Old People!

I never know when my day off is going to be, unless I ask for a certain one. I stayed up late, watching “Audition,” which is a terrible, terrible movie. Don’t watch it. It’s not terribly made, but the director seemed to just want a so-so plot, that he could inject with frightening gore. I did finish watching it, but had to have a buffer between the movie and my sleep. I listened to some happy music for a while. (Like when I was a kid, I’d have to watch some commercials after watching Unsolved Mysteries, before I went to sleep.)

I mailed a job application today. That’s been keeping me busy for a week or so. I’m reading a lot, and listening to a lot of music. I could leave the island today, but going anywhere worthwhile would take a few hours. I might go across anyways, though.

It’s cold!

The Hotel is full of old people! I think it depends on the time of season.

Day Off

I stayed up until 5am, writing a letter for a job opportunity.
Woke up mid-afternoon, ran down to the lake.  On the way, I took a trail in the woods and played in a little stream for a while.  The water was crystal clear and really cold.
At the beach, I waded into the water and it felt great.  The water was perfectly clear there, too, with white rocks on the bottom.  The white rocks cover the beach, and I lay there in the sun for a while.  I played with some little rocks, and sat with my feet in the waves.  I ran back, found another trail and enjoyed how nice forests are on bright, sunny days.
I was surprised that I didn’t see many people the whole time.  There was absolutely no one in the woods, and just a few carriages and couples in buggies on the road.  This is a downtime on the island, when merchants predict tourism behavior like the weather.

Things:
The world has now reached the point, according to the United Nations, where more people are overweight than undernourished.

The financier and philanthropist George Soros is contributing $50 million to support a sprawling social experiment, organized and led by the economist Jeffrey D. Sachs, that aims to help villages in Africa escape grinding poverty.

Pictures

Katerina had to leave yeseterday. She flew back to Bulgaria.

It really rained this morning. I was exhausted. Everything seemed simple and comical and bright.

For Renato’s birthday, a co-worker, we boobie-trapped his room. When the door opened, a knife dropped onto a balloon. When he turned on the light, a glass mug fell onto the countertop. Bam! His toilet is perfectly covered in saran wrap. The whole place is full of balloons and hanging stuff, too.

Background music: Kimya Dawson.

Some Photos

Wiffleball.

Boss man Nick.

Feets at Fort Holmes.

(For the Inna!)

Something Like 13 Hours

I did, indeed, go to Ann Arbor, Detroit, Lansing, Petoskey, Traverse City and Honor, Michigan this weekend! It was wonderful and boring and lovely and completely amazing and friendly and kind of drunken and fast and pretty and frightening and fun.

More.To.Come.Later.Goodbye!

Arturo Sandoval Wears Alligator Shoes

This is from a week or so ago.

I came in to work at 7:30 this morning, and sold photos. It was a slow morning, so I read this new book that, so far, is interesting. Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood.

When I came back to the lab, I started the machines and cut some negatives. Then, one of the managers knocked on the door and said he needed a photographer right away to take pictures in the tea garden. No one else was here, so I spent the rest of the afternoon in the garden taking pictures. It was more of a giant, loud, All-American, fried-chicken, pie and lemonade picnic with a big, live band and people everywhere. Arturo Sandoval was playing with his band. He had alligator shoes, wiggly hips, a big belly, sunglasses and a cigar in his mouth. I took his picture with Mr. Musser and his wife, with the Town Crier photographer following me with his little digital camera. He was a friendly little guy.

Arturo is a jazz legend. Brooks, a jazz pianist/friend from New York, played with Arturo watching today. Over lunch, he talked about how unexpected it was to have this ridiculously great man sitting there, noodling on his trumpet to your playing when you don’t expect it. He said he’d have prepared before he even came to the island, if he’d have known this would happen.

In the Background

I’m in this one, see me running past in the background? Yeah! I’m going to be on their mantle for years and years.

Full Moon

Whiffle ball on top of the island ruled yesterday.

There was a full moon last night.

I have 2 days off, Friday and Saturday!

320 GB are coming in the mail for my computer. I can store big things now, like elephants or something.

Still not sure if I will be going to the Rescue/Canada/Bathgate/Fronteir Ruckus show tonight. It makes sense to me that I should be able to leave here without things falling apart tonight. But, my boss guy is worried that things might, and really, I’m not going to push it or step on his neck any more than I already have. Sometimes high hopes fall down and don’t happen, I guess. I just really like having them.

Blame It On the Late Hours

Tired. Listening to good tunes. Mashed potatoes in my stomach. Everyone wants their picture. Flash faces. Hot chemicals.

Sunday Night

Looking for a creative-type job. When I find it, then I’ll look for a place to live. I left Lansing so suddenly, so I want to live fairly near there for awhile when this job is over. I should be more excited than stressed, because it really is exciting. There are great places to work. I really want to find them!

Today was… pretty good. I slept in until 4. Really needed to catch up on sleep. Then I took pictures. It was nice, there were lots of people out tonight. Some of them recognized me from the night before, at the Gatehouse and Jockey Club. One woman recognized me from the picnic in the tea garden, and said that I made the cutest face at something, but she couldn’t remember what that something was. Lovely lady.

There are some awesome pictures of us from last night, a little group of us walking. I’ll find them sometime and show you.

When we sat down at the Jockey Club, there was a lady on the piano. She started singing about adorable young people and was infatuated with us, so that made for some refreshing conversation.

Some of the people I work wtih are sick and tired of being here. They can’t appreciate the joy coming out of the tourists’ pores when they’re having a drink at night. I wish they would cool off about being here so long, and just sort of soak up the happiness from the never-ending supply of it from tourists everywhere.

The night before last, I went to the Theater with Nick and Renato. We had Manhattans, and watched the jazz. Jeremy joined us, and Patya chatted for a bit. Then we walked out onto the porch for a little bit, like real vacationers. Ended up watching a film of Renato’s from Romania, and parts of it were really great for me. The nuances and transitions between scenes.

Sunday night! Going home to read and listen to music. Have to get up early and sell a ton of pictures.