Can't have a trip
to a foreign country without randoms. I'm already
doing a friggin' entry per day - so there's no way
these could be seperate entries. Which is good. More
bang for your virtual buck.
1) Two a
Days
In Cross Country
we had "Two a-days" which consisted of intense
workouts twice a day. This term has now come to refer
all Ann and I can possibly handle after walking around
and eating the richest food on the planet. We go out
once around noon - do something for a couple hours,
and then come back and rest. Of course that means I
work on entries and edit videos, but watchoo gonna do.
That's The Journey. Then around 8-9 we do the whole
thing over again. However, 8-9 might as well be
MID-DAY here...
2) Here Stays the
Sun... doo doo doo doo
There's 16 hours
of daylight here. However, there's a good 2 hours of
light before sunrise and after sunset. Basically, it's
ALWAYS daytime. It's bizarre to say the least.
It's 10:30 at night and it feels "dusk". And by 5am
here it comes again. Talk about fuckin' with your body
clock. So you just end up sleeping and eating at all
hours of the day... just 'cause you can. It's like
Paris, Antarctica. But it also means you get to see
the "Painted Sky" for a lot longer...
3) Sky by
Monet
This may just be
some sort of mind trick, but I assure you the sky
looks different here than anywhere I've ever been.
The
clouds that dot the sky actually look
painted, and seem to go on forever. I've
shown them in 2 videos so far, and I just
don't know if it can register online... or
if I'm just imagining it. They're
certainly not like the clouds in LA, but I
remember noticing that difference when I
first moved to California - so maybe these
are similar to Ohio clouds? No
idea.
Would love some
theories on this from people who have been here. It
could also be all the buildings are so cool looking it
just adds to the "painting" feel of it - but
seriously, the skies here are gorgeous.
4) The Amsterdam
for Overeaters
You have issues
with overeating? Steer clear of Paris. I've never
tasted food so consistently good. And I don't
mean the fanciest places... I mean an omlette at
a cafe. You take a bite and it feels like you're in
that Albert Brooks movie "Defending your Life" because
it literally seems perfect. Like, it stands to reason
the french fries would be good here... but WHY? What
the fuck? Like - it annoys me that I'm never gonna
taste shit this good when I get back to LA. Why are
their fucking french fries better? DAHHHHH. But you
know what? Thank GODDDDDD for that. 'Cause food that
tastes like this does something to my brain. I start
to obsess over it and scheme ways to eat more of it.
Be rude to me all you'd like, but for Christ's sake
take my money and give me your food.
5) Ugly
American
It wasn't lost on
me that a few of you would call me "Ugly
American" for my last entry - and all I can say
is: I FELT THE SAME WAY before I
got here. I always assumed the stories about how rude
French people were was somehow a reflection of those
telling the stories. Truuuuuuuuust me - I was
hyper-sensitive to that fact, but make no mistake, I
had fuck-all to do with those stories I told. I'm not
saying that maybe their rudeness wasn't because of
OTHER annoying Americans... but once the local woman
came up to me after the "Piles
Expert" incedent... it was clear it wasn't me.
Again, I was speaking French the majority of the time
in these situations..... ANNNNNNNNNNNND I'll have you
know that I was told I had an "indiscernable" accent
by one of Ann's French friends who we met for dinner.
OOOOOh... that's a good set-up for the
video...
6) Riffin' in
France
I've mentioned
this a couple times, but usually when I write a song I
just get a groove goin' and say nonsense words to find
the right feel for the lyric. Some vowels, etc. sound
better at some chords, etc. and it's fun to write
around those feelings. Well Ann and I met some of
her friends who live here and wouldn't ya know there's
a gorgeous Yamaha C6, just tuned that week, that was
so stunning. I had a C7 in 2005, and I miss it
dearly. So I wrote a little ditty - with absolute
nonsense words, and used it to pull a whole bunch of
random stuff together...
If your computer
can handle it (meaning it doesn't stutter once it's
loaded) click the "HD" button...
incredible.
Fun. Brings up
another random:
7)
A.D.D...am
It's really
amazing how The Journey has forced me to edited my
trip footage. Before? There'd be two 2-hour tapes
sitting somewhere on a shelf that I would never
actually go through. Now? This will be all that's
left. I edit it down, and dispose of the raw footage.
It's because my own attention span wants nothing of
it. Gimme the gist, gimme the feel - I want it over
and done with in 2 minutes. And hooray for you... and
my friends & family who don't have to sit through
3 hours of vacation slides. I want people in and out
of these entries fast and happy. Noooooooooo
drag.
8) Smoke up
Johnny!
