the weekend

i haven't actually had a "weekend" in a long time. before this past one, my weekends landed on sundays and mondays and consisted of sleeping and sunbathing. i almost couldn't handle anything more than a nice dinner or just drinks at the irish pub as working at the shop was like full-time socializing and hosting.

anyway, this past weekend was packed with social events from my parents' birthdays to my cousin's graduation to checking out some events in this great city.

friday night. my bro and i at soundlessons at star shoes. this man right here finished 2nd in his team for his first triathalon.

d steez is moving to nashville in july... huh??!!

saturday afternoon. my ate's new ride. on the way to tita carol's pad in the scv, what.

sunday eve. chilling at mia's pad.

later that eve in downtown. am feeling this spot right here introduced to me by mia and mills. this place is telling me, "wedding reception." hmmm...

same spot. poolside. mills snapping photos.



ms. mia keeping our glasses full.

and there's a jacuzzi. mackenzie would love this spot.

view from poolside. seriously, this place is calling my name.

later, later on that eve at little temple.

mills saw this sign on the way home, "the sign is handmade," a rarity these days.

in between all of these special moments, don't forget world cup! even after some long nights, i still have my t.v. set to turn on automatically at 8:30am on univision to check out at least one game per day. thank goodness for gatorade to keep those hangovers away. i wonder if they sell gatorade in barcelona...

speaking of gatorade, talk about wonderful. a bottle of champagne, a huge shot of tequila, and 4 hours of sleep didn't stop me from having a great monday with little q, her little ponies and the playground.

and speaking of great products, boost mobile is the real deal. for someone like me, pre-paid cell phones are your best friend. and in this case, not only are boost mobile's pay-as-you-go rates the best, you have the option to get unlimited daily web access for only 20 cents per day. i'm saying, you can check your email, get directions, chat, upload photos, update your blog, etc. from your phone any time, any where (did i mention that they're powered by nextel?). where you at, for real.

week in photos

although i had planned to have an easy schedule since my last day at work (a.k.a going to the beach every day), it's turned out to be pretty damn exciting. some photos. note: am working off a pc right now. they are of the past and should be left there. everyone should have a mac.


my sweetheart. mackenzie and i went to texas city last thursday before checking out ms. coppola's latest, marie antoinette. probably the worst excuse for a feature film she's ever done.


i saw this quick burger ad at the bus stop last friday. from the looks of it this burger is more dark and evil than anything sunny.


sunday afternoon. the rumbling of exhaust pipes woke me up as mack and i were napping, and when i went out to the terrace to see whose car was the source of this noise, it turned out to be not just one car. apparently a rally car race was to come, and the city held an event for all the racers this day.


wednesday afternoon at studio city dental group. that's my mom doing her magic on my pearly whites. she's worked on abc 7 news anchorwoman laura diaz's and tom hanks' teeth.


wednesday night driving with mia. the fabiolus cafe on melrose. flo and mackenzie used to throw parties here. those were the days.


mia took me to lola's where we met up with evan and darryll. lola's bathroom.


evan on fairfax.


mia and i on fairfax. overdid the eating bit at lola's. held my tummy for the whole ride home, "my tummy hurts."

which brings me to today. it's the first day i've woken up after 9am since i've been home. but i think that's mostly due to having this huge upset tummy. i think i need to chill out on being so excited to eat all the food i've missed since mack and i moved.

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.

spring cleaning

my inner mjane is telling me that it's coming close to that time to move on to the next big project. maybe not as gigantic as moving to france - assimilating, working, tolerating, frenching and all that other shit. but who knows, i might surprise myself and my dream of having the same physical stamina as i did when i was 16 will come true. actually, it wouldn't be that surprising.

in any case, aside from the occassional "eh" and "umm" i insert in my sentences while speaking french, i've triumphed over all the challenges i had set for myself when i landed in france, hungover and sedated (effect of feeling trauma, shock, sadness and euro-vacation-like excitement all at the same time) in '04. so it's time for a new set of challenges that i want nothing more than to conquer.

one recurring question comes to mind in regards to new goals and new projects: what do i want to do now? it could be anything, really. it's just a matter of which one of these anythings will turn into that something just for me.

. . .

bastien is in town this week. the first day he came by 4wheels he showed up wearing a fedora, a flip t-shirt under a pinstriped blazer, his signature jeans, and signature shoes with a fender guitar strapped to his back. all the kids are starstruck. yesterday, one kid looked like he was going to suffocate if he didn't get to shake bastien's hand. no worries, he did.

