In which Cosi Fan Tutte is reviewed - or The Germany Chronicles 5

Most of you already know the cause of my long silence on the blog lately. Indeed, it is because I have been working double shifts for several days (thus completely exhausting myself) in order to get the 21st and the 22nd of August as days off. Why are these dates so important to me? Because Michael starred as the lead in his first Opera on Sunday August 22nd. However, it is not like the show was easily accessible... I had to head to Weimar, Germany, in order to show Michael my support and see his show. So on the 19th in the evening, I flew to Frankfurt, landed on the 20th in the morning, and then took a three hour train ride to Weimar. I have only just come back from said trip a few hours ago.

Before I review Michael's opera, allow me to say how wonderful a city Weimar is. When I got off the train, I thought I had somehow time-travelled back to the 1800s. Except for the modern cars and a monument to the Buchenwald victims (which dates to the late 1940s, I think), most of the city is enormously old. Indeed, Schiller and Goethe, famous German authors, both spent much time there, and the city still looks like it may have been back in their day. Among other things, most of the city (I would say 95 percent of it) is covered in cobblestones. No ashphalt. Usually, that would have been fine, except that I had made the trip in my work heels, and for those who have tried it, you know that heels on cobblestone are a nightmare! I do not want to know what women's feet were like back in the Victorian age, when cobblestones and high-heels ruled and one had no choice but to circulate in them! The cobblestones would not have been so bad if I had not gotten completely lost trying to find Michael's opera studio. I ended up with bleeding ankles due to my confused wanderings. However, I ended up successfully finding Michael's opera studio, called the Lyric Opera Studio Weimar. The reason it was so hard to find is that, in old European cities like Weimar, people had little consideration for parallel streets when the city was built. Unlike North American cities, where a system of parallel streets and squares was divised, Weimar is more like a huge Celtic Knot of Strassen (streets), Plaetze (plazas), and Gassen (alleys). It was really hard to figure out where I was going and I think I went in circles a few times, only barely missing Michael's opera studio, before I finally found it. But the whole city was really gorgeous and worth seeing! And the weather was great! I think I will go back there sometime, but for a longer period of time (and with better shoes).

Michael was really happy to see me. I was very elated to see him too. Apparently, my visiting him provided great moral support at a very opportune moment. The manager of the programme, a certain Greek bass-baritone Damon Nestor Ploumis, is probably the most flamboyant individual I have ever encountered, along with my high-school math teacher, Mr. Tarakdjian. Indeed, he was the type of person who wore custom-made waist-coats from his "tailor in Cypress" (I asked him, this is all true!). Despite his over-the-top persona, though, Damon was a very nice man and I think he was a great help to Michael in his musical progress, along with several others of the wonderful and great people I have met there, in Weimar. I think Michael did have a great experience there, no matter how difficult it was.

And now to the review...

I saw Cosi Fan Tutte, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, performed by no less than three casts while I was in Weimar. All of them were phenomenal performances! One of them was particularly fun, as we all went to a castle from the 1600s called Schloss Kochberg (where Goethe also spent some time) and the opera was performed in the tiny adjacent theater dating back to the days of Mozart himself. The other performances were in the Volkshaus of Weimar, basically in the "people's playhouse."

But that's all beside the point. I will only review Michael's perfomance (the Sunday evening) as reviewing them all would take me forever. But I can tell you they are all brilliant perfomers and I hope they all have great success in their later careers.

So, in the Opera, it all started out with a really funny fight-scene, in which Michael (as Ferrando) was basically taunting a fellow soldier, all with regards to how honest and faithful their respective fiancées are. Michael opened the opera with the very first line "La Mia Dorabella" setting a very good energy for the play. The baritone and bass characters, Guglielmo (performed by the baritone Bryan) and Don Alfonso (performed by a bass from Montreal named Alain) were also phenomenal. I thought Alain was absolutely hilarious as Don Alfonso, especially because he has, as Michael put it so well, "a fifty-year-old bass wobble" to his voice. It was absolutely epic. Bryan, the baritone, was very good too and sounded great, but I believe he may have had more experience than the others in the Sunday cast, as he had performed in the Castle performance as well.