Speakin' of drags,
the friggin' DOGS smoke here. If I see someone not
smoking, it makes me turn my head. Granted,
I come from the anti-smoking capitol of the
world, but it really is excessive. And it looks
SOOOOO COOOL. Need I remind you of my issue of
wishing I could be this cool:
When in reality my
only vice is wanting to eat every freaking piece of
food I see. Damn that picture is such an
illusion. The reality smelled so bad and my eyes
burned a bunch. :-)
9) Olive
You
When
the menu said green olives in the duck
dish for 2, we figured - whateva. I'm a
black olive brotha myself, but when in
Rome... err France. However, this, again,
felt like being Punk'd.
That's
what was left of the duck, and it's on a
BED of olives - that fill the whole
tlatter. Hundreds and hundreds of olives.
Are olives just super-cheap in Europe?
I mean - a jar of olives in the
states is a couple bucks...this was just,
a humorous amount of olives.
10) Brethren
Counterraction
Doh, meant to move
into this before and got side-tracked again. How
random of me. So Ann's friends that live out here know
her from "Sordid Lives" and her following for that
show is just incredible. It was fun to see her in her
element and they simply couldn't have been more
accomadating or pleasant. And the food? Have I
mentioned the food? Even homemade, I'm just taken
aback by how much pride they put into it. Veal like
I've never tasted, course after course, culminating
with homeade apricot pie on a bed of rasberries? And
of course they broke out the good stuff:
Just,
wow. You could sip this for decades - and
they probably have.
To me,
going to the fancy restaurants is one
thing, but it is an absolute treasure to
be invited into someone's home and share
something they worked on together. If they
were trying to counteract their ASSHOLE
brethren we had run into up to that point,
they did so with flying colors.
Thaaaaaaaaaank You!
11) Let's Not Bomb
Iran
They will need our
support, but we have to be verrrrrrrrrry
careful. Can you imagine McCain in this situation?
Whew. I have no doubt Obama will continue to respond
appropriately to this uprising and it could end up
being very positive if played right. What I wish the
world would do however is find a way to
circumvent the Iranian government and get the citizens
free internet access. Hackers are finding ways around
the blackout, but the world community could come
together - and that could be the determining
factor. This is Tiannmen Twitter. It's the most
incredible example of how much information changes a
society. I am completely fascinated by the entire
situation and although it's incredibly volatile, I
have hope this brings the internet world together. Us
'net-junkies don't give a shit where you're from, we
want your thoughts. We want to share ideas. Imagine if
everyone could?
Heh, yeah -
imagine if information could cross freely throughout
borders the same way clothing does...
Ha. Go bucks. That
was awesome to see sitting in France. Buckeye fans are
NUTS. :-)
12) Brotha really
is HUGE overseas
And
goddamn the world really is nuts for our
president. However every time people talk
about over-exposure and give him shit for
being a celebrity, I have to laugh. Do you
have any idea how bad the last 8 years
were? There is a good, full, YEAR'S worth
of rejoicing and excitement to give this
man simply for NOT being Bush. Throw-in
his demeanor and good looks? There's no
way around it. Like it or not he's gonna
be everywhere his entire administration.
When people stop buying the magazines?
It'll stop. Good luck guessin' when
that'll be.
13)
Frangrish?
I know
some things are lost in translation, but
for the life of me I can't grasp why "Very
Bad Trip" is more appealing to French
people than "Hangover". I'd actually
venture to say they feel the same
considering the original title is in
parenthesis. Maybe hangover has a
different connotation in Europe? Maybe
it's not considered a bad thing
here?
Hmmm...
14)
Breathtaking
I've refrained
from showing pictures of paintings in the museums etc,
because zzzzzzzzzz - you can google that shit. However
one picture absolutely stood out at the Musee D'orsay
because it was not only massive, but the color palette
was different than nearly everything else there. I
just said, "wow".
...and they're all
naked in the paintings so don't think I picked this
out just for that. :-) But if you ever visit this
museum, I'm certain you'll have the same reaction. You
go through rooms and rooms of grey paintings
(certainly gorgeous) and this takes up an entire wall
and is just absolutely stunning. If you want to learn
more about the history of the painting,
Wikipedia
to the
rescue.
15) Dearest
Suspension of Time
I've left the
mushy stuff to Ann for the most part, not because I
don't feel the same, but because I just find it
incredibly sweet through her eyes. It really has been
very storybook and I'm so happy to have been able to
inspire her to jump. It really is the epitome of what
I'm about and most certainly this site. Don't, fear,
failure. Take it from the guy who continues to fail,
on every level, as publically as possible: there's
nothing scary about it. Scary is NOT TRYING.
Scary is watching days, weeks, months and years pass
because you're scared you might fail. I am convinced
the world is full of brilliant ideas and incredible
experiences and the bearers of those treasures are
oftentimes too scared to share them. Don't be one of
'em.
Alright, I'll stop
playing self-help guru long enough to say goodbye to
Paris and all the wonderful memories that go with it.
Ann's entry will be up on Saturday.
