Baraking and rolling still going strong
8 years ago right now, I had traveled to France for the wedding of a close friend. I was worried , sure , and shocked at the recent election outcome. Who is this George Bush guy? Is he just like his daddy? I mean, can he be THAT bad?
Well, I remember being in a manor in Quimiac France , outside on the lawn in a flower dress, celebrating the day one of my closest friends got marrie.
Could you explain why you voted for that man? We’re all so shocked! He’s already turned down many measures internationally to help the environment!
I swear, I swear I defeneded myself. More importantly, I swore it happened due to corruption and fluke.
I promis you, that man will not get re-elected.
Fast forward 4 years …. FUCK.
I remember my first trip to Toronto for work. A cabbie picked me up with a collegue after a night out at a bar. He was African, and when he learned we were American, he almost wanted to refuse to take us to our destination.
What is it about Bush that made foreigners seem to hate us or feel so puzzled by our decisions? Somehow I felt that despite my actions and my choices, I was somehow lumped in with a segment that felt the enviroment was 2nd par, God only mattered, and spreading “freedom” was the sole purpose of our Nation’s being.
Well now I can call it out. Finally, when I tell them I’m American, there’s someone to be proud of.
That’s right France, I’m coming back for you. Didn’t your president marry a model? Pshhh.
my other brother
There was a time when I tried to make this blog non-personal necessarily. I wanted this to be about life and culture, and when the two tend to collide and how it affects people. But the more I continue, the more I realize that that happens almost on a daily basis.
Last weekend I went to Seattle for my step-brother’s wedding. Bill is over 2 years younger than me. I remember going on trips to Lake Tahoe, back when he was”my mom’s boyfriend’s son” and putting him in headlocks making him chant Leyla’s good, Leyla’s great, ra-ra Leyla. Now I saw him in a 2 piece suit walking down an aisle and saying his vows to his bride.
It seems like fall 2008 will be the Leyla Pacific Northwest Tour. After this trip, I’ll be heading to Portland in October, and Vancouver in November. But this trip has been different. I got to meet the people from my step-brother’s life, those who live on Vashon Island, where he grew up. And I realize so much of me screams Los Angeles girl. Like the way I insisted on wearing platform open toed shoes on wet gravel and grass.
One things for sure, my hair is NOT suited for rain and humidity.
Congratulations to Bill and his beautiful Sarah. May you never get jaded like a 29 year Angelina with attachment issues to her dog.
mel-on dollar fruit
Remember back when I was in Japan and I kept harping on about expensive fruit?
Well, apparently $120 is cheap for a melon. Check out the one that just auctioned off for nearly $6,100!
Here’s the real kicker, though. The watermelon is a bargain compared to the $23,500 recently paid in Japan for a pair of Yubari cantaloupes, the AP reported, adding that melons are a luxury item commonly given as gifts.
Also, I had great experiences at the onsen I went to with Hiroko and Juha. And like all things Japanese , it has been re-invented with a theme.
back from sunny places
Well I’m back from Palm Springs with an actually tan. I can’t believe it, but I guess UV rays really do get you browner than direct sun rays.
I headed out on Friday morning with Marie to Caliente Tropics Hotel in Palm Springs. We thought it would be cool to stay at something very kitsch and ridiculous… and also a little cheaper than $400 a night like the Viceroy or Parker. Though we learned a lot of lessons on this trip and may reconsider how/when we plan such an outing.
The weather was an unfavorable 65 degrees average the entire 3 days we spent out at the desert, and yes, there was even rain. This goes along with my philosophy of when there is a possibility of shitty outcome, even at the slightest, it will occur the 4 times a year I decide to take a day off.
Nevermind that, we decided to drink. And that we did! We met up with Levon and Melissa on Friday night for dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. Filled up on guac and chips … and a watermelon margarita the size of my face. That done me good… and we decided to wander around in Palm Springs banging night life. And so we trekked, and learned that apparently Palm Springs has an immense gay community. Now when I think of Palm Springs, I think of the 90s and Steve Sanders and Kelly Taylor. It was the high place to be when you were a kid in high school. Then somehow, it reverted to being the old person place it was always known for.
We spent about 2 hours drinking on the swingy chairs at Azul Tapas bar. Marie even rand to the the restroom and noticed that there was drag show going on. None of this seemed strange to us. No large groups of women were present either. Finally, the next day Levon realized it was a gay bar. Strangely, we were right at home regardless.
The rest of the trip was spent at places where there kids our own age (and sexual preference) like the Viceroy’s Citron bar and the Parker for brunch on our way home. It just goes to show, no matter where you are… friends help you have fun, and neglect to realized you’re on a lesbian trip.
in Deutschland
Ahhh, jetlag … can anything be any more useless in life? On my second day back from German, I crashed out at 8pm and woke up at 5am. I am officially on my grandmother’s schedule.
Stuttgart was an amazing city, highlights including the land of Porsche and Mercedes … and naturally, all things German like beer. Though, I’ll tell you one thing that really annoyed me about this trip. I arrived on Saturday night, after flying next to about 9 Greek people from Los Angeles who ignored me the entire time while they shouted over me the entire 11 hour flight. Also, I had a lovely 7 hour layover in Frankfurt airport, which was mostly used to sleep. And after a good night’s rest, I decided to go shopping on Sunday, trying to make use of my only free day the entire trip. This was useless, because in Germany NOTHING is open on a Sunday. Even more shocking, people still go out. Weird, I know.