Anyhow, Michael's great moment of glory came when he sang his aria: Un'aura amorosa—"A loving breath." I was speechless with the beauty of the song. So speechless I could barely find the strength to clap, while in the back, many girls cheered loud "bravos" for Michael. I think he did the aria beautifully, probably best than all the other tenors in the other casts. I think he made every woman in the audience swoon when he sang. He sang it so beautifully, and, more than once, he looked directly at me while singing. He told me later he was singing it for me. I guess it helped him sound so in love during the song! ^_^ His acting during the number was also phenomenal. You could SEE the love pouring out of his pores, just like it poured out of his voice. And, in the words of some fellow singers of Michael's; "it was a really difficult aria, and Michael nailed it!" I was so proud of him!

Most of the Opera was comedy, and it was wonderfully and hilariously stages, with funny little dance moves that can only be shown, and, sadly, not described. But just picture Michael in a faux-beard-moustache (because he was disguised as an Albanian) and shaking his booty in an attempt to woo a pretty soprano. It was epic and hilarious! I loved watching it. It is too bad it was only on for a very short time, otherwise, I would advise all to go and watch it. It is a great opera, fantastic music, fantastic staging and fantastic performances. I hope there will be videos, because every one should see it!

I know, this is an odd review, but it is difficult to review a piece like Cosi when performed by new up-and-coming singers. But I can guarantee that the whole thing was absolutely amazing!

Back to the post...

The unfortunate thing was that, while spending some time with me after a rehearsal, Michael's laptop was stolen from his room. I feel really guilty because, had we not spent some time together, Michael might still have his computer. And there are many things of value to the two of us on that laptop, such as all the pictures from Germany in May (of which we have no copies and not nearly half of them were uploaded to Facebook yet!). I do hope it turns up. It really put a damper on Michael's amazing performance that such a stupid thing had to happen!

Okay - I will go and get some shut-eye, seeing as I was up by four in the morning, German time, in order to take a train back to Franfurt airport and fly home. I am completely exhausted. But, before I go, I wish to say that, other than Michael's amazing performance, one of the best things in Weimar is that most of the town is "Fussgaengerzone," i.e. "pedestrians only zone." It makes it a great city to visit!

* Edit: Due to popular demand, some of the wording in this post was changed! ^_^ Cheers!

In which the Otakuthon took place

Please feel free to (finally) have a look at my cosplay. Here is the completed result. The photos are scanned, though, so forgive the poor quality of them. The second photo was taken from above, so the angle is a little odd... But I am glad at how it turned out!



Anyways, on with the post...

For one glorious weekend, I was back among the living. No work. No stress. Just some great fun with even greater friends.

I attended the Otakuthon, a Quebec anime convention that takes place in Montreal. Considering how insignificant the convention was a few years back, it has much improved, featuring stars of anime like the Full Metal Alchemist voice actors and the master cosplayers Sarcasm Hime and Lillyxandra.

My cosplay turned out AMAZING! For those who do not yet know, I was cosplaying the Archangel Gabriel (aka Jibril) from the manga Angel Sanctuary. The specific costume I made was actually from the second Artbook by Kaori Yuki (the mangaka mastermind behind Angel Sanctuary), called Lost Angel. Despite all my complaining and my near depression with the difficult progress of the costume, I am really happy at how it turned out! I only finished it at 4 a.m. on the Saturday, just before the convention. With bags under my eyes, but a smile, I went to the convention with a happy strut.

