Time Stands Still

Do you realize you have the most beautiful face?
Do you realize we're floating in space?
Do you realize that happiness makes you cry?
Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die?
And instead of saying all of your good-byes,
Let them know you realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round
-Flaming Lips

Beck sang that last night. It was beautiful. The whole concert was. I was happy enough after seeing ex-Unicorn Neil and his new band Islands -epic- but Beck just blew it all away. He was danceable, laughable, speechless and wonderful. From now on, it's the floor for me!

He started pretty late, considering the doors opened at 6:30pm, but then again there were 2 opening acts. It was past 9:30pm and I was starting to complain to Kristen (who so kindly invited me), thinking about getting to bed to get to work... but Beck blew that all away, didn't he? Time stood still. It didn't matter what time it was, what day it was, how old I was even... Beck is like suspension in time of the good times.

And he loves Montreal. "He probably says that everywhere he plays", said Kristen. Maybe, maybe...

The visuals were awesome as well. I wonder if the first ones were fractions of something else repeated over several times or what.

***

I got my US visa application for work. Just because the US government intends to have full knowledge and control over my past doesn't mean I do. I can't remember all my travel dates in the last 10 years, and much less come up with a complete list of employers and residences... Who knows their high school's phone number? And I simply refuse to answer this one:

"list all professional, social and charitable organization to which you belong (belonged) or contribute (contributed) or with which you work"

Are you kidding? Like, every donation I've ever given? Huh?

I'm not moving to the US, it's just a work visa because I travel there a lot.

And no, I have never "ordered, incited, assisted or otherwise participated in the persecution of any person because of race, religion, national origin, or political opinion under the control, direct or indirect, of the Nazi government of Germany". Geez.

***

Sofia Vergara aparece en la tapa de la revista canadiense para hombres TORO este mes.

Y me encontre con un flyer para una fiesta "bring your own i-Pod". Te invitan a programar un set de 10 minutos durante la fiesta, conectando tu iPod. Asi estan las cosas.

El cielo esta cubierto, majestuoso, y tengo una vista privilegiada.

ruminations of a chilequebe

So I spilled coffee on myself again this morning. And of everything I was wearing, guess where it spilled? On my shirt. And of all the colours on the shirt, guess where it landed? On the white.

What is it about white? I’m 30; am I still not old enough to wear white safely?

Funny coincidence: I bumped into Steve on the way to work. I normally take Duluth but I already had, coming from the other way, so on my way back to work I decided to take Rachel for a change. Anyway, it’s a funny coincidence because Tom and I met Steve last night, walking home on Duluth. He didn’t see us at first, even when we walked right by him, so Tom grabbed his bum and even then, I’m not sure he knew who it was when he slowly turned around and said “nice….” Haha. Oh, Steve.

***

We were sent a job posting at work, for the next position up from mine. I’ve talked about this to a few people and I really feel like I can’t *not* apply. So I sent an email to one of the directors (probably not the right person to send it to) asking to talk to her about it. I don’t know what it means if I don’t get this job (aka promotion) but it would probably be one of a few things that would eventually push me to leave. There’s something really weird about the company I work for, where it seems to suck people in and keep them stuck here like flies on tar. I probably shouldn’t be saying that, given what I’ve just said above, haha.


***

Going to see Beck with Kristen tomorrow night. Mostly, I really want to see the opening act, because it’s supposed to be one of The Unicorns. Life will never be the same again without them. I heard what I understand to be the other guy from the band on the radio, as part of a project called Abominable Snow. It was cool.

Un 18 atrasado: Chile fuera de Chile

No estoy muy segura de la fecha... el fin del otoño y el ...no, el fin del verano y el comienzo del otoño se entremezclan extrañanamente en mi Montreal. Hace un sol caliente, pero un viento frío. No sé la temperatura, no sé nada. Todo está súper bien.

