Happy Holidays - Joyeuses Fetes

Activism

I sometimes wonder if I am doing enough here to help others. When I lived in San Francisco I helped building some houses for "Habitat For Humanity" and I helped out at the kitchen of "Glide", (a church in San Francisco with a wonderful Gospel choir) that serves meals to the homeless 3 times a day. Since I moved to San Diego I have not volunteered for anything other than events for the Chorus I sing with. Which brings up something that our Artistic Director said a few weeks ago that made me realize that in our own way we are helping out. Some people are very good at picketing and talking to the media, walking in the streets, knocking on doors and help to make changes. Others are not. And although I realize that there are times when all of us should voice our opinion when what matters is numbers and not necessarily content, maybe I am doing my part by entertaining and teaching tolerance and love of others and helping bridge the gap between the different communities through our music. Activism has several faces and each one is as important as the other. GMCSD participates in some events throughout the year and one of them is the "Tree Of Life" lighting ceremony every December 1st on World AIDS Day.


"The Chorus marked World AIDS Day on December 1 by singing at the annual lighting of the Mama's Kitchen Tree of Life in the Village Hillcrest plaza. The ceremony drew about 300 people and featured distinguished speakers, including Mama's Kitchen Executive Director and GMCSD member Alberto Cortés. Attendees lit candles and observed a moment of silence to remember AIDS victims and to pray for the millions more who are affected by HIV.
Mama's Kitchen delivers free, nutritious meals daily to thousands of San Diegans who are living with advanced HIV, AIDS, and other critical illnesses. For more information, see mamaskitchen.org."

I do wish I had more time to volunteer and help out in a more immediate way, but maybe our small contribution with our music is more appreciated and needed than I realize.

Winter and Hell Week

Winter is definitely here! I have been flying to other parts of the country where the temperatures are much lower than ours and where they are deep in snow or rain, so I try to keep things in perspective but it is chilly. No more shorts and t-shirts for a while. Sweaters and long sleeves shirts are coming out of the closet. Today the weather is overcast and gray although yesterday we had blue sky and sunshine. The temperature this week will not go over 63 degrees with lows in the 40s. Not really California heatwave. We get so used to the usual hot and beautiful weather, that when the temperatures drop, we feel as if all of a sudden it is below zero. The drop between daytime and nighttime is very noticeable though, and you better prepare if you will not be coming home at the end of the day before going out. Layers, they say, layers...


Yesterday was the official start of our "Hell Week". A little ironic in the 45 degrees weather. I spent the whole day with my iPod listening to our songs and trying to finally learn the lyrics. The concerts are this coming weekend and by now we should all be "off music". I have been having a hard time with this show. Either I am getting old and cannot learn as easily as I used to, or I just cannot "bond" with some of the songs. I will go with the latter!!! There is one song that I just do not like at all so I was having trouble memorizing the words. There are others that are just hard for some reason. The lyrics do not really tell a story. They just seem to be a random collection of words (I am sure they are not, but that is how they come out)and this makes it hard to recall what is coming next. But yesterday I guess all this non-stop listening paid off a little. In the shower I caught myself singing 2 of the ones I was having the hardest time with. Well now I know the words but after last night rehearsal I still have some trouble spots with the notes. My location within the Chorus does not help me either. I am seating on one side next to a singer that I never hear so I cannot rely on him for help, and on the other side and behind me are other sections (2nd Tenors and Basses) which I hear plenty. It is hard not to take their notes when you are not sure of yours and all you can hear is theirs. I guess I need to work a little more on my music between now and Saturday. I was overall happy though because I was in panic mode after last week rehearsal and realizing how much I did not know. Last night I was definitely confident enough and as our Artistic Director always say, "if you are going to sing the wrong note, at least sing it loud and clear so we can fix it"!

Gwada 07 Remix!

Pour accéder directement a l'album photo, cliquez sur le lien "Daniel's Online Photo Albums" sous la grille-photo à gauche.

To get directly to the online photo album, click on "Daniel's Online Photo Albums" under the photo grid on the left.

Gwada 07

Vacances en famille du 3 au 15 Novembre 2007

Pour la première fois depuis longtemps je ne voulais pas retourner à San Diego. Je passe toujours un bon moment quand je vois ma famille mais en général après une semaine je "suis bon". Cette fois-ci c'était très différent. C'est possible que côté logistique tout est bien tombé. D'habitude quand je rentre en Guadeloupe tout le monde travaille et les enfants sont a l'école donc c'est difficile de vraiment profiter de mon séjour si je suis le seul en vacances. J'ai eu la chance en Novembre de trouver mon frère, ma soeur, Titine et Pascal en congé; les enfants en vacances scolaires pendant presqu'une semaine, ce qui nous a permis de nous voir pratiquement tous les jours. Le jour de mon arrivée (le Samedi 3) nous avons fêté le 6ème anniversaire de mon neveu Lorenzo. Le Samedi d'après nous avons aussi organisé une fête pour l'anniversaire de Patou (qui en fait tombait le Lundi 5) et là j'ai vu des amis d'enfance que je vois en général une fois par an. Je connais Titine, Céline et Christine depuis l'âge de 11ans (celà fait donc 29 ans que l'on se connait). J'ai connu Pascal au lycée en 1983 et nous sommes restés amis (la plupart des gens le connaissent comme "cousin". J'ai aussi eu la surprise de revoir une copine d'enfance, Dominique, que je n'avais pas revu depuis le lycée. Cela ne nous rajeunit pas tout ça!!!
Bien que l'on ai rien fait d'extraordinaire, j'ai apprecié chaque seconde. J'au aussi passé une après-midi sympa avec mon père.
Le jour du départ (après avoir rallongé mon séjour de 2 jours supplémentaires), une fois assis dans l'avion, j'avais les larmes aux yeux. Quitter tous ces gens que j'adore pour retrouver mon petit train train à San Diego, (bien que j'aime ma vie ici) m'a un peu serré le coeur.
Vivement que j'y retourne l'année prochaine.

