hello everyone, just to let you know that i'm ok and i arrived just fine in San Diego. The weather is sunny (as expected). They had a festival at Hillcrest (the gay area) yesterday, so me and Nima went for a stroll (i was happy to find a cool independent bookstore with some nice art and travel books and some used books). One guy recognized my Royksopp t-shirt when we went for a drink with Nima and waved at me with approving gestures, so that was pretty cool to see someone who knows this lovely norwegian band around here (the only one i might add)... I also should comment how people are all buff and well worked out and the crowds were a bit more rowdy than what i'm used to in Boston. Gosh , in comparison we are quite more well behaved in Boston...
I'm applying for jobs online today and getting in touch with some recruiters. I also need to wash my car (the poor thing is so dusty from being transported by a truck across the country). My flight with jet blue was nice, i like how they have tvs in all their seats and you can watch tv, on the negative side i didn't get to read much of the book i had with me cause i was watching too much TV. The good thing was that i brought my own sandwich with me. I had no idea they don't serve food at all but only snacks on them. Oh well the price for the ticket was good plus it is a non stop flight.
i hope you are all doing well and send some messages here, so i won't feel too homesick now.
Big hugz to all
Currently
listening
:
Blue God Release date: 2008-05-13
Montreal and Quebec (last weekend)
Current mood: breezy
Me and Nima visited Montreal and Quebec city in Canada last weekend. I have a big affinity for Quebec city, it is such a charming town, especially the old town and before Nima was to leave for San Diego i thought we should take a trip up there and see the scenery. It was Quebec city's 400th year anniversary so there were tons of people in town, all the shops and stores were full, there were outdoor activities and concerts, just a nice party atmosphere, and the weather was nice and comfortable so we had a great time. We bought some Maple syrup vase in the shape of a maple leaf and had some great food (in both cities)... I also bought Ivana Santilli's new CD right when i was in Montreal, she is an excellent canadian artist, so you should take a listen to her songs here on Myspace (she's on my top friends list here)
I've posted pics on my album so check them out sometime.
Currently
listening
:
Tony Release date: 2008-06-10
Almadrava - Positivity (new album review)
Current mood: talkative
I've been a fan of this band since their first album. This is their third CD and i think one of their best efforts to date.
Almadrava have soothing tunes with thoughtful and sometimes romantic lyrics. They are a bit chill out but in this album some songs also have more energy and are a bit more pop oriented (that's another thing i like about creative bands, not repeating themselves after every album).
I love the themes on this CD, take the first song for example, it is called "Land of eternal Sunset". It was inspired by a sunset in the greek island of Santorini, where everyone felt communal and joyous to share a nice natural experience of a magical sunset in peace amongst beautiful scenery. There is also the song "By you" where the singer confesses her happiness and love in an upbeat song infused with accoustic and electronic music. That's another thing i like, the combination of those two kinds of music that Almadrava always bring so effortlesly into the mix. I also love the whispery vocals. On the softer and haunting song "Citylife" the singer is pondering "do you feel the time in the city life?", which brings me to another themse that is always interesting with Almadrava, they always create this nice atmosphere about different places and situations and they make us think and wonder about our surroundings and the world we live in. On "Life and the sea" again another etherial and emotional song i feel like we are floating into the lyrics, "where we go now with you my friend? where we go now? Where life and the sea....", this time the piano sounds take center stage with the electronic elements more on the background, what i also like about the song is the duet between english and spanish, it gives the song a more worldly flair and makes it interesting (and it made me curious to find out the translation of the lyrics which are very poetic in spanish). Which brings me to another song which is the flamenco infused "Angel del Mediterraneo", i always like flamenco sounds and i also liked their flamenco version of "are we alone" that they had in their first album so it's nice to see again the spanish influence come to life in their music.
I think Almadrava are well worth seeking out and listening to. They are one of those few creative and honest bands out there that make good modern music with lyrics that have substance with something to say and beautiful music that really transports you to another place and time and relaxes. Don't pass this CD by and take a listen. You might discover a hidden gem. Check them out also here, they are on my top friends list on Myspace.
Currently
listening
:
Positivity Release date: 2008-03-04
Short visit to NYC, Olafur Eliasson’s exhibit and Lion King
Current mood: optimistic
We are back from a lovely trip to New York City. This time me and Nima went to see this exhibition by an Icelandic/Danish artist i like, at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa). The artist's name is Olafur Eliasson. My first experience with his art was when i was in London back in 2004, and went to visit the Tate Modern. He had this massive installation of literally a Sun in a huge entry way to the museum. It was just amazing, he had managed to create and atmosphere and play with light and shadow and natural elements with his artistic creation. This time I was happy to see that he had an exhibit near us so i had to go with Nima and see it. The exhibition was in two museums, one in PS1 Queens New York and the other one at MoMa in Manhattan.
