unendurable povery lie side by side."
it's a beautiful quote and a very viable statement. you should see the poor kids peddling on the streets, sometimes only four years old! the first time i went to brazil, i went to some hippie fair/market and a little toddler begged us for cash. i started to cry. my brazilian friend told me not to give him money. i didn't, and i was so disturbed that someone this small had to eek out a living this way. could his mom not find a job? where was the father? brazil is a complex place and i consider myself lucky, very fortunate, to live where i live.
when i went to see the statue of david in florence, the people say "he's italian from the waist up" cause his penis is so small. hahahahaha
i love italy. i love florence and madrid. i could write a novel based on my travels (i am!) but madrid is particularly splendid. it retains an authenticity i don't see in many urban cities. barcelona... psh. international whatever. i want unfiltered culture. and that's what madrid is.
another beautifully rich city is valparaiso, chile. you get old town. it's the oldest shipping port in s. america. dirty as fuck. beautiful as hell. they have these crazy funicular elevators that take you up the hill. i always forget the names of them so i have to wiki it, but they are crazy old wooden elevators that creep up the steep hills into the crowded mess of colored houses. it's an experience.
another city i love is rio, of course. but i am biased. i'm from there. and i also don't know a lot about it. i have never been to the favelas, and copa and the favelas live side by side. i read a great quote about rio from a prisoner there.
"rio's biggest symbol is the figure of christ that holds out his stiff, concrete arms to the world beneath him. never did his words mean so little to those below. never in my life have i seen so little charity or compassion in any city where extreme wealth and unendurable povery lie side by side."
it's a beautiful quote and a very viable statement. you should see the poor kids peddling on the streets, sometimes only four years old! the first time i went to brazil, i went to some hippie fair/market and a little toddler begged us for cash. i started to cry. my brazilian friend told me not to give him money. i didn't, and i was so disturbed that someone this small had to eek out a living this way. could his mom not find a job? where was the father? brazil is a complex place and i consider myself lucky, very fortunate, to live where i live.
As a hair stylist, I am also a therapist
I know, you think "hair stylist" and you think, some mediocre dumb person who went to beauty school. To back up my credentials, I have to add that I'm not just a hair stylist. I'm also a therapist. Of 16 years.
I went to school for psychology for a year and saw a flyer for "cosmetology 101". I was excited about it and thought it far more practical than the direction I was headed. So I enrolled in beauty school. 9 months later, I graduated and got a job working at a salon. I was 19.
I bought a hair salon at 23, owned it for 5 years and eventually sold it to move to San Francisco. Here I am, with a job with no boss, and no schedule. I make my own hours, I take long vacations and I get paid in cash daily. How does this happen? Cause I'm smart.
Most hair stylists are categorized as uneducated. That's ok. We'll let the rest of the world of stereotypers believe that if they want to. But the fact is, we listen to your crap day in and day out. We multi-task. While I'm mixing up color, you are talking about your annoying mother, or how someone at your job is blowing their nose. Meanwhile, we do the job that three other professions attack. We are on par with bartenders, therapists and surgeons. We are not doing brain surgery here. We are picking your brain. And you will tell us things you would never tell a living soul.
I asked my clients, just for nyucks, "what is the worst thing you have ever done in your life?" One client remarked, "I fucked my best friend's fiance` on their wedding day." He had never told another soul.
We know you. You rely on us. You rely on us for your mental health, your physical beauty, for the way you feel when you look at yourself in the mirror every day. We are not naive. We have heard it all. Half of it goes in one ear and out the other. We see 8 people a day. How are we supposed to remember everything everyone says?
But after 16 years, I wouldn't change my job. I love it. I love the stories people tell. I love the gratitude. I love the loyalty of clients, I love the play in the salon. It is the most rewarding job I have ever had, and I don't mind listening to you complain. Cause in the end, I know that I have helped you in some remedial way, that my presence has made a difference on the Earth, no matter how minute.
I went to school for psychology for a year and saw a flyer for "cosmetology 101". I was excited about it and thought it far more practical than the direction I was headed. So I enrolled in beauty school. 9 months later, I graduated and got a job working at a salon. I was 19.
I bought a hair salon at 23, owned it for 5 years and eventually sold it to move to San Francisco. Here I am, with a job with no boss, and no schedule. I make my own hours, I take long vacations and I get paid in cash daily. How does this happen? Cause I'm smart.
Most hair stylists are categorized as uneducated. That's ok. We'll let the rest of the world of stereotypers believe that if they want to. But the fact is, we listen to your crap day in and day out. We multi-task. While I'm mixing up color, you are talking about your annoying mother, or how someone at your job is blowing their nose. Meanwhile, we do the job that three other professions attack. We are on par with bartenders, therapists and surgeons. We are not doing brain surgery here. We are picking your brain. And you will tell us things you would never tell a living soul.
I asked my clients, just for nyucks, "what is the worst thing you have ever done in your life?" One client remarked, "I fucked my best friend's fiance` on their wedding day." He had never told another soul.
We know you. You rely on us. You rely on us for your mental health, your physical beauty, for the way you feel when you look at yourself in the mirror every day. We are not naive. We have heard it all. Half of it goes in one ear and out the other. We see 8 people a day. How are we supposed to remember everything everyone says?
But after 16 years, I wouldn't change my job. I love it. I love the stories people tell. I love the gratitude. I love the loyalty of clients, I love the play in the salon. It is the most rewarding job I have ever had, and I don't mind listening to you complain. Cause in the end, I know that I have helped you in some remedial way, that my presence has made a difference on the Earth, no matter how minute.
this poem i wrote..
i feel your wind, i feel the pull
dragging me far away
i see the fields, you're lifting horizons
and i could throw it all away
oh, thunder
taking it all
taking it all away
oh, thunder
taking it all
there's nothing left to say
open my back door, open my window
to let you in
so i can breathe
breathe you in
then you take it all away
you are coming
coming closer
never saying when
but you'll be here
raging thunder
until the end
dragging me far away
i see the fields, you're lifting horizons
and i could throw it all away
oh, thunder
taking it all
taking it all away
oh, thunder
taking it all
there's nothing left to say
open my back door, open my window
to let you in
so i can breathe
breathe you in
then you take it all away
you are coming
coming closer
never saying when
but you'll be here
raging thunder
until the end
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
sunday the 22nd, photo sesh
we went to the beach, played in the water, body surfed, got slammed by waves. we went to our favorite restaurant, miguel's. we had mole-covered enchiladas and pork pozole, a delicious spicy broth with hominy. i wasn't impressed with the mole, as it tasted mostly of chocolate-covered enchiladas. we were trapped in the pouring rain going to the restaurant so as we are running through the streets in our flip flops and dresses, we are drenched and laughing while all the locals laugh at us. we didn't mind the rain at all. we loved it! i loved getting drenched and splashing through puddles, washing my feet under the waterfall from the awnings. when we arrived at miguel's, we were soaking wet.
the remainder of the night is spent watching "the closer" and "the breakup" followed by a short intermission of soft-core porn that was on for free. monday comes, i wake up around 9:30 and steph tells me minutes out of my slumber, "i would like to catch the ten 'o clock bus". i hurriedly gather my things and boil some eggs for the road. we walk up the street and see our bus pulling away. it says "pto. vallarta" on the window. i know it's ours. we hail the driver and ask if we can get on. he motions for us to get on and we sit in the back and i am terrified by a wasp, so i change seats. half way through the trip, the driver collects money for tickets and neglects collect ours. so we got a free ride!
we arrive in puerto vallarta, the last leg of our trip, immediately catch a bus that drops us off at our FREE HOTEL that steph got with frequent flier miles. villa vallarta. we have a poolside suite and the night is ours. there seem to be only two families staying at the hotel. it's a full moon and we spend the night in the 4 foot deep pool laughing. thern we are inspired to have a photoshoot. i braid my hair and tie it around my chin so it looks like i have a chin strap. steph loves this. i get my cat hat on and start posing in these ridiculous positions on the lounge chair. then steph gets on the bar and sips her drink through a pencil. then we move to the pool and we re-enact the phoebe cates scene from fast times at ridgemont high. but steph is coming out of the water with a life preserver around her neck instead. genius! then we do some failed topiary-peeking shots. we move to the outdoor shower and i take some sexy photos without a bikini top with a flag over my breasts. we did another with steph in the outdoor shower with a plastic chair. then we saw an empty coke machine and we got inside, pretending to talk on the phone as if it were a phone booth. steph even made me crawl into a buffet case, where i half-killed a spider with my stomach.
the remainder of the night is spent watching "the closer" and "the breakup" followed by a short intermission of soft-core porn that was on for free. monday comes, i wake up around 9:30 and steph tells me minutes out of my slumber, "i would like to catch the ten 'o clock bus". i hurriedly gather my things and boil some eggs for the road. we walk up the street and see our bus pulling away. it says "pto. vallarta" on the window. i know it's ours. we hail the driver and ask if we can get on. he motions for us to get on and we sit in the back and i am terrified by a wasp, so i change seats. half way through the trip, the driver collects money for tickets and neglects collect ours. so we got a free ride!
