Person

Lazy ol' me.
On most weekday mornings I tend to sleep in quite a bit longer than normally. For, the rest of my day consists of me at work, trying to stay chipper while dialing nearly 200 UK numbers a day and having to hear "NO!" or "No, no, no, NO!, no... stop calling me!!" about 80 times. So, usually I tend to have a long breakfast in front of the computuer, answering your emails and seeing what everyone is up to on facebook. Then I read, draw or go for a walk before making lunch and getting ready for work. A pleasant start to my day is vital, so when waking up to a full-blown reno going on upstairs and then followed by a cockroach sighting in my kitchen, which I had cleaned very carefully the night before, i. am. not. happy. Cockroaches are full-on nasty and will not go away and of course, I'm a chicken and can't kill them myself (I'm afraid if I do, I'll puke), so I trap them under cups or tupperwear containers for my flatmates to find and then kill. They find this (luckily) hilarious and get a kick out of smashing them. My flatmate Marcelo says we should start a super hero team that will save the fragile, entomophobic dwellers of Barcelona, by carrying on the trapping (that's me) and killing (that's him) of all the cucarachas!
Anyway the point of my story here is, I took a break from this usual morning routine last week to finally FINALLY buy some stamps to put on your postcards which were meant to be sent to you almost 3 months ago in Turkey. So until those postcards actually arrive, here are couple more photos to keep you jealous of my wonderful Turkey trip.

Thing

The differnce between the verbs Ser and Estar.

Ser= to be
Estar= to be

When using the verb Ser, you are defining a person, describing the physical appearance, nationality, profession, character of something or someone. eg. Soy canadiense. (I'm Canadian.)

Where as, when you use Estar, you are describing the location, emotional state, or temporary physical state of something or someone. eg. Estoy triste. (I'm sad.) You even describe being dead with Estar (as if you're only dead temporarily...).

Anyways! In helping to remember the difference between these two verbs to describe what a thing is, I like to just try and remember something is just temporary when using Estar. To be sad, to be confused, or to be frustrated is only temporary. And that one's character, deep down, never really changes despite a broken heart or failed exam (at least in the Spanish grammer world). So for anyone who is a bit miserable or stressed out because of school or work or whatever, ¡Esta temporal! ;)

Y a veces, las cosas buenas estan temporales tambien, entonces, ¡Disfruta!
(And sometimes the good things are temporary too, so enjoy!)

Thing

Being single in Barcelona is great. I get to just focus on ME. Although, sometimes I just want to do this...



ha.

Hello.

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Pictures! Here! I finally made this flickr thing happen... now you can see some of my favorite pictures I've taken since I've been away.

Person

Carmella and Jessie Dancing.
Carmel, the next time I see you, let's do a dance like we did when we were 8? And get some poor sap to tape the 40 minute performance in the backyard (just like my patient mom did). :)

Place

With several weeks of stinking hot weather, I was beginning to need a bebida fresca (fresh drink). And being a Vancouverite I should be enjoying the fact that I hadn't experienced rain in over a month. But there's something about the grey skies and bursts of fresh rain here that create an almost euphoric feeling for me. Maybe I'm starting to miss Vancouver a bit. I think that when the skies are clear here, the sun shines on the walls of Raval and casts a beautiful warm glow on the subjects of the street (the golden hour is every hour for a photographer here). But when you want to photograph the last hint of colour on the trees and grass, this perfect menacing grey intensifies and showcases their brilliant green. Almost reminding us that fall is near and we should appreciate the last remaining articles of summer.



Although, who am I kidding. I'll be able to go to the beach until late October. :) HA!

Thing

Word Sketch

I saw this cool "Book of Sketches" (a collection of "word sketches"/poems of Jack Kerouac's at a nearby bookstore. I thought the concept was kind of cool. So here is my own word sketch...

eat
hearing
choking horrible
laughter
thong. loud.
trainspotting bladerunner
crumpled cardboard pillow on puddle
jerry job interview
got job
job monday
revelation
elevation
eggs

And for something a little less random,
I just got news from my lovely friend Hannah, that she arrived in Montreal safely. She'll be living there for.. who knows how long. I'll miss her like crazy. She's my oldest friend and whenever we get together, we act like we're 6 years old again. It's rare to come across a friendship strong enough to stand the test of time (probably almost 21-22 years now for us!). I'm really lucky to know her and have her in my life. Here is a cool picture Hannah took during our trip to Paris this past spring. I looks like I'm in a wonderworld diner of mirrors...



Best of luck Hannah Banana. Our "I Kill in Purple" project is still happening... it's just taking a while. I think we need a jazz group to create the soundtrack. I think it would really make the film! Hehe.
xox