A stick, a stone
It's the end of the road
It's the rest of the stump
It's a little alone
It's a sliver of glass
It is life, it's the sun
It is night, it is death
It's a trap, it's a gun
The oak when it blooms
A fox in the brush
The knot of the wood
The song of the thrush
The wood of the wind
The criff, a fall
A scratch, a lump
It is nothing at all
It's the wind blowing free
It's the end of a slope
It's a beam, it's a void
It's a hunch, it's a hope

And the riverbank talks
Of the waters of March
It's the end of the stain
It's the joy in your heart

...- Antonio Carlos Jobim

With time...

With time everything comes

With time everything goes

In time you'll fall in love again

In time you'll lose love again

In time you'll search again

In time you will find again

All I ever wanted was to be happy

I never cared much about status quo

Yet I know you gotta play the part

When it's time to deliver

But not all is worth the price

All I only wan-wan-want is to be ha-ha-happy

All I really wan-wan-want is to have a fun-fun-funky time...

time... what is that anyway?

Facebook

I have been enjoying Facebook for the past 2 years communicating with old friends, some in different cities, different countries, even different planets (... that's another story), because it allowed me to find some people who i really got along well with in my childhood years, that i liked and it's always good to at least hear from them. Facebook allowed me to do all of that within that one place because of it's popularity. Just as the opposite when people who you did not want to ever get in touch with, ask you for a friend request. That in itself is another other story. I was able to network within the network and i have found contracts that allowed me to make some money, try some new things, meet new people in my fields and learn. But I'm also aware that Facebook has become an addiction for a more and more reclusive world. It has created junkies that are in need of human interaction. I speak of myself in this matter. Facebook allows us to do that in a safe, lazy and hidden environment. Where you can peep into each other's life. Where we can create a fantasy persona or a more restricted persona but most of the time hiding things that you don't want the general public to know. Like a friend put it ''would you stand in front of a crowd of 200 people and yell any personal information to a bunch of strangers?'' Euh!! No! ... I'm also aware that not everybody is there for the same reasons. Some use it for business. Some use it to network or just to keep in touch with ''real'' friends and family. Other use it to commit crime. I personally knew a friend's mother who was scammed into sending money to help the daughter that was stranded in some country. The lady sent the money to where she was instructed and she never saw the money, until the daughter called a few days later. The daughter was putting personal information on her Facebook profile, such as when she will be leaving, where she's going, when she will be coming back, what she will be doing. That is why it's so important not to put any personal information on the internet like that. Specially things that everybody can know, see and use against you. So I try to put only what i judge I would share with a well meant stranger that I meet on the street. That I can talk to about myself on a friendly manner. I feel that it's my responsibility to protect myself and my information.

Inspiration - Strenght finder

I remember doing a psychological test where I was asked a bunch of questions and one of the questions was which animal I admire the most and why. I said the tiger, for Its beauty, Its strength, It's calmness, yet voracious, and a silent killer. I was told that I am like a tiger, that i see myself like the tiger, beautiful, strong, calm yet..., and a silent hunter.
Looking at these pictures gave me a burst of energy and motivation. As I try to see myself walking a mile in those claws!!!


SPOTTING THE OPPORTUNITY


CHECKING IT OUT CLOSER


THINKING ABOUT THE STRATEGY


GOING FOR THE KILL



ALMOST TASTING THE REWARDS
... BUT NOT THERE YET... FOCUS UNTIL YOU SAVORED IT!!

I AM

I claim my space
My right to be
I accept my responsibility
To pay for my own way
I choose to be happy
I choose to be bold
No man or woman
Shall deviate me
From my divine goal
I am righteous
I am Honest
I am Powerful
I am For Ever

HER SMILE

Her smile

The first time we met
We went to the movies
The usual place to meet
When two strangers who
Intend to stay strange
But feel the presence of one another

She sat besides me quietly
As we listen to everyone talking
Shyly I sat alone with my thoughts and desires
And when the others had finished talking
We sat some more in quiet darkness
Until the lights came on
As she murmured some sounds
And I replied the same way
I understood what she was trying to say
Only when I saw her smile
Instinctively I leaned over
And she kissed me for what seemed to be
An eternity...

This is so childish I thought after
But I'm still a child at heart
I must be,
I get butterflies when I see her smile at me
I dream of fairy tales still at my age
It's just the way she makes me feel
I know she could never love me
Not the way I dreamed of anyway
These vivid images in my head
Mixed with the emotions I feel
I feel like a child
Falling in love again
For the first time again
I would let myself go
But I still remember the pain
That is just as real
When love fades away

I wanna be your friend
Know your deepest secrets
Tell you all my hopes and fears
Know that I could always trust you
Chase those clouds with you
See the various shapes they take
Laugh and cry while time passes by
How childish this is...
All from her smile... to think like this. (2001)

JE ME DEFINIS

Je me définis...
Comme une personne généreuse
Comme un esprit brillant
Un être intelligent et curieux

Je me définis...
Comme un leader courageux et audacieux
Comme un guerrier fort
Comme un acteur intègre et responsable

Je me définis...
Comme je définis mon DIEU
Je suis la somme de toutes les créations
Tel j'ai été créé à son image

Je suis...
Une divinité spirituelle
Vivant une expérience humaine

Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.