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Family vacations - November 3 to 15, 2007

For the first time in a very long time, I did not want to go back to San Diego. I always have a great time with my family but usually after about a week "I'm good". It was different this time around. Maybe it is because logistically speaking everything fell into place. Usually when I go back to Guadeloupe everybody else works and the kids are in school, so it is difficult to really enjoy my stay when I am the only one on vacations. I was lucky in November to find my brother, my sister, Titine and Pascal on days off; the kids were out of school for almost one more week, which allowed us to see each other everyday. The day I arrived (Saturday 3rd) we celebrated my nephew Lorenzo's 6th birthday. The following Saturday we also had a party for my sister's birthday (which in fact fell on Monday 5th) and there I saw childhood friends that I usually see once a year. I've know Titine, Céline and Christine since we were 11 (we have known each other for about 29 years). I met Pascal in High school in 1983 and we remain close friends (most people know him as my "cousin"). I also had the surprise to see another childhood friend, Dominique, whom I had not seen since High school. All this really tells how old we are!!!
Although we did not do anything extraordinary, I loved every second. I also spent a nice afternoon with my dad (there is definitely progress there).
The day I was leaving (after I added 2 extra days to my stay), once on the plane, my eyes teared up. To leave all those people I adore to go back to my routine in San Diego, (although I love my life here) broke my heart.
I cannot wait to go back next year.

November 3

I am back at the Air France counter around 8am and I get my boarding pass right away. We leave on time at 10:15. The flight is almost empty today. We land at Haiti's Toussaint Louverture International Airport right on schedule.
The disembarking passengers leave but the continuing ones must remain on board. They re-fuel and the new passengers arrive.

We take-off again this time on our way to Saint Martin. We land at the Juliana airport at 2:24pm. Passengers disembark but again continuing ones must remain on board.

A few new passengers get on for the last leg and we are ready for departure. Planes are having communication difficulties with the Tower and it looks like we will take a delay. There are a dozen of aircrafts waiting for their turn. We leave at 3:45pm. This is a quick flight. We land only 37mn later and are only 10mn late. It is always a great feeling to be in Guadeloupe. So many memories growing up here. And of course most of my family and some great friends still lives here.

My sister and my niece came to pick me up. I am so happy to see them. We drive right away to her house. There I change because it is so humid I am sweating doing nothing. I thought it was humid in Miami but here it is even worse.

We hang out a little and then go my brother’s. My nephews Florian and Lorenzo run to give me a hug. I have not seen them in over a year now. It is Lorenzo’s 6th birthday party. We stay there talking, laughing, enjoying cakes and sparkling cider until 1am!!!
I LOVE MY FAMILY.

November 2

Around noon, I go wait for the hotel van. It is about 5mn to the airport. The desk clerk tells me that there are no rooms available right now but some are being cleaned.

I finally get my room around 1:30. By that time I am exhausted. I barely slept on the flight from SFO to MIA and have been up since I landed here. I settle and get on the bed to rest a little bit and of course fall asleep.

Journey on!

Michael dropped me at SAN and I used the self-check-in kiosk to get my management card to go through security. It is so much easier when you are in uniform. You show your ID and go to the front of the line or use the “crew line”. We still have to take our shoes off and our laptops out of our bags, but we are exempt from the liquid restrictions and we do not wait in line. Just that is already a big plus. I never understood why we have to go through the same screening as the regular passengers in the first place. After 9/11 all employees had a FBI background check. We were photographed and fingerprinted. And still we have to go through security check-points everyday we work. Going through this process does not necessarily annoy me but the fact that not everybody is checked, does. There is no consistency in our operations. In LAX for example, most employees just swipe their ID card to access the secure areas and get to work. Flight Attendants and Pilots are the only ones who have to go through security. In my opinion everybody who has access to an aircraft should go through; from the Caterers to the Cleaners, to the Mechanics and the Customer Service Representatives. You cannot randomly decide who is safe and who isn’t. And what was the purpose of the background check? Look good for the Medias? We will never be safe as long as airports will have different rules and different level of security. The saying “your chain is only as strong as its weakest link” should be the motto.

Except for business travelers who fly as much or sometimes more than Flight crews, most people go through security a couple of times on any given trip. If I work a domestic 6-day trip, I will go through security at least 5 times; take of my shoes, my belt; remove my laptop from my bag… I wish there was an easier way. There are so many things I could use that are already on the aircraft if I wanted to do harm. I would not need to bring anything from home.

In SAN I went through with the liquids in my toiletries and although they were in Ziploc bags, I thought they would be taken away, since I was not in uniform. They didn’t. In SFO when I went through, they told me I was only allowed 1 bag and they took my shaving cream, my moisturizer and my cleanser. I did not get upset. I know they are only doing what they are told. However we have 2 airports with 2 different levels of security. I also had to go through extra screening. I guess buying a one way ticket raised a red flag. I hope it was the one way ticket and not what I look like!!! The lady at the AA counter was really nice. I believe the computer randomly chooses people who will go through extra screening, and “suspicious” passengers are automatically “marked”. The TSA agent, who is from Brazil, was really nice but went through all my stuff. Thank God, I had come here early. My flight is late anyway.

