I love...
The Seattle International Film Festival which started this week. I love volunteering for it. I love going through the schedule, both online and through the book, and picking out films I absolutely have to see. I love the crazies that show up year after year (true of just about everything I do). I love the opportunity to see a story that I would never have the chance in the "mainstream" cinemas.
Last year, Kelly Rae and I saw a film that might be one of the best films I have ever seen - Gravehopping- it came from Slovenia and it was hilarious, charming, tragic, horrible and brilliant. I managed to see 27 films last year (not all like Gravehopping) of the hundreds offered at the festival.
There are a million stories all over the world and some of them get to be told thru film. One of my favorite directors is from Mauritania (is that a country? um, yes. The Moors, you know, from Northern Africa... oh yea) and he has a new film this year that I'm sure is going to be as great as the one I saw at FESPACO (Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou) in 1998. I've been participating in and volunteering for festivals for a long time and I love every single part of it from loosing track of time because you've seen three films in a row, to loosing a sense of physical being because you've been volunteering and on your feet all day, to loosing your sense of self because you have been inspired, shocked, awed or moved by a story go you got to see.
I LOVE the film festival. And between roller derby, volunteering, roller derby, work (oh yeah), moving and a wedding in Mexico - that is where you'll find me.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Sometimes....You forget to write about things that you spent the whole week talking about.... being exhausted, excited and thrilled about.
This past weekend, that occupied all of the chatter at my work, for so many of my coworkers had come out to participate, was the first Jet City Roller Girls expo (mini) bout. The four teams on the league played each other for a series of 15 minute "bouts"(games). It was one of those evenings that went off without a problem (besides not winning) and seemed to have a dash of luck everywhere. At 3 p.m. when we arrived, there was a tent set up for the skaters, our very own "greenroom" complete with very healthy and tasty snacks. There was a lot of hurry-up-and-wait as the Everett Skate Deck had their public skate going on. At 4:30 p.m. there were still 100 little kids skating around. We had to transform the rink into a entertaining venue that could seat 700 people (!) for we had sold out. And we did!
It went by so fast - as I expected that it would. CarnEvil lost both bouts but only by a jam or two (meaning if we had had 4 more minutes we could have come back.) Suffice it to say, it was great fun and below are links to photos taken from the bout.
Because I've been talking about it all week.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
While driving...
Starting July 1st, you can get a very expensive ticket in Washington for driving while talking on the phone. This annoys me for I drive up to Everett for practice and sometimes have my best conversations in the 25 minutes it takes to get up there. I'm always willing to hang up or put my phone down when I need both hands and I consider myself a really good driver. Today, on my way into work, I decided I would see what everyone else does in their car to distract them besides talking on the phone.
There was a woman behind me (then besides, in front and back behind me) who was putting on her make-up and it wasn't just a little lipstick and blush, she had a full makeover going in her car; a Comcast driver next to me was smoking; another man was eating his McMuffin and talking on the phone and another woman had her convertible top down clearly enjoying the morning sunshine in Seattle. There were very few other distracted drivers (besides the one watching everyone else who was possibly a bigger hazard.)
I turned off Broadway onto Pine, jogging through some other morning thoughts in my head (having decided that people weren't all that distracted) when out of the corner of my eye I saw someone running to my car - my heart started racing - were my doors locked? Who is the person trying to get into my car while I'm at a stop light (right by the police station!). As soon as I had addressed my safety in the situation I found myself trying to unlock my doors and move the CDs off the passenger's seat as it was my very good friend Louise. She hops in the car and in the same breath, "Sorry, Michelle. I knew this would freak you out. I missed my bus and was going to be late when I saw your car and thought, Go for it! But it's totally going to freak her out." Did it ever.
And adding to the theme this morning was the CNN article about road rage - Seattle being rated as one of the nicest (though we often call it passive/aggressive) drivers in the country.
Starting July 1st, you can get a very expensive ticket in Washington for driving while talking on the phone. This annoys me for I drive up to Everett for practice and sometimes have my best conversations in the 25 minutes it takes to get up there. I'm always willing to hang up or put my phone down when I need both hands and I consider myself a really good driver. Today, on my way into work, I decided I would see what everyone else does in their car to distract them besides talking on the phone.
There was a woman behind me (then besides, in front and back behind me) who was putting on her make-up and it wasn't just a little lipstick and blush, she had a full makeover going in her car; a Comcast driver next to me was smoking; another man was eating his McMuffin and talking on the phone and another woman had her convertible top down clearly enjoying the morning sunshine in Seattle. There were very few other distracted drivers (besides the one watching everyone else who was possibly a bigger hazard.)