we arrive in puerto vallarta, the last leg of our trip, immediately catch a bus that drops us off at our FREE HOTEL that steph got with frequent flier miles. villa vallarta. we have a poolside suite and the night is ours. there seem to be only two families staying at the hotel. it's a full moon and we spend the night in the 4 foot deep pool laughing. thern we are inspired to have a photoshoot. i braid my hair and tie it around my chin so it looks like i have a chin strap. steph loves this. i get my cat hat on and start posing in these ridiculous positions on the lounge chair. then steph gets on the bar and sips her drink through a pencil. then we move to the pool and we re-enact the phoebe cates scene from fast times at ridgemont high. but steph is coming out of the water with a life preserver around her neck instead. genius! then we do some failed topiary-peeking shots. we move to the outdoor shower and i take some sexy photos without a bikini top with a flag over my breasts. we did another with steph in the outdoor shower with a plastic chair. then we saw an empty coke machine and we got inside, pretending to talk on the phone as if it were a phone booth. steph even made me crawl into a buffet case, where i half-killed a spider with my stomach.
mexico cont'd
after being on the public bus in any country, i don't know what to do with my hands. i don't believe sanitizer works, so i'm afraid to touch my face to play with my zit or to bite my cuticles. things are different here. seeing the old men asleep with their cowboy hats, i imagine them shoveling shit or dirt which has most likely been christened with a stray leper dog's feces. i can't help but to touch the top rails of the crowded bus as it bounces around, throwing babies into crying fits and mothers to cover their young from the weathered populus.
i say "i can't wait to wash my hands". steph offers me sanitizer and i ask her if she thinks it really works. she says "well, it kills 99.9% of bacteria". well, that means it doesn't work. they are just telling us that on the label so they aren't held liable if we get icoli. of course they would. but i use it. then i immediately put lip balm on with my pinky, negating everything i just said.
when we arrive to our place in melaque, i decide to sleep on the balcony so i can get some relief from this humidity. this way, i can hear the waves, as our digs are right on the beach. i can feel the wind and see the clouds and smell the ocean. sleeping on the balcony was short-lived. i need fans and cold air!
i say "i can't wait to wash my hands". steph offers me sanitizer and i ask her if she thinks it really works. she says "well, it kills 99.9% of bacteria". well, that means it doesn't work. they are just telling us that on the label so they aren't held liable if we get icoli. of course they would. but i use it. then i immediately put lip balm on with my pinky, negating everything i just said.
when we arrive to our place in melaque, i decide to sleep on the balcony so i can get some relief from this humidity. this way, i can hear the waves, as our digs are right on the beach. i can feel the wind and see the clouds and smell the ocean. sleeping on the balcony was short-lived. i need fans and cold air!
anywho, finishing up on mexico. finally.
the center of town seems to be a main drag with cars "cruising". shirtless young men on the backs of trucks rubber-necking hot ladies as they drive around the block with low-rider VW bugs blasting home-spun mexican pop. there is a plaza with a fountain. but more importantly, scantily clad teengagers who seem to avoid the advances of smarmy men with a flip of the hair and a snively laugh to their friends.
a few tomale vendors push their carts of food in an icebox over the cobbled streets and mothers and grandmothers talk while seated outside their closing taquerias, whose outdoor tables are lined with multitudes of salsas served in large colorful plastic bowls.
in our room, we talk for hours on the bed about men in every detail imaginable. but we keep discreet with those we love. tomorrow, i'm hoping to hike to the top of this small hill where an abandoned and ramshackle beach bar was built and is now decomposing into broken wood and brown dried palm fronds. most of the time, i donm't know what to do with myself. but writing gives me a reason to travel and travel gives me a reason to write.
a few tomale vendors push their carts of food in an icebox over the cobbled streets and mothers and grandmothers talk while seated outside their closing taquerias, whose outdoor tables are lined with multitudes of salsas served in large colorful plastic bowls.
in our room, we talk for hours on the bed about men in every detail imaginable. but we keep discreet with those we love. tomorrow, i'm hoping to hike to the top of this small hill where an abandoned and ramshackle beach bar was built and is now decomposing into broken wood and brown dried palm fronds. most of the time, i donm't know what to do with myself. but writing gives me a reason to travel and travel gives me a reason to write.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Leving Yelapa, going to Melaque
Today, we left Yelapa on a boat. We ran out of gas on the way to Boca de Tomatlan and we're bobbing in the water as the boat attendants make cell calls to the local boats to bring us gas. After about 15 minutes, we arrive in Boca. We wait 2 hrs for our bus to arrive. We get on the bus and after a couple of hours, we are stopped by what we think are the military, which is common. They are looking for drugs and documents. But after 45 minutes or so, everyone starts to get off the bus and we realize it has broken down. We wait on the side of the road for a replacement. We get on the replacement bus and we are crammed into it like sardines, standing and holding onto the top rail. Stop by stop, people get off the bus and there is finally room for us to sit. The ride is another three hours of life-threatening passing on the left. We finally make it to Melaque and get our hotel, an easy find right on the beach. it's a comfortable two bedroom with a kitchenette.
We drop off our things and head for food. We find ourselves a few blocks away at a sit-down joint called Miguel's. We are attracted because we see a sign that says 7 pesos for a taco. That's 70 cents. We order five and finishing up, walk around, past leather shoe stores, dolce stands, places that sell shell jewelry, a "supermini" (market), ice cream stands and a toy store with inflatables for the water. We stock our fridge with tequila and lime, ice, water, eggs, tortillas and queso fresco. The night is young and the waves and wind are restless. The storm is coming in and I sleep on the balcony feeling sorry for the screaming cat downstairs who has to fight for the leftover fish bones in the trash below.
About Yelapa's beach
We arrive to a beach full of lounge chairs and palapas behind. This divides the tourists from what is behind the palapas; the local dwellings. Inside the palapas, there are 5-10 locals drinking beer and talking amongst themselves. They watch us foreigners arrive in the water taxi which has two stops: the pier and the beach. Everyone needs to make a living and everyone has a way to give their fellow local a kick down. Whether it be name dropping or some kind of trade of services, "cheaper" seems to be the operative word.
But for some reason, I don't want this place to be spoiled. I can see a native Indian ethnicity in the children, in the way they trade, and I want that sincerity and authenticity to last. I want to keep Yelapa a secret because it has become so commercialized. But I can't, and I'm not the first to recognize it's simple beauty.
The kids are waiting for fishing boats so they can unload the daily delivery of restaurant supplies. Soda, rice, sugar and other sundries.... Meat and vegetables are hard to find in this town. There is little refrigeration. When a fishing boat comes to shore, it has to be parked on the sand if it's not anchored in the water. The way they do this? In Brazil, they use logs under the boat and have 5 men push the boat onto the sand. In Mexico, they rev up the motor and speed onto the shore, just in time to let the motor up so as not to touch the sand. The boat comes at an alarming speed to the shore and up onto the populated beach.
In our stay, Yelapa
There is a house cat who just gave me a flea. I can hear the cicadas playing their maracas in unison. They come out in the morning and in the evening. This morning, I woke up to the sunrise, the pink clouds over the green mountains, lit from below. The sky lifted, showing off the reflection of the clouds in the bay. A momma bird was teaching her babies how to chirp. In her morning lesson, she would chirp a song or a saying. Then she would tell them to repeat. They would repeat, trying to imitate the sound she makes. Then she would repeat this lesson until they got it. Then she would move onto another phrase. And so on. This lasted a couple of hours. Every once in a while, a baby bird would squawk as if frustrated. Then the momma would teach her baby to fly. She flies below the baby as if she were a safety net while the little one is flapping vigorously and somewhat non-directional.
But this is all new to me. I imagine the old lady who runs the place is quite bored with such things.
To leave this guesthouse, we climb 178 algae-covered stone steps to the entrance. We walk through the town center, lined with concrete homes, small restaurants and convenience stores, kids running around barefoot, using brooms to knock the collected water off the tarps on their front porches. Construction workers let us walk by. But this town is small, only having one main road and donkeys and horses for transportation. Sometimes, we would see a motorcycle. The waterfalls above the town allow for some streams to wash over the road, and after we walk through the lush and humid paths, we finally see the river we need to cross to get to the beach. It's a wide river about three feet deep. We lift up our dresses and wade across without shoes. The warm water rushes by with twigs and a random floating fruit. We are across, finally making it up the sandy embankment and we reside on the beach for one more day of potential sun.
On our return from the beach, we enter a small restaurant where an old woman prepares one of the best breaded fish tacos I have ever eaten. Her kids are watching TV and her husband (or son) serves us. Her daughter smiles as she runs to ask her dad for more juice in a plastic cup.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Mexico
Friday Aug. 20th
We've been on the beach and there is a pattern. The vendors of the restaurants set up early, around 9-10 a.m. Then, the tourists are driven in by water taxis. Around noon, the beach begins to either crowd or heat, or both, depending on the season. After a while, the obnoxious tourist from Canada or the U.S. arrive, and they get the gringo price at the restaurant palapas, which I'm sure I'm almost getting. After 6 or 7, the clouds begin to roll in over the mountains. They're definitely rain clouds. Steph and I lounge while the other non-Mexicans clear the beach. She is asleep in a lounge chair while I write. The locals begin to fish by throwing a spun wire with a bob attached to it into the shallow water from the shore. The men working the restaurants are dragging in the chairs and umbrellas while the unknowing tourists wait for the torrential rain.
The mountains are covered with dark clouds and toddlers are sitting on the shore allowing the ocean to lap over their clothed bodies. The sun-stricken, sand-walking vendors of jewelry and other paraphernalia are finally packing up and an old lady with missing teeth asks for help. Pesos. We do help.