- Vincent van Gogh

Heat

Summer is finally here.
We've had two weeks of intense heat.
I loved it.
After those long months of winter,
I think it's a blessing.
Trying to take it day by day.
Because when you keep staring
Too much in the future or in the past,
Great things passes you by
Even if you reach the destination
To realize what you thought
You wanted so bad
Was not of your own choice
So you'll have to retrace your path
To be where you should have been
All along...
All along the watch tower

Benefit Show for Haiti

Last night I played at the Leonardo Da Vinci Centre in Montreal for a benefit concert for Haiti. There were about 35 acts from all over Quebec that participated including the Cirque du Soleil. I played with Aimée, a singer from montreal who came out with album a few years ago. We played together a while ago when my daughter was born. We haven't seen each other in almost 5 years and I ran into her last week. She told me about the show and could not miss the opportunity to be part of it. I have shed so much tears over this tragedy. Wishing sometimes that I was God and undo it all. Feelings of helplessness and also anger.
All in all the show went fairly well, since we only had a day or so to get it together.

Melissa in the Old port Montreal, we were shooting scenes for the film.

Picture of a painting I wanted to do for my sister in Florida.

Another picture I want to paint with my brand new oil pastels, my Christmas gift to myself.

So many desires, so little time.

Gotta go pay the rent and the bills.

Another year has gone by, a new one started.

Do I feel different?

Should I feel different?

Nope.

Nope.

I still have the same problems. Just as I still have the same blessings.

It can be a motivator though,
the acknowledgement that something new is beginning
A new hope, a new revived energy, a new chance for new possibilities.

Just as it can be a reminder of past failures,
that we are getting older,
than we start feeling inadequate,
incapable of dealing with some recurrant problems, etc. etc.

Which ever way we chose to look at it,
everywhere we are reminded that it is a new year.
Every one is wishing well to one another.
It enables us to bond for a moment.
It remind us that we are in this, "together".
Faced with the same battles and viruses.
For a moment we can encourage each other.

Wishing you a Happy New Year 2010. Now, go get what's yours.

Last month I should have posted a show I did with the iMusici Orchestra. Even though I started the project back in April, it never crossed my mind to post it on my blog. Always busy with something. I'll upload some pictures and a video later.

Here's some info on the program:

http://www.imusici.com/en/pic_09.php#p2

Little penguin and the enchanted horn
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Guest: Adley Glemaud, sand artist / Conductor: Stéphane Tétreault

2 :15 pm: Pre-concert chat: Big and little secrets of a violinist

Musical Program
W.A. MozartSonate religieuse en ré majeur K 69
A. DvorakSérénade pour cordes en mi majeur, opus 22 / I. Moderato
A. Vivaldi Concerto pour cordes en la majeur, RV 158 / III. Allegro
J. HaydnDivertimento en ré majeur pour violoncelle et orchestre / I. Adagio (extrait) (arr. Piatigorsky)
A. Vivaldi Concerto pour cordes en ré mineur, RV 127 / III. Allegro
R. Chédrine Suite Carmen (d’après l’opéra de Bizet) / Second intermezzo
A. Borodine Quatuor no 2 en ré majeur, II. Scherzo / Allegro (arr. L. Drew)
B. Bartók Divertimento pour cordes / II. Molto adagio (extrait)
G. F. Haendel Water Music / Hornpipe
W. A. Mozart Sérénade pour cordes no 13 en sol majeur, " Eine Kleine Nachtmusik ", K.525 (Une petite musique de nuit) / IV. Rondo - Allegro
Ballade suédoise De tva konungadöttrarna (ballade jouée à la gemshorn soprano)
J. Brahms Danses hongroises, la cinquième
A. Vivaldi Les Quatre Saisons, l’Hiver / II. Largo

All in all, it was a fun project.
It was a pleasure to meet the musicians.
At our first rehearsal at the Conseil des Arts, I was nervous but as soon as I was introduced to the musicians I felt at home.
My heart was there

Suzanne from iMusici and I worked on the story. I came up with the idea of a little penguin that lives in the antartica with its community. Since the show was for kids, I thought there had to be a little message in it. Once the story was somewhat developped, I started drawing my storyboard by adding images to the story. As the storyboard came along, I would practice the flow and timing of the images with sand on an illuminated table at work at the National Film Board. A couple of weeks before the show I received the final draft of the story with the music we chose for the show. I wished I had more time to finalize the sand animation but the show had to go on. I was pleased with the overall show. The concert hall was full of people and all the kids were up front. At the end of the show a bunch of them came over to see my table, ask me questions, and play with the sand. Which was my favourite time of the show.

About a week before the first rehearsal with the orchestra I was so stressed. I managed to control it so it doesn't show too much, and affect those I work with at the National Film Board. I give workshops on animation films there sometimes help with other tasks. I had two other music shows in the same month. Both were different from one another. New materials to learn and practice. I hate learning new pieces by heart. I prefer reading quick charts and add my flavor. That same week I was playing at Newtown Club for a corporate christmas party. My company SSG Productions was hired to provide the entertainment. I was playing a jazzy set while the crowd mingles. I hired a DJ someone referred me to, and told him what they wanted and what i wanted to hear. I went to the dj's studio and chose some tracks the night before. I was playing with a trumpet player whom I've never met before. A young musician who goes to McGill and plays with a jazz ensemble there, he was also referred to me, because the other guy whom I hired was stuck in L.A. I panicked for about a minute, than said to myself the show must go on. One of the perks of producing events.
We played with some of the tracks I chose with the dj the night before and improvised on top of those tracks.
They were funky, groovy, loungy instrumental beats. Due to technical difficulties we played for only about an hour, but I was happy. Sweet and short. Just the way I like it. The dj finished the night and we danced till we could no longer stand. I went to a friend's place for some more fun. I was just glad that I wasn't sick the next day.

My favorite pass-time is definitely getting paid to have fun and making sure that others do too. But like most of us, I have "jobs" too.