It’s dark, rainy and gloomy this afternoon. So for lunch I thought I’d cheer myself up with a good old fashioned cup of soup and book.

My soup mug.

Klön-pott is loosely translated to ‘ Thinking-pot’.  It’s very fitting, I do all my best thinking when soup is involved.

For my choice of books, I went towards something slightly more nostalgic.

From Elementary to Middle School, my comic collection consisted of Archie, Sailor Moon, Asterix and Mickey Mouse Stories.

In 9th grade I read an article about Chynna Clugston , and learned about her series Blue Monday *. I was so excited because- Hey! An american girl doing comics was a big deal to me. I was very ignorant of the comic world for the longest time.

When I read it, everything changed for me. ‘Wow, Comics can be about Anything! And they can have naughty stuff in them too!’

Again, ignorant and sheltered.

I even got to meet Chynna Glugston, and she signed my copies. Probably one of the most triumphant days of my life. Though I didn’t say much too her. She was too cool and drew stuff that I had to hide from my parents.

Reading it now makes me laugh, I had funny ideas of what story topics were taboo.

*You can read the First Issue Online for Free!

A personal mosaic this week and since I’m wearing my signature blue jeans I’ll join in with Blue Monday, too. I noticed that I place my hands the same way for a posed photo even after 50 years! Made me chuckle.

I was out late last night in downtown Seattle enjoying the U.S. Major League Soccer Championship at Qwest field. I’ll post some photos later but in the meantime it’s just me and my pose. I won’t be around next Monday because of travels. See you all later…

To see more mosaics visit Mary at The Little Red House. To see more Blue please visit Sally at Smiling Sally.

This is a photo of crossing contrails and clouds. But after running it through the photo editing software I unintentionally ended up with what I think looks more like an abstract painting.

Here is my choice for this week’s Blue Monday – my wedding outfit for an Indian wedding … of course my sari HAD to be blue!!!  The only thing I refused to do was wear the traditional bodice top that shows half your midriff … no bulging bits were gonna be on public show for this gal! :D

Bene.
Potrei scrivere un lungo, noioso, menoso post su quanto sono stressato, su come gli esami siano uno dietro l’altro, su come sia vergognosamente di nuovo senza soldi, di quante volte al giorno la  mia testa mi suggerisce di farmi un tuffetto nel Ticino o di mettere le dita nella presa, potrei scrivere un prolisso e smielato e autocommiserativo articolo su tutto ciò, e lo farò. Solo, indirettamente, così fa più figo, e ve lo dimostrerò, state a vedè.

Mi sono un po’ fissato con questa canzone:

che non sembra poi essere così blue, così  triste come dice il titolo eh. Questo è l’unico motivo per cui ho intitolato in questo modo il post, perchè nonostante mi trovi ad essere molto impegnato e molto contro la mia volontà [n°1: riferimento allo studio massacrante] non mi sento affatto triste, anzi, penso di essere anche abbastanza sereno…oltretutto mi appresto a starmene solo soletto per una decina di giorni (il che significa FREEDOOOOM!) e soprattutto in un periodo morto, quindi penso che mi farò bastare quei pochi soldi che mi restano [n°2: riferimento alla mia povertà patologica] e mi godrò la situazione, senza seccature nè sguardi voluttuosi verso le prese di corrente o i ponti sul Ticino [e n°3: riferimento agli istinti suicidi], semplicemente nell’ozio! Dopotutto l’umore umano è qualcosa di strano: fino a ieri ero infuriato e very very blue, ma mi è bastata una notte di sonno per lavare via qualsiasi orrida ombra dalla mia mente, ed eccomi qui fresco come una rosa di campo in un frizzante mattino di primavera [prego notare la maestria nell'assemblaggio lessicale]!

Ed eccovi propinato un discorsino sulla mia disastrosa situazione ma senza la componente piagnona e deprimente che avrebbe di sicuro ammazzato i toni! Adesso, col sorriso sulle labbra e l’allegria stillante da tutti i miei pori, aprirò il libro di fisica e comincerò a solfeggiare formule!

(n.b: avrò sicuramente scritto questo post sotto l’effetto di qualche stupefacente che, evidentemente, deve avermi somministrato ieri notte Tamura Kafka a mia insaputa.)

Yep.  Today I decided that Blue Monday’s post should be its namesake so sit back and groove to the Fat Man.

Sachi Vixen started a new action in SL, its called “Beating the Monday Blues” and I joined in. Certain designers will offer a selcted product of their collection Mondays, and it will be reduced to either 99, 50 or 25 L$. So here it is, for the very first time,my Blue Monday offer for 99L$

join the flickr pool to be updated! http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/beatingthemondayblues/

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Juicy%20Del%20Mar/105/32/28

Jordan River, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

A decorative pillow with some blue…

Here is my choice for this week’s Blue Monday – anyone for a cappuccino? Sheer heavenly bliss … nectar for the soul …

Tomorrow’s Ruby Tuesday post will highlight the place we consumed this wee delicacy…  Don’tcha just LOVE those beautiful hand-made pottery mugs and wooden trays it served in – such a lovely touch

Burden was Vancouver’s first straight-edge band, and probably one of the first to bring a hint of new school hardcore into the local scene. At the time, there really wasn’t much to brag about in the western Canadian hardcore. All the attention was given to Ontario. But Burden was one of the bands who changed that.

