Stuff

Today’s mission, should you choose to accept it, etc…. Lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles with it. Then with your right hand draw a figure 6 in the air. Like it or not, your foot will change direction.

Had an early start today getting the materials together to extend the visa a bit. They only gave us 30 days, not the usual 180 so we have to apply for more. Shouldn’t be a problem and I’m fairly used to forms after all last week’s fun and games. When we tried to start the car afterwards, though, it wouldn’t do anything at all. The lights worked, the radio worked, and we’d only been gone 30 mins. We got a push start from the peeps who’d just washed our car (maybe water got into the battery???) and we took it home. When I turned the engine off something (possibly the fan) kept going for 40 secs or so. Anyone any good with car problems? and while we’re at it, the water’s on the blink again. Occasionally the street’s water pressure is too low to get it to the tank in the roof, and the pump has never worked. We had a couple of water free days, this weekend I might replace the pump and see where that gets us.

I’ve been configuring zencart today to work in Spanish. I’m not linking to it cos it’s just for testing, but agaveweb.com/zencart is where it’s at. Also on the geekery front, the google pagerank for this page just hit 4/10 which is where I was before switching blogs. This makes me happy… Thanks to all of you who’ve linked here/ blogrolled me, much obliged.

Translated version of https://agaveweb.com/
Shoved my site into google translate, and apparently, Estamos en contacto! means “We are in contact with the enemy!” (see blue text halfway down the page)

Books that come with endorsements from Oprah’s book club tend to receive very little of my attention, rightly or wrongly. Luckily I saw a clip of the author being harassed by Oprah for passing fiction off as fact and then striking him off her ‘approved list‘ so I mentally peeled the sticker off and dived right in.

23-year-old James is admitted to a drug rehab centre in pretty poor shape, covered with a colourful selection of his own bodily fluids, missing his front teeth and with a hole through his cheek. He’s been at the chemicals for a good few years and has hit rock bottom. The book takes you through his six weeks at the centre at breakneck pace in first person, present tense and it’s hard to put down from the very start. I have to admit there is one section I didn’t read though; When he’s having root canal work done with no anaesthetic I had to skip a few pages there. Rest assured what I pictured in my head had to be worse than whatever he actually wrote there. Jesus…

You find yourself admiring him for his rebelliousness and steadfast refusal to follow the 12 steps and the self-delusion necessary to follow them. For someone who’s at his lowest ebb, he presents a heroic character. He is resolute and uncompromising, obviously quite a contrast to his former self. Despite not following all the rules in the center, he makes progress and even offers others a chance for the same salvation.

This story is about personal choice, responsibility and offers a logical, braver and God-free alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous. Whether it’s all true or not only matters if you’re reading it as a self-help guide. As a literary work, it’s deserves to be up there and above with Dave Egger’s A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius another first person memoir with interludes of fantasy.

There’s a site that’s looking to find the most beautiful word in Spanish. I’ve got several for the list, which, while maybe not beautiful, are lyrical and pleasing in other ways. Here are a few of my faves. Spanish is such a great language, especially the Mexican variety.

Huitlacoche — it’s a black fungus that grows in maize that is specially harvested for pricey tacos/ quesadillas

Esperpéntico- An adjective that roughly equates to grotesque in English. It’s all about holding up a deformed mirror to society and describing the distorted view in order to better criticise it I came across it in my undergrad degree course in 20th century Spanish theatre.

Pendejadas- Acts performed by a pendejo (idiot/wanker/fool). Stupidities.

Olvidarse- In Spanish you can absolve yourself completely of guilt when you forget things. ‘Se me olvidaron mis llaves” is a common way of saying ‘I forgot my keys’, and literally translated means ‘My keys forgot themselves at me’. Brilliant!

Antojitos- Mexican (bar) snacks. Antojo is a wish, antojitos, little wishes, or things you just fancy nibbling. I’m fond of pretty much any word with the diminutive ‘ito” ending. Guerita, guapita, casita, abuelita, chiquitito, cosquillita.

To turn a noun into an assault/ explosion/ crash you tend to shove —azo on the end. So you get: bancazo- bank robbery, avionazo- a plane crash, and tequilazo- a night of binge drinking that did you no good at all, or the economic crisis when agave prices went through the floor. Fun for all the family.

