Hi readers, I guess after the last 3 miserable posts, there mustn’t be many of you left in here… but fear not, you will be rewarded for your loyalty! No more misery here (unless you liked it in which case let me know, I might be able to pull something off).
So, first I feel I should give some news following all the drama. Our flights back to the UK are booked for Feb 26th which is good cause it means we are still in Vancouver for the Olympics. Talking about the Olympics, apart from being in the right time zone, could someone explain to me what’s the advantage of living in the city where the Olympics are held? I mean, obviously I don’t have tickets, so I am not attending any of the games… so what else I am supposed to do?
Ok now one good thing that happened last week is that Jimmy won a 2 nights at the Fairmont hotel in Whistler with $100 per day to spend on mountain fun. Maybe there is some sort of luck bank in the universe and we were in serious debit so this is the Universe giving us a little bit of credit. So that’s good because once we are back in Europe we are done with the snow season (sorry, I’ve gotta go and get myself some tissues to wipe those tears and a little bit of snot, cause I tend to snot when I cry).
As it happens, I also won something in a draw last week! I won 2 tickets to the ‘Grassroot wedding’ on Vancouverisawesome.com. But I turned them down. First because I thought I was going to Whistler that day (but then we looked at the finances and decided not to) and also because I am not getting married anytime soon (thought I am actually engaged, just so you know I am not one of those freaks who have their whole wedding figured out without even having someone to marry) and finally, it is now quite unlikely that I will ever get married in Vancouver (or Tofino like we were thinking to… boooo hooo!). But all that too say that it might be time to buy tickets for the lottery, don’t you think?
So I got back to Vancouver 2 days later than planned and with a big balance on both my credit cards… You’d think after all the trouble I went through, fate would give me a break and I’d live in Vancouver happily ever after, right? Well no. Fate wasn’t done with me!
The day after I got back, Jimmy and I drove to the border to get a border agent to approve my new employer on my visa. Don’t ask. My visa is some sort of administrative arsehole. So we got there I presented all the paperwork to a young and ugly border agent who, I noticed straight away, was sporting a nice ‘trainee’ badge. She took a quick look and asked me to go and sit down.
We saw her look through the papers again and then her fat and even uglier supervisor went over and started looking through as well. Moments later, I saw them getting on the phone, and then hanging up and bursting into laughs. The trainee called me over “You know that lying to a border agent is a serious offense that could jeopardize any future work permit or permanent residency application right?”, me “Absolutely”, her “So why did you say you haven’t started working for this company, I just called them and Alyson told me you’ve been working for them for weeks?”, me ” Sorry there must be a misunderstanding, I don’t know who Alyson is, I haven’t met her yet because I have not yet started working there, she probably misunderstood your question. Please ask to speak to Rebecca or Callie, they are the ones who hired me”, her “So you are saying that the person I spoke to on the phone was lying?” me “No… I just think she misunderstood your question”, her “I don’t believe you, I’m going to ask you to give me your bag, your wallet and your phones (Jimmy’s as well), go and sit down”. Naturally, when this kind of stuff happens I instantly switch to guilt mode even if I have no reasons to. I swear if I had to go through a lie detector I’d fail even if I was telling the truth.
So anyway, I went back to my seat.I saw her give another couple of phone calls. I guess she spoke to Alyson again and cleared the misunderstanding cause she didn’t mention anything again. Then she called Jimmy over and asked for his passport. She wanted to see his visa. She took the passport and asked him to go back and sit down. And so on for the next couple of hours, she kept calling us back to the desk, asked us random questions, to which we tried to respond in the best and simplest way possible, and then we’d get asked to go back and sit.
In the end she called me again and told me she was not going to validate this employer and this job on my visa. It didn’t really come as a surprise, by then I knew things were jinxed. Then she looked at Jimmy’s work visa and said she needed to take it away. I tried to explain to her (in the least patronizing way possible) that he was entitled to that visa, being my common-law partner and all that… She seemed to agree… but then took a quick glance at her ugly supervisor and asked me to go back and sit again. Her fat and ugly supervisor, who had missed nothing from the conversation, called her over. And there again I saw them going through paperwork and all that.
Half an hour later she called us back again and announced that she was taking Jimmy’s work visa away. She got into some really convoluted explanation as for how she got to the conclusion that she could do that. I tried to argue it, in the most respectful and calm way possible but she totally lost it. So I surrendered. We took our stuffs back and before we left she said “I realize this puts you in a difficult position but I had no choice, if my supervisor hadn’t pointed it out I wouldn’t have known”. No kidding ugly bitch!