On the flight from SAN to SFO, the crew was at the most “there”. No pre-departure beverage was offered although I was sitting in First Class. I was asleep when drinks were offered after take off but I woke up a good hour before landing and was not approached to see if I wanted anything. Maybe since I was on a Stand-by ticket, they thought I did not deserve a drink!

In SFO, I bought my discounted tickets for AA and AF at the UA ticket counter in no time. There was nobody in line and the agent was nice.

Now I am waiting for my next segment. SFO to MIA on AA. The flight is late and now oversold. I might have to spend the night here in San Francisco. It is not a big deal, but it delays my departure from MIA. No flights get me there in time for a 10:15am departure. So even if I left tomorrow morning, I would have to spend the night in Miami and try to fly the following day. I have 2 weeks off but I hope I will not have to spend half of it in airports.

Part Deux!
I made it on the flight from SFO to MIA. We were slowly moving down the jet bridge and I was thinking of ways to give the crew candies I brought for them (it's not a bribe; just being nice). I did not want to be too obvious and make a big deal of it. We finally got in sight of the aircraft entrance and I was at once disillusioned. The 2 flight attendants were in a deep conversation and completely oblivious of the passengers embarking. I kept my candies. We were on a 757. It is a little different from ours. 22 seats in FC (we have 24) and I think more than 156 in economy. The mid-galley is half the size of ours. There are no jumpseats by door 2L but 2 passenger seats instead. By the emergency window exits there are 3 seats on either side, where we only have 2. I got to my seat, 34A, and settled. The other 2 flight attendants were in the back galley. The crew was not even doing the minimum that is asked of them. I was happy and thankful to be on the plane but my critic mind was going full swing. Never on any of my flights, have crew members been so uncaring and unaware of what is going on in the cabin; and I have worked with some lazy people! The flight was uneventful. Most people, including me, went to sleep right after the beverage service. We landed in Miami around 5:45am.

Part Trois!
The Air France counter finally opened around 7:30am. I get the bad news a few minutes later since I am the first one to check in. I am stuck here as the flight to Guadeloupe is full. I was not expecting this. You just can never tell with those flights. It is only about 10am here so I literally have 24 hours in Miami. I found a hotel by the airport but I cannot check-in until after 11am. I will have breakfast here while I people-watch. Lots of cute guys. If I was a senator, I could check the bathrooms and still do "nothing inappropriate"!!!

Firestorm

The ability to control fire is one of humankind's great achievements. Fire making to generate heat and light made it possible for our ancestors to ward off wild animals, to migrate to colder climates and also enabled them to cook their food, an important step in the fight against diseases. The discovery of how to make fire is considered one of our most important advances, yet sometimes it can also be our demise.

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In October 2003 more than 250,000 people had to leave their homes in southern California. Twelve wildfires burned more than 100 000 acres from Santa Barbara to San Diego near the Mexican border. This was considered the State's worst wildfires, and they caused at least one death.

The day the fires started was the last day of the Chorus' retreat in Palm Springs and we could not make it back home as the freeways were closed. We spent the night at Randy's parents trying not to worry. When we finally were able to make it back to San Diego, fires were burning in several locations and as we drove south on highway 15 we could see the flames on the eastern side of the road. Fire came really close to Matthew's work but far enough to were we live.

It is amazing that almost to the day the same thing would happen again 4 years later. I was driving back home from the Palm Springs' Retreat with Alberto and Lyle. Our drive had been uneventful until we reached San Diego County. Lyle noticed in the distance what at first looked like the marine layer that comes in from the ocean. It looked a little odd though. Driving a little more, we then got a glimpse of a mountain top and we could see that what we thought was fog was actually a column of smoke rising to the sky. We turned the radio on and learned the awful news.

The past few days have been challenging for the population and the firefighters. Thousands of residents had to be evacuated and relocated, as the fires got closer to populated areas. Weather conditions, (high temperatures and strong winds) made it difficult to fight and control the fires as they spread faster and farther. Freeways were shut down causing havoc. The freeway that I take to go to work to Los Angeles (the highway 5) was closed for several hours last Wednesday as the fire in Camp Pendleton jumped all 8 lanes and started on the other side. The fire was somewhat contained and the road reopened but when I drove up on Friday morning, I could still see the flames within the perimeter of the military base.

As of now all the fires (about 20) have destroyed over 1,700 homes and burned almost 500,000 acres since erupting October 21. Some fires have been contained, some are still burning and are not expected to be out until November 4 or 5.

The latest sad news is that some of the fires are blamed on arsons. Even sadder is the death toll: 10. 4 people who died directly by the fire and 6 who died during or after the evacuation.

Pretty cool

Something fun and useful

I was reading my PCWorld magazine and came across a review of this online site that turns your pictures into a video clip with music. It is definitely more appealing than just a regular slide show (like the ones I've been making so far).

A little humor

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Older and wiser? Nah!!!

I have been thinking a lot lately though. It all started with issues that I had at work. My supervisor had been trying to meet with me for months. I had succeeded so far in avoiding her. First I really dislike her. She's an idiot and I had no desire to talk to her. Second, she had scheduled a meeting a while back and failed to show up. She gave me a bogus excuse but after that I just decided that was not part of my job to make any effort and go out of my way when she obviously did not care. She then went on vacation, then I went on vacation and time went by. Finally she gave me a direct order (that I couldn't refuse without disciplinary repercussions)to meet with her. On the day of the meeting I was so mad. I was upset that she threatened me when she failed to show up for a meeting that she had scheduled herself. Were any disciplinary actions taken against her? Of course not. But there I was to get reprimanded for three dependability issues.
The first time we met I was borderline rude, telling her that I was an adult and did not need to be lectured like a kid because I was late for work. She gave me her "What can I do to help you?" speech and I told her to hurry up so I could go to my flight.

