First day of school

And there he goes.

On a long, treturous journey.

My man.
In three years, he will realise his long life dream of becoming a paramedic.
And it starts today.

I was like a mom seeing off her kid on his first day of school.
I took pictures.

I am so proud.

I'm at it again

Ah, the sleplessness.
There is nothing quite as frustrating.
Especially when you have a husband who falls asleep and snores in less than 15 seconds. (new record, I thought my dad was the fastest 'falling alseeper' in the world)

And when it's dark, quiet and still, my mind somehow comes alive.

And I start thinking too much.
Then I get emotionnal.
I don't know why.

Everything is bouncing around in my head, and I am looking upon too many grave subjects for the hour.

Seems these days I have trouble finding inner peace.


Again, I don't know why.

A picture.

I want to put a picture up today.

I don't know which one yet.

I miss spending hours in the black room, developping and printing pictures. I used to spend whole days in there, not eating, not coming out until the college closed. I wouldn't see time fly. Too busy burning, dodging, playing around with filters...
Ah man, those were the days. I could really stretch my creative legs in there.

Sometimes, I think I will post pictures up that I took, developped and printed, all completely manually, and tell the story behind them.

So here goes. Let's try the first one. I have to pick it.
Now, just remember that it will not look as good as in real life, because it is a picture of a picture....



Alright.
I remember taking this autoportrait to put it beside my name on the front page of the portfolio that carried all my hopes to get into the film production program of Concordia University. Thought it was a good way to introduce myself without actually being there when the panel of judges would be looking at my work.
I like this picture because it reminds me of how far I have come from that moment.
Back then, I didn't know if I had what it took. I was scared, and frankly, lacked confidence that I could do it, that I could be one of the 3 people out of the 75 who applied for a transfer in the program who would actually be selected to do it.
Still didn't know I could make it into the film industry.
It's strange to look at this picture today.

Congé

Ah....enfin.

Ça fait deux semaines que je n'ai pas eu de congé. Et après avoir travaillé sur le plateau de McLeod's Daugthers cette semaine, et au resto le reste du temps, je la mérite vraiment, cette journée. Il est 2h, et j'ai: dormi, dormi, dormi, déjeuné. Et là, Thelma & Louise joue à la télé, donc, je me le tape, parce que ça fait assez longtemps que je veux le regarder au complet, une fois pour toutes.

Alors, voilà.
C'est bien de relaxer et ne rien faire. Non, c'est pas vrai, j'ai quand même fait un lavage, mais il prendra longtemps à sécher.

Un gros orage s'annonce.

Parfait.

Ah, bon.

Je marchais pour aller au travail, et j'ai vu ça de l'autre côté de la rue.
On ne voit pas ça tous les jours.

Pauvre mec qui a perdu ses souliers.


Il a fallu un autre mec très fort pour les lancer si haut.

*&%$?%$#?%$?*&()(*

Je n'en peux plus.

Il y a une limite à tout, bordel.

Savez-vous ce qui est pire que de détester la musique des années 80?
Avoir un voisin qui ADORE la musique absolument kitch, trash et POCHE des années 80 et qui en joue à tue-tête TOUS LES JOURS!!!! TOUS LES JOURS!!!!
Ah oui, parce que MONSIEUR est en congé.

Je suis épuisée. Je n'ai pas eu de jour de congé depuis deux semaines.
Je veux prendre une sieste. Sérieusement, mon voisin ne doit pas me comprendre quand je vais cogner à sa porte lui demander de baisser le son de son IMMENSE stéréo - parce qu'il doit être *&??&#$* SOURD à force d'écouter sa maudite musique fort de même!!!! Le son de sa sélection musicale à chier me fait l'effet du bruit des ongles qui grafignent un tableau.

Tabarn....!!!!!!

QUAND EST-CE QU'ON DÉMÉNAGE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Carte Soleil.

Aujourd'hui, j'ai reçu une lettre.

Du Québec. De la Régie d'assurance maladie du Québec. Pour m'informer que je ne suis plus admissible au régime et que je dois leur envoyer ma carte soleil.

J'ai regardé la lettre. Je savais déjà que je ne devais plus être admissible, mais ça m'a fait tout drôle quand même. Premièrement, j'étais surprise de combien j'aimais lire une lettre en français. Ça m'a vraiment frappé. Et ensuite, me faire dire qu'on me retirait ma carte...c'était...un peu déracinant. Le fait de le voir sur papier, de me faire dire par le gouvernement que je n'étais plus qu'un visiteur au Québec...

On dirait que je ne m'y habitue pas. On dirait que j'ai encore de la difficulté à me détacher. Peut-être parce que j'ai dû me détacher de tout, et ce, tout en même temps. C'est difficile. Je n'ai jamais habité ailleurs que là, entourée de ma famille, mes amis, la ville qui m'est familière.

Des fois, ça me pèse d'être si loin de tout ce qui m'a toujours été comfortable et habituel. Des fois, je suis tannée d'être hors de ma 'comfort zone', de me sentir hors de mon élément, de vivre de ma langue seconde, de suer au mois de février.
Et quand Allen n'est pas là, c'est dur, des fois, de voir pourquoi je suis ici au lieu d'être à Montréal. Et me faire booter par l'assurance-maladie n'aide pas. On dirait que c'est un point de non retour.

Le soleil qui est sur ma carte se couche.

Deux dodos

Je suis comme une enfant.

Quand vient la fin de la deuxième semaine de Allen au désert, je commence à compter les dodos qu'il me reste à faire avant qu'il revienne.

