paulatina in NYC

2009-08-17T22:09:00.000-04:00

2009-01-28T22:30:00.003-05:00

It is not Chuck Norris, it is OBAMA! This is hands down the best Obama song!

2008-12-06T16:02:00.005-05:00

The story begins with an evening out to see The Complexions Ballet company performing at the Joyce theater. Whilst watching the performance I couldn't help but notice a very commanding couple. What I was initially attracted to was how stylish the woman was. She had on this wonderful frilly collar and, from what I recall a sequined dress. She appeared to be at least over sixty, and as I looked at her I secretly wished that I would one day be as stylish. Little did I know who I was looking at.
Fast forward to a lazy Saturday of reading the New York Times online. A video of a gala event for the Alvin Ailey's 50th anniversary was featured. As I watched the video I recognized that same couple and more importantly the very professional people from the Times had included who this amazing couple was. The woman was Carmen de Lavallade, a wonderful dancer. Her companion and husband was Geoffrey Holder, also known as a dancer. Now I'm not sure that he would want to be remembered for this, but Geoffrey Holder will also be familiar to those who grew up in the '70s and 80's as this guy:

2008-11-09T19:07:00.003-05:00

Learn from those who know about writing.

2008-11-09T10:49:00.000-05:00

Wow

2008-09-30T18:01:00.001-04:00

2008-06-22T16:49:00.004-04:00

Oh summer, you are here! All of my favorite memories are from the summer, which makes me wonder why I continue to try to be a student.
Remember how cool toy companies used to be, like Wham-O? Things just don't seem the same with toys anymore, sigh. Anyways my point is that Wham-O is responsible for one of my favorite summer memories, Slip n' Slide. I used to be all about it and at summer sports camp it was seriously the best. The councilors would lay out the Slip n' Slide on the Astroturf, which was awesome and scary all at the same time, because the ground was even yet there was a looming threat of Astroturf-burn
Wham-O

2007-10-08T00:29:00.000-04:00

2007-07-19T20:02:00.000-04:00

So I know that I've been distracted lately, you know throwing yourself into the American lifestyle can be all consuming.
I have done too much since april to catalog the momentus events as of late, but I can highlight the most exciting:
1. Going to see the Colbert Report, it took a while to even get an answer for the tickets but it was well worth the wait, that guy is funny.
2. Going to Jones Beach before work one day on the way back from JFK airport. I was subsequently late for work that day, but after telling them I was "stuck in traffic" I quietly enjoyed my sunburn at work.
3. And last but not least the awesome bar-b-q to celebrate my turning 30, those that were there were privy to Paolo's awesome jerk chicken.

Here are some random photos:

Thats me on the BK bridge doing a cartwheel, wheee!

The fam in Montreal

At the Guggenheim. I love that something as easy as going to a museum can totally reset my mind and fill me with inspiration and creativity.

What the? A subway train on the GW bridge? OK!

2007-04-01T17:41:00.000-04:00

Awww yeah!
Status: Lawful permanent resident
Mood: At Peace

Paulatina in NYmotherfuckin' C! That's right I told you that this was my year and boy is it ever. So after 10 months, it's official I am US of A green card holder. Now if any of you have ever doubted the saying "everything happens for a reason", I am here to tell you that in my experiences, it is infact very true.
A short story on my immigration process:
It all begins when I decide that I am soo done with MTL, maily because as a anglo I find that my oppotunities are limited in Quebec. Yes, that's right I said it, even though I am by definition a true quebec-er (english mother, french(France) father), I do not have a purelaine type name, i.e. Pelletier, Bélanger etc. But all of this is besides the point, my husband is american which gives us the option to come to the US and try to live out our dreams in the land of opportunity. However his oppotunities thanks to a certain Cirque du Roleil had also run out in MTL. So we decided that NY was the place to be able to get back on our feet. I do have to mention that my husband's parents live in Orangeburg NY, a suburb of NY about 20 minutes outside of Manhattan, so choosing NY was just about our only option. Anyways from there Mr.P goes to NY to find some work and starts to file the paperwork to bring me over around may 2006. I continue to live and work in MTL until about august of 2006. After that I was kind of drifting back and forth between MTL and NYC, but mostly in NYC. There were many administrative demands on us during this time and we completed all of them in a timely manner and paid all of the required fees, totalling approximately 700$ USD. This of course does not include the trips to MTL, doctor visits, and miscelaneous expenses that add up. During this time though, Mr. P and I celebrated our two year aniversary (yay!), the reason that I bring this up is because it is an important detail in the immigration process. For couples married under two years, the permanent residence is valid for only a year, and after that you have to go through the whole process all over again. So after all of the procedures and paperwork that needed to be sent in, we were married just over two years, thus making my application count all the more. So here I am relieved that all of this immigration stuff is over and I am ready to take on new challenges, graduate school, driver's license, and so much more that you can all keep updated on here on my blog.