Quick details about my costume. It was hard to make. First of all, because my job is eating up so much of my time and I do not feel like doing anything when I get home. But it was also difficult because I had one single picture as a reference and no proper pattern to work with. I did buy a commercial pattern, because the waist of the dress seemed to suit my cosplay, but, upon further observation, I noticed that the dress pattern was entirely wrong for my purposes. I had to ditch the skirt of it and use a skirt pattern from something completely different and I also had to change some seams around to have the zipper on the side instead of in the back, not to mention all the tweaking and shortening that was done to the waist bit. Then came the really hard part. Improv. I had no pattern for either sleeve, so I just measured my arms, cut some fabric, and improvised. I sewed my left sleeve a grand total of four times before succeeding. The hood and the neck corset nearly gave me an ulcer from all the work it took. I basically did my own pattern drafting for these pieces... except without a drafted pattern. I should buy pattern paper, because improvising on your fabric can be stressful when you only have limited amounts of it. I then used a pattern for the bum-roll and completely improvised the tulle petticoat.

There are a few things I want to change about my design, but I believe I can make all those changes for Anime North and maybe absolutely rock the house there. I am even considering entering the masquerade (the costume contest of the convention) at Anime North if I manage to bring this costume up to scratch (amongst other things, I should really think of adding the wings). One thing I know for sure is that I am never using such ichy fabric again!! The main part of the dress was fine, that was not the ichy part. It was the neck corset and my left sleeve... they were made of a sheer, tulle-like fabric that iched like chicken-pox! It was driving me NUTS during the whole convention!!

I also have to give great credit to my roommate, Vanessa, who handcrafted my head jewel and the jewel on the neckpiece. She also did my make-up, as my make-up talents are very limited and the flowers on the original drawing were very intricate.

It made me deliriously happy to see my friends at the convention. We went to loads of events and had a lot of fun. I even made new friends, which was great!! And many, MANY people took pictures of me wherever I went. This has never happened to me before, but I really enjoyed it! I think about 100 random people must have asked for my picture! AWESOME! Not too bad for a first convention cosplay, eh?

My main joy to the Otakuthon, though, was a major fangirl moment, when I met Lillyxandra face-to-face. I had been following that amazing woman's website for ages, ever since I discovered her on cosplay.com (which must have been about two years ago, now). She is one of my very favourite cosplayers! She does many original designs and absolutely gorgeous fairy costumes! Her work is jaw-dropping and stunning! I got a hug from her, which made me very happy! I am also the proud owner of her autograph. The best part, though, was when Lillyxandra actually complimented me about my costume. She loved the paint-job I did on the bra and the way I had made the costume. She thought it was well made and said that she loved that outfit from the artbook and had considered making it for herself too. It made me very happy and I had a major squee moment. Then we talked for a long time. She was there on both the Saturday and the Sunday, dressed as Queen Serenity on the Saturday, and as her own Fairy Design on the Sunday. I hope to be as gifted as she is with costumes someday!

I also met Sarcasm Hime!! (She is another of my favourite cosplayer, by the way.) However, she had to run, as she was on the judging pannel for the masquerade. But she suggested I contact her by email! She was so nice!

The one really disappointing thing about the convention happened at the very end of it. A disappointing moment aside from the moment of shock when a picture of Michael's ex stared up at me from the photography booth....
Anyways, I decided, after a long debate with myself, to purchase the complete first season DVD box set of Full Metal Alchemist. It is my absolute favourite series, it was at a reasonable price and I had wanted it forever, so it was money well spent, I think. And besides, it was my only purchase during the entire convention (except for a 10$ photoshoot).
Unfortunately for me, I put it in the only bag I had brought to the convention with me. When the time came to leave, I rummaged through the bag in order to find my metro pass. In order to make the search easier, I took out the DVDs. However, I have several friends as witnesses who SWEAR they saw me put the box set back into my bag. So how did it manage to disappear after that? Did I lose it? Was it stolen? I have already shed some tears over the lost DVDs and I am super angry at myself, because I usually never forget this kind of stuff. It is really frustrating for me, because I was really happy about it and looking forward to it until it vanished. And I have no idea what happened either! No recollection of anything. It did not turn up in the lost and found and I searched the premises of the convention myself for it. Zilch. It really ruined what would otherwise have been a great evening. I am really disappointed, both in myself and in the situation. And to put a damper on things (no pun intended), it started pouring rain when I came home, so I got drenched... in costume!