. . .

not to sound like a blog or anything, but i am seriously feeling the vibe and style behind married to the mob. so refreshing. seriously. read this. and this.

spring

this kitty has blue eyes, originally uploaded by mjane.

the town's been warming up since easter. there are more tourists around, too. i can always tell who's a tourist because they dress more in harmony with what the city has to offer, i.e. sun and beach. thus, they wear brighter colors, less clothing, and casual footwear. unlike the locals who tend to stick with darker hues, coats, scarves, and dress shoes. it's rare to see women in fur coats and way-too-pointy-toed high-heeled shoes along any beach, but they roll deep down here.

lunch break, originally uploaded by mjane.

comedy

photo by ms. mia on hollywood alongside bacon-wrapped hotdogs. one ridiculously funny night., originally uploaded by mjane.

i love laughing. i'm feening for a good laugh today. it hasn't really happened yet. usually i can depend on flo to make me laugh, but since his internship ended last week, it's been kind of dead.

yesterday was super funny. i had barely been at work for half an hour when romi jumps on some random kid walking by after the kid asked romi if he had a staring problem. seconds later, toto is trying to break the two up, a chair is picked up but taken away by an adult before it was thrown, yelling in french ensues... more yelling... walk away, come back, separate the two, walk away, come back, separate the two, and it was over.

of course i didn't laugh when it happened - romi is 16, works at the skateshop and is pretty much their adopted son - but it was funny. i was laughing to myself the whole day.

maybe that story wasn't a very good example of funny. obviously violence isn't funny to me. but considering that they were two little high school punks, it reminded me of when i was a kid in santa clarita and the valley. lots of shit-talking... and sometimes stupid shit-talking confrontations that were pointless... except that they were hella funny and pointless.

back to (non)life

our heini experience, originally uploaded by mjane.

after a relaxing week hiding out in amsterdam, i'm back in nice. the one great thing about having nice as homebase is that the weather is always warmer down here. i got to sunbathe for a couple of hours before we got on the plane to holland and the same again the morning we returned to the south. not bad.

and work is going a lot better for me. although it's still ghetto, i'm happy with that. basically, when i got back to town i decided to see what it feels like to stop using my brain. granted, it's not something that i want to get used to, but while i'm here "not thinking" works. you now what i'm saying? hey jane, i need you to take the prices down on our best-selling spring lines because i like losing money. sure, no problem. take this successful collection off the floor because i'm pissed at the designer. sure, no problem.

i've never hustled anything this way before, but how could i possibly contribute my juices and flow to an environment that prefers the mindless cycle of small-town drama to progress? whatevs, for a grand a month, i don't mind. and i'd like to reiterate, temporary.

typical french

i got to work late today, again. if it's not the tramway construction growing around the city, it's another manifestation (protest) holding traffic up. today it was the latter. but organized by the high school students of lycée massena who are protesting a new law passed by the french government. the law called le Contrat Premiere Embauche (CPE) which translates to First Employment Contract. it allows employers with 20 or more employees to fire staff under 26 years old within 2 years for no reason.

manifestations and grêves (strikes) are legal here. the government allows employees to protest and strike as they please for whatever reason against their employers. normally, of course, the protests and strikes are aimed to disrupt the flow of business, but the question that i ask as these protests happen almost every week, how effective are they? especially since the strikers know that they'll be going back to the same job anyway as the unemployment rate in france is so high.

in the case with the CPE law, i think it's a weak answer to the ridiculously high unemployment rate in france. in addition to the shortage of jobs, it is damn hard to land a job out here anyway as almost all employers only hire people who have received a degree in the position they're filling. yes, you even need a degree to be a secretary. and then it's even harder to fire an employee as their ammo are manifestations and grêves... get it?

but supporters of the new law say that it generates more jobs because at least it gives people aged 26 and under the opportunity to find temporary employment. i say that all it does is lead people in their 20s to live en chômage, on unemployment. sure, getting unemployment checks help ease one's situation as they're in between jobs, but with the monthly unemployment allowance, after rent and the basic neccessities for living, it leaves little room for 20-somethings to contribute to the lifestyle. not to mention that their parents are still supporting them, e.g. buying their groceries, helping with the rent, etc.