The FMX conference was pretty interesting, far smaller than anything like SIGGRAPH. It was however lacking in many things as well … such as say… air conditioning. Hosted in the Haus der Wirtschaft , the building used to be an old stock exchange place. Loads of cool marble all over the place, and where I stood it was roughly around 90 degrees.
Apparently, in addition to air conditioning, elevators and anything besides 7 flights of stairs are also considered a German cultural barrier. Who knew?
And now for your viewing pleasure, a very brief video of the techno klub place the FMX party was held. The same party that was held about 8 floors down below, like a friggin’ German bunker with no ventilation, thousands of computer graphics nerds with no deodorant, permitted smoking, and contained mostly people over 6 feet in height. Asides from having Gulliver’s Travel syndrome, I felt uber Euro cool!
FMX Party in Stuttgart Germany from Leyla Tirgari on Vimeo.
trip alert: ‘bot going to Germany
I’m not bothering apologizing for a lack of blogs lately. Mainly, because I think you should have gotten used to this by now. But secondly, because I’ve just never figured out how to make my FlipCam work with the latest version of QuickTime on this Mac. So whatever… moving on!
I’m going to Stuttgart, Germany in a few weeks! Yes, it’s for another work conference, this time FMX. Now, I took German in high school, and I got bumped a year because it was easy to me. I even graduated with German Honor’s Society tassles. All this naturally means I’ll barely be able to say “danke” and “ein bissien”.
Either way, I’m stoked I’ll be there for the kraut. In the mean time, a little cultural learning for the week.
How Americans and Britons differ… besides dental care. Interesting article in the Economist. Here’s a snapshot of their results founded through some research.
On five of the six groups of issues selected, American opinion is far more polarised than British (only nationalism seems to unite America’s left and right). Gone are the days when it was British politics that embraced political extremes and Americans looked on bemused. The gap between Republicans and Democrats is almost always far greater than that between Tories and (usually) Liberal Democrats. Lib Dem supporters are to the left of Labour on every broad category except the role of the state.
But really, is this shocking?
Tokyo - day 7
Well, we’re winding down our last few days here in Tokyo. Today, we actually get a free day and are spending it with David’s good friend Hiroko, a Tokyo native and her Finnish fiance, Juha.
The past couple of days have been busy at the Big Sight convention center at Tokyo Bay. We were presenting at TAF 2008, or Tokyo International Anime Fair.
Here are a few videos:
Tokyo Anime Fair - 2008 from Leyla Tirgari on Vimeo. weirdness at TAF from Leyla Tirgari on Vimeo.David played for a prize and won. Later he returned it because we can’t read Japanese. Playing with Pea Pod critters from Leyla Tirgari on Vimeo.Hiroco the artist, at the Creator’s World exhibit. Amazing work by award winning Japanese artist. She’s one of my favorites, and she loves birds. Hiroco the artist from Leyla Tirgari on Vimeo.Today I’m going shopping FINALLY in Harajuku, and later we’re having a Haname party at Hiroko’s and attending a Saonara party at a very unique fish restaurant. Details to come :).Domo!
Tokyo - day 6
I know, I know. I skipped a day. But come on, I gotta leave a little mystery. Otherwise you’d never call.
So I’m way too exhausted to do any real writing or thinking. But here’s a video of me playing Rock Paper Scissors , or Jan Ken Po as they call it here, with our usergroup tonight in order to give out prizes.
That’s just how we roll.
PS: Tonight, my clothes and hair smell like shabu-shabu.
Jan Ken Po! from Leyla Tirgari on Vimeo.
Tokyo - day 4
It’s pretty late right now, and frankly, it’s a little too tiring to write a full blog. Instead, I will just post this video from visiting Tokyo Hands store today. Let’s just say everything you ever wanted is in this store, you just don’t know it yet. How I spent almost $30 just in pens and stationary, I have no clue. But the health and beauty floor was just too cool not to video record.
PS: Every night I’ve come home, my hair smells like meat and soy sauce.
Tokyo Hands - Health & Beauty Section from Leyla Tirgari on Vimeo.
Tokyo - day 3
It’s been 3 steady days of chaos so far. Yesterday, David and I had our meeting with Sega …which lasted 3 hours. One thing about Japanese meetings, apparently you never wear your shoes. Thank God I got a pedicure. Also, thank God they replenish your green tea midway, because you get the slow sense of exhaustion from jet lag even faster when you’re watching a 3 hour presentation on 3d graphics.
After another meeting, we ran late to a dinner date with Hiroko, David’s good Japanese friend and fashion writer native to here and her Finnish husband. They took us to dinner, and what a dinner it was.
The place was called “Alcatraz ER” … and yes, it was a medical prison themed restaurant. Weaving through the streets of Shibuya, Hiroko even had to use her cell phone GPS to locate the place. You know Tokyo is confusing when even the locals need maps. I especially find it difficult, since there are no street names, but rather the blocks are numbered.
We find the place, near an especially quaint part of the city, located deep in a cluster of “love motels” on the 5th floor of a building.
The entrance is dark, and to enter, you have to press one of five buttons indicating your blood type. When the doors open, you are in a prison ward, with cute servers dressed like nurses and men as doctors. After handcuffing David, and pretend injecting me with a giant syringe, we get guided to our table, which is actually a jail cell. Menus are given, and in order to summon the server, we need to make noise by hitting the pipe against the jail bars. Ahh the joys of themed eating in Japan.
Alcatraz ER Medical Restaurant from Leyla Tirgari on Vimeo.