Burden’s first demo, “Chosen Path”, came out in 1997, in various pressings and covers. Their first ep “Strength of Conviction” came out in 1999 on Faith, Hope and Charity Records. This ep would be re-released in 2000 by Spawner Records (in Canada) and also on Bad Man Records (in Europe). This re-issue would contain the demo as bonus tracks. In 1999 the band also had it’s only exclusive song on a compilation, which would be a cover of The Misfits, We Bite.

In 2001, the band would finally come in contact with Dead Serious Recordings, who would release everything from the band forth. The band took two songs from their upcoming LP and one song from their ep, to do a split release with Automatic from Kentucky. Their first and only full length, “If You Don’t Stand for Something, You’ll Fall for Anything”, was released in 2001 on Spawner Records (Canada) and Dead Serious (Europe). This got them to tour western Europe. And the band did tour for the next few years. Upon their final time in Europe, Dead Serious would release the bands final ep “With Every Step Forward”. This would never get to see the light in North America however. The band played a final show on March 13th, 2004 in Vancouver.

Burden on Myspace
Burden Discography

Mancora beach

After well over a month in Peru, it was hard to believe I was finally at my last stop in the country. And it was also one I’d been looking forward to for a while: the beach!

Mancora is known as being the beach to go to for travelers. It has great surfing as well as a reputation for being sunny and warm all year round. Luckily, it lived up to its reputation! After a couple days under gray skies in Huanchaco, I was happy to arrive, already, at 6 in the morning to a bright blue sky and shining sun.

Loki del Mar

I stayed at the Loki hostel in Mancora, which is brand new (actually celebrated it’s first birthday my first night there, with fireworks and everything!) and was built to be a  hostel but looks like a resort. The buildings are blindingly white and funky-nice looking, and there’s a big pool with lounge chairs and a poolside bar all right in the center. So we got to feel like we were staying at a resort (minus the bunkbeds and lockers in the room) while paying hostel prices. Very nice!

There I met back up with two Australian girls, Lauren and Kassia, who I’d met in Lima and run into in Huaraz. I split my days between walking and relaxing on the beach and laying by the pool getting a tan. Not a hard life. The hostel itself was kind of a strange crowd, though, and even their big one-year bash wasn’t really that great. I hung out mostly with the Aussie girls and we didn’t really meet a lot of other friendly people (at least, of course, until the day we were leaving!)

It was nice to be by the beach and relax, though. Again I still felt that it would have been more fun if I’d been with friends. I was constantly thinking back to great times I’d had on beaches back home, in Southeast Asia, in Australia, etc. with good friends. Mancora just couldn’t live up to those memories!

The upside though was the sea was beautiful, I got a bit tan, and I finally started to feel like I was ready to actually DO something besides being a bit lazy. Though at the same time I wasn’t feel incredibly excited about Ecuador and the next five weeks (which I had quickly come to find was far too long to spend in Ecuador).

But lucky for me, the Australian girls were heading up to Ecuador the same day I was, to Cuenca as well. It’s always nice to have someone to share long (8-9 hour) bus rides and border crossings with.

So a little after noon we were on the Cifa International bus heading toward the border. This was the recommended bus by all the guidebooks, but that far from meant it was nice! First thing I was stuffed into a seat next to a woman with her naked baby, who was kicking me and screaming and breastfeeding all at the same time. Later it turned out that apparently she hadn’t paid for a bus ticket and she had to get up, at which time we discovered the baby had pooped everywhere, and it dripped on my seat as she left. Ugh. Not not NOT a pleasant experience at all — thank goodness Kassia had some baby wipes to lend me to wipe off my seat!

The bus ride was more bearable after the woman and the baby were gone, but it was still really crowded and uncomfortable overall. And then after we crossed the border out of Peru, they still made us switch buses! (The apparent reason for taking Cifa was that you didn’t have to do so.) Luckily the Pullman bus we switched into was much, much nicer and not at all crowded so I could have two seats all to myself. Then it was a matter of crossing the border into Ecuador (where they just print a bunch of numbers and words onto your passport instead of giving a nice stamp!) and another five hours driving up to Cuenca.

Main square in Cuenca

Cuenca is a really lovely city. You would never even know it was the third largest in Ecuador. It feels very small and safe, which we could tell immediately even arriving late at night. We took a taxi to a random hostel out of our guidebook, Hostal Monarca, where they only spoke Spanish so it was lucky I could understand most parts of it (though later one miscommunication about where to leave the room key meant we had to pay an extra $3 which was ridiculous.) The three of us were shown to a gigantic room that had four double beds in it (but room for probably ten!) and we all took a moment to collapse and roll around in our big beds.

