Person

Just went to see '500 Days of Summer' starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. I LOVED it. Finally it came to Spain, ever since my sister raved about it a couple months ago, back in Vancouver, I knew I needed to see it! Anyhoo, if you haven't seen it yet, please do. And Gordon-Levitt was so dreamy... that smile and crinkley eyes.. sighhh, makes my heart melt!



That's one of my favorite clips from the movie.. the morning after dance. Hilarious! And what moves... :)

Thing

Food.

With Fall finally here, my what seems endless free time isn't spent at the beach or in the sun very much anymore. But COOKING! :D With produce being quite affordable here in Barça and my need to be cozy, being by the stove cooking something is just perfect (since the rest of my flat is an icebox! Spaniards up here don't care much for insulation I guess!). I've mastered the carrot ginger soup (the key is lime and coconut milk), made some nice sweet potatoe mash (although my Argentinian flatmate suggested putting chili in it for his South American taste buds...Ermmm, not for me) this evening. Tomorrow I'll try something from the vegetarian cook book Jade let me borrow. All I need now is my warm cuddly kitty cats to snuggle with on the couch. I don't care how much cat hair I get on my clothes, I'm going to hug the crap out of them when I get back!
I think the secret to good cooking is confidence, practice and a lot of free time to fuck things up first until you get it right. And for me, I'm a bit of a loner when it comes to making my food in the kitchen. I need space and no one budding in on that space! I guess when I leave this tiny apartment and get to use my family's fabulous roomy kitchen and awesome appliances again (lol I don't even have a freaking toaster here) I'll be happy to have people around, especially if it's just Kaja and Dad. Although I'll miss Barcelona a lot, being with my family in my favorite place again will be one of the best parts of the trip. Yeah, thinking about all the wonderful things I've learned and experienced while away, I feel that one of the most important things I've discovered is how much I appreciate home. More people should be able to go away and experience the world and all the beautiful things that are out there, like I did, but also be able to really truely know how lucky they are to be living in and being a part of such an amazing place.

... Didn't realise mashed sweet potatoes would make me so sentimental! sniff, sniff. single tear*



(These are pics from Isaac Grey Cosgrove's Flickr page. Thanks Isaac!)

Person

Happy Birthday Mammi and Onu Ants.
She would have been 59 today! Mina armastan sind. xoxo

Things

The electricuted squirrel story that Evelyn emailed me and this jumping elephant that my dad sent...



both made me laugh very hard today. Thank you!

Person

Me. I feel weird today.

Place

If you're in Vancouver, go to the CityScape Community Art Space in North Van next weekend and see my dad's show! Yay Ewan! :)

Thing

My relationship with Barcelona. (Yes, I have to gush about it once more!)
If I could use a picture to describe our happiness together it would be...



"I love you more! No I love YOU more! No I love YOuuuUU moree! No I LOve you m..."
<3

Place

Barcelona.
The closer I get to leaving this place, the more and more I don't want to. I really do want to return to Vancouver and try something new there, like getting into Uni and starting the next chapter of my education. And also educating myself in music more seriously. Guitar, piano and tra-la-la-ing.

But back to Barcelona...
the last week or so: (referring back to pieces of my diary)

Oct. 7th:
Dicovered that Poble Nou is very cool. It's very industrial but actually has a very cosy little green pedestrian avenue in the centre where there are many nice boutiques and charming food shops. It felt like Beaches, in Toronto.
Got a pair of black sneakers and a rasberry beret/tuque from Primark (total: 5 euro).
Had a very VERY delicious dinner at a very VERY handsome and funny guy's house (he cooked.) yum.

...Sorry girls, but if you want some gossip, you gotta email me. haha

Oct. 8th
(discovered the pool!).. read blog entry, two blog entries ago.

Oct 11th
Woke up with the worst hangover from the silly-drunk night out before. But managed to bike home along the beach (how lucky am I!?) to quickly grab my runners, brush teeth and wash face, so I could meet up and have my last date with Rebecca in Esplugues. My lovely friend from Dallas, Texas. She leaves back for the US this week after 7 months here. Luckily she was also a little groggy, so our planned hike never happend. So we had coffee and croissants, gabbed about the night before and about "bridges" and relationships and Columbus and our predictions of our returns back to the "new world." I'll really miss that girl. We had great conversations and lots of laughs. Thanks Rebecca! (and thanks for the awesome clothes you've left me! And my flatmates and I are enjoying the radio and iron too!) hehe

Oct 12th(ish)
Had fantastic dreams and discovered the most clear way of explaining my art. So I scribbled it down in my diary, in the dark, in the most unclear way possible. DOH!