Le pire, c'est que c'est inconscient. Je calcule sans m'en apercevoir.
C'est étrange.

Lunch

I had lunch with the girls on sunday.

It was nice to see them. We didn't have time together since I left for Canada.

Charlie came down with the baby and we had a great time. We went down to Cafe Paesanno right around the corner of my house, and had a nice afternoon feast. It was a perfect day. 26 degrees, sunny, nice breeze. It was soothing just to sit there, not having to work that night, and just chat and laugh and see Charlie glowing with joy. She looked so happy. She is great with Juliette. It's so sweet to see.


My girlfriends are great.

I swear, I must be cursed

Remember I told you that bad things in the appartment only happen when Allen is away?

Like someone trying to break in from my back balcony and stealing stuff off it.

Or someone smashing the window of the car and stealing the radio.

Or when all the bulbs in the house went out at the same time and I had to figure out how to change them from the lights that come out of the walls. (pas évident)

Or the absolute gigantic cockroach I saw in the house but couldn't find after that.

Alright, look at this.

I know the picture is not great, but all of you out there who hate spiders have to understand how horrified I was to have to catch this 10cm long Huntsman in a tupperware to get it out of the house in the middle of the night. Because it was way to big to squoosh. This is the first time it happens, and OF COURSE, Allen is out in the desert.

Man, I hate spiders. I hate all insects that have fur. It's just not right.

Countdown of Aussie's favorite movies

Ok, ok.

I have not done this in a long time, but this one was pretty cool, I think.
There was a special show of The Movie Show on that tallied a survey that had been going on for months. They asked people what their favorite movie was, and then, (of course) made a top ten.

Some were obvious, others, well...surprising.

So here goes. !0 to 6.

10 - FIGHT CLUB

Now that's a bit of a shock to start with. Ok, so it was kind of a cult movie when it came out, it's exciting and good and all, but since then, I think that lots of other great films could have taken this 10th spot in the list.

9- GONE WITH THE WIND

The only classic film to have made the top 10.

8- THE PRINCESS BRIDE

Now, this one, shocked me. Cause of course, we all loooooove that movie, but I didn't think it would have been in this top ten. I guess that's one movie that stood the test of time. Everytime I watch it, I laugh at a new joke. The characters are full and funny, and it's great. I love everything about it. I am such a Rob Reiner fan.

7- PULP FICTION

Duh.

6- STAR WARS Trilogy

Now this one surprised me. Not because it is in the top ten, but because it is not higher in the list. I was watching the show and thinking: What could possibly be in the top five then, if Star Wars is in number 6??


Let's have a pool of our own. What do you think will be in the top 5 of Australia's favorite films? (Hint: there is no Australian film in the top 5)

And down it comes

I love Australian rain.

Down here, when it rains, it REALLY RAINS. It is pouring out there right now, and the noise it is making on the tin roof is so soothing.
It never drizzles, it always pours down like there is no tomorrow.
It's great.
It is even cooling down the 36 degree day we've just had.

Lovin it! Lovin it!!

New Photos

Attention, Attention!

I have officially gone pro.
You can go on my flickr account, (click on the icon with the changing pictures on the bottom of the right margin of this blog) and you will see lots of new stuff.
I am uploading as much as I can, but because I don't have high speed internet, it is taking forever.

But, I have nothing else to do tonight, so I am trying to be patient.

Hope you guys like the pics.

Ce soir.

Ce soir, je me paye la traite.

Allen est reparti dans le désert, Charlie a un bébé et Mary a des plans.
Je suis toute seule pour ce soir, et j'ai décide de me faire plaisir.
Je vais aller au cinema voir Walk the Line. Ça fait si longtemps que je veux voir ce film. Je vais me payer un bon popcorn, et en sortant (je vais à la représentation de 7h), je vais aller me chercher du butter chicken à mon resto indien préféré qui est juste en face du cinéma. Je vais revenir à la maison, enfiler ma belle robe de chambre, manger mon souper, poster des trucs sur internet et flickr et faire des appels outre-mer.

Mouais. Je pense que c'est un bon plan.

Surprise

I went down to my mailbox this morning and I found a package from France.
My little sis, with no reason at all, sent me a package with great stuff in it.
But I didn't open it straight away. I looked at it. It was pretty. It was wrapped with typically french brown paper. Nice and old fashionned. It had my sister's handwritting on it, and two big beautiful french stamps.

The thought that Steph saw something, thought I would like it and just sent it really touched me.

Seven months is a long time without seeing a sister.

Should I go pro?

I am thinking about getting a pro flickr account.
I am tired of having great pictures and not having enough allowance each month to put them up there.
So I need to know if you guys actually go on my flickr account to see my pictures.
Cause if you don't, there is no need for me to go pro.

So there you go. I will await your response.

Another one in the can.

'Angela's Decision' officially wrapped tonight.

Last shot: Scene 45, shot 145 take 3.
That's all folks.
Another film shot. I had a blast, saw another script become alive. Man, I never get tired of that. And with every shoot, I find my direction a little more. A great experience. Went lots of places I had never been.
Met loads of great people, but personnal favourite was my clapper-loader. Her name is Simone. We had a great time together, and I think we work well together.
Hopefully, this will be the start of a beautiful frienship, and a flourishing professionnal collaboration.

Two days ago, we shot in one of the locations in the middle of nowhere that was used for Wolf Creek. Man, it was scary just to be there. This is our: oh my God!!!! We are in Wolf Creek!!! pause.


The only one for tonight, I am exhausted, but I promise I will post more pics tomorrow.
Got heaps of good ones.