with all this in mind, one of two things happen: people around my age resort to working retail, at the supermarket, or at mcdonald's (the latter two being the higher-paying, non-degree jobs in france), and that's only if they get hired; or if they can afford the investment, they pick another career path, go back to school for it, and hope they get a job when they graduate. whatever the case may be, by the time people my age can contribute to the culture and the economy, they're in their 30s. and that's only if they can afford to contribute by then. oh yes, and did i mention that there aren't laws that protect employees against discrimination? first of all, the creation of laws against discrimination in france is a new thing. needless to say, discrimination is yet another huge issue within the unemployment mess. is this all the french youth have to look forward to?

which brings me back to this morning. i obviously don't agree with the new work law. but what changes, other than symbolic, do these protests make when the majority of protesters are high school and university students? they haven't worked a day in their lives.

mr. nice

i just finished reading an autobiography by howard marks called mr. nice. it's the first biography - let alone "auto" - that i highly enjoyed reading. it's so good that i'm going to read it all over again. howard marks was one of the biggest marijuana dealers in the world from the late 70s to the 80s. what's interesting about him is that as much as he loved money, he never got so greedy as to push other drugs that were trendy at the time. plus, he was highly educated and made connections with a list of high-profile characters all over the world. the message i received after finishing the book is that studying law and the basics of banking are essential to being a successful hustler. that is if you're dealing with money in the millions+ or your business happens to be illegal, like pushing weed.

in relation to having read the book, last week i met a 23-year-old pilipino named david at the shop. first of all, i have to brush up my tagalog very soon before i totally lose the rhythm. let's just say, i'm finding it very difficult to maintain speaking three languages. and right now, tagalog is my weakest. anyway, we struck up a conversation about what each other's doing in nice. he was in town for the week to do some work. after, he was to go to firenze and pick up "the professora's car" as he called it. who's the professora, i asked? she is some doctor who knows his fam in italy and hooked him up with this job. driving? he said that's what he does - gets paid 4k a month to do it. so he drives the car from firenze to roma to napoli. at the time, i was thinking to myself, damn that is one hooked-up gig. all he has to do is drive. but when i told mackenzie about david later that night, he said that david's probably driving hash around. no way, i thought. but then i remembered some of the details of mr. nice, and how marks talked about transporting the tons of stuff around tucked in all kinds of panels in a car. it all made sense. in any case, if david is really pushing stuff around italy, good luck out there, homie.

did you know that over 20 million people smoke weed per day in america? or was it 20 million pounds of weed that's smoked per day?

it's a man's world

in this case, that is not reassuring.

subsequent titles for this entry:
mamas' boys
i'm not a baby, i'm a man!
oh, grow up
accounting for everything
business for cavemen living in the 21st century

that's as far as i've gotten with attempting to express my observations on the type of environment i work in. actually, i may have come close to expressing my angst against the crap i go through at work during dinner last night with mackenzie. maybe he can help me write my work experiences into a cohesive story. that, or come to nice, invite me to dinner at texas city, and buy me some tequila (which is exactly how mackenzie heard all the crappy details). let's just say, talking about women as if we were car options, staring at female clientele while they're trying on the merchandise, or yelling while using "ass" and "fucked" in the same sentence in front of passers-by and employess hardly makes for good business.

just to be fair: before moving to france, the best job i ever had was with a company where i was the lone female. our business dealt with skateboarding, music, and girls (à la maxim or FHM). i've edited stories there regarding drive-bys, sexual preferences, turn-ons, diseases, pyrotechnics, pirates, strippers, porn, skating, how to get chicks, etc. our work environment included in-door golf, playboy centerfold posters on the walls, and piña coladas. all while maintaining a high level of professionalism - not only did i get paid 1) a fair salary and 2) on time, i felt absolutely secure and equal and my creativity levels were at its highest. not to mention, my superiors' small children hung out at the office, and i met my husband there.

i can't even sell american apparel underwear without some sexually-charged joke being made about it. don't even get me started on the business basics this enterprise lacks...

nothing to say at the moment

thomas, mack, manu, & soffia in 4wheels, originally uploaded by mjane.

our intern, originally uploaded by mjane.

bingo

i love being on point. it feels so good when i'm totally just in tune with everything. no expectations, no disappointments, just go with the flow. today is one of those days. i think it helps that the sun is shining. definitely motivational.

i think hot rod may have found a good person to work in the shop. finding another vendeuse has been a huge priority for me since the shop's opened. anyway, i've been kind of persistent in getting the homies to interview a friend of a friend, and after a few weeks they finally met with her on saturday and really liked her. we're gonna feel each other out for a week or two in the shop. hopefully there's a connection so i get some more time to work on other things.

