Barcelona Revisited

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Now you can now you can watch the slideshow while listening to music!

The blog is indeed progressing well...(Thanks Enrique! This one's for you)

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Devil Do by Holy Golightly and the Brokeoffs

Urban Life

The gym, the nightclub, the all-night deli,

Toronto and its' layers of existence

Relationship Woes

Have I told you about my latest relationship? His name is Craig.

I met Craig many years ago but since the beginning of January, I have spent hours every weekend with him. Since good communication is important for every lasting relationship, my connection with Craig also includes photos and large blocks of text, all very time consuming tasks but worthwhile.

I've also met a number of people through Craig. In today's highly virtual world, Craig has managed to connect me to his friends on-line and they do frequently send me emails to say hello. Actually, after the first introductions one evening, I had 50 emails in my inbox by the next morning. They always have a lot of questions to ask of me and because I am a responsive person, I write back. And after, some of Craig's friends have even dropped by at eleven o'clock at night to meet me. In fact, Matthew came by at 8am! Craig's friends also tend to come in big vans, cash in hand and some with plastic bags in hand ready for any circumstance that might occur.

On the other hand, some of Craig's friends are not very polite nor respectful. For instance, Colleen yelled at me on-line. Simon, Jeff and Irina never followed through on our plans to meet-up. Apparently Jeff got caught up plowing his driveway and forgot to call. There was Cerebus who thought I was attractive and was interested in more than the printer. And finally, Fire from the Sun who told me to "go trotting to Aden Camera (to buy my Nikon D80) and stop bothering to email!"

These days, my patience with Craig is wearing thin. This morning, Craig made it into the media. There is a shocking article in the Toronto Star about him. It is titled "California Woman Hires Hitman on Craigslist". You can read it here too.

So after my last unpleasant experiences with some of Craig's friends and this recent article which proves that there are probably many more "not so nice" people in his circle of friends, I am no longer interested in my relationship with Craig. But experience has taught me that selecting the proper time to breakup is necessary and I must wait until the end of February to do so. In the meantime, I expect that there will be more strange encounters to face and write about.

Outbound

On March 26, exactly 2 months from now, I will be on my way to Europe.

First stop: Escanecrabe, in the Midi-Pyrénées region of France (capital is Toulouse)

Then, onward, westbound to Vigo, in Galicia Spain

Camera Exercises

Staying healthy, physically and creatively.

A Danish Green Card

NEWS FLASH (from Dec 28, 2007)

I quote from workpermit.com...

Managing Director of the Danish Immigration Service, Henrik Grunnet, says "it's a myth that it is difficult to immigrate to Denmark if you have the right skills."

Read more here

Christiansborg Slot, grounds of the Royal Palace and now government offices

Knock, knock, I'm ready to come in

Architectural arithmetic

The conceptual development of the headquarters for China Central Television building, Beijing by Rem Koolhaas.

Image Source

More about this project here.

Ligne d'orange, direction Côte Vertu

Votre liaison amoureuse, votre musique, et votre tristesse,

Vous êtes toujours avec moi, je me souviendrai de toi.

Introducing....

..... High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDRi) and Vladimir Mikadze.

Blending computer graphics and photography, HDRi allows a greater range of values between dark and light areas allowing for final images of many levels of intensity. Vladimir Mikadze does a great job pushing this techinique to it's fullest extent in his work. The result are a set of images that could be categorized as "tragedy and comedy".

Photo by Vladimir Mikadze

See more of his Russia: St. Petersburg Series

here

Last night I dreamt

Winter Break

Let sleeping cows lie on bright sunny days

Faraway

Eyes speak louder than words. Sometimes I think I can hide behind my glasses.

Survival

Speed of Consciousness

This April, I will begin my journey by traveling through Spain, Portugal and Morocco on a motorcycle.

As a prelude to this experience, my friend Julie lent me a book to read: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig. Written in 1974,the book describes a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by the author and his son across the USA.

Here is an excerpt from page 4:

"You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from other. In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more T.V. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.
On a cycle, the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all.

You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming. That concrete whizzing by five inches below your foot is the real thing, the same stuff you walk on, it's right there, so blurred you can't focus on it, yet you can put your foot down and touch it anytime, and the whole thing, the whole experience, is never removed from immediate consciousness."

(Bantam Books, April 1975, New York)

If the visual impact and sensation created from this passage is any indication of what I will feel riding on the bike, then the cold, wind and rain won't matter, and I will forever be grateful for this opportunity and experience.

Irony

My horoscope in the Toronto Star today reads,

Sagittarius (Nov. 23 — Dec.21)

Not only are you not perfect, you are not supposed to be perfect. It's an impossible notion in an imperfect world. You are not a machine. You are a person made of flesh and blood. Accept your unreasonable desires and be proud of yourself.

(I swear I did not write my last post knowing this)

Aha! I will now become even more demanding, probably of myself.

January 1, 2008

Well, New Years is here again.

Based upon Wikipedia, today's free and popular, but maybe not so reliable online resource, a "New Year's Resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to a project or a often a lifestyle that is generally interpreted as advantageous. The name comes from the fact that these commitments normally go into effect on New Year's Day and remain until the set goal has been achieved."

Perhaps my life would be different today if I believed in making a list of New Year's Resolutions. Would I be the perfect person if I spent more time with family, vowed to quit bad habits or help those in need, as listed in the Top Ten New Year's Resolutions.

But seeing that I am not perfect, nor choose to be, and that New Year Resolutions are not solutions, but instead more or less a road to self-disappointment, I struggle to make such a pressuring list for my life. Instead, I welcome 2008 first with a reflection of 2007

In 2007, I, (not in any particular order)

Rediscovered my passion for photography ---- Dedicated my 5-9pm life to Architecture for Humanity Toronto and loved it ---- Experienced alleys, tiny apartments and Gaudi in Barcelona ---- Kayaked in the Copenhagen canals and fell asleep in the Assistens Kirkegard Cemetery again ---- Lived for the moment in Stockholm ---- Pushed my values of love to a new limit ----Joined the Couchsurfing network where travelers arrived as strangers and some left as friends ---- Saw Toronto with traveler's eyes ---- Experienced rain and ferry rides in British Columbia ---- Reconnected with a good old friend ---- Quit my job ---- Decided to move to Denmark ---- Made plans for a motorcycle and backpacking journey through Western Europe ---- Sold over 60% of my belongings ---- Learned the hard way not to bike after a snow storm ---- Had the most intimate and distant friendship of my life so far ---- Realized that personal health comes first and not to be taken for granted.

Well 2008 is here and the churning in my stomach indicates this day as a pivotal point in my life. My upcoming departure from Canada for a new and exciting journey will be the biggest life change for me since moving from home at 17 years. Kleejourneys will grow immeasurably as I embrace it with all my heart, mind and soul.