So there you go, we left the border with a useless work visa for me and a ‘visitors’ visa for Jimmy. How about that?
Even though we know we could fight it, it didn’t take us long to decide to leave it at that and go back home for a while. Wherever home is (somewhere between France and Paris).
It’s unexpected and sad but sometimes you’ve got to go with the flow not against it, right? Things have been so difficult in the last few months for us that I was starting to think that the Universe might be trying to send us a message. Maybe something incredible is waiting for us in Europe… I heard someone say (I think it was in the documentary ‘Home’, if you haven’t seen it here you can watch it for free) “Don’t cry about what you’ve lost, think about what you still have”. And this is exactly what I am going to do!
Without wanting to be too negative and I am not sure how personal I want to get on this blog but what the hell, in 2009 I got fired twice. And I feel like I need to add here that I have never ever been fired before. I wouldn’t want you to think I’m some kind of loser who can’t hold a job (especially if you are a potential employer)
The first time I got fired was really tough because I was working for a prestigious Canadian company, I had a good position (which wasn’t in sales), all in all it was a pretty sweet move for me. Howevere on my 3 months anniversary I got called in for a ‘meeting’ and when I turned up in the meeting room I saw that the only people there were my manager and the HR manager. Now, I didn’t have much experience in the ‘getting fired’ department but I knew this was definitely not a set up for an appraisal. And the best in all that is that when you get fired within your probation period, the employer has got no obligation to give you any reason. So that was tough AND frustrating. Now, you might be interested to know that my (ex) manager got fired as well not very long after. And so did the VP on top of her. And then another dude from this department. Basically the marketing department got wiped out, so it might be ok to assume that there was a problem in the department and it wasn’t just me.
But let me tell you, it’s bad enough getting fired but it’s really the shit hitting the fan when you were catching up with your finances due to prior unemployment (oh yeah, because what I am not saying here, is that in 2008 the company I was working for collapsed. Yes I am a lucky kind of girl), your partner doesn’t have any work lined up and there is a visa situation.
So after that, despair took over, and I accepted the first job I found. Even though I had sworn to God that I’d never work in sales again. But I had to sell my soul to the devil on that one. It’s funny what despair can do to you sometimes, isn’t it? So yeah it was a sales job, and to top it off, I was supposed to sell something terribly boring and ugly. To cut the story short, I didn’t perform and I was let go. Yes: AGAIN! But before you pass me the kleenex, I must say that this time was nowhere near as traumatizing, it felt pretty liberating getting out of there actually.
And then nothing for months. I would wake up every single day, fill my heart with hope and courage, browse all the job sites, search, apply, make phone calls… but nothing. I ended up getting myself a volunteer job cause you know, on top of all that, you don’t really want to have a massive hole in your resume, do you? So months passed and before I knew it, it was nearly the end of 2009. Which, in my mind, was a good thing. Then, days before I was going to back to Europe for the holidays (if you wonder how I paid for the flight, well I basically I sold my body and ate potatoes for months) (in case the Canadian immigration reads this blog I would like to add that this is a joke, I didn’t really prostitute myself), so before I was leaving for Paris, I got offered a position in my yoga school. Suddenly it felt like all this struggle was finally paying off! I’d get to work by my house, in a place I knew really well and liked a lot, I’d get to hang out with nice and chilled out people and I’d get the membership for free, so yes, I was pretty excited. I gladly accepted the job we agreed I’d start working after I’d come back from France, we signed the contract and I flew to France feeling lighter and relieved to see that things seemed to be picking up for 2010.
The holidays were good apart from the beginning and the end. Did you hear about the people who got stuck in both London and Paris right before Christmas because of the Eurostar’s technical problems? Well yours truly was one of them! I landed in London on December 20th, ready to get in the Eurostar (after 13hours flying that is) and go to Paris. But no, fate probably thought this would be way too easy. The Eurostar trains had stopped running because of technical problems due to the snow (because you know, snow in winter is such a surprise right?), so well, I couldn’t go to Paris. Luckily I could go to Jimmy’s parents in Devon and catch a flight from there but, if you’ve followed this story, it’s not like I was loaded enough to go and get myself last minute train tickets and flights. I guess that’s what credit cards are for, right?