Anyways, I think that is enough updates for today. I will update again soon. I am sorry my writing is not of its usual quality, but I am super tired. I will now turn in for a good night's sleep. Please pray with me, though, that some honest soul has found and will return my DVDs...

P.S. But the Otakuthon was still absolutely awesome! So many pretty cosplays! Wish I had had a camera (which, unfortunately, I did not! *pout*)

In which there are further head injuries

All right, I confess... this one is not exactly a head injury. But it is pretty darned close to being one!

When I woke up this morning, I had a very nasty surprise. I woke up two hours before my alarm clock - which, as many know, very unusual for me - and woke to find a nice day and to find that I was quite alert and ready to start my day. As I shifted in bed, wishing to get up, pain shot from my left shoulder to my head, causing an almost instant migraine. Wondering what was wrong, I tried to shift my head... and found it was impossible. My head was stuck to the right. I could not even force myself to look to the front.

For half an hour, I made calls to my mum, my dad, etc. in order to figure out what was wrong. It turned out I had what we call, in good French, a "torticollis". Now, I was looking up the word to figure out what it was in English for the sake of my readers, but it came up with such a variety of translations that I am not quite certain of what it is I have. There is a "torticollis" in English too, but it seems to be a handicap from a genetic disorder at birth. I can assure you, this is not my case. Other translations were "wry neck," "neck sprain," "stiff neck," "whiplash," "cricked neck," "neck sore," and several medical conditions in Latin that I will not list here. So take your pick. Decide what I have. One thing I can assure you is that I cannot explain it. I have no idea how it happened. I just woke up with the misfortune of having XYZ condition this morning.

And let me tell you... it is bloody painful! Ignore my previous post. I was fit as a fiddle during that one (despite the top of my right ear being blackened for two days... it has now gone down to a slight redness, which is a good sign). My neck, this morning, was absolute agony! It made me realize just how heavy a body part the head actually is.

Getting up was a bloody nightmare! It took me about 10 minutes just to sit up and it made me cry out as tears stung my eyes from the pain. As I pushed myself up from the mattress, my head's weight pulled my neck backwards. It cause me accute pain, so I tried tensing the muscles to avoid my head tilting backwards... and the pain was even more severe. With my head stuck to the right I tried to get dressed - which is an immensely difficult task, I assure you - and then proceeded to try and look straight ahead of me, instead of constantly to the right (having glasses, I do not like to count on my weak peripheral vision too much). Despite trying to force through the pain, my head would not turn. I even used both my hands to try and turn my head to look forward, but the only result I got was that I ended up screaming and crying. It was rather pathetic.

Anyways, with my head awkwardly twisted to the right, I exited the apartment (through the hint of a new staircase we now have at the front... speaking of which, since that hint of staircase, no further renovations have been done! *pout*). I felt really uncomfortable walking down the street, only able to look over my right shoulder. I had to turn my entire body to look accross the street before crossing at an intersection. And I looked like I was constantly window shopping too! I think others thought I was a bit of a freak really. The oddest thing? A guy picked that moment to compliment me: "You are a very beautiful woman!" he said. However, I could not quite look at him to smile or thank him... because I was stuck at such a stupid angle.

Anyways, I finally made it to the pharmacy and bought several anti-inflamatory creams (which makes me sound like an old arthritic lady, I know!) and several pain-killers. I also bought some Robax muscle relaxants, but I resolved to take those only at night, as I do not wish to fall asleep at work. In the end, after smearing my neck and shoulder with cream and taking several pills, I managed to dull the pain enough to bring my face to look straight ahead of me. I needed to use my hands to turn it forward though. After that, I did not dare move it back to the right in case it got stuck again. So I basically spent the whole day looking straight ahead of me.