The second time we met, I obviously had calmed down and thought about the situation. As the saying goes, "you catch more bees with honey than with vinegar". So my approach was totally different. I finally accepted the fact that these people will never know me for who I am, nor know how I work. Their perception of me is what comes up on the computer screen: "Late for briefing in March; called in sick in December...and so on". There is no supervision when I work, so this put the lazy workers and the people who do a wonderful job on the same level. As long as you're never late and you never call in sick, you can go on for 40 years being the laziest flight attendant and never be called on it.

As I was talking to the supervisor, I made the conscious decision that I would not let any of this affect me anymore. First, whether or not they know that I am a good flight attendant is not important, as long as I know that I am! Second, I can only control what I do. I have no power over anybody else's actions. Someone's laziness will not affect my personal performance. I do my job well regardless of my co-workers' own will to work or not. I will not get upset when someone does not meet the standards that I hold myself to. If they can live with themselves, more power to them. Third, while being sympathetic to a customer issue or problem, I will not take on United's shortcomings. A co-worker described our situation in a few words that really summed it all: "it's like working in an office where you have to bring your own chair, desk, and supplies in order to work". We get to work, and the company does not give us the tools that we need to do our job. "You don't have any ice? Well we don't want to take a delay, so no ice". "Not enough cups for 2 services? Have the passengers hang on to their cups". "5 pillows for 156 customers? Tell them to use their jackets". The sad part is that no matter how great your crew was, what the passengers will remember is that they asked for a second drink and were told that there were not enough supplies. Since the company does not listen to us, now I give out the Customers Relations phone number, so people can call directly and express their unhappiness. I used to get upset and frustrated, because I wanted to help but there was nothing I could do. Now, I listen, I emphasize, but i will not look like the bad guy anymore.

Although I was always great with the passengers, I feel that I am in a better place now, just because of this shift in my attitude. I will do all that is in my power to make sure I remain under the radar but I know that I cannot stress about that either. Things happen. If there is an accident on the freeway and I get to work late, I will not lose sleep over it. I will get written up but that is not the end of the world. The exceptional service that I give to my passengers is what I focus on, not the doings of a few who are just trying to keep their jobs.

I am older for sure, but maybe I am a little bit wiser as well.

United's tricks

United Taking a Flier With Pensions By Rich Duprey - October 4, 2007

Back in 2005, United Airlines -- later reincarnated as UAL (Nasdaq: UAUA) -- terminated its employee pension plans, creating the single largest corporate pension default in U.S. history.

The belief was that it simply had more liabilities than assets and was under bankruptcy protection already. If it was going to emerge from bankruptcy (which it did in February of 2006), it would need to reduce costs further. Putting the federal taxpayer on the hook for the $6.6 billion in pension plan costs through the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, or PBGC, was an easy out.

It seems, though, that the unions, shareholders, creditors, government -- and, most importantly, the retirees -- got hoodwinked. (read more)

United's Punchline

Click on the picture to access the video.

This is a video of UAL's "parrot mouthpiece" Jean Medina telling some retirees' wives (as she has told the press for a 1000 times following Glenn Tilton's instructions), that UAL had to terminate the almost fully funded A-Plan, to survive. She added how much her stock option bonus check was. I would describe it as a "right cross combo overhead jab" to Medina's corporate brown nose...

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that happy employees work more and better. I know that most big companies are the same, and the more employees, the harder it is to treat people as individuals. You become a "number" in the gigantic machine. However when all those "numbers" work together in harmony, the company thrives.

I believe that even before 9/11 we had poor management practices but because we were making lots of money, nobody really paid attention. We had layers upon layers of useless paper movers. It would take so long for any request to be processed because of the many people anything had to go through before reaching the appropriate desk. And I don't mean days or weeks. It would literally take months for anything to happen. And that was the best case scenario. Most of the time, you had to file the same thing several times because your request would get lost somehow.

After bankruptcy, finally everything was streamlined to be more efficient and cost effective. However right now it just seems to most employees that the people making decisions for the company are only in it for the money. That would be fine if some of that money was handed down to everyone who made sacrifices to make sure that United survives. That is not the case. Since we exited bankruptcy, a system of rewards was put in place. Every quarter that we meet or exceed our goals (those numbers are determined by the company), we get a "bonus check". The amount is based on your salary. It doesn't seem fair because most front line employees took such a pay cut that the bonus checks feel like a slap in the face.

Most of us gave up about one-third of our pay to help the carrier survive the bankruptcy that followed the 9/11 attacks. We also lost most of our benefits and that doesn't necessarily equate to a dollar amount. Altogether it has been a huge drawback.

Some of the anger stems from stock and options worth millions, given to senior management after we emerged from bankruptcy in early 2006. All talks about reclaiming lost salary and benefits are frozen to at least 2009 when the Flight Attendants' contract is up, and 2010 for the Pilots. However we just learned that the company is exploring spinning off the frequent-flier program, maintenance division and other assets, which could reap billions. Why this was not an option before, I don't know. An article in the Chicago Tribune stated that "an investment bank has estimated the value of United's Mileage Plus as a freestanding company at $7.5 billion. When Air Canada spun Aeroplan off as a separate company two years ago, its market value was $4.3 billion. United itself, including Mileage Plus, has a market value of just $5.5 billion".