I was quite impressed with his creativity. It was very tough to capture with my camera the colours and feel of these, basically you have to feel and experience his light installations and art. For example, upon entering different rooms, you could for example lose all sense of color (due to the strange yellow light), feel like you were entering a room where the sky was changing (eventhough it was artificial light above you), play with your moving shadows in a very colourful room, see some Icelandic landscape photos, even see some Live moss all in a covered wall etc. One room he had this artificial waterfall, where strobe lights kept flashing and the water drops kept changing place and form, creating an interesting light mosaic (that one is impossible to capture on camera)... Overall I was happy to see his exhibition.
We also got to see of course a Broadway show. We got 3 tickets (and very good seats) so we had my friend Nina from New York join us to the show. It is funny that she hadn't seen it. People who live in New York probably don't pay much attention to all the musicals since they are so readily available there to see at any time. We had a great time. I loved the avant garde costumes, and the very creative modern set ups. The story is as touching as the Disney Cartoon and i'm glad i got to experience yet another show that Nima likes...
I also did a little bit of shopping, bought a couple of greek CDs while in Astoria, and we also visited Central Park (but i was too tired to walk too much so we cut that trip a bit short). There is so much to do in New York and that city is always busy busy busy. I'm kinda glad to be back from our short trip and ready to just lounge around and catch up on some TV.
I'm moving soon to San Diego so i need to move some more stuff at Nima's place for moving across country...
I've posted pics on my Photo section, so check them out...
Eurovision 08 (congrats Kalomira & Greece for 3rd place)
Yesterday it was that time of the year where all the european countries that made it to the finals, compete tofor the first place of the Eurovision song contest. This year it took place in Belgrade Serbia, and Greece did very well getting third place with reality star Kalomira who had also won "Fame Story" in Greece which is a show you'd compare it to "Pop Idol". Mind you i'm a much much bigger fan of one of Kalomira's backup singers named Victoria Halkiti.
Here's a video of Victoria Halkiti with the song "Teleia":
Anyway, the winner was Russia with a terrible boring uninspired song but i guess Dima Bilan or whatever his name is, is quite popular in that part of the world. The interesting thing about his performance was a live mini ice skating ring they had.
Anyway, here is MY top 5 of youtube videos of the ones i would have liked to have won in order of my favorite (with the exception of Greece of course which i'm glad we did as well as we did but i couldn't vote for it since the US doesn't even televise it -thank god for Greek satellite tv).
No1. Sirusho - Qele, Qele (Armenia)
No2. Ani Lorak Shady Lady (Ukraine)
No3. Sebastien Tellier - Divine (France)
No4. Vania Fernandes - Senhora do Mar (Portugal)
No5. Jelena Tomasevic - Oro (Serbia)
last but not least here is the video of Greece's own Kalomira with "Secret Combination"
oh and lets not be mean and just post Russia's winning entry... nothing against Russia but that song should not have gotten first place (my opinion again), his accent was just terrible and his voice is yuck
Wow, i haven't blogged here in ages. Its been a very very veeery long winter, but now that spring has come it's nice to venture out and enjoy some sunny weather.
I was just in San Diego with Nima a few days ago. It was really nice there, it felt like a comfortable Summer over there. The scenery is so different from Massachusetts. The houses all have a mediterranean look to them, although they are massive and all brand new, the town is nice and the people very laid back. It is definitely more expensive there (first thing you notice is gas prices), the roads have more lanes and no exit signs, but like Nima said, you don't really need exit signs since you can pretty much see what is beyond the exit (as opposed to Massachusetts where everything is hidden by trees).
We had a pleasant flight and a connecting flight from Boston to Salt Lake City Utah. I got to meet Nima's parents who were very nice people and got to finally meet his dog (he loves him so much). His name is Poochie. He's a yorkie (don't know if i spelled that right). Very energetic, curious and playful dog.
We got to see the city, different parts and areas. My favorite was the beach-side by La Jolla, i loved the architecture and the coastal scenery. We also took a ferry to Coronado from San Diego and the view was beautiful at dusk.
I also tried some trully delicious fish tacos. I loved them! I've never had such delicious fish tacos, so i guess what they say is true that San Diego does have the best fish tacos in the country. Nima also took me to his favorite sushi place and that was excellent as well.
One other highlight was the massive and well kept San Diego zoo. I loved seeing so many animals. I usually think Zoos are such sorry places, but in this one the animals have some space to breathe and their living quarters are well maintained.
Now i'm back in Massachusetts (but at least we are having some sunshine here too).
I posted tons of pics on my album here, so you should all take a look...
SAN DIEGO is lovely...
Currently
listening
:
Rockferry
By
Duffy
Release date: 2008-05-13
Finally finished with my home renovation project. Enjoy the slide of pics of before & after
Current mood: accomplished
It was tons of work but i'm finally done with this home renovation project that lasted almost 5 months and had TONS of stress on top of it (it is a bitch getting all these contractors to come do their work on time and finish a project). I had to re-do the whole living area for my space in our new house. Got new floor tiles, ceiling tiles, painted the ugly dark panelling on the walls, added new walls, a brand new bathroom, got lots of new furniture (and thanks to the Red Sox baseball team winning i got some free furniture too since the store said you can get a few of your furniture free if the Red Sox win the world series which thank god they won this year), got a couple of nice new tvs and basically i'm enjoying finally my new living space :-) Hope you enjoy the slide of before and after pics and i'm ready for your comments :-)
Currently
listening
:
Flammes
By
Niagara
Release date: 17 April, 2007
Ah, i'm back from Chicago. We had a great time there with Nima. We visited my friend Anna who's been living there for a year. She just got a new puppy, and they were house training it while we were there at their new appartment (Queen B. is her name, she has to learn where to poop and pee properly and she's so adorable)...