Now, work today was, literally, a pain in the neck. I am not used to moving with my entire body when looking at something, or turning to someone. I usually move my head alone. So I made many involuntary sudden movements (especially to my left side). The pain shot through me like a gunshot (not that I would know what that feels like, but... well, never mind!) and caused migraines, nausea and dizziness. I think I even came down with a small fever at some point, because I felt cold, then warm, then shivered... It was, all in all, a crappy day! I even think passengers thought me rude, because I would often lead them (to bagage drop, etc.) with my back to them. Usually, I like turning around to address them, but it was impossible today. And looking down at passports and computer screens was excruciating and difficult! And people kept walking out of my line of sight too! I did not enjoy this at all! *pout*

As a result, despite wanting to complete my cosplay tonight, I was unable to work on my costume at all. I will admit, I am not keen on leaning over my sewing machine when my neck is making me swear every few minutes. This is really stupidly painful! And I cannot explain why! Frustrating!

Unfortunately, I do not have many other news to convey. Michael has been completely silent for a while, though I imagine his programme keeps him that busy, so it is not really an issue. I still miss him dearly... though the strong pain in my neck is providing a good (however unhealthy) distraction. I am looking forward to seeing Michael back.

Other than that, there is not much to say. I am still watching the series Bones with enthusiasm. I find it brilliant that Brennan (the main character) is, like the creator of the series, an author of mystery fiction on top of being a forensic anthropologist. But the funny part? The main character in Brennan's book is named after the author of the "Bones" books: Kathy Reichs! I thought that was a hilarious idea (you only find out in passing in the episode "The Bodies in the Book" from season 2). Anyways... I thought I would just share my appreciation for that.

Okay... that is it for me tonight! I will now turn off the lights and sleep as well as I can with a neck that feels like it has been wrongly screwed onto my vertebrae. Goodnight!

In which there was a lot of injuries

Hello all! I do not have all that much to say/update/blog on today, unfortunately. However, I felt the need to keep my readers up to date on my comings and goings and odd musings (especially my favourite reader, who is currently halfway across the world! ^_^ )

Anyways. Today was ridiculous. I do not think I have ever hurt myself THAT often in less than 24 hours. It all started this morning. As you are all aware, the front steps are no longer there (though this evening, when coming home from work, I happily discovered the skeleton of a new staircase being erected! Hopefully it will be completed by tomorrow and I can use the normal way out again!) and I have had to use the back door, in other words the emergency exit, to get out of my apartment and safely down to ground level. Now, the issue is that there is a fence that keeps our backyard "safe". My roommate and I have a huge issue with said fence... It is locked! We both have the key to the lock, and it IS the correct key (for we compared it with that of our neighbours), however, for some unfathomable reason, it simply does not work. For either of us. So, lately, Vanessa and I have taken to acting like eels of the coast of Canada and just squeezing ourselves through the gap in between the two fence "gates". I must say, we are both very good at that... I am starting to think we may both share some genes with invertebrates.

Anyhow, for some reason, the chain holding the two gate "doors" together was much tighter than usual this morning. Indeed, I could not squeeze through! Or, rather, my body could, but my bloody head could not! I wish I was not so smart! A smaller brain would have been convenient (just kidding here - I am not that pompous... that I know of...) But I certainly did wish that my skull had not fused together yet! Stupid ossification! I was nearly stuck in that fence!! However, after lots of pulling and painful yanks, I got my head out and went to work, temples throbbing like someone had whacked them with a hammer.

