2005-10-XX

wow... a couple things are slightly startling today.

1) it's october. the unofficial start of the holiday season. the first month of the year that it actually starts to cool off. fall. waking up cold. when hot coffee is not only a chemical desire but a thermal necessity.

2) it's saturday. this is the first day of this 9 day vacation that i am not expected to work, not am i thinking about it at all.

as glad as i am to be here, i'm looking forward to getting home. to getting back to the few people i love. to endless hang outs, pointless conversations, and being able to laugh at - and make - a joke.

while Pavement's Type Slowly is a little more the mood i'm in today, there's no way around the fact that we've had perfect paris rain, and i'm cold chillin... so i defer to the london sued - there was one too many gaps in this record to put it up there amongs the better records of the decade, but you'll notice this has or is becoming a staple on the local retro dance floor... so stick em up.

London Suede - Can't Get Enough

Okkervil River @ La Guingette Pirate

29 Sept, 2005 - Paris

the set was comprehensive. selections from all the records chosen loosely with rivers, water, or ships in mind. i don't know their older records all that well, but they did play main island lovers, and some amazing songs that i didn't recognize at all. they hit the black sheep boy highlights - the latest toughs, black sheep boy, for real, and a king and a queen, a stone... frankly, they're all highlights.

something Will said while introduction "song of our so-called friend" was that it was written as a kind of companion to maine island lovers - while main island lovers is written from the point of view of a young lover who is, as he said "more realistic about the relationship", so-called friend is written from the other side of things.

these are all the photos from the show that came out even partially. wish i had gotten a clearer view and knew how to get better lowlight photos on this camera... but this is all this is it...

par ce que je suis une touriste...

oh, and by the way...

scouting ahead

we walked for about 7 hours today. first a trip out to le guingette pirate (gwing-et) to check out where okkervil is playing tomorrow (photos below), then we walked on the viaduct, which is this kind of elevated walkway/park that runs through several districts. the archways underneath are all occupied with various artisan businesses or restaraunts. kind of funny. we walked up the steps, and it opened into the big open field of grass, a small park on the left, and all the alcoves and side gardens all along. ridiculous. after that we kind of wandered around some more until my parents had to sign some documents at the lawyers regarding the apartment. like i said, we marched all day.

the sky was amazing today - it was near rain all day. the omminous clouds that europe is famous four. giant, brooding skys. you can kind of see it in a couple of the photos.

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La Guingette Pirate

salvage act

today was kind of a minor disaster. almost a waste. i've been totally handcuffed by the slow death of an internet connection that was coming through to the apartment. barely got a wink of sleep trying to get an hour of work done. the first couple of photos are from lunch at a place called chartier that's over 100 years old. it was fine, but i'm holding out for le brasserie d'isle san louise this weekend - it's across from notredam and right along the river. there's also some fucking awesome ice cream in the vicinity...

anyway, having lost all motivation to stress, i tried to salvage today with a late night walk around the apartment. most of the photos didn't come out at all in the low light... but i tired. as if to hold up it's end of the bargain, paris tried to rain for me but couldn't summon a worthwhile effort. tomorrow will be better - i'll keep my fingers crossed.

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at first glance...

i'm finally starting to feel over the jetlag. here's the first photos from arriving, the apartment, and walking around a bit. my internet connection is such horrible, horrible ass that it's been really stressful trying to get work done. makes me resent the job. i've tried to upload the photos below to my server, but i can't get a decent connection to get through. if they don't show up below, it's because i can't get them uploaded.

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