So I made it to Paris in the end, spent 2 and a half week with my people (and that was brilliant). T he day before I was supposed to catch the Eurostar back to London and then catch my flight back from London Heathrow to Vancouver, guess what? Snow storm! I went to Gare du Nord anyway on time for my train. When I got there, there was no sign of my train being canceled anywhere, but surprise surprise, my train got canceled! So we all had to cram up in the next train and sit. And wait. And we waited one hour. 2 hours. I was supposed to meet Jimmy at Heathrow Airport and I had no way to let him know that I wasn’t going to make it as I didn’t have a cell phone.
I ended up getting off the train and going back to my mother’s house where I could call Jimmy and tell him my misfortune. Then I had to change my London to Vancouver flight to another day and book a (last minute) flight from Paris to London since the Eurostar was not working anymore. And again, it’s not like I was loaded (but my credit card was)
So in the end I made it back to Vancouver 2 days later than planned, with a credit card about to explode, not having been able to start my new job on time. But hold on, it gets better.
Gotta get on with cleaning chores so this is to be continued…
Here is the trailer of Machotaildrop to keep you busy whilst I put my shit back together and take the time to write a long post about the disasters that have taken over my life lately (in case you wonder, I didn’t decide to spend the first few weeks of 2010 in Haiti and I do understand I need to put things into prospective but in the other hand this is my blog and I’ll complain if I want to).
Oh and if you happened to have enjoy thoroughly this early snow season, you recently got a promotion, are planning an amazing surfing trip or just bought yourself a love nest, by any mean refrain to spill your joy on this blog. This is the blog of misery until further notice.
Ok it’s not that bad… seriously I was joking! Please don’t delete my blog from your Google reader!
I wish I could say I got down to really cool and interesting business these last few weeks to justify the silence on Peanut Butter and Banana, but apart from shredding my tail bone on Grouse iciest slope I can’t think of many memorable events (my tail bone is fine thanks for asking).
But anyhoo, this morning I came across Flipside which stands as a making off for Neverland. You might remember that ‘Neverland’ didn’t really do it for me… well as it turns out Flipside is way way WAY better!
Check this episode out! “Stairs massages on the arse don’t feel that good…” Cale Zima definitely knows how to put it.
Do you remember this post about the New York Surf Film Festival?
Well as it turns out “The Drifter”, one of the movies showcased at the festival, is premiering in Vancouver on Monday. More info here.
Don’t miss out!
Last week end I almost had a heart attack. In a good way.
It happened at Boobalicious, a fundraiser for breast cancer. I am not really a social butterfly these days, but my friend Christina had won a couple of tickets and offered to take me so I thought to myself why the hell not?
I am not sure about the fundraising side of thing, this was kind of confusing to me… was it for research? For awareness? For boobs liberation? That aside, it was a pretty beautiful party that involved trapeze artists, trampolines, drag queens, fake drag queens (girls dressed as drag queens…I know, right?), topless women, boobs artists, fashion show and stage performances.
So the heart attack moment happened when I saw my yoga teacher Jesse take over the stage, feathers on and put on a rock show like I have never seen before in my life! Looking back I should have known… though Jesse is very serious about us getting the poses right and obviously he sounds like he knows what he is talking about (especially when he turns up in class with a miniature skeleton), his classes are hilarious. He certainly knows what entertainment is all about! I know it’s silly but I always imagine my yoga teachers having a pretty serious life outside of the studio…
Christina and I went to chat with him and the rest of the Scatterheart dudes after their first act and found out that they were playing at The Venue on Dec. 3rd. Needless to say I already bought tickets!
In case you have been in a coma lately (or haven’t been reading surf blogs and magazines which is a little bit like being in a coma, right?), Rudy Jacques, a French photographer from the Oleron Island created quite a stir with his exhibition at the Wallako Surf Shop, in Bidart on the South West Coast of France. Since everyone was raving about his photography, I thought I’d better take a look at his website.
I got totally sucked in by the aesthetic of the website, his photos and his videos. His creative world translates a very cool and relaxed image of what the surf and skate scene in France can be like, and that makes me so very proud to be from France… though a little nostalgic too.
So I decided to contact Rudy via email to say, well, that I really liked his work and that I would like to find out more about him. He got back to me and he kindly accepted to answer this interview for me…
When and how did you start taking photos?
I began taking photos more seriously about 2 years ago, when I left Oleron Island. I only go back to the island during the school holidays, and photos allow me to keep in touch with surfing.