Ajijic, Jocotepec, Zapopan, Tlaquepaque, – local places with names more colourful than Taunton, or Downey for example…

In French my favourite’s pamplemousse (grapefruit) and in English, it’s a toss-up between ‘arse’ and serendipitous. If you fancy sharing yours comment away 🙂

And broadband. Even if you don’t know “Omi” check out all the other videos to see her and her little brother dance to hipster indie beats.
Fair play- It’s a little dodgy posting pix & videos of kids on the interweb and our mates have taken down the video. Which is a shame, but completely understandable. If you’re ever in Central/North California, look out for toddlers dancing to the likes of Spoon and Art Brut, you won’t regret it…

And she’s just found a black and white glossy picture of 80s/90s hair metal band Winger, signed by all four members! Yes. That includes Kip. We’re accepting bids privately now and shall move on to Ebay later…

Media yet to review this week: Capote (fell asleep, but it looked alright), Memoirs of a Geisha (aren’t foreigners strange?) and Million Little Pieces (Excellent read a la Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius without the desire to repeatedly punch the protagonist).

Clicking on the Atticus pic will take you to a series of B&W pictures of him and the bunnies from this morning. No autographs though as of yet…

I believed this story for all of 5 minutes… Beached Whale in Taunton. Taunton, Somerset, UK is my home town for the record… and my sister and Ali often walk their dog in French Weir… I nearly rang them to warn them about the potential dangers.

Sorry to keep posting about BASTARD national organisations, but I really have to vent somewhere. Feel free to skip to the happy-go-lucky post below about our holiday snaps from France last year rather than this lengthy diatribe…

So we got a decent tax refund this year two days ago. Unfortunately today we received a bill from the auditors for more than that amount for the year before. We went to H & R block- a national tax preparation franchise where we go and pay over the odds for tax stuff specifically to avoid all this crap. Last year I’d done a few web design projects so it wasn’t a straightforward joint filing for both our jobs but a fully-fledged small business affair. We spent over an hour itemising purchases like cameras, motherboards, software, scanners, even petrol and travel expenses to file. At the end of it we still had to pay a grand or so to keep the US in missiles and border patrols. Anyway. Today’s letter says we didn’t declare our earnings for the business. So after unearthing our documents from last year from the bowels of the garage we went over the forms we sent in through H&R and there is no record whatsoever of all this stuff we did. Even the W2s aren’t there. So we might end up having to pay $1300 dollars extra (which we can ill afford) unless Watsonville office can find all our stuff that they lost.

I’m extremely pissed off with all this. They’d better ring us up with news that they’re sorry, they’ve found all the forms they never sent, they’ll pay whatever they need to because of their gross incompetence. I’m a bit doubtful though, because we have no evidence whatsoever that we went through all this last March. It seems like the woman who prepared our forms doesn’t even work there anymore, and we don’t have her name because she put Richard someone or other on the forms. Arrgghhh. Repito, Arrgghhh.

Thanks for bearing with me… have a link to CuteOverload for fluffy animals as an antidote to the venom contained herein…

THANK YOU!, T. for sending us all those photos. Hard copies and CD no less. I noticed that some of them were panoramas and took it as a chance to stitch them together and turn into a virtual tour of Provence. Here’s the panorama page it might take a minute or two on dial up and I’m not sure how many platforms it’ll work on but it’s the first of a few I’m putting together. It’s from when we stopped at a picturesque little village with views of the whole region spanning out and around… Gorgeous. There’s a lot to be said for getting your photos back 7 months later not having seen them during downloading, editing, uploading, blogging etc. They really jog your memory. Other highlights of the trip were Provencale markets, wine tasting, wandering and the Med. coast:

All T’s photos of Geneva and France 2005 are available for perusal here…

A bit transportationally challenged this morning, so i sorted out Martin’s computer, tried some space saving techniques in the packing in the garage, showered Atticus with attention and filled in some forms ready to send to the American government. Also tried to watch Planet Earth during breakfast but had to turn it off. Watching cave worms spew silk threads to hunt cockroaches doesn’t go well with sourdough toast and butter…

