So... What next?

10/07/2010

It's been ages since my last post, I know. A lot of things happened in the past 2-3 months, which, to be honest, I am not going to write about. So, if you already know about all the things I've been up to lately, great. If not, then you are probably not even supposed to know.

A bit more than a week ago, D. and I boarded Charlie to embark on a relatively short road trip.
Ultimate destination: Huntsville, Alabama.
Her mom was throwing a surprise party for her dad, so we were going to be part of the surprise.

We set off on Thursday the 1st. To get there, we covered just over 1300 kilometers but before arriving, we stopped at Birmingham for a couple of nights, to see a few friends.


Somewhere in Texas. Agreed, 4th of July was closing in, but still... On cupcakes???


We found this representation of a hanging on the side of a highway. Crazy thing, it was part of the landscaping of a lawyer's office!


Found an Athens in Texas.


And then one in Alabama.


The pig is a local landmark for Alabama.


So is Hooters and its educational events...


Did you know that Birmingham has a beach??

When we made it to Huntsville, the "What The Fuck???" moments kept pouring in... Huntsville is known for many memorable elements.


Big shopping centers.


Delicious beverages.


Life changing questions.


And its rocket and space program history.


Seriously, there are rockets on the side of the interstate.


You don't see that every day!


The welcoming committee?

The party was a great success, her parents were happy to see us, we stayed 2 days and then we went on our way. Now, having plenty of time to get back, we decided to avoid the interstates and drive back through backroads and small towns. Keep in mind, we are talking about some of the most stereotypical "southern" states one can visit. Driving through the small, unknown town of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and East Texas is not something to be taken lightly. Time has indeed stopped in many of those places.

However, that does not mean we digressed from the WTF theme of this trip.


A giant crawfish in Alexandria, Louisiana. Mind you, the whole city seemed to be "closed for remodeling", a sign many stores decided to decorate their fronts with.


Back in Texas. (Making sure nobody misses it.)


A police car in Jasper, Texas! (?!?!?!?)


A choo-choo train in College Station, Texas.

It was a short trip with immense amounts of fun, but I'm happy to be back in Austin. :)

M.

24/04/2010

It's great not needing to work! You have the freedom to catch all these crazy events and then some. (Funny enough, it's now a year that I have not been working and it seems like I'll be sticking to this pattern for a while still. :) )

Does anyone out there remember Eeyore, the blue donkey from Winnie the Pooh? Well, on the 24th of April his birthday is celebrated and only a place like Austin would throw a huge party in the park in his favor.





This past saturday, the 24th of April, the whole of Pease park was full of happy, silly people wearing any costume you can possibly imagine, were painted in all colors of the rainbow and were smoking all herbs known to man... The fun and laughter went on strong till sundown, when everyone dispersed and headed out o the afterparties.













I seriously friggin love this city!!!

M.

21/04/2010

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to the wedding of D. and C. in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. They live in San Francisco, which is also where I met them, but they were going to have an intimate ceremony with 40-50 people in Mexico, so it was a real honor for me to be there.

They wedding was held on the beach of the Grand Sunset Princess, an all-inclusive resort right on the turquoise waves of the Caribbean sea. Endless acres of land, incorporating a number of restaurants, pools and other amenities to accommodate the guests of their 1500 rooms. The term "all-inclusive" means that once you pay for your room, all consumption of any kind is free within the walls of the resort. In other words, we're talking about a heavily alcohol-infused culinary extravaganza while lounging by the side of the pool.



The whole resort was beautiful and luxurious beyond belief. Most people there, however were a little bit too pretentious, shallow and loud for my tastes, so the night time was more appealing to me.



As for the wedding itself, breathtaking. A beautiful ceremony, right by the beach, hosted in between two palm trees, graced with the presence of many joyful, elegant participants.




The bride and her father




Obligatory, cheesy, post-ceremonial photo

It was a quick, 4-day escape to a gorgeous part of Mexico, filled with fun people, exciting memories and lots and lots of food!

