My one and only baby step this week
was to put the ROAD TRIP SHOW online…

Well, it didnt happen.

Listen to my update
and you’ll understand why.

Better luck next time!
(is what I wish myself)

Below is a little video
I happily created for you.
Hope it makes you smile…

P.S.: I LOVE YOU!

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In case you haven’t seen it,
here’s Giggle Tip #1 – Talk to Birds

One of the reasons I’m not
too crazy about winter is that
I miss talking to the birds.

I can hear them yapping outside the window as
I work at my computer, but I can’t yap back.

How could I? — The window is closed, and there’s this plastic film taped over it to keep the cold from filtering in.

And when we get strong winds and freezing temperatures — which is what we’ve been getting much too often this year — I keep the bamboo shade rolled down and the curtains shut tight; there’s no way I can strike up a conversation.

So when I step out the door and there’s a bunch of sparrows sitting in the tree that’s right in front of my balcony, I stop and chirp my little heart out. I like the way the birds stare at me, tilting their heads to one side and then to the other, and I always wonder: Am I making any sense to them, or is it total gibberish?

If I’m walking on the street and I see or hear a crow and there’s no one in sight, I caw. It’s annoying to have to restrain myself from cawing just because there are people around.

At home, when I’m on my balcony or in the yard or even when I’m walking in the lane, I don’t care what the neighbours think… I CAW CAW CAW!

But I try not to caw too often — I’m not THAT deranged.

Anyway, if you want to hear what I sound like when I
talk to birds, here’s a little slide show video I made.

It’s the first in a series of “Giggle Tips” videos I’ll be putting up on YouTube. As a Giggle Coach, I want to get as many people giggling
as I can.

I intend to conquer the World… one giggle at a time.

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P.S.: The video is on YouTube, but for some strange reason, I can’t put it on my site; here’s the Google Video version instead.

Lights… Camera… ACTION!

As soon as I enter the first room, it’s party time.

Imagine stepping into a museum of “fine arts” and coming face to face with a life-size Elvis.

Not exactly face to face as the canvas is hanging on the wall, but still… here I am standing in front of a gun-toting Elvis and I’m hearing Judy Garland sing Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

I think to myself, This is going to be fun.

The second room continues to explore Warhol’s
attraction to music and the stars.

We learn that it all started with a childhood crush on Shirley Temple who was sweet enough to answer his fan letter.

When Shirley strikes the first chords of On The Good Ship Lollipop,
I have to bite my lip not to sing along.

By the third room, we can tell people are
getting comfortable with the whole setup.

Lying flat on a wooden platform in the middle of the room is Warhol’s huge Dance Diagram(2): Fox Trot – The Double Twinkle-Man (1962).

On each side of this work of art, men and women, young and old, are trying to follow the dance steps and keep up with the beat of I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.

It’s just like New Year’s Eve at my aunt Bertha’s.

In the fourth room, what fascinates me most are two
experimental films projected directly on the walls.

On the front wall, there’s Empire — silent film, black and white — which features nothing else but one continuous shot of New York’s Empire State Building for eight hours and five minutes.

Warhol filmed it from early evening, on July 25, 1964, to almost 3 am the next day, from the 42nd floor of the Time Life Building. He even lengthened Empire’s running time by projecting the film at a speed of sixteen frames per second, slower than its shooting speed of twenty-four frames per second, in order to make the progression to darkness almost imperceptible.

With Empire, Warhol wanted to “see time go by.”

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Here’s a 6-minute clip. What I saw at the museum wasn’t this dark, so I must have caught the early evening segment.

On the back wall, you have Sleep. This silent, black and white film (16 mm), was shot on Memorial Day weekend in 1963, in the apartment of poet John Giorno, Andy Warhol’s lover at the time.

The movie stars Giorno — sleeping — for 5 hours and 21 minutes.

What I see when I stop to stare is a lower back, a naked rump, and half a thigh — quite a view considering the height and width of the projected image.

I don’t stare too long because hey… big butt sleeping.

Now comes the part of the exhibit where
everyone forgets about museum etiquette.

Reproduced in a cramped dimly lit room with mirror-covered walls is the installation Warhol created in 1966 at the Leo Castelli Gallery. Entitled Silver Clouds, it consists of dozens of large helium-filled balloons dancing in the air.

Sitting on the floor with other curious folk, I observe as people enter the room and turn crazy the moment they see the shiny objects floating over their heads. They start to jump and grab and punch the silver clouds, and eventually the scene becomes a bit too volleyball-ish so I stand up and leave.