So we planned to spend the afternoon chez the immigration help desk, but it’s closed on monday. However Sita dig some googling and we reckon I’m as legal as they come and just have to file some expensive paperwork and the US will no longer have to feel threatened by my presence… I might even be allowed to leave the states next monday as planned. Here’s hoping… Other fun this afternoon involves filing my taxes round H&R’s offices. Something that never fails to calm me down and cheer me up. Ay, Mexico… tan lejos de dios pero tan cerca de mi corazon…

The I cleaned up 6 months of the bunnies Augean mess this morning. Hammered the bits of the run together that had fallen off during the Los Angelean winter. We have a laugh…. lulu, klem and me…

Can’t believe how computer prices have fallen in the last 6 months… I’m going to splash out on an external 100 gb min. hard drive, blank DVDs and some other bits and pieces once I get the chance. That’s after I’ve paid my bloody taxes again. Anyone in Mexico need anything? Para ti, precio especial, amigo, bien barato… Cheers!

Well, we’re here but there’s going to be some form filling/ cheque writing/ queueing fun before the week’s out. They were not happy at LAX last night. and 1:30 am is not the time to be dealing with petty-minded bureaucrats who want to take your green card off you. Luckily Sally and Martin were waiting for us at the airport with their calming influence and Atticus was extremely excited to see us again after his bath earlier that day… Guadalajara airport is a modern affair, a bit like Bristol airport, with friendly staff, expensive but nice locales, ample parking. The taxi driver was great, he recognised us from a previous trip and we talked about politics, universities and sci-fi films. Even though I’d dressed up smart and smiled tons at the check in, no upgrade to 1st class for us. Looks like Sita has to travel alone for that kind of treatment… anyway Mexicana was a nice airline, good food, free full bar, minimal voiceovers about safety etc. and I listened to a goodly few podcasts on the way. Anyway then we arrive in LAX and you can actually feel the karma levels dropping to sub-zero levels around you as you head for the control checks… Whereupon Sita nearly went postal extremely pissed off as they wouldn’t let her talk to the git in control who was examining my case. Eeh well, shall chill out a bit today and take the week as it comes. M & S have done a fine job on the house, I’m not sure there’s much more left to do to be honest. Very impressive all round. Shall have to go and check on the bunnies and see if they’re as happy as Atticus was. Cheers

John Hurt, once Winston in 1984, does a formidable job as the Big Brother figure in V for Vendetta. It’s set in either an alternative reality or in 3 years time, hard to tell which, where Britain is governed by a totalitarian regime bent on power and rampant with corruption. The populace is kept at bay with scares about avian flu terrorists and immigrants and V, the masked protagonist, is out to shake them out of their ovine slumber with some bonfire night pyrotechnics all over London…

I’ve always been fond of Natalie Portman despite her Star Wars travesties but in this film her English accent is a stretch to believe. She sounds like a South African who had a Canadian au-pair. Luckily for her, her lines good enough for you think about what she’s saying rather than how she says it. And in the second half of the film there’s the constant expectation she’s about to launch into Nothing Compares 2U.

There’s constant meditation about the power of ideas and not-so veiled references to US, and to a lesser extent British, politics too. The Bill O’Reilly figure is pleasingly hideous. It’s all too plausible if you ask me. Jose watched it too and reckoned it was more like the PRI than New Labour, but that’s cultural differences for you. He’s right that New Labour hasn’t had any political opponents assassinated (yet), whereas the PRI does have that reputation…

I reckon this film could stand a few repeat viewings. There is a lot of stuff going on and in that sense is a worthy successor to the Matrix (shame about Matrix II & III) for the Wachowski brothers. As for why Alan Moore took his name of it, I’m guessing because it doesn’t go far enough. Although it is daring for a film to have a terrorist as its hero, he’s nowhere near as anarchistic as he could have been. I’m not criticising it for that though, he’s placed as far left as he can be and forces you to consider the whole freedom-figher/ terrorist thing. And there ought to be more films advocating political awakening and revolution.

Stylish, well-scripted and excellently paced I’ve no trouble at all recommending this one.