What is your story with surfing and skateboarding?
I’m not quite sure when I started surfing. I used to bodyboard when I was a kid, and then my parents got me a surfboard, I was 11, maybe 12 years old. I guess I started skateboarding around the same time.
I find your style very unique, I really like the retro look of your photographs. If I’m right, you only use analog material… What are your favorite cameras and why?
I am glad to hear that you find my style “unique”, because that’s probably the most challenging thing when you start getting involved in art. I work a lot at developing my own perception, I try to use my influences in a good way but I also try to escape from them, I don’t want to copy what other people do. I feel I still need to work on this.
My photo quiver mainly consists of cheap cameras. The one I use most of the time is a Canon AE1 Program, which my father lends me. That has changed the way I take photos. I find in analog cameras the atmosphere I want for my photos. I don’t need to touch up any of them with a computer. I also use a Polaroïd Kodak Supercolor. I used to have a disposable camera with me all the time, but I recently bought an analog compact Canon AF 35ML.
Do you develop your photos yourself? Some of them look alterated…
Unfortunately, I don’t develop my photographs. I don’t have the equipment for it. I saw someone doing it when I was in High School, and for sure I’d like to develop photos in the future. That’s probably another step in photography, and an aspect I haven’t been lucky enough to explore so far. At the same time, that’s why I alter my photos. For instance, when I was younger, I used to be impressed by photos that were highlighted by some awesome border. I knew that was what I wanted to do so I used whatever I had available : paint, cheap scotch-tape, fire. All these techniques allow me to give a personal touch to my photos, and put forward what I want to express.
Working with analog material costs time and money, I guess this is why few people still use it. What do you enjoy about analog photography?
Analog cameras are mechanical. It’s the same as surfing with no leash. With a digital camera, you can photograph with no limit, you leave your finger on the button, and there will always be a good shot in your memory card. With an analog camera, you have to concentrate, and shoot at the right moment so you don’t waste frames. I like the fact that you are constrained, and that you are forced to improve your behavior. I’m not saying that digital is bad, just that it has changed the way we take photos. It’s true that analog can be expensive, but if you are crafty and hardworking, you can use it without losing (too much) money. You get a different satisfaction from an analog camera.
Huck Magazine said about your work that it’s a “romantic way of telling the surfing story”, do you agree with the term ‘romantic’? I read on your blog that your inspiration mostly comes from the ‘punk’ and ‘hardcore’ scene which seems quite far from ‘romantic’…
When I say that I have been inspired by hardcore and punk, I mainly think about values. When I was younger, maybe 13, I used to listen to punk music when I was alone at home, because I didn’t want my parents to know that I listened to this kind of music. Punk is different. But from 18 to 20, I turned straight edge and found quite a rebellion in it. I saw so many people getting drunk every night, and pretending they were rebels. I was not into that. No matter what you look like, what clothes you wear, your haircut or any of these damned things, what happens in your head is what’s most relevant. I’m not a punk and I’m no longer straight edge. I just try to be a good man, be straight without being walled in by principles. I like the sentence “romantic way of telling the surfing story”. I’m a romantic.
Like your photos, your videos are very retro, where does your inspiration come from? What video camera(s) did you use? What movies inspire you? Where does the music come from?
My inspiration firstly comes from my friends. The way they surf obviously has an influence on my photos. I’ve also watched all kind of videos, and that’s how I’ve learned to use a camera. Dale Davis, Bruce Brown and Thomas Campbell’s movies have influenced me, for sure. With regards to music and editing, I feel I still need to improve and bring my own ideas. So far, I feel too close to my influences, so I don’t feel I can take full credit. For my latest short movie “El amigo Cloclo”, I used a song Clovis played himself. That’s a better approach than to use a song from someone you don’t even know. Or so I hope. These days, I use a Sony camera. A digital one, with tape, that cost less than 200$.
I get from your work that you must like being by yourself. Am I right?
I think you’re right. I like being with people, but I like being alone too. When you are alone you can think about things that you can’t think about in society.
Who are your favorite surfers?
Hmm… Phil Edwards, Tyler Hatzikian, Joel Tudor, Kelly Slater, Dane Reynolds… But I haven’t met them personally, so I’ve probably been more influenced by the people I know such as Cyril, Yves, Cloclo. Just regular people.
Who are your favorite photographers?
I have no idea ! I like all kind of stuff. There are so many people who have done incredible work ! Just one ? Kyle Lightner, look at his blog (www.kylelightner.com).