I wish the headache had been the worst consequence of my squeeze-through mishap, but there was more. I really hurt my right ear squeezing through that fence. At first I thought it was nothing. My upper ear-lobe was just throbbing and smarting right after the event... which would be consistent with some bruising obtained as I pulled my head through the fence. There were no cuts, no blood, nothing to worry about... so I ignored it. However, that ear has been hurting all bloody day! For nearly 20 hours now, my ear has been smarting. It is not extremely painful, but I cannot say that it is not annoying! I am getting tired of this painful throbbing!! And after having people look at the upper lobe of my ear, they keep saying it looks very red... either bruised or inflamed. I am praying it is a bruise. Because if there is damage to the cartilage, nothing can be done to repair it (cartilage has no blood vessels... I looked it up)... stupid cartilage!
Anyways, now I am trying to figure out a way to sleep without ending up on that ear and making it hurt more.

The day is not over yet, though. The hurts got worse. First off, I have managed to keep my paper-cut record pretty low since starting work for AC. After the first week of work, during which I paper-cut about every square millimeter of my hand, I managed to stay relatively paper-cut free. However, today, I managed to achieve seven paper cuts in four hours alone. It was starting to irk me enormously.

And for the last injury... a passenger showed up with two bags. One of 20 kilos, and one of 36 kilos... DO THEY NOT READ THE RULES?! No single airline would accept that weight! It is 32 kg maximum, even if you pay a fortune!! If you have something that exceeds that weight, I can only say a) Cargo; or b) ship it! Do not put it on a passenger plane! Anyways, the lady wanted help lugging this Godzilla of a luggage... And I promptly somehow screwed up my shoulder while helping her. That will teach me to be nice! I have no idea what I did, all I know it that the lower tip of my left shoulder blade is starting to make me swear and curse a lot. It hurts. I imagine that if someone had lodged a knife in my back, between my bones at that exact spot, it would feel the same. Pleasant. Very pleasant.

And now... in order to no longer sound so frustrated about the pain... (sorry about that... but I ache all over... it does kind of piss me off!)

I had a wonderful two days off with my mum. We did not do much, only hang out together and watch some prime-time tv shows (notably the Mentalist), but it felt really good. It was nice to be back at home. I miss the house I grew up in. I also missed my mum. It was really good to see her. I am happy that her chemo is over soon! And for those who are on facebook, I swear that my mum makes the best Spätzle in the world! I even got some for lunch the next morning!

And that is about it for updates. You may want to know that I have been reading a lot of late. I have been drinking more than the daily recomended dose of water in books in the last three days. I love reading... and I had forgotten the joy of it. I have been reading Katy Reichs novels... you know, the ones that inspired the tv show Bones? I love that show. I have been rewatching some episodes online (picking the ones with the most appealing titles) and I have been quite enjoying myself. It is quite the well written show, especially for geeks. And the book is REALLY good! And, speaking of books, the book on how to write fantasy re-appeared... In the KITCHEN! I do not know what it was doing there, as I avoid the kitchen like plague... Must be the wormhole.

Finally, I am sorry to announce that Michael's flowers have dried out. They have lasted about a week, though, which makes me happy. I am just sad to see that their beauty has wilted. Strangely enough, though, they have dried out rather than simply died. That struck me as strange, seeing as I have been changing their water every second day... Oh well... I am not someone who knows much about botanics anyways... It is just unfortunate. I loved those flowers, they meant a lot to me. The first proper bouquet Michael has given me... *sigh*

Anyways - I am off to bed now! I cannot believe how much I have been rambling!

Oh, and P.S. Michael's mum suggested I write about the disappearing objects in my room. Except that I should make it faeries. I like faeries. I think I will take her up on the idea! Look for more developpements on that soon! ;-D

In which a wormhole has appeared

I have come to the conclusion that there is a wormhole in my bedroom. Precisely, it is an invisible, perfectly unnoticeable, ten square inch little portal to a parallel universe. I have also concluded that said wormhole is precisely five inches away from my bed, right beside my bedside table.

Now, you may want to ask: "how does one discover a portal into alternate universes when it is invisible and hidden in such an inconspicuous location?" I shall tell you... I am brilliant! That is why. No, in all seriousness (or as serious as this post can be... which is not very...), here is the story.