Alas, we’ve come to the end of out initial lump rent payment of 5 months + deposit, so I had to go to the bank and pay April’s installment. First off, my (may very bad things happen to them) Wells Farrago card wouldn’t cough up enough money to cover it so I was forced to use my offshore Barclay’s card, but even that wouldn’t give me enough. I hightailed it over to another bank with my WF card and it gave me just enough that I could pay the rest with my remaining 40 dollars in my wallet. All this is happening on a very hot afternoon and involves crossing an 8 lane carriageway to move between banks… Anyway, I take a number and wait my turn (40 minutes) to change my remaining dollars, hand over the cash and pay the rent. When it’s my turn at 3:50 I go up to counter number 3 please, and say “well first I need to change these dollars”. And she tells me they don’t do that after half past three. I have this reaction in banks where the red mist comes down and I can barely suppress my anger. I managed not to swear too much and just pointed out how displaying this piece of information could save people a lot of time in the future and she agreed. It’s not her fault, I suppose… but you can choose where you work, same with traffic wardens, immigration officials and Nazi stormtroopers…

There, I’ve vented. And now on to the V for Vendetta review…

Hello to anyone surfing by thanks to the link in Mumpsimus Forum. Thought you might like the phone number for the Columpio place, if so click on the picture for a larger version: Also feel free to comment away or shove yourself on the guestmap… The entry on our weekend to Tequila is either at the bottom of the page or following this link. Enjoy 🙂

Last night Jose and me went to see the late showing of V for Vendetta (V de Venganza) and it was brilliant. Eyes right for a review sometime today. That’s all for now, off to chambear (work) to see if the internet’s back there or not… It’s something of an inconvenience for web design and historical research when you can’t connect to teh intarwebs.

While I was slaving away on Nueva Era Kindergarten and much, much more’s website Sita was off listening to a talk by legendary Mexican Zapatista Subcomandante Marcos. My camera is notoriously fickle in indoors situations especially on full zoom, but she snapped a few nice shots. Who knew that Marquitos was a chain pipe smoker? Anyway all this on Benito Juarez’s bicentennial, which is a holiday for the country, except I had yesterday off instead. If I’d realised that I could have listened to a lecture on neoconservatism from the revolutionary lyricist himself I might have changed it. Hey ho. So we’re off this evening with plan C: watch the footy in a pub. Fernando should be round any second, and possibly Sr. Valdez too…

Had a bit of concerning news about my gran’s health yesterday, but she’s doing much better today. Email me if you’d like to know more.

So last night I didn’t get around to V for Vendetta but stayed in and watched Brokeback Mountain with young Sita. She’s too far ahead of me with the whole Lost malarkey so we have to find times when we can fit it in solo style. I didn’t think Brokeback would be my kind of thing. And I was right. All a bit too slow moving for my liking, I preferred the Brokeback mountain in 30 seconds. With rabbits.version. And I wasn’t too keen on that neither… Anyroad, a review to the right soonish, if I get a chance… Today I’ve been starting on Jose’s mum’s school web site, there’s a few pages up here but most of the links are broken for now. I was fairly happy to have the CSS menu doing what it should and the resizable page width. I’m trying for a cleaner white-spacey look and I’m happy with how the pictures are coming along. I think I’ll need to go by the school to take pics of the kiddies in action.

I met up with Fernando and Ana again this evening to give him back the memory card he lent me and there’s a chance that tomorrow evening will be spent at a football match or the lucha libre & Fernando’s doing the organising. Que buena onda… Either’s fine by me… It’s a good little city this one…

victor jara- Blur style

After seeing far too many Che Guevara T-Shirts at last night’s Fiesta de Musica in Av. Chapultepec, i was inspired to follow this tutorial: www.family-portrait-artists.com/ and give Victor Jara a makeover. Shame he looks a bit simian, but it’s my first attempt…

Definitely a fun night, the only band anyone had heard of was Los Amigos Invisibles, who cancelled, so Fernando, Jose and me walked the length of the street a couple of times and decided to adjourn to El Muro, then La Barba Negra. Sleep caught up with me around 2am, so I wandered home, gutted to find my favourite taco stand had packed up and gone home already. I got an episode of Lost in (Sita’s new record: 8 episodes in one sitting) , about 4 pints of water and half a loaf of bread, and crashed out. Today I’m up to web designery and hopefully going to see ‘V for Vendetta’ later this evening. It got rave reviews over here, it had a mixed reception in Blighty, though.