I turned off Broadway onto Pine, jogging through some other morning thoughts in my head (having decided that people weren't all that distracted) when out of the corner of my eye I saw someone running to my car - my heart started racing - were my doors locked? Who is the person trying to get into my car while I'm at a stop light (right by the police station!). As soon as I had addressed my safety in the situation I found myself trying to unlock my doors and move the CDs off the passenger's seat as it was my very good friend Louise. She hops in the car and in the same breath, "Sorry, Michelle. I knew this would freak you out. I missed my bus and was going to be late when I saw your car and thought, Go for it! But it's totally going to freak her out." Did it ever.
And adding to the theme this morning was the CNN article about road rage - Seattle being rated as one of the nicest (though we often call it passive/aggressive) drivers in the country.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Dreaming in Spanish....
Actually I dreamt that I was thinking in French and translating it into Spanish because for some reason in my head it was easier to go from French to Spanish than English to Spanish. And it was a complicated conversation - not like "where is the bathroom" but more like "the state of the economy in southern Florida..." Oy. My subconscious was telling me I had better get that hotel room booked for Claudia's wedding in June - in Mexico City (actually north of the city.) And so I did - this morning - with the help of a colleague who most likely dreams in Spanish and enjoys any opportunity to speak it.
This evening, my team, CarnEvil met at Pounders to sell merch, promote our upcoming bout and just hang out. It was a great time with the band giving us plenty of shout-outs and the owner wanting us to come back (we will!) This Saturday is our league's "friends and family" mini-expo bout. It's an opportunity to get a sneak peak at who we are and give the community an idea of where we're going. And I would be so excited but there are a million details - ok, maybe only 200,000 but enough to keep one's mind focused on things like bleachers and programs. I'm sure I'll be psyched about it at like 5:35 p.m. on Saturday - after the doors have opened at 5:30 p.m. I'm sure I'll be super excited then.
Actually I dreamt that I was thinking in French and translating it into Spanish because for some reason in my head it was easier to go from French to Spanish than English to Spanish. And it was a complicated conversation - not like "where is the bathroom" but more like "the state of the economy in southern Florida..." Oy. My subconscious was telling me I had better get that hotel room booked for Claudia's wedding in June - in Mexico City (actually north of the city.) And so I did - this morning - with the help of a colleague who most likely dreams in Spanish and enjoys any opportunity to speak it.
This evening, my team, CarnEvil met at Pounders to sell merch, promote our upcoming bout and just hang out. It was a great time with the band giving us plenty of shout-outs and the owner wanting us to come back (we will!) This Saturday is our league's "friends and family" mini-expo bout. It's an opportunity to get a sneak peak at who we are and give the community an idea of where we're going. And I would be so excited but there are a million details - ok, maybe only 200,000 but enough to keep one's mind focused on things like bleachers and programs. I'm sure I'll be psyched about it at like 5:35 p.m. on Saturday - after the doors have opened at 5:30 p.m. I'm sure I'll be super excited then.
Monday, May 07, 2007
The Full Moon is the mother of all children
is how the saying went in Cote d'Ivoire when there was a full moon hanging in the sky. Kids would stay out all night and play – you could hear their laughter until well after midnight. Everyone generally stayed up just a little later – it wasn’t quite so dark – casting all kinds of shadows. In the retail/service world, when “the public” would start to get slightly crazy it would only take a second before someone would run to the back office to check the calendar – sure enough it was a full moon.
The full moon last week wreaked havoc - permeating many relationships– many break ups, separations, sick children, (even a natural disaster) and a general sadness that came in more bunches than 3’s. (There were a couple of humorous incidents that could also have been blamed on the “fool” moon.). At the end of some of these sad evenings, you had to wonder if there wasn’t something to all the mythology about the moon.
Luckily, it’s just a phase.
is how the saying went in Cote d'Ivoire when there was a full moon hanging in the sky. Kids would stay out all night and play – you could hear their laughter until well after midnight. Everyone generally stayed up just a little later – it wasn’t quite so dark – casting all kinds of shadows. In the retail/service world, when “the public” would start to get slightly crazy it would only take a second before someone would run to the back office to check the calendar – sure enough it was a full moon.
The full moon last week wreaked havoc - permeating many relationships– many break ups, separations, sick children, (even a natural disaster) and a general sadness that came in more bunches than 3’s. (There were a couple of humorous incidents that could also have been blamed on the “fool” moon.). At the end of some of these sad evenings, you had to wonder if there wasn’t something to all the mythology about the moon.
Luckily, it’s just a phase.
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