United claims that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to restore pay to 2000 levels, although we are again making money. I do understand that they carry staggering debt loads and I know firsthand that we need to boost spending on planes and technology in order to remain competitive.

Analysts have said that United could raise about $16 billion if it sought buyers or business partners for units that weren't integral to our core flight operations. "Doing so now would enable the highly leveraged airline to pay down debt and repair its balance sheet, pay shareholders a special dividend, build cash to help fund merger activity or perhaps attract a private-equity buyer". In all this there is no plan to give back anything to the employees. I'm guessing management will give themselves big fat bonuses for coming up with the idea of the century.

Maybe one of them will go in front of employees and retirees and brag about their latest bonus check, and get punch in the face.

Christmas is here!!!

Ok, maybe not quite but it feels like the end of the year is approaching at the speed of a bullet train. I came back from vacations on September 2nd and dove back into work the next day. I also started rehearsals with the Chorus and as we are getting ready for our next show we are already singing Holiday songs. Christmas is here!!!

The month of September went by so fast. Or maybe I was still high from my wonderful vacations with my family. I really hope that we can keep on doing something together every year. Maybe it is because I am getting older. Maybe it is because mom is getting older. I just want to make sure I do not wake up one day wishing we had done more together. God forbid anything happens to either one of us for a long time, but life is anything but certain. I am going to Guadeloupe for a week in November. It will be my sister's, one of my nephews' and some of my friends' birthdays. My other nephews and niece have birthdays in October so it still will be fresh enough. Maybe we will have a huge party again like we did 2 years ago. And Christmas will be just around the corner so I will have gifts for everybody. Wow. Christmas is really here!!!

Last month I had a regular schedule with flights to Philadelphia via San Francisco. Although most of the trips had issues (delays, mechanical problems, cancellations...), it was nice to actually have some consistency. Now October is here and I am back on call so who knows where the friendly skies will take me. I try not to hope for anything so I will not get disappointed when I get sent to Buffalo, NY. Not that there is anything wrong with Buffalo!!! I had put a transfer to be based in SFO. It was awarded last week but I declined it. For now. Although I probably would have better trips, the cons outweigh the pros. I am just tired of my lack of seniority in LAX after 12 years with United. At the same time I do not want to make my life more complicated by commuting to San Francisco. I will keep an eye on my classmates' schedules who are based there to see what they usually hold and I will reconsider in a few months. After Christmas maybe!!!

Hollywood's Nice "Bad Boy"

There's nothing worse than to find out that someone you thought was nice, turns out to be a complete a#$%@%&. I have had several famous persons on my flights through the years. Singers, actors, politicians..., and before actually meeting them, you only have a vague idea of how they are in real life. Our perception from what we read in the papers and magazines or what we see on TV, is just that; a perception. Some celebrities are close to who they appear to be on TV, others are completely different.

Today I had Colin Farrell on my flight. He is as ruggedly handsome in real life as he is on TV or in the magazines. I do not get star stuck and I treat all my passengers the same, so although I acknowledged him when he boarded, I kept on doing my job like any other day.

He is actually the one who addressed me first. He asked me where I was from (because of my accent) and from that I realized that I did not really expect any interaction with him, except for the minimal contact in the scope of my duties. It was a short flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco. A long conversation with anybody was out of the question and I had 23 other customers to attend. However we were able to exchange a few more words before landing and I learned that he was on his way to Shanghai for vacations.

I guess I was surprised that he was such a normal guy. He did not fit the picture that the magazines give of him at all. He was polite, charming, easy to talk to. The bad boy image that we are used to have associated with him, was not there at all.

It is for sure better to expect the worse and be pleasantly surprised than the other way around. Or maybe I am just ruining the "Bad Boy" image he is working so hard to upheld...

17eme jour de vacances – 1 Septembre

Petit-dèj avec Polo. Il finit ensuite de se préparer et nous quittons l'hôtel vers 11h. We're both rather quiet probably feeling the same thing. I’m sad that our time together is coming to an end. I go with him to the train station and we wait a few minutes on the platform. The train arrives and he's off. I find myself alone here now. It's odd because the only time I was ever by myself since our vacations started, is when I went for a run on my own and that was merely 40mn. Otherwise we've been pretty much inseparable. I go back to the hotel and start packing my stuff so I don't put it off again like I did last night. After a short nap, I call Olivier who's been doing some work on his boyfriend's mom's apartment. She's arriving tomorrow and they had to make livable in a few short weeks, a place that had been empty for 5 years. I meet him over there and we have a cup of coffee together. We leave about 1 hour later.

This has been an awesome vacation. Everybody had such a wonderful time that we're talking already about next year. This time it will be, if we plan well, the whole family with spouses and kids. Also for her 65th birthday, my mom already said she wants to do another cruise. It's 3 years away but we'll start looking for options soon so everybody can plan accordingly.

I love the "family" that I have made for myself; all the people who have come into my life through the years. The icing on the cake is that my relationship with my family is as awesome as one can wish.

16eme jour de vacances – 31 Aout

We take breakfast for the last time together. Mom and sis are going back to Guadeloupe today. They finish getting ready and we all leave the hotel around 10. Polo and I are going to the airport with them. We reach Orly 1/2 hour later. Being there definitely confirms that vacations are over. After they check-in we say our good-byes. On one hand I feel like I've been gone forever and on the other, time with them seems to have gone by in the blink of an eye.