Around here, I am grateful for my life. I am fortunate. I have never been stung by a bee.
We've been on the beach and there is a pattern. The vendors of the restaurants set up early, around 9-10 a.m. Then, the tourists are driven in by water taxis. Around noon, the beach begins to either crowd or heat, or both, depending on the season. After a while, the obnoxious tourist from Canada or the U.S. arrive, and they get the gringo price at the restaurant palapas, which I'm sure I'm almost getting. After 6 or 7, the clouds begin to roll in over the mountains. They're definitely rain clouds. Steph and I lounge while the other non-Mexicans clear the beach. She is asleep in a lounge chair while I write. The locals begin to fish by throwing a spun wire with a bob attached to it into the shallow water from the shore. The men working the restaurants are dragging in the chairs and umbrellas while the unknowing tourists wait for the torrential rain.
The mountains are covered with dark clouds and toddlers are sitting on the shore allowing the ocean to lap over their clothed bodies. The sun-stricken, sand-walking vendors of jewelry and other paraphernalia are finally packing up and an old lady with missing teeth asks for help. Pesos. We do help.
Around here, I am grateful for my life. I am fortunate. I have never been stung by a bee.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Mexico
Thurs. Aug. 19th
Now I'm sitting in a bedroom in a beautiful house in the jungle hillside village of Yelapa, a remote fishing town only accessible by boat, just south of Puerto Vallarta. After having arrived in Boca de Tomatlan, the jetting off place to Yelapa, where water taxis are the only transportaton, I find it has grown since my last visit two years ago. The small cove's beach is covered with umbrellas and sun chairs. We are immediately approached by vendors trying to sell us rooms for the night. "Cheaper, cheaper" they say.
We walk waist-deep in water with our bags to follow a man who shows us his "nice, cheap house". Through the muddy trail, under lush woods and flowering bushes, we arrive at a palapa. The concrete structure below supports an open upstairs flat with wooden beams and a thatched plam frond roof. A woman and her child are above, just up the tree house-like stairs. But everything is open and we decide to move onto the road to find another location.
Walking, following a stray dog's nose, we are led up through the hills to an inviting path of algae-covered stone steps, to this house where I'm now renting for the night. The stairs are exhausting! When we reach the top, a nice old woman comes out of her screen door to greet us and quote a price. $25 per night, together. We take it. Our room has tile floors, a dresser and table with a chair, two walls of widnows, one of which is only a screen, no glass. There's a fan and a view of the beautiful bay of Yelapa, fishing boats bobbing and blue ocean water mixing with the brown river that divides the beach from the town. Outside the window are native grasses, flowers, palm trees with unusual-looking orange balls the size of limes. The whistling of birds is drained out by the humming of the fan and the squeal of the cicadas. We walked down those steep and numerous stairs, through the town, across the river and onto the beach. We spend time there until it begins to rain. We again, were drenched by the pour, something of which we're beginning to grow quite accustomed. Our cliff-perched villa with balcony awaits, and the panoramic view of our little fishing village, which in the distance, awaits our private photo session.
Mexico
Wed Aug. 18th
Steph and I landed in Puerto Vallarta, greeted by a lush mountain backdrop and cloudy warm skies. We quickly found our little hotel on the beach and put our things down to hit the streets in search of food.
We happened upon Bacalao, a somewhat pricey sit-down restaurant serving mostly seafood. We ordered smoked marlin tacos and spicy octopus tacos. They came in a corn tortilla with an avocado slice on top, folded into a small wavy metal tray whose grooves fit the tacos like a glove.
We then headed to the beach, run with Mexican tourists and vendors of marionettes, jewelry, tatoo books, blankets and shells. The vendors ranged anywhere from six years to seventy or eighty. These elderly women with their colorful skirts, gray hair pulled back into a pony tail, weathered skin, walking on the beach are strong. I have a lot of respect for someone who has to work into old age.
It starts raining and our sheet and purses are getting wet so we head to the main beach boulevard. We're greeted by a "hey, where ya'll from? I'm from Texas! And my wife and I sell tequila". Steph looks at me with a "what the hell, why not" expression and we go into this man's store where there are shelves of all grades of tequila, mostly 100% agave. We taste 6 or 7 little sips of everything from smokey to fruit-infused. His home-blend is mango, peach and guanabana-infused. After many of his attempts to sell us his blend, we decide to tip and leave.
Making our way around town, we pass shops with pottery, blown glass, jewelry and leather. The men are outside beckoning for our business with "hi beautiful ladies". Some shops were far from souvenier shops. There's often a simple domicile with the woman of the house cleaning, folding laundry or cooking while her children watch TV on a lace-covered couch in an unlit living room.
Then, it begins to really pour. We are running through the streets, soaked, laughing as we wade through the rivers that form on the cobble stone intersections. The rain was a sweet retreat from the sweltering humidity of this dusty town.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
reaching chapter 7 in my book
and have 3 editors waiting to read it. this book on living in brazil covers the people, the food, logistics of living there, the lifestyle, the history and the culture, of course. it will include illustrations from my travels and will provide inspiring and useful information about what it's like for a solo female to live in brazil.
what separates it from eat, pray, love is the illustrations and the fact that it is also a guide to living in brazil in addition to a memoir.
what separates it from eat, pray, love is the illustrations and the fact that it is also a guide to living in brazil in addition to a memoir.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
roommate pees in bed
this morning i came home and to see him sleeping on the floor. nothing too unusual for him. then i looked at his bed, which had been disrobed from it's coverings. alas, a huge ring of wetness.
i asked him, when he woke up to declare he was still drunk from last night, if he had actually peed in his own bed, to which he replied, "yes, that's how bad it was".
glad i'm not his partner.
i asked him, when he woke up to declare he was still drunk from last night, if he had actually peed in his own bed, to which he replied, "yes, that's how bad it was".
glad i'm not his partner.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
periodic table of cuss words
http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_l6khp0levA1qz7lxdo1_1280.gif?AWSAccessKeyId=0RYTHV9YYQ4W5Q3HQMG2&Expires=1280933582&Signature=W1jXopnfig6%2B4en04sCGRrjX21o%3D
i'm partial to OGB and CFB
i'm partial to OGB and CFB
Friday, July 30, 2010
a letter to a friend in nepal
i don't know why, perhaps it is because i have lived in america my entire life, but i find asian and african cultures to be very interesting. i think it has to do with how ancient they are. there are so many layers to those civilizations and america is such a new country. so we don't have the deep religious tradition that other countries have practiced for years.
also, i would like to think i represent the american that most people around the world don't know. i'm educated and i travel and i speak three languages. unfortunately, what people see is the loud uneducated american middle - aged person with no respect (they don't even know they are being disrespectful) for another culture. some people think they can tromp all over and not be aware that people do things differently all over the world. i want to be more conscious of the way people live. as humans, i have come to understand that we are really the same. we all want to be loved. that's the bottom line.
nepal interests me because i know nothing about it. so does tunisia. so if you could enlighten me more about your culture, i would love it! i am reading a book about brazilian history right now. as i may have said, i was born in rio de janeiro and i had gone back to brazil 4 times before living there last year. i wanted to get back to my roots, because i was adopted by an american family when i was a year old. so i never really got any immersion into the brazilian culture. this is also an interesting culture to me because of it's blend of so many cultures. they are african, indian, japanese, dutch, french, german and portuguese, mostly. all these elements combined make for varied religious practices, types of food, different looking people, not to mention the size of the country! you get so many different climates and landscapes depending on what part of brazil you are in.
so i am writing a book about being a solo female traveler living in brazil. i thought i should do some research on brazilian history so i have a reference point for describing my experience living there. i wanted to originally do a book called "7 months" which would describe my experience living in different countries. the duration of my time in each country would be 7 months, the time i believe it takes to truly leave your own country and immerse yourself in another culture, to begin to understand how things work within that society. but finding work was a problem and continues to be a problem in under developed countries, because of the low pay and also because of my citizenship. i may be able to travel on a work visa, but i do hair for a living, and leaving the states proved to be very difficult for my career, as many clients had moved on. so i had to build my clientele from scratch. so there are financial issues.
my goal is to become a travel writer. so i have been reading a lot of travel magazines, which i have always done, to be able to follow and learn the manner in which articles are written, and who they are written for. it's a highly competitive field. but i'm passionate about it.
at some point, i want to travel to nepal. i would like to spend months there, watching how people live. i believe it will be mundane.... people washing clothes, going to work, talking on corners, just like they do everywhere. but i also imagine i would see things i have never seen. i'm intrigued by their tradition of burning a body after it dies and that you believe that "every human body is made by 5
elements Water, Air, Sky, Earth & fire. Once you get your human life with these
elements, when you are dead than you need to return back to those elements. So
we burn the body nearby the river." this doesn't exist in america. we just burry someone in the ground and everyone has a different idea of where that body or that soul resides.
i hope to take a ride on your elephant one day. he's cute. i always cry when i see them at the zoo. always.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
LIVING IN BRAZIL, THE STORY OF A SOLO FEMALE TRAVELER.
think that's a good name? taking suggestions.
neck hurting from being on the typewriter for hours. work, type, eat, drink, sleep, work, repeat. this all means something to me now. will it mean anything to anyone else?
neck hurting from being on the typewriter for hours. work, type, eat, drink, sleep, work, repeat. this all means something to me now. will it mean anything to anyone else?
