It was sweet while it lasted.. I am back home now.. to this awful weather and murky skies. I miss being away. I miss my routine. I miss the sweetness of seeing your other come home from work.

Last night I spent in agony watching a film crew set up and shoot a 2 minute scene of a movie. What started off as a nice gesture by JP for a friend to be an extra in a movie turned into an all night affair. Im talking we got home at 3:00 am. The actual shoot took 4 hours and then another 3 hours of post celebrations. The director, who apparently is quite famous in Luxembourg, seemed absolutely directionless the entire night. Okay, I might be bitter here since his "direction" led to a 4 hour wait for everyone. Did I mention this was a 2 minute scene?? But really, this guy was a piece of work. He told JP his hair was too modern for this period piece. He instructed JP to go downstairs and see the hair and makeup crew. According to JP, he went down and literally got shoved into a chair where an overly anxious barber with clippers in hand was awaiting his next victim. I decided to rush downstairs to see what was going on only to find JP's hair already splattered all over the floor. I wanted to cry. HE'S AN EXTRA IN A FRIGGIN MOVIE!!!! AN EXTRA!! AN EXTRA!! A FRIGGIN EXTRA THAT IS NOT EVEN GETTING PAID FOR HIS TIME AND SERVICES!!! The best part of this all, is that when JP came back up from his hair massacre, the idiot director gives him a hat to wear as part of his costume. WTF???????!!!!!!!!!!! A HAT?????????? My mouth literally fell to the floor. You make an extra cut his hair that he's been growing for awhile for a 2 minute scene where he needs to wear a hat??? I swear.. this whole experience turned me off to filmmaking!!! Okay, not really but it turned me off to people who can't direct properly. I can go on and vent more but I will stop. Need to take my honey to the hair dressers.

On a brighter note, this piece is called Leaving by Anthony Mccall. If I could, I would get this in my house. I swear. When you want to run away and disappear into solitude where walls are erected by an invisible dimension of light this is the place to go. I will retreat here again at least mentally from last night's debacle.

Ugh!! I find myself dreading the thought of returning to the states.. I dread the chaos that will be home and the incessant noise that will clog my thoughts as soon as it begins all over again. If not for my nieces that I miss terribly and the promises that I have to fulfill, I would remain here in the silence much much longer.

It would only be fitting that some things in life are given and taken away. I knew that I went a little overboard buying cameras here. I have a total of 5 new ones now. It is why I am not surprised that the universe would take away at least one from me. In this case, its my original digital camera that I bought straight from Akihabara in Tokyo last year. You know, the one I actually NEED to take photos and post them on my blog. haha. Anyways. My digital is now in camera heaven. Unfortunately, I will not be able to post any up-to-date photos until I get myself a new digital. Until then, here is one that JP took of me at 6:00 am. We were getting ready to drive north to one of the flea markets. I look like death - nerd glasses still on - but at least my new Lomo Diana F looks cute.

can I be a total groupie and not feel totally embarrassed about it. LOL.

It reminded me of the time I met Jonas Mekas in Luxembourg. I remember going to an art show that he was hosting in NYC just to hear him speak. Unfortunately, I was unable to stay long enough to meet him at the show. But then, out of all places, I wind up meeting him at his film screening here in Luxembourg. Fast forward to the other night, I have attempted and failed several times to see Mars Volta live. Ever since my eyes first spotted Cedric and Omar at the Sundance Film Festival a few years back I had a growing curiousity about these two. Who are these guys?? Whats up with the hair? How do they make retro and goth look so good? I recall totally digging their look so much that I even took a snap shot of them. It was only after a while that I found out that that these two mystery guys in my photo were musicians from a hard rock band called the Mars Volta.

When I found out that the Mars Volta would be performing right here in Luxembourg in a small club I was overjoyed.. Of course, I assumed we would be like the only ppl at the show. To my surprise, the place was packed and we were suddenly packed in like sardines. When the music started I suddenly felt like a pebble stuck in a friggin crazy Luxembourgish mosh pit with overly huge men too overly huge to be moshing there overly huge bodies against a not so amused Korean girl. But I wont complain, why? bc Mars Volta friggin ROCK!!!! I was first fascinated by Cedric´s freakishly cryptic look and his perfect body spaz sequences but the real deal is Omar Rodriguez-Lopez on the guitar. Omar is the man! The last time I remember seeing a guitarist make my ass clinch was Benjamin Curtis performing First Wave Intact when he was part of The Secret Machines. Well, Im adding Mars Volta to my "Im going to check them out whenever they´re nearby" list! Their performance was solid and watching the unbelievably frail Omar tear that guitar apart is just sublime.

Okay, enough is enough. Im obsessed with buying old cameras. Okay, its true that I buy them at ridiculously low prices but still, I am running out of luggage space from all my flea market excursions in Europe. Once again, yesterday we commenced our flea market madness at 6:00 a.m. This time, we drove to Belgium. What was suppose to be two massive flea markets in one day turned into 3 massive flea market in one day when we decided to stop at Alon for a drink. As soon as we arrived, to our surprise, ANOTHER flea market. I can tell you that walking around in these markets for hours and hours under the scorching sun is madness! Yeah, we love every minute of it but still its absolute madness!

Of course, somehow I ended up buying another camera. This time it was a Canon AE-1 in absolute mint condition sold basically for nothing by a clueless offspring of a photographer.. After the purchase was done, we decided to get an extra lens for the camera for a couple of euros when suddenly the sister of the clueless offspring appeared out of nowhere to stop her clueless brother from the sale. She immediately took over and demanded the proper price for the lens. hahha.. if we were only a minute faster in the offer.

On the road home, we spotted something that looked a bit odd:

(how is this a gas station???)

Happy 4th of July to my family and friends back home!! I hope the weather is suitable for some nice bbq and fireworks. Fortunately, I was able to celebrate Luxembourg´s version of July 4th last month. Known as the National Holiday, I was told that folks from nearby countries would travel to Luxembourg on this particular holiday and participate in some massive celebration activities. To my surprise, my girlfriend from Tokyo who just happen to be in Germany with her fiance was also driving to Luxembourg for the celebration. What are the chances that I would meet up with an old friend here. It was like meeting Jonas Mekas in Luxembourg.

Well, I have to say that the National Day firework display here in Luxembourg has got to be one of the best firework shows I have seen in a looooong time... this is coming from a person not particularly crazy about them to begin with. I was able to capture a few moments of the 20+ min show on my camera. Hopefully I will be able to download soon.. until then, Happy Independence and enjoy the loong weekend USA!