Back in Paris Paolo and I go to Montparnasse where we have lunch and then do some last minute shopping. We go to Pascal for a couple hours. Polo and him play a video game of "football" (soccer) while I play with my nephew Théo. Of my 5 nephews and niece, Théo is the youngest and also the one I know the least. When I go to Guadeloupe, I usually spend about 10 days so I get to see the kids much more. My time in Paris is usually very short, 2 or 3 days, when I tried to see as many family members and friends as possible.
Théo is at this phase when "non" is his favorite word and he wants to do everything the adults around him do. He is very funny and has a contagious laugh. Now he knows "mamie" (grandma), "tonton Polo" (uncle, my brother Paolo), "tatie Patou" (aunt, my sister Patricia), and "tonton Dany" (myself). He never gets tired of pointing out on the pictures who's who and if you try to trick him by telling him another name he tells you "mais non" with the "you're such an idiot" look on his face. He loves pictures and he LOVES looking at himself on photos. My brother says he got that from me. I have no idea what he's talking about!!!.

We leave them around 7 and we decide to go near the Opera house for dinner. We find a nice pizzeria where we have a great dinner while enjoying some Italian wine. Polo and I talk a lot. He has some issues with work and I wish I could help him sort it out, but I am in a very similar situation. Nothing is fundamentally wrong with our jobs and we enjoy what we do but we feel like we could be doing more. However I don't think he usually talks about that back home so it's good that we can discuss it.

We go back to the hotel for our last night together in Paris.

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15eme jour de vacances – 30 Aout

Breakfast at 9 today. Soon after mom and sis go to La Défence for some shopping.

Olivier comes to the hotel and around 11, Paolo, him and I, leave to go to a computer store.

At 1, Olivier goes to a doctor appointment and Polo and I go to meet mom and sis on the Champs Elysèe. After some window shopping and some walking around, we meet again with Olivier. We have lunch around Pont de l'Alma.

A cruise on the Seine River is next on the list. The weather is a little unstable and goes back and forth between nice and warm and overcast and chilly. It is however one of the best ways to see the famous left and right banks and the amazing architecture along the way. The Palais des Tuileries, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, all the bridges... The cruise is very relaxing, informative and it's a great way to spend an hour.

After the cruise we all go back to take the subway. Olivier goes home and Pascal goes with us to Trocadéro where he has a connection to go home and us back to the hotel. As we were saying good-bye Pascal hugged my mom and I saw his eyes get teary. Mom and sis are leaving tomorrow so he won't see them again. It was great that we got to spend a few days together and I really wish he had been with us on the cruise. Well we'll try to plan better next time. I overheard Thierry say something yesterday that really made me happy. He said: it's really rare to see such connection and complicity among siblings and also as rare between children and parents. We truly are the "clan". We care for each other and are very protective of each other.

After we part, we go back to the hotel. At 7pm, mom and sis leave to go to visit a friend in the suburbs. I leave around 7:15 to go to Jérome and Lykke's for dinner. We have "sushi" (Lykke got some special treats for me since I don't eat fish) with Kiki, the Au Pair, and Alric (sorry, "King Alric", their son. We have a wonderful time and I stay with them until almost midnight.

14eme jour de vacances – 29 Aout

Reveil à 7h. Je vais courir avec Polo. Il fait encore très froid ce matin; seulement 13 degrés selon la Météo. De retour vers 7h45. Nous nous préparons et descendons prendre le petit-dèj.

A 10h nous partons pour l'Esthetic Center. Maman va à l'église alors que nous autres allons avoir une expérience spirituelle d'un autre genre: manicure et pédicure. Après 2h de petits soins nous allons Place d'Italie près du coiffeur où maman a rendez-vous à 14h30. Nous faisons quelques courses à Italie2 et déjeunons.

Nous marchons jusqu'au coiffeur ou nous passons 3h!!! mais la coupe de maman est très réussie. Nous prenons ensuite le Tram avec Pascal qui nous attendait et rentrons à l'hôtel. Vers 18h30 nous partons de nouveau. Nous dînons chez Olivier avec Thierry, Jean-Marc, et Christian. Thierry a fait une paella. Nous passons une soirèe super et ne rentrons à l'hôtel qu'après minuit.

13eme jour de vacances – 28 Aout

Debout à 7h30. Je vais courir seul dans le Parc Montsouris pendant 1/2 heure. Il fait froid. Après s'être préparé, petit-dèj tous ensembles. Maman et moi partons pour la laverie près de l'hôtel. Patou et Polo vont aller faire leurs achats. Pascal et Theo viennent nous rejoindre à la laverie.

On se retrouve tous aux Halles à 13h. Nous faisons quelques achats à la FNAC et Olivier se joint à nous vers 14h. Nous allons tous déjeuner à l'Amazonial.

Le temps s'est amélioré et il fait maintenant 25 degrés avec un ciel dégagé. On marche tous jusqu'à Notre Dame qui maintenant qu'elle est complètement propre est absolument magnifique. Nous prenons ensuite le bus à St Michel pour profiter du beau temps. A Porte d'Orléans nous prenons le tram pour Montsouris. Olivier continue pour rentrer chez lui. Ensuite Pascal et Théo nous laissent aussi et nous rentrons à l'hôtel.

Nous partons pour Montparnasse vers 21h pour aller manger dans une creperie. Nous rentrons ensuite à l'hôtel.

12eme jour de vacances – 27 Aout

Petit-dèj à l'hôtel ce matin. Vers 8h30 je vais avec Polo à la gare. Je reste avec lui jusqu'à l'embarquement puis retourne à l'hôtel pour finir mes bagages.
Maman, Patou et moi partons vers 9h45. Je vais avec elles au TGV, puis vais prendre la navette pour l'aéroport. Malheureusement ce n'était pas possible de remonter sur Paris tous ensembles.