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
In the process of writing the book
I had no idea typewriters were such drama. I remember using them as a kid. I don't, however, remember making so many mistakes and having to use white out, then blow on it, wait for it to dry and continue typing. I also don't remember having to rewind the ribbon and every so often, flip the keys back when two pop up at the same time. Ah nostalgia.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Kings of Convenience
how did i not know about them?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NYwXSNZLpQ&feature=player_embedded#!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NYwXSNZLpQ&feature=player_embedded#!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
vtrank 1943 !!!! woooo!! movin' on up!
(that would be the world reputable travel website, virtualtourist.com
this will be my stepping stone to landing a travel writing job.
editing posts now for reviews.
this will be my stepping stone to landing a travel writing job.
editing posts now for reviews.
some of the best dancing from christopher walken
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7rseCwM9mU&feature=player_embedded
let's not rule out the fatboy slim video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7Ky5R-vxns
let's not rule out the fatboy slim video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7Ky5R-vxns
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
brazil book
changing plans:
i'm writing a book on living in brazil as an american female. i can't see it possible to go to 7 countries for 7 months each, living in each, and try to make a living moving around like that. if anyone knows a way, please tell me. i'm starting the book, but where to begin? i have all the info but it's about placing it in the right order, and having the reader engaged.
i'm writing a book on living in brazil as an american female. i can't see it possible to go to 7 countries for 7 months each, living in each, and try to make a living moving around like that. if anyone knows a way, please tell me. i'm starting the book, but where to begin? i have all the info but it's about placing it in the right order, and having the reader engaged.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
yeesss!!!! but why are they playing abba?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU1qSSZDPws&feature=player_embedded
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
my second favorite song of the year so far
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3CkfvYMCWM
this typifies practically every relationship i have ever had. "you make me go oooo"
this typifies practically every relationship i have ever had. "you make me go oooo"
travel writing job
i had an opportunity to be travel writer... to be published. but there was something not right about it. when i went to their website, it didn't come up. so i thought it was bunk. then there are all these hoops you have to subscribe to being a writer. you have to do stuff i have never had to do for a paying job. so i called them on their shit and they told me they would find some other writers. some things were not meant to be. oh well. what a pain in the ass.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
i found an old blog from a europe trip from years ago....fun to reminisce
hey there everyone!
well i have been in berlin for 4 days and am leaving for paris tomorrow. i started in london, then rome, florence, venice and berlin. i am having a great experience and a lot of challenges. traveling alone and with another person has pros and cons. this trip, i am traveling with josh, who i am seeing. today i got lost in berlin...a few times. i ended up seeing more than i would have if i did what i had planned. that's the joy and the challenge.
basic rundown:
rome is huge and there is a lot to see. we did the Colosseum, the roman forum, the pantheon, trevi fountain, vatican, oh, some other stuff i don't remember...it's just so massive.
but florence is easily walkable, tangled webs of streets and beautiful quaint little wood working studios and boutique shops. i went to the same places i did on the last europe trip, and even stayed in the same hostel. i just love florence and wanted to return.
venice is an artist's paradise of inspiration. the buildings are very very old, ramshackle, colored, with shutters and potted flowers outside the windows, just like you see in the photos.. the waterways give away a bit of a stench but there are bridges all over and most of the walkways are narrow enough to touch with both hands outstretched. it's really easy to get lost in venice. the food in italy is soooooo good, but there is only so much pizza and paninis one can eat. i had to do steak (florentine style) one night. i have been trying to eat the local cuisine in each place but it's getting expensive.
so berlin is surprisingly modern. i mean, you think berlin and you think modern, but i think more about WW11 and those times...we went to checkpoint charlie, went through the museum that has replicas and original cars and gadgets people invented to get through the wall (smuggling kids in suitcases, hiding in trunks of cars, digging tunnels underground, flying over the wall in a hot air balloon, etc.) i have been using the metro like a champ, after getting lost a few times of course. i walked through this really old turkish community that has the meat of "real" germany. i had a doner kabab. it was so delicious. we saw the Reichstag, the Brandenburg gate and did a lot a lot a lot of walking .... not eating much of their food. truly, the best food in germany is not german. we went to this beer garden last night and josh ordered a veal brat and it came in a pot of hot water....just a brat in hot water...and it was white. no bun.... it's just different. i had something that looked like 3 really long red sausages, 3 pieces of an unidentifiable brown bread and half a plate of sauerkraut that looked like mashed potatoes. it was pretty damn good though once i put it all together with some mustard.
so that's all for now. i will send a link so you can see the photos.. sorry, no berlin photos yet.
hey there
well, we left berlin and flew to paris. the first metro stop we went to was the same one used in the movie amelie! i was really excited about that. they actually have an amelie tour but i skipped it...i figured there were other things to do. but, we stayed in montmartre, where some of my favorite artists were doing their thing around the turn of the century...toulouse-lautrec in particular. we explored montmartre a little on foot and saw a nice view of the city from the sacre coeur. we saw the eiffel tower but didn't go up...it was too late. we ended up having to take a cab back cause the metro was closed. our cab driver was like a character in a disney movie...."bon soir, bon soir..." all animated, old, hunched over, dark rimmed glasses and gnawing on his gums. so cute. anyway the tower is really beautiful at night because the lights are all twinkling like a firework spectacle. paris is a wonderful city like everyone says. i can't say much for the people but the food is good and the intimacy of the streets take you out of that big city feel (like you get in new york) and make each neighborhood more intimate with its own character. we didn't spend enough time in paris. we gave ourselves 5 days but we really need a couple weeks. i went to the louvre, which is overwhelming and contains lots of renaissance paintings....i just had to go since i was in paris. but what i am more passionate about was the orsay museum, which holds an impressive collection of pre, impressionist and post-impressionist art. i saw van gogh, lautrec, gauguin, monet, manet, renoir, poussin, etc. that was really where the excitement was. you know, you can only see so many flying naked babies and jesus paintings. what a relief when people finally started painting what they wanted!
so now i am in madrid, and i will be here for a couple days. i have been here before...it's kind of just a starting off point for lisbon. we ate mexican food last night and it cost 10 euros ($13) for 3 enchiladas!!! they don't really know mexican food here in spain. in paris, you get that international mix, like if you want to eat lebonese food, you can find it....that's how san francisco is. but in cities like madrid where the people are deeply engrained in their culture (been here for generations) you don't find as many options. actually, one of the best meals i had was a royal with cheese meal at macdonald's in paris!! tres american!
i don't know if i mentioned it in other emails ,but carnival keeps following us everywhere we go. in venice, we caught the first night of it. in paris, it was just beginning. in madrid, it's just beginning. today, tapas and beer is on the menu. i'm going to find me some good eats and they're everywhere! people eat so late here. i don't know if i can wait til ten at night!
well i have been in berlin for 4 days and am leaving for paris tomorrow. i started in london, then rome, florence, venice and berlin. i am having a great experience and a lot of challenges. traveling alone and with another person has pros and cons. this trip, i am traveling with josh, who i am seeing. today i got lost in berlin...a few times. i ended up seeing more than i would have if i did what i had planned. that's the joy and the challenge.
basic rundown:
rome is huge and there is a lot to see. we did the Colosseum, the roman forum, the pantheon, trevi fountain, vatican, oh, some other stuff i don't remember...it's just so massive.
but florence is easily walkable, tangled webs of streets and beautiful quaint little wood working studios and boutique shops. i went to the same places i did on the last europe trip, and even stayed in the same hostel. i just love florence and wanted to return.
venice is an artist's paradise of inspiration. the buildings are very very old, ramshackle, colored, with shutters and potted flowers outside the windows, just like you see in the photos.. the waterways give away a bit of a stench but there are bridges all over and most of the walkways are narrow enough to touch with both hands outstretched. it's really easy to get lost in venice. the food in italy is soooooo good, but there is only so much pizza and paninis one can eat. i had to do steak (florentine style) one night. i have been trying to eat the local cuisine in each place but it's getting expensive.
so berlin is surprisingly modern. i mean, you think berlin and you think modern, but i think more about WW11 and those times...we went to checkpoint charlie, went through the museum that has replicas and original cars and gadgets people invented to get through the wall (smuggling kids in suitcases, hiding in trunks of cars, digging tunnels underground, flying over the wall in a hot air balloon, etc.) i have been using the metro like a champ, after getting lost a few times of course. i walked through this really old turkish community that has the meat of "real" germany. i had a doner kabab. it was so delicious. we saw the Reichstag, the Brandenburg gate and did a lot a lot a lot of walking .... not eating much of their food. truly, the best food in germany is not german. we went to this beer garden last night and josh ordered a veal brat and it came in a pot of hot water....just a brat in hot water...and it was white. no bun.... it's just different. i had something that looked like 3 really long red sausages, 3 pieces of an unidentifiable brown bread and half a plate of sauerkraut that looked like mashed potatoes. it was pretty damn good though once i put it all together with some mustard.
so that's all for now. i will send a link so you can see the photos.. sorry, no berlin photos yet.
