throwing words around

happy little californian, originally uploaded by mjane.

a woman i met yesterday made this statement, "california has turned into a police state."

i imagine that if california were a "police state" i probably wouldn't have had the luxury to be as lazy as i were and maintain habits such as smoking a joint while driving through the city, saying anything i want while conversing on the phone, and walking around my apartment naked.

hey, some people aren't necessarily great conversationalists, and needless to say, declaring california as a police state doesn't help the champagne go down easily. but it did make me realize that as i don't understand the experience in living in such an environment that i don't have a lot to complain nor worry about in comparison to those who do maintain progressive lives in places with so many boundaries to their personal freedoms.

jesus christ. what am i talking about? this is when i interject by saying, "speaking of los angeles, i'm going to see jurassic 5 perform in cannes tonight..." and what a show it was - ugly duckling and sharon jones and the dap kings opened for them. they were all great performances that got the audience hype the whole night. i wish i had my camera with me.

and now i get to end the weekend with a lazy, rainy sunday. i love it! am taking advantage of the weather as i know the coming week is going to be a big one. gonna move into our new place in st. laurent du var on friday, so that should keep me stimulated enough to stay excited and restless.

cokonutz en menton

okay, so it wasn't really cokonutz, but it sure looked like it could've been. mackenzie and i drove to menton one sunday to beach and skate. one of mack's friends builds ramps (sixieme sens), and he built this one right next to the sea in conjunction with a vw festival.

looking west on centre ville de menton, originally uploaded by mjane.

as soon as we arrived in menton, i fell in love with the town. very italian, full of color, and lots of people swimming and sun-bathing. after finding parking, mack and i both whipped out our cameras - his, a vx something or other, and mine, the nikon point n shoot.

an og vw carmengia (my bro is the pro at taking car photos), originally uploaded by mjane.

we entered the vw festival where old school bugs, eurovans/californias, and carmengias seemed to make the majority of the festival. it was funny because they were also holding a wet t-shirt contest. winner gets 150 euros. mack and i were joking about how i should enter it - one fifty for minutes of mild embarrassment is worth it, right? maybe not. in my brain i was picturing being on stage giving my worst imitation of a spring-breaking tourist dancing off-beatedly while some strange man poured a pitcher of water down my white-shirted chest. scratch that idea. i'll earn that one fifty in a less humiliating way, i decided, as toto and jules went to film the contest.

mackenzie the filmer, originally uploaded by mjane.

mack and i finally made our way to the skate demo which was just finishing up. as soon as we got there, mack breaks out his portable cassette player and holds it in one hand as he skated on the ramp with his surfas. in his get-up, people were more interested not in what music was on, but what he was on. apparently a natural high. and so was i as the setting was beautiful and bright. the ramp was situated in between the rocks and the sea. best of both worlds for this husband and wife duo.

there are two seats under the slide with two pairs of pedals in order to row this contraption; clearly, the adults got the short end of the stick with this gig, originally uploaded by mjane.

i took pictures in between sun-bathing and swimming.

toto and mack running shit, originally uploaded by mjane.

mack skating jungle-styles, originally uploaded by mjane.

this is how your run a skate shop, pt. ii, originally uploaded by mjane.

finally the sun set behind the west side of menton, and it was time to smoke a joint while the boys broke down the ramp. we hung around until 11pm, and then mack and i followed jules back to monaco to grab some burgers at the texan-owned "stars n bars" restaurant and checked out some spots for tw's upcoming tour happening on this side of the world in the near future.

break down, originally uploaded by mjane.

mack & cody from fort lauderdale, originally uploaded by mjane.

on the other side of the rocks is the sea, originally uploaded by mjane.

when we got home early the next morning, mackenzie eyed the footage from the vw fest. i fell asleep before catching the footy of the wet t-shirt contest. but mack told me all about it. (shaking my head) that's 150 euros i could've used. i completely forgot we were in france! meaning, the guys running the contest and its contestants had no idea what a wet t-shirt contest consists of. first of all, the girls they mustered up on stage were given thick dark blue t-shirts to wear. so obviously as the mc poured the pitcher of water over the girls' chests, there were no boobies seen-through the wet shirts. and the dancing was worse than off-beat embarrassment - there was no dancing. just a sort of uncomfortable and confused bobbing of bodies. in any case, i blew it - not only did the winner receive 150 euros, they got a trip for two to spain, and the title of "miss sexy côte d'azur." besides the fact that it's hardly a sexy way to gain it, i could do without the title.