Polo est le premier a arriver à l'hôtel. Je le rejoins vers 14h et maman et Patou arrivent vers 15h.

Nous nous installons et partons ensuite chez "ti-frère" (my brother Pascal) où nous passons quelques heures avant de retourner à l'hôtel.

11eme jour de vacances – fin de la croisiere – 26 Aout

Nous prenons le petit-déjeuner pour la dernière fois sur le bateau. Il est à peine 7h mais nous devons libérer la chambre avant 8h. This morning is very quiet. All the Italians got off yesterday in Genoa (the official start for the cruise) and although we got new ones board the ship, it looks like they're still sleeping.

Nous finissons de nous préparer et quittons enfin le navire vers 8h45. Nous prenons un taxi jusqu'à la gare et marchons jusqu'à l'hôtel Lutetia ou nous passerons la nuit. Il est à peine 9h30. Nous pouvons laisser nos bagages mais ne pouvons faire le check-in avant 14h. Nous partons pour une ballade autour de la ville.

Nous descendons La Canebière jusqu'au Vieux Port, et passant par le Fort St Jean et le Jardin du Pharo. Nous marchons jusqu'à La Corniche d'où nous prenons un bus pour aller au Rond Point du Prado. Paolo veut voir le stade de l'OM.

Nous prenons le métro et sommes de retour à l'hôtel vers 14h. Nous prenons possession des chambres et nous reposons l'après-midi.

Nous allons dîner dans un petit restaurant prôche et allons nous coucher de bonne heure.

10eme jour de vacances – 7eme jour de croisiere – 25 Aout

Patricia wakes us up so we can go to the gym. I have to go so I can keep on pigging out on the breakfast buffet.

An hour later mom joins us for breakfast. It's as crazy as usual maybe even more today. The cruise started in Genoa a week ago and all the passengers who boarded then, leave the boat today. Although we're not getting into port until noon, they have to vacate their cabins by 8am. So they're all lounging around (about 400 of them)and we have to literally "steal" a table from someone who's done with breakfast. We then go back to our cabins to get ready for our outing.

We are on the deck as the ship enters the port. The view is breathtaking. Beautiful buildings going way up the hills surrounding the bay. This is also the birth place of Christopher Columbus. We are finally given permission to disembark. Mom is tired today, so it's just the 3 of us.

Since we've been doing all of our visiting on our own, we wanted to do at least one organized tour with the ship. We signed up and then yesterday we were told that the excursion was canceled!!! Go figure. I'm guessing since this is the end of the cruise for all the Italians on board, they didn't have enough people left. Not to worry, we're resourceful. We'll take one of those double decker buses that take you around. You can hop on and off at your leisure. We've been seeing those everywhere we stopped over. As we get offshore, we ask in the terminal where we can buy tickets for those buses and are told that...they don't have them here. However they have smaller buses that give you a little tour of the most famous spots in the city. I guess that will do.

Following the instructions from the lady at the information desk we arrive near the aquarium in the "Porto Antico", and find the departure station of the tour bus. According to the schedule we have almost an hour until the next departure. We decide to go to a cafe near by for a quick lunch.

The tour starts and is actually quite enjoyable. You have a commentary in 6 languages telling you about the sights along the way. This city is absolutely amazing. Everywhere you look are incredible buildings and monuments. We are so thrilled that when we get back an hour later, it feels like we've only been gone for a few minutes. After the tour, we decide to walk and go back to some of the spots that we enjoyed the most. It is really hot and we are sweating, but we don't care. We walk all afternoon.

We get back on the boat around 6pm. The Italians who left this morning have been replaced with new ones, so the ship is full again. Tired from our visit we go take a little nap.

For our last dinner on board, we go to the dining room, where Dennis takes care of us one last time. Except for our table mates, we are surrounded by new faces tonight. After dinner, we go watch the show.

Mom goes to bed and the "kids" go to the disco. It is our last night on board and we want to enjoy it.

AHHHHHHHHH

The internet connection at the hotel works whenever it feels like it which makes it difficult to write regularly. The router is on the 3rd floor (we are on the 5th) and it's the only one for the whole building.

On top of that we usually get back home late every night and I am just too tired to write before going to bed. We've been going non-stop since we got to Paris, trying to see as many people as possible and spend time with them all. There are not enough hours in a day. I try to keep up with things we do, but they seem to happen faster than I can put them down.

Let's hope that the pictures from this trip don't end up with the movie from Italie!!!

9eme jour de vacances – 6eme jour de croisiere – 24 Aout

No time for breakfast today. We have to leave the ship at 8:45am. There are a few things in this cruise that are a little strange; like giving you 7 hours in Malaga (which was beautiful, but still) when 3 would probably have been more than enough. Today in Barcelona we only have 4 hours. This is a big city and although they have a good transportation system, it still takes some time to go from one place to the next. I have been there before so I know the places and things that we absolutely must see. We are docked not far away from the entrance and are in no time on “Las Ramblas”. The weather is beautiful and the city is waking up. We walk up the famous avenue to “Plaça Catalunya” and then go on “Passeig de Gràcia”. We first get to “Casa Batlló” and then to “Casa Milà” also known as “La Pedrera”, 2 of Gaudí’s visionary work.

Gaudí was born near Tarragona in 1852. Although little is known about his personality, his famous architecture lives on, intriguing, inspiring, touching countless people. However, he was not very well respected during his lifetime and many of his buildings in Barcelona are still disputed.