Moving on, I walk through a short corridor where I listen to the one and only recording done by The Druds – a short-lived musical group Andy belonged to back in 1963. No comment.

I pass by the Brillo Boxes (two long rows, twenty boxes in all — impressive) on my way to a quaint little alcove at the back of the room where I get to dump my tired body on a kitschy cushy velvet sofa.

For an hour or so, I watch a selection of short films without even bothering to write down the titles. One of them takes place at a party: a cute blond guy dances out of control while another cute guy drips candle wax on his friend’s hairless chest.

All this time, I can’t make out what the actors are saying because music is blaring from the Brillo Box room. I don’t mind, though, as I much prefer the sound of Satisfaction and Like a Rolling Stone.

Next station: the album covers.

Warhol designed his first in 1949 for the album A Program of Mexican Music, and kept designing them till he died, in 1987. The bananas pictured above are three unused stickers for The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) record cover.

All in all, Warhol produced a total of 50 album covers including, in 1971, the Grammy-nominated Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers sleeve which had a genuine zipper.

My attention drifts to the writings on the walls, quotes taken from different periods in Warhol’s life. Here are a few I managed to jot down before my pen ran out of ink:

“I had this routine of painting with rock and roll,
blasting the same song, a 45 rpm,
over and over
all day long.”

“The Tina Turner concert was great.
I thought she was copying Mick Jagger
but then somebody told me
she taught him how to dance.”

“Some company recently was interested
in buying my aura.”

“I believe media is art.”

“Publicity is like eating peanuts.
Once you start, you can’t stop.”

“Punk has always existed.
Callas was terribly punk.”

I could go on and on, the exhibit holds 640 works and objects — paintings, silkscreens, photographs, films, videos, wigs… But I’ll conclude here by saying WARHOL LIVE is a darn good trip to take. That’s why I’ll definitely be going back to further enjoy the last part of the exhibit = the wild nights at Studio 54.

Before leaving the museum, I stopped by the boutique and ended up buying the official poster with Liza Minelli’s portrait ($9.95 – also available with Prince or Debbie Harry) and 10 postcards pretty enough to frame ($1 each).

Cool Artist Date, eh?

Don’t go thinking they’ll always be this extravagant. As a matter of fact, last week’s Artist Date was a visit to the hardware store. Sorry, no pictures.

WARHOL LIVE is on till January 18, 2009
at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavillion
1380 Sherbrooke Street West
Montréal – Québec – Canada

Maybe that’s why my prayers for a brand new computer
haven’t been answered yet.

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I love Tom Waits.
How about you?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

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Very cool. Was on the road for 7 years, took him 3 weeks to write the book. Did he know who he was? Or did he die trying to figure it out?

In my first post – The Day Has Come – I told you a bit about my past and how I lived through some pretty tough times. I hit bottom in 1996: went from being a depressed albeit functioning/working woman to a recluse, agoraphobic nut. Yup.

But that’s all behind me now. For the past year and a half, I’ve been working hard in order to get myself back on the highway to total financial freedom. I’m mentally and physically fit, I’m blissfully happy, my whole family is doing great…so all that’s left for me to do is bring in the cash.

The Power of Thoughts

I’m not one to sit around and think that everything I want will miraculously drop down from heaven – then again, I know of many instances where the magic happened without me having to lift a finger. Still, ever since coming into contact with The Secret and The Law of Attraction, I understand how much the power of thoughts can help us create the life we want, filled with abundance of all sorts.

The thing is, many of us – myself included – buy the DVDs and books about the law of attraction, watch and read and watch them some more, but don’t actually put the teachings into practice. So what I’ll be doing in the months to come is applying the teachings as much as I can…and having fun in the process. Don’t forget: fun is one of the keys to happiness.

NOTE: Once my experiment is set up, I’ll go with it and report back here on a regular basis. This is all part of a Master Plan to create more and more happiness. Don’t worry, we’ll all be loading the van soon and riding back to 1921 to witness Violette’s exciting entrance into the world of the living.

Now, let the fun begin!

Improving the Vibes

In The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent – Living the Art of Allowing, Esther and Jerry Hicks tell us that if things are not changing, or if they are changing very slowly, it’s because we are giving most of our attention to the what-is we are living, and very little of our attention to the what-we-would-like-to-be-living.