But had a lovely afternoon with myself, sitting on the beach (still hot enough) and watching the turquoise waves while listening to the Beach Boys and Al Green. Then visited my handsome friend for the rest of the day. Devoured his left-overs in the fridge (muahaa), then we watched crap English television, and laughed until it was dark and we both had places to go. Sigh*
What an unstructured, yet fabulous day!

Oct 13th
The day was pink. Sporting Rebecca's pink shirt. Pink Greek strawberry yogurt at breakfast. Then cafe con leches with Bronwyn at Carmelitas. The breeze flowing through Raval even felt pink. Happy.

Got a membership to Gato Negro (Video store, like Commercial Drive's Black Dog (haha!)). The man running it is lovely. He offered me chai tea as I was looking through the collection. I thought he asked if I needed help, so said "Oh! No.. hehe" but I think he was asking if I wanted tea... DUuuuh... so much for my Spanish. Anyhoo, 2 for 1 on Tuesdays. So I got "Colegas" (the Cinema Quinquis film I talked about in one of my first entries) and from what I remember it being called, "En Construcion" (Godard-inspired doc. on Barrio Chino while Rambla de Raval was first being constucted in 1997-1998. It was beautiful! The characters, the stories... Did you know that when they were demolishing the buildings to make Rambla Rav., they found Roman skeletons and ruins underneath the ground!??).

Oct 14th (today)
Sat in the most tranquil part of Montjuic. The only the sounds were of birds, buzzing insects and leaves on the trees. It was like a little Stanley Park. I rested on this bench for a good 40 minutes.



Then I wandered in search of some road to take me to the peak of Montjuic, so that I could see the sea. And I finally (after many failed attempts) found it today! It was so cool! I could feel the air getting thinner and the pines were more stunted as I became closer to the top. There I found a fort-like structure I hadn't heard of before, then sure enough...




The industrial port of Barcelona is just incredible! I forgot how gigantic it is, it just goes on forever! I wonder how far back into the past we'd have to go in order to see nothing but beach and crashing waves there? Hmm.



Being broke isn't as bad as I thought...

Although, I predict the next 2-3 more weekends of socializing left before I get my damage deposit back on the 31st (money for England trip), will be expensive.
Uh-oh.

Thing

If you keep making that face it'll stay that way!


Its been over a decade since I had an ear infection so I didn't quite know what was going on until my friend Despina pointed it out that my cold has turned into a sinus or ear infection type thing. I usually don't take a lot of drugs to help with colds and stuff, so I thought maybe I could just let this one go away on it's own. Then I remembered the last time I let a sinus infection go away "on it's own".. it triggered the most painful infection in my tooth. And Despina also shared her story of when she just left her sinus infection go away on it's own, and the mucus had built up in her lower forehead!! ewww and then they had to drain it out by piercing the skin!!! (or maybe she said this is what could have happened if she didn't take medicine). gag! anyhoo thought this story might go nicely with these pictures. :) rather sick sense of humor, sorry.
p.s im better now since i bought some ear drops from the nearby farmacia (pharmacists are so cool here. they seem to be better educated on their products than most doctors. and they aren't as snooty as some of the people working at pharmacies in Vancouver.)

Place

The Globe store! HAHA! This place sells maps and GLOBES!!!!



There are plenty of (very) random specialty stores in Raval. Like the STRING shop! Or the shop that only sells things for Nativity scenes. And I love the little (and less strange) shops that are just barely competing with the supermarkets and big grocery stores, like those that sell only cheese, or only button up blouses/shirts, or only paper and stationary items...

Anyways, window shopping in Raval.
There's another thing to keep this skint girl entertained! Oh! I'll try and get a photo up of the most ridiculous wedding dress I saw in a local shop. It's somethin' else!

Thing

Slummin' it, Jessie-Style.
Or to put it more romanticly, Guide to La vie Boheme in October, location: Barcelona.