That's me waiting for the mail carrier to bring the envelope containing my visa ( I had to sign for it-note the ginormous pen)

"Sign here madame"

"At last"

2007-03-05T14:49:00.000-05:00

I know, I know, I promised pictures and stories from the Philippines, but my other half said all there was to be said on his own blog, weloveplove.blogspot.com sigh marriage is sometimes a race.
Anyways a lot of the seeds planted in 2006, have begun to show their might and beauty in this current year, I think this may be the year of Paulatina. To start off the immigration status has moved forward and end (keep your fingers crossed) is in sight, march 26th to be exact. So NYC is seriously mine for the taking from that moment forward. I will soon be complaining about not having enough time to do everything that I would love to do, but who cares, I am almost a somebody in the US.
Until then I have started a volunteer position at the Nyack library, http://nyack.lib.ny.us/
and I am concentrating on learning the Dewey Decimal point system, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewey_Decimal_Classification.
As someone pointed out to me yesterday, I have become Parker Posey in the movie Party Girl, well minus the getting arrested for throwing a party, but anyways life is funny I guess when it imitates art or is when art immitates life, god if I was serious right now you would all have permission to punch me.

As he was once referred to, my betrothed is coming up on a milestone birthday for which we had a birthday party for just yesterday. It was an awesome convergence of friends from different eras in his life, and family. Here are some of the photos.

2007-02-03T07:30:00.000-05:00

We're Back!

The husband and I are back from the Philippines and it was awesome. My family over there pampered me to the point where I was asking myself, why do I live in America? But I know that visiting and living somewhere are two very different realities, this realization came with my move to NY, so it is still fresh in my mind.
My last post listed all of the things that I have done up until that point, and since then we had some action packed days. So here goes my summary of part one of what we did. Part two and maybe three to follow in the next few days.
Took an hour flight out of Manila-Quezon city to go to Iloilo, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iloilo. We were met on the plane by an aunt who was in Manila for the day, Tita E. When we arrived at the airport we were met by Tito R. and driver, and I got a glimpse of how I was going to get treated for the next few days and what kind of life my family is used to over there. As we got off the plane I was making my way over to the baggage claim to pick up my pink and Mr.P's tennis ball green luggage, but Tita E. directed us to wait outside in the air conditioned car while a porter was instucted to look for our bags. When we pulled up to our Tito and Tita's house I was amazed to learn that we would be staying in a house surrounded by not only a wall but also armed gards, who had holsters for each of their bullets. It was both a comforting and sad feeling because I realized that my family has a hard life in a secretive sense.
Anyways we went out for dinner and had oysters and fresh red snapper (I think), Mr.P and I were still kind of jet-lagged at this point (it was only day three for us), so we weren't the best and most talkative company. Shortly after dinner we were both full and exhausted. Before we went to bed though we discussed with Tita E. that we would leave at 7ish for Boracay.
The next day we were up and ready to go and so began the road trip part of our travels. We were set to drive from Iloilo to Caticlan, basically from the bottom to the top of the island.
Some photos of our view:

While in Boracay me and Mr.P were alone and free to enjoy our official honeymoon. While in Boracay we went on a glass bottom boat tour that was nice but a horrible moment of regret for me.

So we go on this glass bottom boat tour and the tour guide is a sweet and smiley guy around my age. He is giving everyone a history lesson on the island (found by Germans) and is very warm and welcoming. Everyone gets passed snacks and drinks and we are told that his boat is our boat à la mi casa es su casa. I was all into looking at the corals and stuff and was even playing along with our mission to find Nemo (by the way we totally did). We went all the way out to Crocodile island (so called due to the shape of the island, not because of the abundance of crocodiles), and turned around to come back. However on the way back the tour guide had it planned out to stop for a while so that anyone who felt so inclined could go snorkeling. The boat anchored and in dove our guide and the boat driver grabbed a bunch of life jackets and mask as they expected a few people to go. An uncomfortable silence made its way through the group, no takers, the boat guy singles me out and asks me (I secretly think that because I was so animated for the first part of the tour, the boat crew was banking on me to be the one to go), I uncomfortably look around and decide that I can't make everyone wait for me, but inside I am thinking "wow I can have a one-on-one tour", but I instead go with the first feeling of passing. The moment they pulled up the anchor, I regretted my weak ass decision, first of all because it was totally out of character and because it was essentially lame. The rest of the boat ride was quiet and awkward, the tour guide looked all dejected and probably was disapointed that he was not able to inspire any one to go with him. I went from cool to fool with the boat crew, man oh man if I could have that moment back.
That is lame me afterwards.