Last night, I was reading that wonderful book I had mentioned to you before; the wittily written one about writing fantasy. There was even a draft for a story I am writing concealed within the pages of the book. After reading it last night, I made the gargantuan mistake of putting the book down by my bedside and, in doing so, placing it exactly (however inadvertently) into the wormhole! Indeed, by morning, the book and my draft were absolutely nowhere to be found! Even when I came back from work, I searched again... still no sign of any book!

Now, I know that some people (like mum) would argue that it is not surprising that I lose things in my room because "it is so messy!" Well, let me tell you that, despite the rest of my room being messy, my bedside is always kept well organized, because that is where I leave the precious books I read as well as my computer. And I SWEAR that is where I put my book down last night (where I always put my books).

Nonetheless, I ransacked my bedside area as well as the rest of my chaotic bedroom, sadly to no avail. The book just refused to be found. Thus, I concluded that a wormhole must have formed overnight...

My suspicions about the wormhole were confirmed a few minutes later, when I dropped an object at my bedside and was unable to find it. And I bent down to pick it up immediately after it fell, so unless inanimate objects have developed the ability to grow legs or the ability to travel at extremely high speeds, there is not way it could have just vanished... except for the wormhole theory. I wonder where the things that fall into the wormhole go? A parallel universe? Or maybe just the good old anime hammer-space? Anyways, I hope to see my lost items again soon, and I will be sure to avoid the wormhole (or I might just jump right into it... I am still debating on what I ought to do...)

In other news, the CBC television came by at work today. With cameras! Check your national news channels tonight, I just might be on TV. However, I am just in the very far background, working at my counter. Thank God for that, really, because it is not for any good news that the CBC showed up. It turns out that there is a video on youtube where a young agent let veiled women (wearing a chador) board the flight without asking them to remove their veils. This has sparked many outrageous headlines about how Air Canada has embarrassed themselves with lax security measures. It has caused quite the uproar. I do not see why... The women were from Saudi Arabia, where it is quite legal to have a passport photo WITH VEIL in your passeport. So whether you remove it or not in front of the agent makes no difference, because you are wearing a veil on your photo. On top of that, the agents that were on the scene said that they were transparent veils, so asking to remove them would have been rather pointless. Also, there are so many security checks throughout the airport that, by the time someone gets to boarding, they have been inspected enough to confirm their identity. I feel bad for the agent. I know her and she is a temp, like myself...

The poor agent was being filmed by a passenger without her knowledge of it and he subsequently posted the video on youtube. That passenger completely disregarding common decency and respect and I do believe that he must have violated some human rights somewhere, because the agent never agreed to being filmed! And how in the world was he allowed to film in there? To be fair, with all the cellphones with cameras and iPods that can take videos, it is hard to tell nowadays whether someone is filming something... But, if it is illegal to take photos inside a department store because it is deemed a security breach, then how can someone be allowed to FILM in an area like the airport?? I think this passenger should be sanctionned! And severely! But no one on the news sees the passenger as the wrongdoer. But obviously his flight landed without a hitch, if he was able to post the offensive video on youtube! Here is the video, just by the way... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAB1GffSSZc

Now that you have watched the video, I hope you understand why I take offense. Clearly, this was all filmed for one sole purpose... Muslim Bashing! The jerk who took this clearly disliked muslims! No... the woman did not go through unchecked! She got checked at at least two security points before! Also, it is common practice that only one person hands in all the passports when a family or group of friends are traveling together. But nobody ever complains if they are not muslim... And have you seen how this is filmed? And the offensive written comments? I mean, it is done on purpose to make us look bad. You cannot even see below the people's faces. So maybe they did hand in their passports individually after all! The insufficient moron who posted this just really disliked muslims and found a new way to slander their religion... as well as breach human rights by illegally filming someone and bashing our airline to boot! What a complete *@&$%!##!! There. I said it. You take a guess at what that word was.
Anyways, what that guy posted on youtube is much, much worse than those kids who would post videos of their profs on youtube when their profs knew nothing about it (which is also a horrible practice!). But the posting of teachers on duty on facebook is much more frowned upon than this horrid video! It makes me really, bloody, freakin' ANGRY!