hey there
well, we left berlin and flew to paris. the first metro stop we went to was the same one used in the movie amelie! i was really excited about that. they actually have an amelie tour but i skipped it...i figured there were other things to do. but, we stayed in montmartre, where some of my favorite artists were doing their thing around the turn of the century...toulouse-lautrec in particular. we explored montmartre a little on foot and saw a nice view of the city from the sacre coeur. we saw the eiffel tower but didn't go up...it was too late. we ended up having to take a cab back cause the metro was closed. our cab driver was like a character in a disney movie...."bon soir, bon soir..." all animated, old, hunched over, dark rimmed glasses and gnawing on his gums. so cute. anyway the tower is really beautiful at night because the lights are all twinkling like a firework spectacle. paris is a wonderful city like everyone says. i can't say much for the people but the food is good and the intimacy of the streets take you out of that big city feel (like you get in new york) and make each neighborhood more intimate with its own character. we didn't spend enough time in paris. we gave ourselves 5 days but we really need a couple weeks. i went to the louvre, which is overwhelming and contains lots of renaissance paintings....i just had to go since i was in paris. but what i am more passionate about was the orsay museum, which holds an impressive collection of pre, impressionist and post-impressionist art. i saw van gogh, lautrec, gauguin, monet, manet, renoir, poussin, etc. that was really where the excitement was. you know, you can only see so many flying naked babies and jesus paintings. what a relief when people finally started painting what they wanted!
so now i am in madrid, and i will be here for a couple days. i have been here before...it's kind of just a starting off point for lisbon. we ate mexican food last night and it cost 10 euros ($13) for 3 enchiladas!!! they don't really know mexican food here in spain. in paris, you get that international mix, like if you want to eat lebonese food, you can find it....that's how san francisco is. but in cities like madrid where the people are deeply engrained in their culture (been here for generations) you don't find as many options. actually, one of the best meals i had was a royal with cheese meal at macdonald's in paris!! tres american!
i don't know if i mentioned it in other emails ,but carnival keeps following us everywhere we go. in venice, we caught the first night of it. in paris, it was just beginning. in madrid, it's just beginning. today, tapas and beer is on the menu. i'm going to find me some good eats and they're everywhere! people eat so late here. i don't know if i can wait til ten at night!
Monday, July 5, 2010
traveling
i've been looking at my travel photos and thinking, what an amazing experience. i have stayed in some of the sketchiest places, alone, and been okay. i wish that everyone had the opportunity or desire to do this.
"an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered" says g.h. chesterton.
if only everyone could stop buying "stuff" and get in the travel mode, our world will be filled with open minds and hearts.
"an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered" says g.h. chesterton.
if only everyone could stop buying "stuff" and get in the travel mode, our world will be filled with open minds and hearts.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
WOW. since i couldn't dare put this on facebook....
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/f75b50477c/finger-babies?rel=player
Monday, June 21, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
cathy and suzie.. another classic from the best of britain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je08NphEWkw
the onion strikes back
http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-ecofriendly-cigarettes-kill-destructive-human,17529/
shower boycott
i have successfully avoided taking a shower for a week. i actually smell clean but my hair is matting into a little dread ball and that needs to be taken care of before i have to cut it off. also, there is someone i want to meet and i can't show up looking like an orphan.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
i think drunken chats are fun.
8:38 PM Kevin: oh look its reggy
HI gina
8:43 PM HEY!!?
me: hi
Kevin: Oh my god I almost had a heart attack
I thought you didn't care about me no more
empty feelings inside
8:44 PM me: jesus christ
what's up
Kevin: Uh
....
I am supposed to up something?
Sorry
Hey
I have to ask you
will you marry me and have my babies?
8:47 PM I am sleepy now
Thought I would say how and said how
How Gina
8:49 PM me: nice
wow.
Kevin: hey baby
6 minutes
8:56 PM me: hi
sorry
i was buying a ticket to see my bff
8:57 PM Kevin: ME??
me: ha
no my girlfriend.
Kevin: When/WHere
8:58 PM I wish I had a girlfriend
me: me too. er. i mean.
9 minutes
9:07 PM Kevin: where
are uyou
going
?
9:08 PM me: l.a.
smell a
Kevin: when
?
me: she lives in well,
near marian del rey
end of the month 25th
Kevin: oh
9:09 PM I go north that week end
me: i meant marina
oh yeah?
to sf
Kevin: yes
me: oh cool
ithought you were coming later in june
Kevin: yes
next week
also
me: oh cool
i'll be around
9:10 PM Kevin: are we going to do something together?
9:11 PM me: sure
like what
Kevin: We can see a movie
or wecan hang in th e city
go to Visuvio
me: sure
you're cute
Kevin: go to a magazine shop
CUTE?!?!
me: sure whatever
9:12 PM Kevin: hahah
hahhaha
hahahhhahhaha
sure
yes next week and then the end of the month
you come here on the 25th and then leave...?
me: yeah
9:13 PM friday til monday i think
Kevin: oh monday
hm
I leave on moanday next week (need to buy a ticklet)
9:14 PM me: i'll be around
9:15 PM you're so weird. where did you go?
9:16 PM Kevin: the idea is that when the icon goes gray I logged out
Do you miss me or somethin?
You called me cute.
me: you are
9:17 PM Kevin: I was on the chat with Jenny earlier and shee called me adorable
me: who's that
Kevin: why is it that all the girls that like me don't live here
?
Oh, Jenny is one of my girlfriends
just like you
I just don't have any gf's here
9:18 PM ugh
me: poor you
Kevin: YES
actually jenny was sad that all of her friends were in LA LA and she was stuck in WA
THAT made me sad
9:19 PM I mean at least you live in a cool spot
she lives in
the olympic pen
blech
gray is the national color up there
me: what's that?
9:20 PM Kevin: the panhandle in WA
the peninsula
the other side of the Sound
from Seattle
me: oh
Kevin: PO dunk
9:21 PM me: fo sho
Kevin: I need a haircu
hair cut
me: i can give you one
9:22 PM Kevin: Cut
hair cut
for somereason I thought that I had spelt that wrong
you got clippers?
If you cut my hair I will buy you some flowers
me: i do have clippers
that's sweet
i love flowers
9:23 PM orchids are my favorite
Kevin: i think you deserve sweet
other girls....
I'm mean to other girls
me: i don't understand
i have a hat on
9:24 PM Kevin: understand~hat
a
me: it's a thinking cap, really
Kevin: b
there fore
c
9:25 PM AH HA EUREKA!!!!!!!!!
me: what?
Kevin: I don't understand is "a"
I have a hat on is "b"
it's a thinking cap is "c"
9:26 PM a->b::c
you are funny
(or at least you think you are and I agree)
9:27 PM me: i can be, without knowing it
9:28 PM wanna see?
Kevin: yes
9:29 PM (uh oh what is she doing)
me: no it's just a photo of me w/said hat
Kevin: I am super tired
HEHEHE
That was REALLY funny
9:30 PM me: i just sent it toyour email
Kevin: I am not yawning right now but I am lookin at the bed....
Lovely
oooh Chesterton, I like him
9:31 PM me: you mean JESTER ton
Kevin: "the man who was Friday"
the quote
(i like the pic by the way)
It is always nice to "see" you
me: haha
it was fun
9:32 PM Kevin: what......
I thik I get it
you make corny joke like me. sept yours aren't any thing like mine.
9:33 PM I think I should look into it too deep
me: what are you talking about
i never know
Kevin: 's problem with theory
can alwys be disproven
me: theory my anus
you are just stupidly splendid
try again
Kevin: not my anus Uranus
9:34 PM Honey, crudities are ubiquitous but how often do I get to actually talk to you?
9:35 PM We don't spend time together any more
I mean
I am always doin my home work
me: you should visit me
Kevin: and when you get home you are always so exhausted that you just go straight to sleep
9:36 PM can't you just take a day off and we can have some you and me time?
9:37 PM look, I can make some time for you and I don't know
we can go for a walk
or
you always like to look at shoes don't you
we could go to the mall?
what do you say?
me: i hate shopping
but i love staying in bed
and cooking
9:38 PM Kevin: well we don't have to do that it was just a suggestion
me: and making love
Kevin: hm
me: and snuggling
and watching family guy
Kevin: i could do the whole "we have to talk" thing instead of the "alone time" spiel
me: laughing
9:39 PM Kevin: Listen, we have to talk
me: i don't need to talk
Kevin: FINE
me: unless you're being a fuck head
i just want to laugh
and snuggle
and eat good food
Kevin: I am NOT being the fuck head here
9:40 PM hehehe
me: is there anything wrong with that?
Kevin: what being the fuckhead?
me: there's not much more to live
i have estimated
Kevin: this pic is great
you should replace your chat face
9:41 PM me: oh yeah?
i'll do it just for you
Kevin: aww
you like me
<#
9:42 PM <3
I am really tired.... I will go ok?
me: there you go
ok sweet dreams
Kevin: Bye huny
HI gina
8:43 PM HEY!!?
me: hi
Kevin: Oh my god I almost had a heart attack
I thought you didn't care about me no more
empty feelings inside
8:44 PM me: jesus christ
what's up
Kevin: Uh
....
I am supposed to up something?
Sorry
Hey
I have to ask you
will you marry me and have my babies?
8:47 PM I am sleepy now
Thought I would say how and said how
How Gina
8:49 PM me: nice
wow.
Kevin: hey baby
6 minutes
8:56 PM me: hi
sorry
i was buying a ticket to see my bff
8:57 PM Kevin: ME??
me: ha
no my girlfriend.