Xampanaria (don't know if I'm spelling it right). But this place (like I said in the last blog) is aweessoome. With less than 5 euros in your pocket, you can get stuffed and totally obliterated on cava and greasy, cheesy, meaty amazingness. So if sticking to drinking at home is getting old, get your friends and go to Xampanaria in Barceloneta. For, it seems like most Spaniards prefer to go out rather than entertain in their tiny apartments. So this place is always packed!
Lots of fun to be had here.




And if you're like me, a good afternoon for you is spent doing almost nothing. I personally don't get tired of doing nothing in particular, as long as I'm not confined to my apartment. So sit in the MACBA courtyard and watch these (often sweaty yet pretty) skaters show off. They are also providing me with a lot of inspiration for sketches. yay! another free thing to do!


May not be the most economic activity (since you should pay about 6-12 euros for a beverage), but this little oasis my friend told me about is fantastic! At the top of this hotel, is a lovely little pool with views of the entire city. When it's sunny and warm, it's perfect to work on a journal entry or a tan up there without the noise and filth that common folk normally produce on the beach. Quite a glamourous afternoon in Raval. Also, a very good place to meet rich people that can give you money and support your artistic genius! ha!


(that's me sipping a huge beer next to the pool, and the other photo underneath is of one of the views from that roof! cool eh!?)

So yes, being unemployed again will be tough. Especially if you have friends who can afford the lifestyle of shopping, going out and drinking every night. They are all generous and lovely people, but I don't enjoy being a moocher, so it's difficult to get them to understand that the reason for me not coming out is not because I don't like them, but I just can't afford it! And getting another well paying job at this point just won't really work. It isn't fair for the employer, since I'm leaving in... A MONTH TODAY! (shit. it's really only a month now.)
But it will be an interesting challenge to try and make my last bits of cash last until the end of the month (when I am leaving).

Anyone wanna buy a painting/drawing?? :) check out the latest goods: jessiemcneil.blogspot.com (will post up more soon)

Place

I just had a brief flashback of the old library downtown.
Remember the one? The main VPL Branch on the Northeast corner of Robson and Burrard? I just have this one very faint memory of the place... the check-out. I remember the big metal slide type things that the librarians would slide the books down after you'd sign them out, like in a grocery store. Is that just my made-up memory, a dream, or were those real? I just remember thinking, "can I slide down those slides too? why can't I slide down those slides?!"
I tried to find some old archived photos of the heritage building before Virgin Megastore/Planet Hollywood (now HMV and BangOn) plunked down. No dice. If anyone finds anything, please send them over! Not urgent, but feeling rather sentimental tonight.
It's funny how these random memories pop up, and what's even cooler is how far back they go!
Like fudgicles, red licorish rope, smarties, or apple juice in a plastic cup with a peel-off lid from the old Stanley Park restaurant. Or like the nautical theme of the old Eaton's restaurant, or the waterfall store at Lionmarket...

Here's a flickr site I came across tonight that gave me some interesting facts on the old building...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/95332042@N00/377003302

Those were the days! Eww Oak panels and orange. Don't miss that.

Thing

This is me on the computer again looking for a job. The one I had was very repetitive (marketing a free service of finanical advice and market reports to shareholders in the UK) and could have been very boring if it hadn't been for the people I worked with. The company had to shut down, and so our last day was on Wednesday. But I'll never forget these cool people. Natasha, a total sweetheart and someone I could talk to for hours and hours...

This is Bronwyn. Hilarious, Aussie and introduced me to the coolest, grimiest, cheapest, most real bar: Xampanaria. Hope we can go out more before I leave back for Vancouver!

Here is Bronwyn and Claire. Claire is lovely, great to chat with too and has the best telephone voice out of all of us girls and pretty much exceeded each of our daily lead count by 5, almost always!

And this is our group (minus the lovely Renée). That's Cobi our boss. He was cool enough to buy us all snacks and rum for mojitos and piña coladas (severance)! So that's why you see all that junk food and alcohol on the work table! Normally it's tea and biscuits, and all business. That last day at work was hilarious. No work, all chatting, drinking and having a great time. even though we didn't party like this everday at work, we still had a great time. Lots of funny calls, weird people, meaningful conversation and laughs. Lots and lots of laughs. :) miss you girls!

Thing

Fffound. I love this website. Here are a few pics I fffound today on Fffound and i fffound that they were cool and reffflected the mood I have been in for the past 4 hours. fff yeah!

:)






http://ffffound.com/