Then it was out to see the town a bit and grab some dinner. We headed to a place called Blue Monday, where we had some fairly good (but incredibly filling) Mexican food. Then we grabbed dessert at an infamous hot chocolate place called Cacao & Canela. The guidebook had mentioned they had tons of hot chocolate flavors, including mozzarella. I decided I had to order it and see what it meant, but it turned out to mean they just served you a number of slices of cheese on the side. I even tried tossing a few into my (still incredibly delicious!) hot chocolate, but there wasn’t really much mozzarella flavor going on. It was still really good though.

The next day we decided to explore Cuenca. We visited the tourist information office, had breakfast, and walked around the main square, the markets, and along the river all in just a few hours. All of us were feeling just a bit tired and blah. After laying on the beach for a few days, the long hours of traveling and moving up in altitude were taking their toll on us.

Cinema!

Then we discovered the most perfect cure in Kassia’s guidebook: a cinema! And not just any cinema, but a cinema with a food court! Having felt a bit homesick the past few days, this was EXACTLY what I needed. We were so excited, we took a taxi to the place across the river because we couldn’t stand to take the time to walk. The taxi dropped us in front of every long-term-traveler-missing-home’s dream: a mini mall. We immediately grabbed lunch at KFC (which of course was absolutely nothing like the KFC at home, but still “popcorn” chicken and french fries hit the spot!) and bought tickets to see a movie.

We originally went to watch some Scrooge movie with Jim Carey that none of us had ever heard of, but because it was a kid’s movie it was in Spanish so we switched theaters and saw “I Love You Man” instead, which I had seen but it was a long time ago, in South Carolina, at a drive-in so it was almost like seeing a new movie! We walked out of the cinema an hour and a half later much, much happier and more rejuvenated people. And then on the walk home we ran into a guy we’d met in Mancora (well, actually the girls had originally met him in Argentina) and agreed to meet him for dinner later.

The rest of the day was spent doing more relaxing, and then going for a really delicious dinner at a tapas placed called Cafe Eucalyptus. Overall, it was a really great “breather” day for us all. And Cuenca was the perfect place for it. It was a very beautiful and tranquil town. Not at all stressful or overwhelming, a perfect way to begin our time in Ecuador.

Now I’m in Banos, and I already love it! So far we’ve already had some really amazing food and had a eucalyptus steam bath, which is an interesting but good experience. Now we’re off to see about some whitewater rafting and whatnot, but I’ll do a full Banos update later.

Mi s-a adus în atenţie că mai sunt şi alţi nemulţumiţi din cauza deciziei Primăriei Oradea de a interzice orice altfel de afişaj decât cel electoral, până la alegeri. Ieri am scris despre obstacolele în materie de promovare a concertului Mezzoforte.
Jurnalistul Alexandru Seres pomeneşte, în schimb, pe site-ul său, despre formaţia Luna Amară (foto), care a concertat la Blue Monday şi care au avut “cuvinte de laudă” la adresa Municipalităţii orădene. Din aceleaşi motive. Dacă veţi citi articolul respectiv, veţi avea ocazia să vedeţi şi reacţia trupei la adresa consilierului local liberal, Dan Octavian, care a avut un rol esenţial în anularea concertului nordicilor de la God Dethroned, acum câteva luni.
Vive la censure!

*foto: goingout.ro

George Harrison isn’t typically thought of as a blues guitarist, but he definitely loved the form.  He frequently had his old friend Eric Clapton play lead on his records – most notably All Things Must Pass, Cloud 9, and Live in Japan.  And George is terribly underrated as a slide guitarist, generally taking a back seat to Duane Allman, Ry Cooder, Warren Haynes, Ben Harper, Derek Trucks and others but his slide work is creative and instantly recognizable.

Here’s one of George’s finest examples of slide work, from his swan song CD Brainwashed (which is an excellent addition to the Harrison canon).

Father and Son taking a stroll.

It’s almost Monday so it’s time to post mosaics for Mosaic Monday with Mary at Little Red House and post something blue for Blue Monday with Sally at Smiling Sally!

On Thursday last week I met 2 of my sisters at the high school we all graduated from for a Homecoming Reunion BBQ. The school was unveiling a 100 year celebration mural and giving tours of the school culminating with a BBQ and entertainment from the band and Cheer Squads. Our high school colors were and are blue and gold so it was easy to have lots of blue to show you.

Early in Montebello’s history there were oil derricks on the hills that surround Montebello, that is where the Oilers came from. Our school newspaper was Derrick Diary. Our mascots were Ollie the Olive.

This next photo was taken in 1968 of a group of my friends standing in the same courtyard that I took one of the photos in the mosaic above. You can see that the building hasn’t changed except for some fresh paint.

Didn’t we dress reasonably back in the 60’s for school? :0)

The Auditorium is exactly the same and the lockers are the same but the courtyard with the blue umbrellas is new.

After they unveiled the new mural the pep squads let helium balloons go up into the sky.

This was just downright scary to watch. I kept wanting to yell “CATCH HER!”

Have a great week everyone!

Here is my choice for this week’s Blue Monday – a Blue and Yellow Macaw … love love LOVE that colour!!!