Kevin: When/WHere
8:58 PM I wish I had a girlfriend
me: me too. er. i mean.
9 minutes
9:07 PM Kevin: where
are uyou
going
?
9:08 PM me: l.a.
smell a
Kevin: when
?
me: she lives in well,
near marian del rey
end of the month 25th
Kevin: oh
9:09 PM I go north that week end
me: i meant marina
oh yeah?
to sf
Kevin: yes
me: oh cool
ithought you were coming later in june
Kevin: yes
next week
also
me: oh cool
i'll be around
9:10 PM Kevin: are we going to do something together?
9:11 PM me: sure
like what
Kevin: We can see a movie
or wecan hang in th e city
go to Visuvio
me: sure
you're cute
Kevin: go to a magazine shop
CUTE?!?!
me: sure whatever
9:12 PM Kevin: hahah
hahhaha
hahahhhahhaha
sure
yes next week and then the end of the month
you come here on the 25th and then leave...?
me: yeah
9:13 PM friday til monday i think
Kevin: oh monday
hm
I leave on moanday next week (need to buy a ticklet)
9:14 PM me: i'll be around
9:15 PM you're so weird. where did you go?
9:16 PM Kevin: the idea is that when the icon goes gray I logged out
Do you miss me or somethin?
You called me cute.
me: you are
9:17 PM Kevin: I was on the chat with Jenny earlier and shee called me adorable
me: who's that
Kevin: why is it that all the girls that like me don't live here
?
Oh, Jenny is one of my girlfriends
just like you
I just don't have any gf's here
9:18 PM ugh
me: poor you
Kevin: YES
actually jenny was sad that all of her friends were in LA LA and she was stuck in WA
THAT made me sad
9:19 PM I mean at least you live in a cool spot
she lives in
the olympic pen
blech
gray is the national color up there
me: what's that?
9:20 PM Kevin: the panhandle in WA
the peninsula
the other side of the Sound
from Seattle
me: oh
Kevin: PO dunk
9:21 PM me: fo sho
Kevin: I need a haircu
hair cut
me: i can give you one
9:22 PM Kevin: Cut
hair cut
for somereason I thought that I had spelt that wrong
you got clippers?
If you cut my hair I will buy you some flowers
me: i do have clippers
that's sweet
i love flowers
9:23 PM orchids are my favorite
Kevin: i think you deserve sweet
other girls....
I'm mean to other girls
me: i don't understand
i have a hat on
9:24 PM Kevin: understand~hat
a
me: it's a thinking cap, really
Kevin: b
there fore
c
9:25 PM AH HA EUREKA!!!!!!!!!
me: what?
Kevin: I don't understand is "a"
I have a hat on is "b"
it's a thinking cap is "c"
9:26 PM a->b::c
you are funny
(or at least you think you are and I agree)
9:27 PM me: i can be, without knowing it
9:28 PM wanna see?
Kevin: yes
9:29 PM (uh oh what is she doing)
me: no it's just a photo of me w/said hat
Kevin: I am super tired
HEHEHE
That was REALLY funny
9:30 PM me: i just sent it toyour email
Kevin: I am not yawning right now but I am lookin at the bed....
Lovely
oooh Chesterton, I like him
9:31 PM me: you mean JESTER ton
Kevin: "the man who was Friday"
the quote
(i like the pic by the way)
It is always nice to "see" you
me: haha
it was fun
9:32 PM Kevin: what......
I thik I get it
you make corny joke like me. sept yours aren't any thing like mine.
9:33 PM I think I should look into it too deep
me: what are you talking about
i never know
Kevin: 's problem with theory
can alwys be disproven
me: theory my anus
you are just stupidly splendid
try again
Kevin: not my anus Uranus
9:34 PM Honey, crudities are ubiquitous but how often do I get to actually talk to you?
9:35 PM We don't spend time together any more
I mean
I am always doin my home work
me: you should visit me
Kevin: and when you get home you are always so exhausted that you just go straight to sleep
9:36 PM can't you just take a day off and we can have some you and me time?
9:37 PM look, I can make some time for you and I don't know
we can go for a walk
or
you always like to look at shoes don't you
we could go to the mall?
what do you say?
me: i hate shopping
but i love staying in bed
and cooking
9:38 PM Kevin: well we don't have to do that it was just a suggestion
me: and making love
Kevin: hm
me: and snuggling
and watching family guy
Kevin: i could do the whole "we have to talk" thing instead of the "alone time" spiel
me: laughing
9:39 PM Kevin: Listen, we have to talk
me: i don't need to talk
Kevin: FINE
me: unless you're being a fuck head
i just want to laugh
and snuggle
and eat good food
Kevin: I am NOT being the fuck head here
9:40 PM hehehe
me: is there anything wrong with that?
Kevin: what being the fuckhead?
me: there's not much more to live
i have estimated
Kevin: this pic is great
you should replace your chat face
9:41 PM me: oh yeah?
i'll do it just for you
Kevin: aww
you like me
<#
9:42 PM <3
I am really tired.... I will go ok?
me: there you go
ok sweet dreams
Kevin: Bye huny
conan, colbert, stewart dance off? genius.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l8h5R_7x3g&feature=player_embedded
Monday, May 24, 2010
starting a new series of paintings
calling galleries.....
i am an artist, right? time to get my shit together again. had art shows, i bought a salon at 23, had a car and paid for college while owning the salon and commuting 1.45 hrs both ways. i lived in brazil and am now 35 living on a friend's couch. it's time.
i have many ideas. thinking 12" sqared on wood, pre-columbian figures. images to come.
i am an artist, right? time to get my shit together again. had art shows, i bought a salon at 23, had a car and paid for college while owning the salon and commuting 1.45 hrs both ways. i lived in brazil and am now 35 living on a friend's couch. it's time.
i have many ideas. thinking 12" sqared on wood, pre-columbian figures. images to come.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
in love?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI56fiyre8E&feature=PlayList&p=2D0C3573EAAA5684&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=21
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Stuff I miss. Stuff I'm grateful for
I used to see this guy who's downstairs neighbor was an opera singer. We would hear him in the shower in the morning. i miss that.
Lite-Bright
My 23 yr old body
gymnastics
Smelling like a campfire
building tree houses
My ex's family
George Carlin
(Grateful)
Nicole, Chris, Emily and Marek, who let me live at their houses for free
Health
Comedy/laughing
Sunshine
a job
being able to travel
having a brain that still functions
laughing at myself
my creature comforts
meeting amazing people who change my life
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
admittedly cheesy poem/ conversation with aspen
i wrote a poem for the first time in a long time. i'm not a poet, but i sent it to a friend who is.
so here's the poem and here is the critique.
i feel your wind, i feel the pull
dragging me far away
i see the fields, you're lifting horizons
and i could throw it all away
oh, thunder
taking it all
taking it all away
oh, thunder
taking it all
there's nothing left to say
open my back door, open my window
to let you in
so i can breathe
breathe you in
then you take it all away
you are coming
coming closer
never saying when
but you'll be here
raging thunder
until the end
Hi, Gina,
I liked your poem / song for several reasons.
First, I felt you got the meter right.
But even more importantly, the imagery is excellent. As in the first stanza:
i feel your wind, i feel the pull
dragging me far away
i see the fields, you're lifting horizons
and i could throw it all away
There's an intriguing flow here. It starts up close, with an image of you (or the reader / listener):
i feel your wind, i feel the pull
Then there's sudden dramatic movement:
dragging me far away
That's followed by an appropriate shift of perspective. The reader can see large things from far away:
i see the fields
But then comes the first really good part. You say:
you're lifting horizons
I used to write about a brand of philosophy that I called "horizontology". It's a real subset of philosophy (also psychology), but it enjoys other formal names than the one I gave it. Foucault's philosophy is associated.
I have always been fascinated by the question of what an horizon actually IS. In theory, an horizon is nothing physical, but in our minds, it's unquestionably real. It's a real place that we go, in our thoughts. For example, it is the place where paradoxes exist: the impossible nothingness that we can name. It is the zero-point line between opposites as well.
I have never heard anyone say "lifting horizons" before. Maybe you have heard that phrase, but I haven't. "Lifting a / my horizoN", yes. HorizonS, no.
When I read that line of your poem, it reminded me of a light drug experience I had a long time ago, where I saw infinite horizons streaming out from a central location. It was one of the most disjunctive episodes of my life, because I had never seen such a thing before. I had always only concentrated on the idea of a single horizon here and there.
I had to wonder: Was this visualization merely a reflection of my own mind's way of thinking -- or could it be that there is such a type of event happening out there in broad reality?
So, I guess I liked this part of your poem for personal reasons, but they're good reasons, and so I felt you generated something good.
Next, you wrote:
and i could throw it all away
Not a remarkable line, but it works with the general emotional atmosphere of the piece. The same could be said of the next parts:
oh, thunder
taking it all
taking it all away
oh, thunder
taking it all
there's nothing left to say
I like that. Usually, thunder brings noise and disconcertion (ignore the spell-check, it's a real word, I checked the Oxford Dictionary). But here, you characterize thunder as taking something away. I think that's unusual. I also think it works. I agree with it. In my own experience, there's little left to say, following the happenstance of the uncontrollable. It's just what happens. There's no justifiable call to wrap it in artificial poses of "meaning", just to make ourselves feel better about it.
