New Orleans

Katrina has yet to hit, but I am quite worried about the 25000 people (lowest estimate) who are in the New Orleans Superdome (home of the Saints' football team). This stadium is claimed to be the sturdiest of the refuges in the city. Yet, once again, we see our society divided by those who have resources and those who don't. If the city imposes a mandatory evacuation, it should be providing those destitute citizens with the means to leave as well. The poor, the homeless and the frail (along with vounteers and the National Guard) are braving this storm because of inadequacy of federal and city emergency policies. I hope that they will be well protected. These satellite images are frightening (see also link for satellite imagery in left column).

Les activités de la fin du mois d'août

Today is a beautiful day in Paris. It was warm and sunny - not a cloud visible between buildings or across the rooftops. Kosmo was active all day - meaning that he also enjoyed the weather by chasing flies, moving around generally and watching people from our deuxième étage appartement. I tried a neighborhood pool for the first time and truly enjoyed my swim there. I also have been busy with the highly addictive numbers game Su Doku, which I discovered in the Times about a month ago.

The constitution draft in Iraq was read to parliament early this morning and will be submitted to Iraqi voters for a referendum 15 October 2005.

I saw my last plein air movie of the summer at La Villette avec Graham, Sophie et Jean-Marc - In the Mood for Love de Wong Kar-Wai. Maggie Cheung wears the same cheong sam dress throughout the movie which gives her a giraffe-like neck, yet manages to underscore her elegance and physical restrictions. (Actually the dress is the same cut, but varied with an impressive array of fabrics such as a lime green geometric pattern or daffodils in full bloom).

Yolanda, mi abuela

Hoy hubiera sido su cumpleaños. Mil besos a mi abuela querida.

Images that I enjoy remembering from our times together:
- Abuela hitting the pailas religiously every noon during Noreiga's reign in Panamá.
- Sitting in her rocking chair watching Jeopardy on the Armed Forces Network with the TV in a closet.
- Watering her plants at night with old ice cream containers.
- Burning ants off the leaves of her plants with cigarettes (before she quit).
- Las clases de cocina.
- Playing bridge with her friends all afternoon.

satellite maps

Google never ceases to amaze me - I found my apartment on a google satellite map.

chili tasting

Given that I have shown no evidence of why I am named Tex, I have to share this joke that was recently passed to me. Now, it could be one of those jokes that have gone round and round on email lists and that somehow skipped me; or it could be my memory is failing me (yet again); in either case, if you can't laugh at this joke, I am so sorry. For novelty purposes, this link is 'international' - it links you Babel fish for a translation. C'est en effet assez drôle de lire la blague traduit en français.

Sunday

Yesterday was a good day. I saw a fabulous photo exhibit of Martin Parr's work at La Maison européene de la photographie. (I find it amazing how they regularly curate excellent exhibits.) It was too bad that the love cubes game was not working though - you can play it online here. While I really enjoyed most of his work on our increasingly materialistic culture (e.g., Sign of the Times) and his portrayal of the British middle class, I didn't appreciate as much his gloom-day approach to travel in Small World. In this series, he limits the notion of global travel to cynical commercialism - hordes of travellers to European capitals or rich white people in developing countries. See Parr's website for a glimpse of his work.
The other reason yesterday was a good day is that I found a great light blue wool coat at a thrift store (at a very reasonable price).
Other than that it was grey all day long.

New trip plans

I do have a job.
I am going to a high school friend's wedding in NZ. Four of us are planning a 10-day road trip on the South Island. Then I plan on meeting up with friends who live in Sydney for Australia Day.

Forgot this one...

I was here in January 2005. My mother is from Panamá and it is truly as beautiful as this picture (which admitingly I did not take).


San Blas, Panamá

London 21 July 2005

I was in London for work that day. It was a beautiful summery day. By the time word had spread that there had been a second attack on the London tube, the City seemed like a ghost town. Traffic came to a halt and buses were not going into central London. Yet, the weirdest experience must have been isolation. As I did not have access to the internet or a phone (cell line sget blocked very quickly) or a television or the radio, it was really difficult to know what was happening. People were confused, spreading rumours and I overheard a couple deciding to move outside of the city. It was only when I reached Oxford Circus (which was closed) near one of the suspected attacks that more information was available through the police officers.

Memory problems

Maybe I should take it as a clue that I am getting old when someone reminded me that I have a blog. It makes me feel guilty, like I had forgotten to feed a pet, water a plant, call family on birthdays. What is the appropriate number of postings per day? week? month? decade?

this summer's beautiful places

Been travelling a bit this summer. These are my favorite photos of where I was:
Row 1 Koh Tao, Thailand
Row 2: Dirt road near Phrao, northern Thailand and view from pool near Chiang Mai, Thailand
Row 3: Les Gets, France (view of le Mont Blanc) and Siem Reap, Cambodia (Angkor Vat)

of course since i am useless with HTML i cannot guarantee that the photos come up in the correct order - i'm sure you can figure it out though...

A short long week-end en France

I went to Cancale for the weekend to see friends and the Route du Rock music festival (12-14 août).


camping with corn

Tex awards
most energetic performance: !!!
best bang-for-your-buck show (2+ hours): the cure
boring: mercury rev
cutest: the wedding present
can't remember but must have been good: yo la tengo
best latest closing act (2:30am): the nationals

I found too much dust in my nose after this weekend. I also am very confused at having lost my 3-day pass - it was last seen in my very tight jeans pocket in the Cancale house on day 2. Missed mostly only Sonic Youth on day 3 - that still sucked.

Libé came out with a story that only 65% of the French will go on summer holidays this year; those that do not leave cannot afford to: http://www.liberation.fr/page.php?Article=316069. Today (Monday) is a national holiday.

Meet Kosmo

On August 1, my cat Komso turned 10. Within a week he proved that he was no old cat - he caught a sparrow off the 2ème étage ledge in Paris. He is so proud of his catch.

Explaining something

The first blog posting is often asinine. Overexcitement of being 1 of 4 million+ bloggers can lead to silliness. I would rather share a photo - it explains more than 1000 words. I chose my neighbourhood (back side of Montmartre) in Paris. One of the 11 places I have lived in my few years. I love it here - the small streets, the lack of chain stores, the neighbourhood attitude and the mixité sociale make it a fabulous place to live. Not to mention the good bread, cheese and wine stores within walking distance.