speaking of which, mackenize and i are going to meet up with julie mae and tad next month in amsterdam. i love it. that city is close to having created the perfect vibe. i can't describe it, but it's definitely pleasant. youthful. modern.

curtains, originally uploaded by mjane.

on the way to work, originally uploaded by mjane.

vitamin d

the sun's been out the majority of the past couple of weeks, and i hope that means the south of france is getting an early start on spring. i won't push my luck, but i wouldn't mind not wearing my thermals under my outfits any more.

last night i stayed up to catch the nba all-star game on canal+. it was fun to watch, but i could've done without all the "TP" fanfare. yes, france should be proud that tony parker is the first french bballer to be an all-star, but showing him performing singles from his upcoming rap album was unnecessary. i liked the features they did on the other french bballers playing in the nba however. my fave being diaw. aside from that, what was up with the slam dunk contest? the way homie won was confusing. if the contest consisted of all the points achieved from beginning to end, then why did the finalists have to square off into a tie-breaker round?

anyway, thanks to mackenzie i now have mondays off from work. jesus christ. i was about to tear off people's heads if i had continued working 6 days a week. note: if you're ever going to work in a country like france where they brag about six-weeks' paid vacation and 2-hour lunch breaks, make sure to work for a company that actually abides by these work laws. on the bright side, the shop is starting to take shape the way i want it to. i think it has a lot to do with the fact that the new collections for spring have more color and less material in a variety of cuts. there is nothing more boring than trying to push collections full of heavy sweaters, long sleeves and jackets for 6 months. not to mention that winter clothing can only get so creative without looking too trendy or cheapy or, most of all, not warm enough.

my point is, as much as i respect the snow, knee-high boots, cashmere sweaters and the idea of cuddling by the fire, i have no interest in the winter season.

i don't care if we're eating lunch in the middle of the street as long as i get some sun!, originally uploaded by mjane.

more on berlin

the kit for berlin, originally uploaded by mjane.

now that i've cleared the craziness of the tradeshow from my brain, my thoughts on berlin become a little more clear. first of all, there is something about the color of berlin, the way the natural light hits the city. lucky for me, the skies were pretty clear during my whole stay there, yet as the sun shone the city maintained this unique sedate color. if you've ever been there i'm sure you'll be reminded of what i mean when you look at the photos. it's not dark, but it's not bright. it's berlin, i suppose.

as far as the vibe goes, it's calm, but happening. meaning, it's definitely not flashy, but you can tell straight up that berliners know what's going down/what's in/what's out. one of my favorite spots was hackescher markt. granted there is art everywhere, once you step into this part of town, you see art on every wall, every building; stickers and posters on every pole, trash can, and sidewalk; and the population transits into a younger crowd. you see windows with people chatting, looking, eating, or drinking; the streets buzzing with youth; and the shopping - it was excellent, well-rounded and full of great ideas.

i should note that a lot of the observations i'm making about berlin are more like comparisons to my opinion about living in france. as much of a good experience it is to live in the "french riviera,"i feel like the region is behind on the times. image is everything down here, but when a city's not even up-to-date with what that is, they've got a ways to go. for example, the well-to-do, successful image still consists of wearing a tie. meaning, the french down here will be the first ones to turn down a 30-year-old kid at the door because his 300-euro jacket, 200-euro jeans, 55-euro cap and 150-euro sneakers (all while carrying a debit card with at least 200k and priceless gold-plated mont blanc pen in his pocket) don't fit their definition of "image" (true story, by the way). ironically, a lot of the reason why i don't go out down here is because the idea of having no option but to wear something stiff and black and old-person-looking would go against everything i consider my image to be.

with that, the complete opposite is true about berlin. or at least, they already understand that it's okay to generate and encourage elements of what is young and new to progress the city in a number of different ways. i enjoyed berlin very much! i could do without the cold, but the city has a lot to offer: a great vibe, lots of history, and a seemingly endless amount of great ideas.

the brick trail that runs through the city is all that remains of the wall, originally uploaded by mjane.

taxi benzes, originally uploaded by mjane.

the dents in this century-old fountain are battle wounds from the war that you'll see in many of the monuments here, originally uploaded by mjane.

a cbs piece on a building, originally uploaded by mjane.

fixins in berlin, originally uploaded by mjane.

this alley is filled with art, originally uploaded by mjane.