If you're parroting someone else's lyrics, sorry, I wouldn't know -- I'm way out of the mainstream.
Anyway, you go on:
open my back door, open my window
to let you in
so i can breathe
breathe you in
This part works too, because you leave the name of the actor anonymous: WHO is opening the door? WHO is opening the window? It sounds at first like you're giving a command, but the latter lines suggest that this is what you want, so it could be anyone doing it, or maybe a mix of wills is involved.
then you take it all away
Again, the foregoing ambiguity heightens the emotional tension of this line.
Going on:
you are coming
coming closer
never saying when
but you'll be here
raging thunder
until the end
This is GOOD. You throw all the accumulated presumptions and question to hell with this totally unexpected wildness of perspective. You reveal that the thunderstorm is far away in fact, but immediately close in truth. Then you characterize the two interacting energies as parallel and eternal. Then, you wrap the entirety in a recognition of the human time-dependent condition: We can't help but feel events passing, events coming, events lasting forever, even.
It's a GOOD POEM, Gina. Everything about it works.
If you don't like it, have it your way. I liked it and I'm keeping it.
Love,
Aspen
so here's the poem and here is the critique.
i feel your wind, i feel the pull
dragging me far away
i see the fields, you're lifting horizons
and i could throw it all away
oh, thunder
taking it all
taking it all away
oh, thunder
taking it all
there's nothing left to say
open my back door, open my window
to let you in
so i can breathe
breathe you in
then you take it all away
you are coming
coming closer
never saying when
but you'll be here
raging thunder
until the end
Hi, Gina,
I liked your poem / song for several reasons.
First, I felt you got the meter right.
But even more importantly, the imagery is excellent. As in the first stanza:
i feel your wind, i feel the pull
dragging me far away
i see the fields, you're lifting horizons
and i could throw it all away
There's an intriguing flow here. It starts up close, with an image of you (or the reader / listener):
i feel your wind, i feel the pull
Then there's sudden dramatic movement:
dragging me far away
That's followed by an appropriate shift of perspective. The reader can see large things from far away:
i see the fields
But then comes the first really good part. You say:
you're lifting horizons
I used to write about a brand of philosophy that I called "horizontology". It's a real subset of philosophy (also psychology), but it enjoys other formal names than the one I gave it. Foucault's philosophy is associated.
I have always been fascinated by the question of what an horizon actually IS. In theory, an horizon is nothing physical, but in our minds, it's unquestionably real. It's a real place that we go, in our thoughts. For example, it is the place where paradoxes exist: the impossible nothingness that we can name. It is the zero-point line between opposites as well.
I have never heard anyone say "lifting horizons" before. Maybe you have heard that phrase, but I haven't. "Lifting a / my horizoN", yes. HorizonS, no.
When I read that line of your poem, it reminded me of a light drug experience I had a long time ago, where I saw infinite horizons streaming out from a central location. It was one of the most disjunctive episodes of my life, because I had never seen such a thing before. I had always only concentrated on the idea of a single horizon here and there.
I had to wonder: Was this visualization merely a reflection of my own mind's way of thinking -- or could it be that there is such a type of event happening out there in broad reality?
So, I guess I liked this part of your poem for personal reasons, but they're good reasons, and so I felt you generated something good.
Next, you wrote:
and i could throw it all away
Not a remarkable line, but it works with the general emotional atmosphere of the piece. The same could be said of the next parts:
oh, thunder
taking it all
taking it all away
oh, thunder
taking it all
there's nothing left to say
I like that. Usually, thunder brings noise and disconcertion (ignore the spell-check, it's a real word, I checked the Oxford Dictionary). But here, you characterize thunder as taking something away. I think that's unusual. I also think it works. I agree with it. In my own experience, there's little left to say, following the happenstance of the uncontrollable. It's just what happens. There's no justifiable call to wrap it in artificial poses of "meaning", just to make ourselves feel better about it.
If you're parroting someone else's lyrics, sorry, I wouldn't know -- I'm way out of the mainstream.
Anyway, you go on:
open my back door, open my window
to let you in
so i can breathe
breathe you in
This part works too, because you leave the name of the actor anonymous: WHO is opening the door? WHO is opening the window? It sounds at first like you're giving a command, but the latter lines suggest that this is what you want, so it could be anyone doing it, or maybe a mix of wills is involved.
then you take it all away
Again, the foregoing ambiguity heightens the emotional tension of this line.
Going on:
you are coming
coming closer
never saying when
but you'll be here
raging thunder
until the end
This is GOOD. You throw all the accumulated presumptions and question to hell with this totally unexpected wildness of perspective. You reveal that the thunderstorm is far away in fact, but immediately close in truth. Then you characterize the two interacting energies as parallel and eternal. Then, you wrap the entirety in a recognition of the human time-dependent condition: We can't help but feel events passing, events coming, events lasting forever, even.
It's a GOOD POEM, Gina. Everything about it works.
If you don't like it, have it your way. I liked it and I'm keeping it.
Love,
Aspen
Monday, May 17, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
a short converstation between a dear friend and i
he says:
What do you do with yourself?
What do people do with themselves?
Are you on your way to your house on a beach?
What do people do?
I don't know anymore.
i say:
HAHAHA
rhetorical questions?
he says:
You said,
HAHAHA
rhetorical questions?
No, they were real questions. I don't know why I'm throwing them at you, though.
Actually, I abridged the questions in general. The original question, the question that interests me, is "What do enlightened people do with themselves?"
Everyone wants to be enlightened, right? But I don't know anyone -- including myself -- who can give an answer to this question that is better than rote dogma chewing.
The most popular answer is, "They devote their lives to helping other people become enlightened."
I don't trust this answer. It doesn't ring right. It doesn't come off smart or realistic.
I mean, imagine a truly enlightened person: They've seen the illusions for what they are. They now give to each thing its proper place. They've made contact with essential material. And it wasn't easy to get there. They had to be the right kind of person. They had to be willing to sacrifice all of their own knowledge and every form of distraction and pleasure, to get there. Properly speaking, they could not expect necessarily to achieve what they were looking for. But then, they are there.... And how did they get there? How did they make it? Was it because someone helped them? Or was it -- more likely -- because they were determined to achieve it?
Anyway, let's suppose they get there. They achieve enlightenment. What then? Do they rush back into the world and start evangelizing the masses? Or do they evangelize by appointment, operating from a small tent or apartment in Nepal, and blogging with little teaser missives designed to keep the influx of potentially enlightened seekers siphoning through?
Do you think it's possible that the actually enlightened people naturally keep their distance from the whole mess?
Naw. Well, maybe some of the cave-dwellers do that. But there'd be no point to being enlightened if it meant being afraid of society. Or being afraid of anything. They would know better.
So, supposing there's an enlightened person, and they're not afraid to get out there and have a normal life of a type.... What do they do? I mean, does an enlightened person have dreams about a career? What do enlightened people want to do?
Realistically speaking, what would be a meaningful human life for an enlightened person?
Forget life after death. Forget spirits and ghosts and religions. If you stood above it all, and saw it all for what it is, what would you do with yourself?
Personally speaking, I'd keep trying to find new sources of pussy, because it's pretty, and I like the taste. Intimacy is the only thing that I really like about life. I also like espresso ice cream, long walks, afternoon coffee, shit that makes me laugh, and science... but I really, really like some wine and a warm pretty body to screw for about an hour in the morning, and someone to share a view of the scenery. Nobody knows what the fuck I'm talking about anyway, when I talk about all this deep stuff. They're like, "I heard Buddha said agoidngae eaaspaepe blah blah blah".
I just laugh. These days, I laugh like crazy. Everything makes me laugh. I love it. It's so pointless. I laugh and laugh and laugh. I appreciate the pussy and everything else makes me laugh: all the people taking themselves so seriously; all the people needing their little games to be played out. I read the news and laugh. I watch movies and roll on the floor at how much energy was spent on creating scenes of violence. I hear lies from official sources and laugh.
Humanity is a pool of assholes, but I appreciate my lovers, and I laugh at everything else, because I know that in fifty years nobody is going to remember even one shave of my life. It's all going to be gone, and I'll either be up there spoiling with the gods or else lost to eternity as one more dead body.
Maybe this is what enlightened people do: They die laughing. They laugh at the screaming people.
So, back to the questions... What do you do with yourself? What do people do with themselves? I can't remember...
Are you having fun yet? No? Still too serious? Join me. We'll have fun. Crazy crazy fun. I'll help you reach enlightenment. I'll give you so many orgasms you won't care what planet you're on anymore. If that's not enlightenment, I don't know what is.....
i say:
well, i'm not enlightened and i don't know what it means.
i always thought it was a way for people to describe having an epiphany without justice.
meaning...
you realize something without it really meaning anything.
i don't know that everyone wants to be enlightened. i think most people who search for it don't bare the burden of having to deal with real life on any substantial level. you have time to search for enlightenment? sorry, i was working in the fields all day trying to feed my kids.
not that i don't have that privilege. i do. but i also work my ass off when i need to.
what i see when i "think" about people being enlightened is a familiarity with the obvious. something you always knew but had to be reminded. so it's nothing spectacular. i guess i would keep doing what i did, only with more understanding. there is no "way" for them to have gotten there, no understanding. it just happens. but why would anyone keep his distance from the "mess"?
we are all a part of this world, with something to contribute. nothing makes any one person more valuable. more "enlightened". i believe we were are all created equal, and not for religious purposes. we all have something to teach and something to learn. let's do it.
hmm. if i had to sit above my body and contemplate, it would be no different from me contemplating my dreams every morning. some things make no sense. and i'm okay with that. they don't need to. i don't need that closure. there are some things in the universe that are mysterious and i accept that my brain is not big enough to comprehend it. i don't look for answers that either are not there and that aren't approachable. call me a dumb dog.
to call yourself enlightened is assuming you have some superior ability over the minds of men. you are still a man.
and why would you be so afraid of society if you were above it all?
be a part of it. the only difference between humanity and animals is awareness.
said in the wise words of my grandfather, the only reason we are here is to fulfill some niche in the animal kingdom. where is the enlightenment in that?