Ayer fuimos Tom, Amy, Maude y yo a ver La Sagrada Familia al Montreal Film Fest (que no es el mismo que el antiguo World Film Fest de Montreal). Nos encantó a todos y creo que al resto del público también. Lástima que habían anunciado subtítulos en francés y en inglés y sólo había en francés, así que Amy y Tom -que son anglófonos- no entendieron el 100%. Pero igual se ríeron y se involucraron y les gustó harto. Todos votamos por la Pati López para la mejor actriz. Pero luego hablé con el Zebra y me contó malas noticias acerca de la organización de la parte del concurso del festival. Qué charcha. Esta noche le mostraremos un lado más amable de Montreal para que no se vaya enteramente desilusionado.

Mi plan es: comida afgana en un "bring your own wine" de la calle Duluth y luego bares baratos y anglófonos en la calle Saint Laurent.

También viene la Pamela Biénzobas, a quien conocí hace muchos años atrás (Album Negro, JL) trabajando en Tutopia... ¿alguien se acuerda? A veces echo de menos trabajar en un sitio internet.

***

Lo que más me gustó de llevar a mis amigos de acá a ver La Sagrada Familia fue la oportunidad de compartir con ellos lo que considero mi verdadera cultura chilena. Decía anteriormente que no siento nada en común -salvo la nacionalidad- con la comunidad de chilenos más antigua acá. Políticamente soy moderada, todo lo contrario del extremismo que es considerado normal en Chile, y socialmente mi mundo es demasiado pequeño como para coincidir con mucha gente. Pero cuando puedo mostrarles a mis amigos estas imágenes de Tunquén, de gente joven haciendo lo que hace la gente joven, (joven: barf) no sé... de naturalidad... ésa es mi cultura chilena. Quisiera poder informarlos de más cosas de primera mano: exposiciones de arte, más películas (¿Pato?), textos, música...

A veces existe la impresión aquí de que Latinoamérica es México, o el Caribe. Y aunque aprecio a esos pueblos, eso no es Chile, ni Argentina, ni Uruguay, ni Brasil, ni el Perú... Me da risa igual, así que no me pongo muy grave (aunque los que me conocen saben que me exalto por todo, jaja) pero qué risa que todo sea "salsa" y "tacos". Hasta el restaurant chileno La Chilenita tiene que ofrecer "platos chilenos y mexicanos" para lograr algo. Y a las empanadas la gente les dice "empañadas", eso es genial. De ésas hay en todas partes. Y rellenas con de todo. Masa integral. Lo que quieras.

¿Les conté que en el asado del 18 con la asociación de chilenos de québec le tuve que traducir la palabra "carrete" a un señor chileno? Divertido. pregunta abierta: ¿Qué tengo en común con ese señor? Carmencita: para tu Cultural Studies. Dime, ¿qué tengo en común con él aparte de una raza que mi familia niega y una nacionalidad que tengo por paternidad?

No es quiénes somos los chilenos (barf de nuevo), es quién es Chile?

Creo que como Montrealesa y Québequois anglófona tengo el mismo tema con Canadá, aunque diferente. Qué constituye un pueblo independiente? "a distinct society" es como se define Québec dentro de este país. A ver si alguien me lo explica.

Los quiero, y espero que se entretengan con este raro post en castellano (nadie le dice castellano acá, ¡ni siquiera los que lo hablan!)

Daily Diary of a Tooth Whitener

I was supposed to write all these random things I had been doing in the past few days but my mind is as cloudy as the day outside (in a happy way,albeit). Hmm... what was it I was going to say?

Do you find it odd that I write down when I do certain housekeeping chores on my calendar so that I can tell later how long it's been since I've done them? Like, I'll mark down "bath & floors" on today's square so that in 2 weeks I can say "oh my god, it's been 2 weeks since I cleaned the floors". Otherwise I'd forget.

Oh! Hey, I ordered a teeth-whitening kit on eBay for, like, half of what it costs at the pharmacy. I'll tell you how it goes. I think that's what I was supposed to write about. The Daily Diary of a Tooth Whitener. Yeah, I'll let you know.

Tom and I have this project we made up the day we started seeing each other. We're going to map out the alleyways in our neighbourhood. We have a reference map, we bought clipboards (nerds!!), and clicky pencils. All we need is graph paper. You can't steal this idea just because you read it here, though. Swear it!

Anyway, our map would still be better.

Tonight I'm meeting the Sacred Heart girls at La Sala Rossa for tapas-dinner. Last night I saw a piece of L'Auberge Espagnol. My best friend Mariana lives in Barcelona. Maybe I should go... soon... what do you think?