The next day though I was vindicated as I went snorkeling with Mr.P and I was able to feed the fish as they ate bread right out my hands.
Other Boracay highlights: The Hobbit House-a regular restaurant but staffed only by the vertically challeged.

Jonah's fruit shakes, my favorite papaya lemon:

"Seriously this is the best shake ever"

and of course the beach:

So that's all for now please stand-by for the more stories.

2007-01-21T11:02:00.000-05:00

Paulatina in NYC is no longer in NYC but traveling.
Man talking in the third person is weird I feel like Little Richard. Hahaha, shut-up

So I am in the Philippines, and so far I really like it.
But wait hold up a sec. before I get ahead of myself I have to rave about the food the I so enjoyed on Korean Airlines. Bibimbap and miso soup as their standard meal, Great! The best though was breakfast, I had Green Tea rice porridge. Doesn't sound good right, but it was DELICIOUS, it was congee like and the perfect thing that I never even knew was missing from my life. Other notable treats, mini rice treats with my favorite red bean paste, mmm. Props to the flight attendant who scored me a second desserts. On another side note the Korean Air flight attendant's uniform is pretty cool.

Ok, so far me and Mr.P have been here two days, both of which have been pretty productive. Here is a brief summary in point form:
-Cultural museum-Where we saw the Philippines gold collection, and the different regional art groups collective's installation.
-The Intramuros (walled city), where we crashed a wedding and a baptism at the San Augustin church, sweet.

-Fort Santiago (also know as known as Jose Rizal's cell)

-Jolibee's, had to get it out of the way.

Some other random stuff.
-Our view from our room in Makati-the business district of Manila.

-As much as I am raving about what a nice time I am having I have to mention that I am being pampered and I am noticing some really real stuff, like a naked kid hanging out in the streets with a dirty bum. Man you see those images in those adopt a child ads and you know that that kind of stuff exists, but still when you see it for real...

So fellow readers that is all for now hope that it was entertaining, we are off to Iloiolo and Boracay so don't count on an update until at least next week.

2006-12-27T13:23:00.000-05:00

The holidays are a weird time that bring out all kinds of emotions in people. This year marks the first x-mas that I am away from my family. I have missed a couple christmas' here and there, but this is the first one living away from my home in Montreal. Seeing as how I am surrounded by my husband's family here, I thought that I would be too caught up to even notice that everything would be different. But low and behold I miss my crazy family and I miss the not so formal tradition that I shared with them. For us it really was about the time spent together and I find myself missing those feelings.
Here is a list of the things that I miss:
1-My mom, she always tries to do the right thing.
2-The relaxed vibe.
3-The food, so tasty and also good for you.
4-My own presence. I feel as though I have removed myself.

Christmas has come and gone and the recovery has just begun with the acquisition of a nice cold. First one of the season, so not too bad.

The highlight of my holidays was the elfster gift exchange that I was a part of with the "cousins". My secret santa spoiled me with a pair of the most awesome winter boots
(will I even need them Global Warming?), an awesome cd and a talking Mr. T keychain, "Don't make me mad, grrrr!".
I was very sad though to wake up on x-mas morning to find that Mr. James Brown had died. What will we all do now without The Godfather of Soul? I look forward to hearing nothing but James Brown from everyone for the next little while.

As the new year approaches there is much reflection on what was accomplished this year. Although I don't have very much to be proud for this year (no awards), I do feel as though I have started a new chapter in my life. I still don't feel as though I know what I'm doing, or even what to do next. I am however forever optimistic.

2006-12-08T09:59:00.000-05:00

'Sup Blog?

Now that the tree and the house are decorated (whew!), it is time to start brainstorming on Paula & Paolo's latest installment of holiday cards. I will take this opportunity to toot my own horn and say that each year we keep outdoing ourselves.