What do you do with yourself?
What do people do with themselves?
Are you on your way to your house on a beach?
What do people do?
I don't know anymore.
i say:
HAHAHA
rhetorical questions?
he says:
You said,
HAHAHA
rhetorical questions?
No, they were real questions. I don't know why I'm throwing them at you, though.
Actually, I abridged the questions in general. The original question, the question that interests me, is "What do enlightened people do with themselves?"
Everyone wants to be enlightened, right? But I don't know anyone -- including myself -- who can give an answer to this question that is better than rote dogma chewing.
The most popular answer is, "They devote their lives to helping other people become enlightened."
I don't trust this answer. It doesn't ring right. It doesn't come off smart or realistic.
I mean, imagine a truly enlightened person: They've seen the illusions for what they are. They now give to each thing its proper place. They've made contact with essential material. And it wasn't easy to get there. They had to be the right kind of person. They had to be willing to sacrifice all of their own knowledge and every form of distraction and pleasure, to get there. Properly speaking, they could not expect necessarily to achieve what they were looking for. But then, they are there.... And how did they get there? How did they make it? Was it because someone helped them? Or was it -- more likely -- because they were determined to achieve it?
Anyway, let's suppose they get there. They achieve enlightenment. What then? Do they rush back into the world and start evangelizing the masses? Or do they evangelize by appointment, operating from a small tent or apartment in Nepal, and blogging with little teaser missives designed to keep the influx of potentially enlightened seekers siphoning through?
Do you think it's possible that the actually enlightened people naturally keep their distance from the whole mess?
Naw. Well, maybe some of the cave-dwellers do that. But there'd be no point to being enlightened if it meant being afraid of society. Or being afraid of anything. They would know better.
So, supposing there's an enlightened person, and they're not afraid to get out there and have a normal life of a type.... What do they do? I mean, does an enlightened person have dreams about a career? What do enlightened people want to do?
Realistically speaking, what would be a meaningful human life for an enlightened person?
Forget life after death. Forget spirits and ghosts and religions. If you stood above it all, and saw it all for what it is, what would you do with yourself?
Personally speaking, I'd keep trying to find new sources of pussy, because it's pretty, and I like the taste. Intimacy is the only thing that I really like about life. I also like espresso ice cream, long walks, afternoon coffee, shit that makes me laugh, and science... but I really, really like some wine and a warm pretty body to screw for about an hour in the morning, and someone to share a view of the scenery. Nobody knows what the fuck I'm talking about anyway, when I talk about all this deep stuff. They're like, "I heard Buddha said agoidngae eaaspaepe blah blah blah".
I just laugh. These days, I laugh like crazy. Everything makes me laugh. I love it. It's so pointless. I laugh and laugh and laugh. I appreciate the pussy and everything else makes me laugh: all the people taking themselves so seriously; all the people needing their little games to be played out. I read the news and laugh. I watch movies and roll on the floor at how much energy was spent on creating scenes of violence. I hear lies from official sources and laugh.
Humanity is a pool of assholes, but I appreciate my lovers, and I laugh at everything else, because I know that in fifty years nobody is going to remember even one shave of my life. It's all going to be gone, and I'll either be up there spoiling with the gods or else lost to eternity as one more dead body.
Maybe this is what enlightened people do: They die laughing. They laugh at the screaming people.
So, back to the questions... What do you do with yourself? What do people do with themselves? I can't remember...
Are you having fun yet? No? Still too serious? Join me. We'll have fun. Crazy crazy fun. I'll help you reach enlightenment. I'll give you so many orgasms you won't care what planet you're on anymore. If that's not enlightenment, I don't know what is.....
i say:
well, i'm not enlightened and i don't know what it means.
i always thought it was a way for people to describe having an epiphany without justice.
meaning...
you realize something without it really meaning anything.
i don't know that everyone wants to be enlightened. i think most people who search for it don't bare the burden of having to deal with real life on any substantial level. you have time to search for enlightenment? sorry, i was working in the fields all day trying to feed my kids.
not that i don't have that privilege. i do. but i also work my ass off when i need to.
what i see when i "think" about people being enlightened is a familiarity with the obvious. something you always knew but had to be reminded. so it's nothing spectacular. i guess i would keep doing what i did, only with more understanding. there is no "way" for them to have gotten there, no understanding. it just happens. but why would anyone keep his distance from the "mess"?
we are all a part of this world, with something to contribute. nothing makes any one person more valuable. more "enlightened". i believe we were are all created equal, and not for religious purposes. we all have something to teach and something to learn. let's do it.
hmm. if i had to sit above my body and contemplate, it would be no different from me contemplating my dreams every morning. some things make no sense. and i'm okay with that. they don't need to. i don't need that closure. there are some things in the universe that are mysterious and i accept that my brain is not big enough to comprehend it. i don't look for answers that either are not there and that aren't approachable. call me a dumb dog.
to call yourself enlightened is assuming you have some superior ability over the minds of men. you are still a man.
and why would you be so afraid of society if you were above it all?
be a part of it. the only difference between humanity and animals is awareness.
said in the wise words of my grandfather, the only reason we are here is to fulfill some niche in the animal kingdom. where is the enlightenment in that?
Saturday, May 8, 2010
A beautiful video of our own Dolores Park
One of the most beautiful places in the world.
http://vimeo.com/11547459
http://vimeo.com/11547459
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
testing out tips of the week for the urban cowgirl blog
How often should someone with curly hair wash her hair?
Well, that depends. But most of the time, the answer is never.
Unless your hair gets incredibly oily, you don't ever need to wash your hair again.
The sebaceous glands are what produce oil in our skin and hair. When you shampoo your hair, even with a moisturizing shampoo, you remove these oils that naturally give moisture to your hair shaft.
The best thing to do, for people who have wavy or course, curly hair, is to apply conditioner at the beginning of your shower. The hair can be detangled with a wide-toothed comb or pick. Leave the conditioner in while you do everything else in the shower. Massage your scalp with the pads of your fingers. This both distributes the oils and removes any dirtiness. Rinse the conditioner with cool water. The cool water will seal the hair shaft, allowing for shine.
When you dry your hair, never rub vigorously on the hair. A simple towel wrap out of the shower is perfect. Rubbing will only frizz your hair. Put a dab of conditioner in your hand and emulsify it like lotion. Then, apply it to your towel-dried hair from scalp to ends, not combing your fingers through your hair, rather "petting" your hair with the conditioner. Make sure you have distributed it through the ends, the most important parts. Then, pick up locks of hair from the ends and twist them in your finger until the curls have locked together. Any professional conditioner will do. It doesn't have to be "leave in". This will keep your hair moisturized throughout the day. In most cases, you don't need a styling product. If you feel you do need more control, you can "cocktail" products by mixing your conditioner with a styling creme. For styling products, I would recommend Redken's All Soft Heavy Cream and Bumble & Bumble's Curl Creme. Redken's Outshine is also a light styling cream with little scent.
Once your hair is dry, you should have soft, shiny curls!
Well, that depends. But most of the time, the answer is never.
Unless your hair gets incredibly oily, you don't ever need to wash your hair again.
The sebaceous glands are what produce oil in our skin and hair. When you shampoo your hair, even with a moisturizing shampoo, you remove these oils that naturally give moisture to your hair shaft.
The best thing to do, for people who have wavy or course, curly hair, is to apply conditioner at the beginning of your shower. The hair can be detangled with a wide-toothed comb or pick. Leave the conditioner in while you do everything else in the shower. Massage your scalp with the pads of your fingers. This both distributes the oils and removes any dirtiness. Rinse the conditioner with cool water. The cool water will seal the hair shaft, allowing for shine.
When you dry your hair, never rub vigorously on the hair. A simple towel wrap out of the shower is perfect. Rubbing will only frizz your hair. Put a dab of conditioner in your hand and emulsify it like lotion. Then, apply it to your towel-dried hair from scalp to ends, not combing your fingers through your hair, rather "petting" your hair with the conditioner. Make sure you have distributed it through the ends, the most important parts. Then, pick up locks of hair from the ends and twist them in your finger until the curls have locked together. Any professional conditioner will do. It doesn't have to be "leave in". This will keep your hair moisturized throughout the day. In most cases, you don't need a styling product. If you feel you do need more control, you can "cocktail" products by mixing your conditioner with a styling creme. For styling products, I would recommend Redken's All Soft Heavy Cream and Bumble & Bumble's Curl Creme. Redken's Outshine is also a light styling cream with little scent.
Once your hair is dry, you should have soft, shiny curls!
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