Recurring problem:
At 7.34 this morning, a huge insect with plenty of hairy legs fell from the TOP of the COMPUTER to the KEYBOARD and almost crawled up my GODDAM HAND. ARGH! It looked to me like a scorpion, but it couldn’t have been, as it didn’t have the claw thing attached to his stupid insect head. Of course, I didn’t spend hours admiring it; I killed it at once. I feel violated. First the scorpion, then the brother-of-scorpion. It must be my karma, for always pincing stalks of thyme and other spices from the row of plants just outside our window. And for vacuum-cleaning a spider yesterday.
Cassis, St. Victoire
We went to Cassis twice last summer (those were the days… the leaves are now falling, and I’m back to using my coat.. bah). A very nice place, although the beach was a bit of a disappointment.
Woes
My mother is not in the best of moods, now that she has learned that my sister, Doctor Doom, is leaving next month for the US with her boyfriend, for her medicine practice what-not. She calls me constantly these days, bitching about spending the holidays with the Terrible Four – my father and my three brothers.
I totally sympathize. My brothers – PartyJesus, BlackSheep Paolo, and Nikko – are hooting, sharp-tongued, sarcastic boys in their early twenties and teens. They are dense to the point of suicide. Scandalous, really.
Eropolis
Last weekend Julien and I went to Montpellier to attend Eropolis, a huge exposition on erotica. Watched tons of pole dancers and live shows, which included audience participation. No, I wasn’t picked. They probably thought I was underaged — it’s a miracle I got in.
The live shows were an absolute hoot. There was this one show in the main stage entitled: Conan the Barbarian. This male stripper was all decked in a tiny slip and sheepskin boots (which I highly doubt was Conan the Barbarian attire), roaming around the smoke-machined stage, looking for a female participant. When he finally chose a girl, and he HAULED her up the stage (the stage being around 4 ft high) and threw her on his fake animal rug! Everyone was laughing as ol’ Conan chewed on an apple and gyrated infront of her. The girl was game, though – she kept on touching his ass.
I couldn’t help smiling because I was having visions of a lion springing from the backstage and devouring Conan and his ‘love prisoner’, with the audience running amok. People probably thought that I was thinking of Conan’s enormous wang.
We walked around the expo a bit (‘a bit’ — right. We stayed for four hours), marvelling at the various gadgets I’ve never before seen. The lingerie selection ranged from decent-sexy-notorious: lots of lace, leather, latex, nurses’ and maids’ uniforms, whips, handcuffs. There were lots more, but I don’t really know how they’re called.
Thoughts on Sex
I’ve never been squeamish towards sex. I did go to an all-girl’s Catholic school, listening to my classmates talk about boyfriends and French kisses and first-to-second-to-third base (Sadly, I could never take part in their conversation — Nirvana and my guitar had all my attention then hehe).
Once I was mature enough to understand, my mum, having been a weed-smoking hippie in the seventies, never made me feel that curiosity about sexuality and sensuality were taboo. It’s funny, because my Father grew up in a very conservative family (Proof: his sisters, all three of them, are unmarried, even though they wanted to), and at times he does get into a frustrating conventional mood, but all in all, he’s cool about these things too. I never had to lie about sleeping over at a boy’s house during college, never had trouble having boys over at home. And when I lived in with Julien for half a year, I never heard anything bad from them (just from my other people, those close-minded gossips).
And so, one of things I like about Europe is the healthy attitude towards sexuality and sensuality: it’s so open, it’s not dirty. You see people kissing in the streets of Paris and people go “Aaaaaw, l’amour” (on the contrary, you see people in Makati kissing and the reaction is, “God, PDA!”) It’s just love. And with love comes discovery with your partner, in all aspects, sex included.
People of all ages were at the exposition : middle-aged couples holding hands, young couples like us, veterans pushing into their sixties. Gays. Lesbians. People in wheelchairs. All in love, all in tune with their sexuality. I wish that when I get older, when I finally have children of my own, I can be as open to them as my parents were to me. Because with the right attitude, love and sex can be two of the most beautiful things on earth.
Some things never change, though. I remember looking at a middle-aged woman holding up sexy lingerie, displaying it to her husband, who was nodding impatiently, as if it were a piece of cabbage at the supermarket. Ah, women and shopping.
After that, we went to the beach in Montpellier, which looked exactly like the beach in the movie Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. It was freezing cold, almost sunset, and I felt so bad, because all the dogs were running around like mad with their tongues hanging out of the sides of their salivating mouths, and I so wanted to steal one dog and take him home and call him Bubba 
Eternal Sunshine, Movies, Movies
I finally got to see Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind (the hype has died down, but I’ve just recently been able to drag myself out of the house).
…Praise the Holy Triune God of Cinema – Gondry, Jonze, Cunningham (For those who liked the ‘originality’ of Coldplay’s music video of The Scientist, let me set it straight: it was adapted from an earlier work of Jonze).
…Praise scriptwriter Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation was sheer genius).
…Praise cinema! Just when I started to think that cinema was being more and more commercial and less and less artistic, movies like these pop up and give imagination another form. I hope the their work will open opportunities for other less-known-but-just-as-daring directors. There are gems everywhere, if only we know where to look. And only if they want to be found.