On our first night there Anna had a housewarming party with some of her close friends to celebrate her new appartment. They even had Framboise beer which i can't find anywhere around here (i hate beer usually but ever since i tried raspberry beer in Belgium i love it)...
We enjoyed some great food (deep dish Pizza at Pizza Due) and did some shopping (we got some really cool custom made shirts at the T-shirt Deli), and some delicious chocolates at Vosgesand the best bubble tea ever at Argos Tea. The people of Chicago are very friendly i noticed.
We had a late flight back home and today i was like a zombie at my new job he he.
My room and bathroom are coming along great, I need to paint and add tiles all around the rooms and i'll be all set to finally settle into my own space at our new house. Here's some preview pics of the progress so far (we had to do wiring, put new walls, doors, shelves, pipes, new bathroom etc)...
Right now i'm unwinding and waiting in a few minutes to see my dear Kirsty Hawkshaw be on TV on ABC (about Second Life which i don't know too much about)... How cool is that?
Currently
listening
:
Guru Mother
By
Opus III
Release date: 21 June, 1994
Well, i haven't blogged here in ages. I have actually not even started the work i need to do on the downstairs mainly cause i have had to deal with getting estimates and quotes from plumbers and wood workers that will need to build new walls and make the bathroom. Luckily i have finally come to a decision as who to use for the work, now it's only a matter of time until they finally get to start the work i need to do... Such a headache... I have to yet help my mom find some rugs for the house. We are so picky and it takes time to find just the right pictures, frames, rugs etc etc etc...
I also haven't travelled much this Summer, mainly cause i've just found a new job doing accounts receivables for a big company and basically being so busy there and of course having no vacation since i just started (usually in the US they give you only one weeks vacation on your first year of work at the moment i'm still a temp there until they hire me as a permanent person). I wanted to visit Denmark with Nima, but i couldn't (luckily he's so sweet he brought me back two CDs one by Me & My (The Ultimate Collection) that i couldn't find anywhere around here, and the new Sophie Ellis Bextor CD, as well as an adorable little statue of the Little Mermaid that they have in Copenhagen, this cute little fluffy Viking and this cool shirt with the danish flag
We did go to a couple of concerts with Nima in Boston, one was for Bang Gang this awesome band i like from Iceland (i've posted a little blog about that before) and the other concert was for the lovely Keren Ann from France, coming up we are going to see Dolores O'Riordan of the Cranberries in July in Boston, that should be a great concert. We also went for a visit in Portland Maine just to spend some time off. The weather actually has been very weird rainy one week, warm the next days, cold the next. New England has such a crazy weather pattern.
Anyway, here is some pics for your enjoyment. I wish i was in Greece this Summer. Maybe next year... My mom is actually going to Greece, i found her tickets (that was another saga trying to find descently priced tickets at such a short notice, thank god for Swissair), my grandpa is sick in Greece. I just hope he gets better. It seems like it's a serious situation and i'm glad my mom is going to visit him now that he is somewhat ok. He's such a sweet hard working man. Its situations like this that make you appreciate and value life more.
A proud moment for me and my family
Current mood: optimistic
Today eventhough i'm so tired (but for good reason), was a very proud moment for me and my family.
We closed on our first home in the US. It is located in Salem NH (which means i got a New Hampshire drivers licence, plates, voter registration etc etc). We are still close to Massachusetts (it's right on the border with Massachusetts after all), so i won't feel as weird moving to a new state (plus we always do our shopping in Salem NH anyway).
I'm very happy. I mowed the lawn, helped peel off some ghastly wallpaper from a couple of the home's rooms and i'm ready to see and tackle on building a bathroom on the downstairs area where i plan on making my living quarters in (budget allowing it of course) and helping with painting. I can't wait to officially move in with all our furniture and new and old things. It won't be easy carrying all that stuff we have in our current appartment, but it's such a great feeling. In the next few days we'll be busy painting and getting some quotes on some of the work i'll have to do , but it is such an exciting and proud moment to know that we now own a home in this adopted land of ours. Plus the town of Salem New Hampshire is pretty nice and compared to where we live in downtown Haverhill, it should feel like a holiday he he.
I definitely plan on inviting all my friends for a nice barbecue or gathering party after i finish all the work, so you're all invited. Hmm i should start taking some photos of the before and after situation of the house and how my decorating attempts will go. That might make for an interesting blog, considering how i've been missing in action from here for so long...</
awake
breezy
talkative
optimistic
bored
accomplished
lazy
moody
