me n you

the eisenhours at the heineken experience in amsterdam (photo: jm.miyoshi), originally uploaded by mjane.

did you know mackenzie and i got married on november 10, 2004? just less than 2 months after we flew away from our chillin spot at 1306 armacost to France. our wedding day was a tuesday. we got hitched in st. paul de vence by the town mayor, 4 being the total of guests who were able to be there.

a week after - traditionally the time when the happy couple goes off on their honeymoon - mack and i moved to paris straight up. we hadn't even found an apartment to live in in paris yet. this is for real. we moved with a small suitcase and backpack each, and we stayed at the peace and love hostel in the 11th arrondisement while apartment hunting. the room was so small that a room for 2 consisted of bunkbeds and a shower. mack got the lower bunk. the newlyweds didn't even get to sleep together! but at least we got a view of the canal st. martin. luckily we got to check out of the hostel only after 2 nights as mack hooked up an apartment he found through a friend.

our new place was 10 meters squared. if you don't have a picture of how small that is, our bed was also the sofa. while sitting on the toilet, you could reach the kitchen and stir what's cooking on the stove. and this is the best: you can't close the door to the toilet "room" (if i can even call it a room) because the room is only big enough for the toilet, not for someone actually using it. to be blunt, mack and i were forced to do our shit on the toilet in front of each other.

that was our first few months of marriage.

when we moved back to the south of France, we stayed in mack's old bedroom at chez eisenhours. that went on for 6 months before mack seriously hooked up our current spot in st. laurent du var. right on the beach. and a 5-minute walk to Galeries Lafayette and the mall. does my man know and love me or what?

now, after having this spot for almost a year, we're moving again... à la belle ville de barcelona. i'm not even going to speculate what we'll find as a proper apartment for a married duo like us over there. j'en pense pas. as long as i'm doing this with mackenzie right here next to me, it's all good. this guy has got my back for real.

good times

this is my last week of work at hot rod. looking back, i'm happy with the experience. met a lot of people, got the opportunity to work with a lot of good brands, and made some loot. the best thing i'd have to say about my job was working with the guys from 4 wheels. they've had my back since day 1 at this job, and i've learned so much about the biz from the homies next door. if you ever find yourself in nice, a visit to 4 wheels skateshop at place garibaldi is a must. besides being the spot to kick it, you want to be friends with these down-to-earth, ultra-cool dudes. they are where the party's at.

4 wheels 8-year anniversary shindig in april, originally uploaded by mjane.

greg providing the ambience for the anniversary party, originally uploaded by mjane.

romi, toto, joe, & mack checking the footy, originally uploaded by mjane.

bumper to bumper

even though i could give two shits about being stuck in traffic in l.a., it can be quite unnerving while experiencing some in the little town of nice. first of all, traffic here is usually exceptional. granted, there is some new traffic due to the tramway construction, but nothing "l.a." enough where you're literally sitting in the same spot on the road for more than 5 minutes. then there's the exceptional traffic - one could usually expect to find traffic on a tuesday after a long weekend, during the cannes film festival, or during the week of carnaval right before lent starts.

in this case, nicolas sarkozy, the interior minister of france, was in town holding a conference for all the regional interior ministers of france. heavy duty. they closed off the major road from the airport to nice centre ville. that causes a bit of a problem for little impatient me at 7pm as all i want to do is get out of nice. so with no buses running and mackenzie stuck in traffic somewhere on the promenade, i had no choice but to walk a little bit in order to meet mackenzie halfway. a lovely sidenote: while clinking champagne glasses on 5-star-hotel rooftop terraces overlooking the mediterranean, sarkozy and the other interior ministers were scheduled to discuss terrorism and immigration. meanwhile he had cops on standby everywhere to ensure his security.

cop cars holding shit up, originally uploaded by mjane.

chillin cops, originally uploaded by mjane.

the walk to meet mackenzie (okay, i shouldn't even be complaining about traffic if this is the detour), originally uploaded by mjane.

the experience

every wednesday night at the source is the blues co. jam session. it's like open mic/amp for the blues. bastien was planning on playing, so we headed over there to see just how buttery his fingers are on the guitar. his being the same guitar that jimmy page had, mind you.

no sweat. he went on stage, murmured something to the rest of the band, and the next thing i heard was the intro to bold as love. fitting as he was sporting a jimi hendrix tshirt. did i mention that he sang it, too? that, and some behind-the-back guitar playing.

sylvan & bastien, originally uploaded by mjane.

the sesh, originally uploaded by mjane.

bastien on the mic, originally uploaded by mjane.

the party, originally uploaded by mjane.

toto, lydia, romi and tudor (trying out bastien's blazer and fedora), originally uploaded by mjane.

tudor nice pants & sylvan, originally uploaded by mjane.

toto, mack and bastien's ring (blues on ice), originally uploaded by mjane.