this man is excited

photo courtesy of our good friend mikey t., originally uploaded by mjane.

well, he should be. he turns 27 years old today. happy birthday, bro. i don't doubt that this day won't be anything less than a spectacle. so laugh it up, make others laugh so hard they cry, and enjoy!

i love you.

des tests encore

went to four wheels to take some more photos and hopefully get the camera good to go before a shoot. finally figured the fucker out at the spot. just needed a feminine touch.

toto & mack at 4w, originally uploaded by mjane.

me at 4w, originally uploaded by mjane.

mack's 14 year-old son roman is already taller than his father; pink runs in the family though, originally uploaded by mjane.

during the shoot, originally uploaded by mjane.

"ignorant art"

the photos have a story. although accidental, the images came out during experiments done with the nikon digital cam. so in this series, we got the idea that something needed to be done to fix the white balance... had to take a few photos while figuring it out.

speaking of which, i figured out that i work best with others while good music is playing. thus the headphones. mais attention. these 20 euro wireless headphones catch the itunes frequency on mackenzie's g4. ca marche pour moi tres bien. best of both worlds... with the added bonus of seu jorge.

shady, originally uploaded by mjane.

shady 2, originally uploaded by mjane.

glorious green, originally uploaded by mjane.

green+yellow, originally uploaded by mjane.

portrait of a girl (she has the crazy eye), originally uploaded by mjane.

una obsesion

time... is on my side, originally uploaded by mjane.

talk about. every instance i look at the time, without thinking, i automatically count 9 hours back.

focus!

when three or more are gathered

where the days are longer, originally uploaded by mjane.

you have a good time. and enjoy it as much as possible while you have it.

muse: getting things done

how interesting.

index card variation.

i'll try my cool color paperclips in place of the small binder clips.

girls

the triangle, originally uploaded by mjane.

ooh, i get tingly just thinking about these girls.

another q piece

red brick green grass, originally uploaded by mjane.

it's tuesday. i can hear everything now. the village doctor did some cool medium-pressured water squirting in my ears. amazing.

going to antibes. i just ran out of film. it's all good. will read and research and swim.

the bricks in the photo are of my fam's barbeque set-up at my folks' place. i love barbequeing on that thing. burgers are hard though. but mm mm kalbi, fish, chicken, steak... i'm craving meat, i think.

coincidence: 1. The state or fact of occupying the same relative position or area in space.
2. A sequence of events that although accidental seems to have been planned or arranged.

where is the goddamn party?

little girl and tall person, originally uploaded by mjane.

i haven't been out much today. sometimes i hate to compare my l.a. weekends to my nice ones, but today is one of those days when i'd know exactly what i'd be doing on a beautiful friday like today in l.a.. instead, i'm in my room, far from nice, hoping for some positive going-out for tonight.

and i'm desperate.

i will absolutely die if i don't get out of this house tonight. oh how trying life can be when you're a dependant. in my case, i'm completely dependant on mackenzie or others to drive me into town... drive me happy.

and after having had such a great, active and positive trip in l.a., i'm on the edge over here. i will not live a provincial life. i refuse to be the lady-in-waiting. and i'll be damned if i hear about another french riviera raging-party-on-the-beach-with-champagne-and-spliffs until i am at one of those events.

to be frank, i am without transportation, friends, sandy beaches, happy hour, "meetings," lounge parties, or garth trinidad. what the fuck.

and in the end, after being told that "i don't need this from you right now," it's all for me.

until next time, little q

"i'm in love with him!", originally uploaded by mjane.

this was the beginning of a great day.
pilipino lunch.
landscape photography.
booty shots.
soft pillow.
wormy.
santa monica beach.
mcdonald's happy meal
& chicken nuggets for all.

the day ended with q being cinderella.
glass slipper falls off as the clock ticks towards midnight.
your foot is too fat.
yours is too small.
who's the prince?
he puts on the shoe and it fits her just right.
and then they dance.

a moment of zen

"a" is for automatic, originally uploaded by mjane.

student photographer photographed by her teacher.

beautiful times.

mia, it was my pleasure II make you smile on the second day of summer, originally uploaded by mjane.

there is a story to all of this.
but nothing could say it better than how i remember it in my mind.
read the manual.

non paroles

s.o.s., originally uploaded by mjane.

back near the sea. wish i were under it. what the hell is going on around here? beach-front apartment. but guilt-ridden and manipulative. where do i go?

bright side: even though it was for barely 30 minutes, i made it to mala beach today. topless therapy.