M.

20/04/2010

Some of you may remember of the farewell party I had thrown when I was leaving Austin back in October. It had taken place in TC's lounge, my favorite live music venue.

Now that I am back in Austin, my arrival could not possibly be official without a welcome back party. So, I organised a "fare-welcome back" party, again at TC's. It just so happened that the very same day was the national "Draw a moustache on your finger" day. So, I put on my best enhanced facial hair



and off I was to shake my booty at TC's, along with a bunch of my good friends!





Indeed, there was a lot of sillyness, dancing, jumping (we nearly broke the damn dance floor), laughing and general merry behavior.

It's official! I am now a newly-born Austinite! :D

M.

20/03/2010

March 12th till March 21st is when SXSW takes place in Austin. It is a huge event festival, combining interactive technology, film and music at the same time. We're talking about a festival like no other. The whole city turns into one big venue. People rent out parking lot to turn them into concert halls. Tens of thousands of people start flocking into Austin and we end up living in the middle of a gigantic concert venue. It's terrific and terrifying at the same time.

On the last saturday of the events, I went to shoot some bands playing at a free event downtown. By the time I got there, Andrew W.K. was coming up on stage. Once he began to sing, I immediately got a good idea of what kind of music all bands were gonna be playing, and so will you after seeing a couple of the photos below.





I climbed up a tree to have a perfect clear view of the stage and despite the freak cold that had attacked Austin that day (and that day only), it was well worth it.

After this fella, it was time for the headliners to make their appearance. Now, have you ever heard of the band called "Gwar"? If not, google them and you'll get an idea of who they are.
In brief, it is a rock band that made its appearance during the 80s and immediately took the crowds by surprise with their "intense" and "creative" stage appearance.







What we have here is a group of guys dressed up in huge, sci-fi, horror costumes (one of them was wearing a strap-on that had an amputated turkey leg for a penis) who perform all sorts of obscenities on stage, while singing trash metal and spraying fake blood on the crowd that is going wild!





The show was hilarious. Their music... not quite my cup of tea...

M.

10/03/2010

About three weeks ago, D. and I were invited to pose for a figure drawing session. The costume theme was to be along the lines of caveman/cavewoman and Sparta.

Neither of the two of us ever misses out on things like this, so we gladly accepted, we prepared our costumes and off we went.

Within a time frame of two hours, we switched between a number of poses, varying from being one minute long to 10 minutes longs.
Here are some of the ones we did...







And here is one of the sketches done by one of the designers.



We had some good laughs, did our silly thing once again and I learnt something new: G-strings are seriously uncomfortable!!!

M.

14/03/2010

...so I decided to share these thoughts with you.

It's been already a month that I've been back to Austin and my life is slowly taking some sort of shape and form. Everything is working out beautifully and every single day feels new and exciting. I must say, some aspects of life here are not as easy as I would have expected, but all in all, I can't complain.

The weather is beautiful and it's incredibly pleasing to drive down a road amongst nothing but trees, with the windows winded down to allow the breeze on to my face, just to go to a water-front cafe and do some work on my laptop.
I have discovered how accessible the river is to go kayaking on it. Being inside a small kayak on the river, while still located in the heart of the city and gazing up to the tall buildings is absolutely surreal.
I have many new, good friends who constantly introduce me and invite me to new, fascinating activities and help me achieve my goals.
Every day I discover something new about me and explore a new aspect of living.

I am proud to be able to say that I currently live in what seems to be *by far* the most inspiring, alive and joyful city I have ever lived in!

Considering all this, how can I not be happy? :)
You should all come and visit me and see for yourself what I'm talking about.

For now, I will leave you with a photo from last friday's burlesque show, at which my friend M. asked me to participate as a guest appearance. Actually, I was more like one of her stage props...


It is exactly what it looks like! :p

M.