In Tom's Words...

Chilequebes (pronounced Chih-lee-kweebs): Chilean Quebecers


(I don't mind if no one else finds this funny).

still ok

but the more blogs I read the more I have the distinct feeling that mine is pretty crap.

but -she forms a smile- when has that shut me up before?

Halloween in NY!

Great news: I've been given permission at work to take off the week of October 31 so I'm going ahead with my ORIGINAH plan and spending Halloween in NYC with my friend Barbara San Martin. So exciting! I have thought of a disguise but I can't imagine where to get it. I want to dress up as a human heart, with veins and aorta and all. Have you seen this anyplace? I'm no good with my hands so forget about making it myself. This girl is *not* artsy-craftsy. Just flakey.

Another friend, Zebra, is coming into town on Wednesday to show his movie at one of the spin-off movie fests. That should be a blast. I drove to his set while they were filming in Chile so I can't wait to see the end product. The movie is called La Sagrada Familia and the blog is estaeslasagradafamilia.blogspot.com
me on the set, when I made the initial decision that would take me back home, to Montreal.

More visitors: my friend Pepi in NYC just let me know that the band Panico is coming to Montreal at the end of October and that Edu Pistolas is looking to hang out with the Chilean community then. Like Pepi said: "aka, you". It's true. Yesterday was Chile's independence day and I went with my dad to a picnic in Angrinon park organized by the provincial association of Chileans. It was alright, but there was no one there who I would have hung out with had I been in Chile, you know what I mean? I mean, what did I have in common with everyone besides being Chilean? I don't have an answer to that... It was nice to spend a little time with my dad, anyway. My dad who brought white, Argentinean wine to the picnic... classic.

For Mr. Pistola's visit, Tom said he'd pretend to be Chilean and would gladly join forces with our friend Steve to show the guy a good time. Phew, I know I can trust those guys to show another guy a party in this city.

-definitely, coming out of a bad time is the best time to write. sorry, I'm not in that space right now and I don't plan to be for a while. I'll keep writing but expect nothing special-

a short glossary of gross office slang

Another one:

*soft copy

(barf)

Sorry, guys, my computer at home is busted again and I haven't had time to worry about it so I've been remiss with this whole blogging thing. But I hope those of you here in Montreal are enjoying this extended muggy summer we're having. Viva el calentamiento global!

"Fear is the worst place to manage from", said some CEO-type on the CBC's documentary about the 1995 Quebec referendum. I agree.


News:
* Fred successfully defended his master's thesis today
* Kristen is back in town!
*Courtney won't be coming to Montreal; this is so sad.
*my home computer is on the blink... but I'm in no hurry to get it fixed. Life has other plans for me right now. Damn fine plans, indeed.

chispas!

I knew I was forgetting someone, heh heh...

The boys of summer

Talk about a blast from the past. I realized tonight that I've bumped into everyone I've dated and/or had a fling with since I came back to Montreal this past week. Except for Courtney, but we emailed ;)

My Rob Brezsny horoscope for this week is semi-haunting me since it seems to hold some kind of clue about the solution to my current problems. This is what is says, all you aquarians:

When your plane takes off and the flight attendants give you their lecture on what to do in case of emergency, they often remind you that "your nearest exit may be behind you." That's good advice for you to keep in mind during the coming week, Aquarius. I don't mean to imply that you'll be facing some literal danger that will require you to make a quick escape. What I do suggest is that you remove yourself, at least temporarily, from a certain process that's barreling full-speed ahead. The best way to do it is to go backward, into the past, or in reverse.

Are these two things related: the bumping into the past and the past Rob Guru's referring to? I'm lost. Lost as ever. Maybe lost is my natural state and I don't mind it so much.

Also, this wicked thing happened to me during my first ever Kundalini yoga class on Wednesday. Well, two wicked things. One is that I felt this crazy tingling in my face that I'd only felt before in the presence of Guachupé. And the second was during this "opening your heart" excercise where I was totally inspired to forgive this person for the pain he introduced into my life and I wanted to ask him if he forgave me too. I even called his house but there was no answer.