what's your poison?

cheryl ofoto'ed pictures from our friday night in hermosa, over 50 photos. i remember maybe a quarter of the scenes as i watched the ofoto slideshow. anyway, i don't consider myself much of a drinker. but as i didn't have any herb on me that night, i figured why not go with the flow, have some drinks, and call it a night.

first of all, i'm totally behind on the hip and happening drinks of today. "let's get a shot of liquid cocaine." liquid cocaine? what the hell is in that? "everything." alrighty. i had about 3 of those little devils. did a little bar-hopping, had some more of the same - and i think, some malibu rum from the car sometime in between venues - and then we switched it up to irish car bombs. hmm, couldn't for the life of me figure out what was in that, but of course, it's half a pint of guinness with a shot of bailey's. guinness, that's mackenzie's drink. might as well drink one for the hubby holding it down in nice. however, i couldn't feel the logic behind mixing it with bailey's so i was still very skeptical about dropping the shotglass down and drinking the concoction up. needless to say, i did (in about 2 gulps), and the rest... well, it's in the ofoto slideshow.

irish car bombs, originally uploaded by mjane.

look at my face: that, my friend, is skepticism, originally uploaded by mjane.

drinks later..., originally uploaded by mjane.

like a true nature's child

Wyatt casts off his wristwatch to the ground, a literal and symbolic flourish that shows his new-found freedom and rejection of time constraints in modern society. ~ Tim Dirks, film review of Easy Rider

i'm going with the flow, as they say. the truth of what is "time."

memorial day weekend

although weekends aren't as big a deal for me as it is for everyone who works all week, this long weekend was the first that really felt like a huge deal for me.

friday night, i made an impromptu trip out to hermosa with some girlfriends and had fun, fun, fun!!! went bar hopping, ate some after-hours pizza, and had a lovely argument with some bill-o'reilly-following college kid about "liberty." poor kid.

saturday, i went to a santa cruzan event at st. genevieve's church in which quirina was one of the flower girls. it was so touching and educational that i'm seriously considering going to the philippines for christmas 2006. gotta start saving then.

sunday, i got out of the city and spent the whole day at my sister's condo in ventura. sun, steaks and shrek 2. need i say more?

and finally today, monday, i spent the day with my parents american-style (a.k.a, checking out the sales!). after a nice lunch we walked around valencia for hours window-shopping, and my mama bought me a nice pair of wedges. thanks ma! we had a surprise visit from my bro, his girlfriend and my sister's family later in the afternoon and we all had dinner together. fun times. the only things missing from such a family-oriented weekend was not turning on the karaoke machine or my having to play the piano for everyone's entertainment.

now, my mom and dad are watching tfc (the filipino channel). my mom and dad are laughing so loudly that i bet the neighbors can hear them from their bedrooms... with the windows closed.

it's great to see the fam having a ball. i will definitely miss this (family, friends and los angeles) when i go back to nice at the end of june. my sister's already feeling the pain as she asked me a number of times this evening to call mackenzie and tell him i'm not going back. (don't worry, baby, i'll be back on june 28 at 2:30pm) but this trip makes me realize that as much as i love los angeles, i like being in eu a lot too. and i'd be pretty disappointed to find out that my time there was up already. besides, who said that i had to pick one place to stay? there's nothing wrong with wanting both the states and eu to call home equally.

building bridges.

je pense que c'est mieux...

mon homme, originally uploaded by mjane.

family night

all the cousins hung out at everette's house for dinner and the dodger game friday night. best dodger game yet. milton bradley saves. apparently dodger stadium does $2 tuesdays. i'm like, "let's go!" but my bro says $2 tuesdays is more like $2 agro tuesdays as you're placed in what he calls "ghetto" pavillion where many fights have been taking place. maybe not such a good idea. but hey, go dodgers.

during dinner we played a game called black magic. i still don't get it.

i finally got to see melissa's baby girl, mila. she is so adorable. she is the third baby to bless our fam in the last three years. and as the mature cousins we are, we love using our baby nephew and nieces as our entertainment.

not feeling the black magic, originally uploaded by mjane.

eljay's so creative, originally uploaded by mjane.

elo can't get enough of her ipod shuffle, originally uploaded by mjane.

mila and mark, the godfather (look at her cute little toes!), originally uploaded by mjane.

mila, the amazing dancing baby: after dinner entertainment, originally uploaded by mjane.

bad uncle eljay, originally uploaded by mjane.