So if it’s my desire to have more money, but whenever I think about money I feel worried or frustrated, then this is not good. Emotionally, I need to improve the vibes between my desire to have money and the thoughts I most often link to the whole money issue.

The Wallet Process

This game requires a one hundred dollar bill. How I got my hundred dollar bill is a Law of Attraction story in itself, because I don’t normally have these brown bills hanging around in my purse. Here’s what happened.

Last Thursday, I was reading the chapter on the Wallet Process while taking my morning bubble bath. Of course, I became all excited about doing the experiment and figured I’d scrape up the amount just long enough to see how it goes. Well…that very afternoon, my son came by after work to give me one of his terrific hugs, and…yes…five twenty-dollar bills. I couldn’t believe it. Of course, he gave me this money for me to buy my passport – he’s getting married in Cuba, next April, and is paying for my trip and all related expenses. But still, it was quite a coincidence, don’t you think?

So the following day, I went to the bank and changed my twenties for a nice crisp hundred dollar bill.

First step: done!

Next step: I must carry this bill with me wherever I go, and take note of the many things I could purchase with it. By holding the $100 bill and not spending it right away, I receive the vibrational advantage of it every time I think about it. This is why it’s good to hold on to the bill. If I were to spend it on the first thing I noticed, I would receive the benefit of really feeling my financial well-being only once. But if I mentally spend the hundred dollars 20 or 30 times each day, then I receive the vibrational feeling advantage of spending two or three thousand dollars a day. Which is woopdeedoo fun.

Attraction Shift

Each time I acknowledge that I have the power – right there in my wallet – to purchase this, or to do that, I add to my sense of financial well-being over and over again. This way, my point of attraction begins to shift: I could have this. I could have that. I could do this. I could go there. Because I really do have the means to do whatever I want, there’s no doubt or any other bad vibes disturbing the flow of energy. I’ve shifted my attraction-attention from being poor to being rich.

I feel better already.

All this to say that in days to come, I’ll be going around and mentally buying and doing whatever I want. I’ll bring my camera and take pictures of all the goodies I’ll (mentally) purchase. To compliment this game and make it even more motivating, I’ll start a new Treasure Map. Stay tuned for more details.

How about you?
Have you been practicing lately?

Rock on!

The video is a bit blurry…but trust me, it’s worth watching.
Pay me my money down!

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Imagine…

Well…this is it: my first ever New Year’s Eve Web Party.

But just like in real life, I’m a little late getting ready. So while I blow the balloons and prepare the rest of the stuff, why don’t you all have a seat, have a sushi, have a glass of wine…have a good time!

I’m so glad to see you here tonight…it means the world to me.

Here’s a little music for you…enjoy your meal.

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20 minutes to 2008

Having a great time.
Daisy is a little tipsy…the old gal is all pooped out.

Looking back on 2007, I see family, friends, smiling faces…endless possibilities.

I’m happy to have found…happiness!
Every day, I wake up…and there it is.
All I have to do is grab it, go with it, BE it.

I’m so grateful. THANK YOU!

Now…bring on the New Year!

Because I know…THE BEST IS YET TO COME.
Oh yeah!

10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

5 :53 p.m.

What Violette has been feeling for more than a week; what Meldrude has been seeing in her tea leaves for the last two days; what I’ve slowly been growing into for close to a month and a half; all this is validated, confirmed, and explained in a two-minute phone call from Doctor Hamel: Violette is going to have a baby.

Violette puts the receiver back down, smiles at herself in the mirror that hangs over the couch, and quickly returns to the kitchen where Meldrude is rummaging through every drawer, looking for the potato masher. Violette – who had rushed to take the call with the utensil in hand – gently pushes the old woman out of the way and starts mashing vigorously, pouring milk and dropping big chunks of butter into the mix.

Théodore comes out of the bathroom, lights his pipe, coughs something up, spits it in the kitchen sink, plops down in the rocking chair, and asks, his head trembling, “Who was it?”

After shaking pepper, then salt, into the pot, Violette puts the potatoes back on the stove, turns to face her in-laws, and announces, with a wave of her masher, “I’m pregnant.”

6:15 p.m.

Georges (Violette’s brother) and Thomas (their cousin) arrive after a hard day’s work at the umbrella factory. Once they have washed their hands and seated themselves at the table, Violette belts out the good news. Potatoes and peas and hamburger steaks are served amidst laughter and joy.