Oh, and for all my readers who are not my beloved Michael, I am aware that my previous post was super mushy lovey-dovey. But that is just the way I am and just how much I love Michael. So just deal with the mushy!! XD

Oh, and before I go, I found an interesting intrigue at the airport today. Two weeks ago, a goth couple on the bus grossed me out particularly. They had arrived on a flight from Paris and were both from France. They were gross because they were kissing in a most un-sexy way: tongue out and ready to swallow each other's mouths long before they were actually in reach of one another! Anyways, the goth girl from that couple, who I would recognize anywhere because she wore the ugliest nose-ring I had ever seen (and she was also uber-tall, toothpick thin and spoke in the snooty French accent and wore the same red-leopard print purse) was at the airport again. With another guy. And they were kissing in the same disgusting way!! And I can guarantee it was another guy because this one was uglier than the first!! What interesting (???) intrigue! lol

Anyways... that is all for today. Hope it makes up for last night's post, lol!

In which a blogger is very much in love...

I will have to make this short, as it is way past my curfew. Yes. I am THAT tired. I now impose curfews on myself. So far, I have all but failed to actually respect it. I am disappointed in my own sense of discipline (where did that military discipline of mine go? I must have left it in the suitcase Michael brought to Weimar... darn!)

This is just a post to say two things:

a) Michael wrote to me!! ^_^ It made me deliriously happy to see a nice, epic long post from him! I am overjoyed to hear that all is going well! And did you see his comment on my blog!? Did you!! I love him so much and miss him dearly! My tiredness serves as a good distraction, but, sometimes, the "missing Michael" blues hit me really hard. It sucks when it happens on lunch breaks. Anyways - I will update as much as possible my love! You are the best and I know you can do this programme! I think of you and support you!!

b) Today was a very long and very odd day. I got this woman at my counter (at TB... the flights that only go to the USA), who showed up with a manager. From her accent, I deduced that she was German, so I immediately made the switch the the mother tongue. As ever, I was right! ;-D No one can hide the German accent from me! mwahaha!! Anyways, the managers asks me to check in the lady's group. The lady pulls up a stack of eleven passports and I say "sure, no problem!"
I should never have said that! I spent two and a half hours checking people in!! Why? Because the group was a total of 62 people! That's almost the entire aircraft to Laguardia, other than the two seats reserved for crew members! We were aligning the passports and there was not even enough counter to hold them all! However, I had a really nice conversation with the group, who turned out to be a Kammer Orchestra from Germany on tour. It was nice to talk to them. But I went on my break two hours late and half-dead from starvation... That was the less pleasant part.
I also served a passenger who is even more impatient than my father and step-father put together... if that's possible at all. He was quite the piece of work! And my last passenger to boot! Enough said about him, really... he wore me out the most!

Apparently, some of my colleagues had some sexy encounters with guys of the ramp (the men who work on the actual tarmac for those who do not know)... of which I got nothing... No eye-candy for me, sadly. But I got a ton of wheelchairs and walked a long way today...

Oh... and passing by the backyard fence to get out of the house (reminder: missing staircase) is a total nightmare for stockings. I'll let you guess the way those things look now!

Oh... and my roommate accidentally and unfortunately locked herself out of the apartment today. She managed to get back in through the kitchen window really easily though... Can we padlock that window, please?

Okay - that's it for tonight! I should have been in bed two hours ago already!! But Michael's message got me so full of energy! I love him and hearing from him!

Anyways - sorry if this post was dull or not particularly witty... Just letting you know that many more posts will come... and I am tired... but very much in love with my dearest star in the making! ^_^