How did your photographs end up at the Wallako Surf Shop?
They heard about me via my blog, and they offered to hold a little exhibition of my stuffs supported by the brand RVCA. They’ve been very nice to me and let me do whatever I wanted, even paint their walls. I’d like to do more exhibitions like this, it allows you to meet people and share ideas. I find it difficult to approach people, due to my shyness whereas through exhibitions, conversations are unbridled.
On your site you say that you’ve never left France, have you got any traveling plans? If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
I have to go abroad to graduate next year. I would like to go to the US or to Australia, but it’ll depend on the cost. If I could go anywhere, I would choose… I’d probably need 6 more months to come up with an answer !
You say you are not trying to make a living out of your photographs but if the opportunity came up what would you do?
Never say never… so I am just going to say “No”. I think that if I had to take photos for a living, they would be different. I don’t want to compete with other photographers, or with myself. I like the idea of being spontaneous, doing things that have no link to money. You can act without thinking “money-money-money”. That’s what I meant by “straight” before.
What do you do for a living?
I am a student and I’m actually doing a one-year internship at the moment. I earn a little bit of money and my parents help me too. They’ve sacrificed a lot for my sister and I in order for us to get a good education, I don’t want to waste their effort.
How different is it living in Paris from living in Oleron Island?
In Paris, you can have everything. If you want to see an exhibition, you can see it, if you need something specific, you can have it. The Oleron Island is the countryside. You’ll find all the things that you can’t find in cities… I’m thinking about liberty.
When I get to talk with people about my work, I like to add that I’m not looking for money, or craving for a place as an artist. All I want is to do what I like every day, and get to meet people with rad stories to tell.
I’d like to thank you Alejandra for this interview. We don’t know each other, but I hope we can meet in person one day. Canada must be an incredible country, especially with its forests and entertaining mountains. There must be tones of adventures to write about.
I hope my English is not too bad. I like the English language, even if I find it difficult sometimes to express feelings in a language that is not mine. Thanks for reading.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks Rudy, I too hope to meet you in person someday!
Now check out this videos…
All his videos are worth watching, so check them out here, because quite frankly it was difficult to chose which ones to put on here…
In case you haven’t heard of it, Peak Season is a Whistler version of ‘The Hills’. I watched the first episode yesterday and I only watched it all the way through so I could bitch about it later on my blog. It was so painful though that I decided to do the washing up at the same time, so my time wasn’t completely wasted. Therefore I am not quite sure what the exact dialogues were, but that’s pretty much how the storie goes… girls talk about boys and relationships, boys talk about girls and relationships, couples have problems (in their relationships), then everybody goes out clubbing and it all ends up in a fight (over relationships). In the last scene though, a girl notes that she doesn’t get how these people found the time to snowboard… I was just going to say!
So as you probably guessed, I am done watching this show.
Instead I am going to stick with 90210, which is so bitchy and over the top in such an entertaining fashion. Yes, I admit it, I like teen drama even though I am not a teen and listen to this: I even look forward to it! Also before you start criticizing 90210, watch the latest episode (episode7, season 2), there is some pretty nice surfing.
PS: if you are lost with the story, feel free to contact me I’ll be happy to give you a quick run through, I’ll tell you who is a bitch and who is a bigger bitch).
Last week end I almost had a heart attack. In a good way.
I find your style very unique, I really like the retro look of your photographs. If I’m right, you only use analog material… What are your favorite cameras and why?
Huck Magazine said about your work that it’s a “romantic way of telling the surfing story”, do you agree with the term ‘romantic’? I read on your blog that your inspiration mostly comes from the ‘punk’ and ‘hardcore’ scene which seems quite far from ‘romantic’…
How did your photographs end up at the Wallako Surf Shop?
In case you haven’t heard of it, Peak Season is a Whistler version of ‘The Hills’. I watched the first episode yesterday and I only watched it all the way through so I could bitch about it later on my blog. It was so painful though that I decided to do the washing up at the same time, so my time wasn’t completely wasted. Therefore I am not quite sure what the exact dialogues were, but that’s pretty much how the storie goes… girls talk about boys and relationships, boys talk about girls and relationships, couples have problems (in their relationships), then everybody goes out clubbing and it all ends up in a fight (over relationships). In the last scene though, a girl notes that she doesn’t get how these people found the time to snowboard… I was just going to say!