Example #1: Not bad (the early years)

Example #2: (funny at the time)

Example #3: (we're so cool)

Example #4: (by far the best, and tough to beat this year)

Just so you know these cards are not limited to the holiday season. This stroke of genius was made for Paolo's niece's christening. And as you have probably already gathered we are not jewish and I must point out that we aren't religious zealots.

Merry Everything and remember to stay warm!

Paula tha balla.

2006-12-03T17:12:00.000-05:00

Hello Blog,

The christmas countdown has begun with the acquisition of the holiday tree and the mounting of the outside lights. There are many minute and uninteresting moments that are all part of the process, however the overall family vibe kinda warmed my insides.
I do have to share one of the minute details; while we were installing the tree in it's base, I was crouching and screwing stuff in, and my pants were kinda long so I was stepping on them and well they were getting pulled down a little. I realized that had I been a plumber, I alas, would definitely have plumber's butt.

The end result however is that the tree is beautiful (picture to come soon), I have to admit that I'm kinda excited to decorate it. I think that a big part of getting exited about christmas is the preparation. This was the first time that I've actually gone shopping for a tree, taken my time to choose the right one and all. So now, I would like to see the job through and decorate it. I'm corny I know.
Anyways, I hope that all of you are planning out the holidays in a fun and relaxing way , feel free to share your gripes or hypes during this particular holiday season.

2006-11-29T19:00:00.000-05:00

I feel as though I have to share a secret, that my projected image of life in the city if only one part my experience in the U.S of A. The other part of my experience is my rockland life. For those not hip to the rock, well it's a suburb of NYC, north of the city. On a good day it takes about half an hour to drive to the city. And the bus, well that takes a little longer. There is a lot to see in Rockland and it is a nice repose from the hectic city. Just today I was riding the bus from Nyack to Orangeburg. The bus passed the Rockland psych center as part of its route and I was admiring the old buildings. But there was something very suburban and not as cosmo as I'm trying to sound.

So on a totally different tip, check out my celebrity look alikes, and the following site: http://www.myheritage.com. It's a fun distraction.

2006-11-28T10:27:00.000-05:00

So that was my view at MSG. The Knicks were big and slow compared to the Bulls. It was exciting for like five minutes towards the end of the game.

The next NYC conquest: Either David Letterman or Saturday Night Live tickets.

On a totally different tip, I am slowly starting to train for a triathlon. I figure that since I've got all this time I could try my hand at a little competition. My target is may so as of january I will be in training mode. I'm still trying to figure out how I'll train when I'm in the Philippines, but I'll work it all in somehow.

Yup, that's right in january my other half and I are off to the Philippines for two weeks.
I also have to mention now that we're on the subject of my other half (a.k.a. P-love, http://www.myspace.com/weloveplove), that he will be playing a show as part of the band Taxi Taxi (http://www.myspace.com/taxitaxiband), November, 29 2006 at Fat Baby, 112 Rivington St., New York, Cost: $7.

So that's all for now, I'm off to watch DVR'd Heroes...

2006-11-14T12:22:00.000-05:00

So here I go, I'm not the blogging type but I guess I can document my move to NYC.
Noteworthy events:
NY Yankees game
Attending a taping of Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
Next exiting event:
Courtside Knicks tickets!!!

I guess now that I'll be blogging I should make an effort to do interesting stuff to share with all two people that'll be reading.
So far though I have to say NYC is a great place to be. I am very fortunate to be able to enjoy it before jumping into the grind.
As a fellow blogger I vow to never use this blog as a venting device. Please help to keep me on my toes!

Here are some other events that I took part in:
Volunteer for the NY marathon. I totally missed Lance! Oh well. I was stationed at the foot of the Pulaski bridge, which is the half-way mark (mile 13). I hope to be one of the runners some day!
City college graduate fairs. Gathering info for now to find the right school for me. I hope that I win the IPod video that you can win by signing up for the fair.

I've also attended a bunch of functions (helping out with the Chocolate fountain) such as:
The Melanoma Foundation fundraiser, which was at the Puck building (where Will & Grace worked I think) in SoHo.
A benefit for Lyme disease at Gustavino's. The highlight of the night, The Pumpkin ravioli. Oh man...

Last but not least, The Museums:
The Cooper-Hewitt, http://ndm.si.edu/
The Frick Collection, http://www.frick.org/index.htm
The Met (0f course), http://www.metmuseum.org/
The MoMa, http://www.moma.org/

Well I know there is so much more to see, so I gotta go! See ya!