7:38 p.m.

Violette has done the dishes and is now folding the laundry that spent the day drying on makeshift clotheslines, in the hallway. She hopes Edmond won’t work too late, and maybe even skip his regular stopover at the tavern, tonight. He was so distraught, last year, when they lost their son. She thinks the sad event could be the reason why her husband spends so much time drinking with his buddies, or even explain his distant behaviour and lack of hygiene.

This baby just might be the answer to all her prayers.

7:46 p.m.

The door bell rings: it’s Alice, Violette’s sister-in-law. Her husband, Henri, is Edmond’s brother. He’s also Edmond’s boss – owns a contracting company that does renovation jobs for movie theatres and nightclubs all over town. Henri calls Edmond his “right arm,” but in reality, Edmond is also the left arm, the painter, the carpenter and the foreman; he does all the work.

Violette likes her brother-in-law, but she hates her sister-in-law. She finds her arrogant and bitchy and downright condescending.

Without even so much as a polite nod to the rest of the household, Alice orders Violette to grab her coat – “Snap to it, the motor’s running!”- they’re going to Côte Ste-Catherine, on the other side of the river, where there’s something she thinks her sister-in-law should see.

8: 17 p.m.

Dragging Violette by her coat sleeve, Alice barges into the Pink Flamingo, ignores the doorman’s extended hand, rushes by the coat check girl, knocks down a fake palm tree, and coming to a halt in front of the band, points a ferocious finger towards the middle of the dance floor. There, in the arms of what her mother-in-law would call a “cocotte,” Violette finds her Edmond, swaying to the sound of Stardust – their song.

8:18 p.m.

The womb is struck with a tremor so big that my 4 mm body is nearly ripped to shreds.

And Philippe thought the whistling was bad.

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Dogs have settled in, everyone’s comfortable, popcorn is being passed around, and…action!

My Conception

Edmond penetrates Violette, without any foreplay, at 10:28 p.m. on November 19, 1949, just as Frankie Laine starts singing Mule Train on the radio.

Mule train!!
(Hyah, hyah)
Mule train!!
Clippety cloppin’ over hill and plain…

Eddy is drunk. And seeing he’s been married to Violette for over a year now, he’s stopped washing every day and stinks of week-old sweat and hundreds of cigarettes. His breath is a mix of rotting teeth, cooked cabbage, and beer burps. Violette turns her head away to look at the Emerson Aristocrat radio that’s sitting on the mahogany night table. “It’s such a pretty shade of red…I suppose one could call it cherry red,” she thinks, and then wishes she could switch the channel and maybe catch Dinah Shore singing Buttons And Bows. But no.

Mule train!!
(Hyah, hyah)
Mule train!!
Clippety cloppin’ o’er the mountain chain
Soon they’re gonna reach the top, clippety clop, clippety clop…

Violette turns her head back up again, watches Eddy’s blood-shot baby blue eyes stare right through her for a while, then continues her circular movement towards the other side of the bed. Setting her focus on the closet door—which is slightly ajar—she sees her old pink satin slipper sticking out; she recalls seeing the left one under the couch, that morning, when she vacuumed the living room rug. She pans over to the oak dresser—a gift from her in-laws, a bulky art-deco piece with a cracked, stained mirror. Next to it stands a chair…what’s left of it to see, that is. It’s piled so high with dirty clothes that some of it has spilled onto the floor—mostly socks and underwear. “I’ll do the laundry first thing in the morning,” she decides, and hopes she’ll remember to get the broom out and sweep that cobweb off the ceiling. She can’t understand why she hadn’t noticed it till now, it must be a good eight inches in diameter, right above the door leading out to the kitchen.

Mule train!!
(Hyah, hyah)
Mule train!!
Clippety cloppin’ through the wind and rain
They’ll keep goin’ till they drop, clippety clop, clippety clop

Banging away, Eddy recollects the prostitute who serviced him in his brother’s Ford pick-up the day before. How her red, heavily teased hairsprayed hair swept across his swollen beer belly. And this drives him crazy, and he stiffens and jerks and relieves himself with a growl, mouth wide open, saliva dribbling all over Violette’s ear and neck, and she remains limp while her husband crashes down on her cold body, then finally rolls over to sleep and fart and snore.

Get along, get along, get along…

And so it is that when Frankie belts out his final note, Eddy’s sperm fertilizes Violette’s egg.

THE END

(Or should I say…the beginning.)

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