We then take the subway to get to “La Sagrada Familia”, the most famous architectural element of Barcelona. No time for a visit though; we have to keep moving. The weather had suddenly changed in the short metro ride. It is now overcast and the sun had disappeared. After a walk around the site of the "ever unfinished" cathedral, we get back on the subway. The next stop is “Park Güell”. After the metro we have to walk up a steep hill to get to the park (thank god for escalators). We enter from one of the side entrances and make our way to the main one seeing Gaudí’s major art work and architecture pieces. The park overlooks the city and the scenery from up there is breathtaking. We probably do the fastest visit of the park, ever. 15 minutes later we are leaving. Mom is afraid that we'll be late to get back on the boat. We take the subway again and get back to the boat around 1:30pm and head to the lunch buffet. We leave Barcelona at 2. They have a meeting an hour later to tell us about the disembarking formalities in Genoa (the end of the cruise for the Italians) and Marseille. After that we all go take a nap.

Tonight we make our way back to the formal dining room. It is another elegant affair, not as fancy as the "Captain's Dinner", but we had to dress up. Dennis is in a great mood and seems to have forgiven our table mates. Dinner again is about 15 courses long and ends up with a Baked Alaska for dessert.

We then decide to go to the disco while mom goes to bed. We dance for a couple of hours and leave the dance floor drenched, sweating like pigs.

8eme jour de vacances – 5eme jour de croisiere – 23 Aout

Gym at 8am to work a sweat before the morning croissants. Today we won’t reach Ibiza until 7pm so we have all day on the ship with nothing to see out in the ocean until 5pm. At 11:30 we all go to the lounge where they have the election of “Mister Coral”. I’m glad I didn’t sign up. The cruise director is always trying to have us all participate in everything. Instead I do some reading. They start an hour of karaoke and I put my name on the list to please my brother.

We then go to lunch. It seems all we do is eat. The weather is the best it’s been so far since we left Marseille. The sky is blue the sun is shining, and the temperature is perfect. After our meal we go back to our spot in the lounge. Neither one of us want to be in the sun. I do some more reading while mom and sis do some craft projects with the passengers. My brother is listening to music. An hour later they have a dance class (like everyday) and today the selection is “merengue”. We all take part and it is lots of fun. Then we play games with the cruise animation crew.

Around 4:30 we start seeing an island on the horizon and I go back and forth between the deck and the lounge. I cannot wait to get to Ibiza. I read some more until we get close to Formentera which is about ½ hour from Ibiza. I think everybody is anxious to get off the ship for different reasons. Excitement, tiredness of being “stuck”… but the first glimpse we have of the fortress and its cathedral perched on a hilltop with the city laying on its flanks (both within the walls and outside) and going all the ways down to the ocean is superb.

Mom is still not feeling too good and decides to stay on board. We leave the ship around 7:15pm and head straight to the fortress and its cathedral. It’s beautiful. Once inside, it reminds us of Tangier and its “souk”. We find streets going up and down and left and right, steps, and sudden turns making you feel like you’re going in the wrong direction. Unlike Tangier though, everything is clean, cute, pretty (and a bunch of other similar synonyms) and you don’t really care if you get lost or not. We start by walking up on the wall around the fortress for the amazing view. From there we see Formentera and a few other islands. We then venture in the streets after a stop at the cathedral.

We finally get out of the fortress and walk around town for a while. It’s as if everybody just woke up. The city comes to life late in the evening. Everything is open, stores, restaurants. Dinner is a late affair in most of Europe anyway. The evening is perfect and it’s wonderful to just walk around.

It is getting late and we decide to go back to the ship to have dinner. We don’t want to rush having only about an hour left before we have to be back on the ship. The island is really known for its nightlife and unfortunately we will not have time to experience any of its 40 clubs.

We find mom who just finished her dinner. I guess we’ve been like Dartagnan and the 3 Musketeers since the start of the cruise, always together all the time. Today the staff kept asking my mom where we were! We eat and then all go to the show (a 70’s extravaganza). After the show Paolo and I go up to the disco but the music is not to my taste and I go to bed. We have to wake up early tomorrow anyway and it’s past midnight.

7eme jour de vacances – 4eme jour de croisiere – 22 Aout

We all woke up early (not mom) to go to the gym and it is closed! Of course we decided to go to breakfast instead. We get to see the sunrise around 7:40 while we’re enjoying croissants and other goodies.

We get ready for our visit. Today we arrived in Tangier, in Morocco and have a few hours to walk around. As we leave the port, we are assaulted by taxi drivers and guides wannabes. They all want to help you have the best experience and the best visit. We had decided to go on our own as we did the previous days. We like to see what we want, when we want and stop when we wish. That’s why we’ve avoided all the excursions. We don’t like their rigid schedules. Before even leaving the port “Gaston” has decided that he will be our guide whether we want him or not. He wouldn’t take “No” for an answer and followed us out talking non-stop and giving me a headache. It wasn’t even at this point a matter of money since he wasn’t asking for much, but I would have killed him or myself, if I had to walk around for hours having to listen to his endless rambling. We have a map and are pretty confident we can manage. We didn’t plan to get in the “souk” (where you can get lost very easily). There is a 2 hours time change here and everything is closed anyway. We were just going to see the major attractions along the main roads and go back. We don’t have that much time in town. As we walk around taking pictures, we run into another couple of French people. We head in the same direction for a while and a couple of kids (Mohamed and his brother Youssef) come and talk to us and tell us they can take us to all the good spots quickly. We go along and indeed we have a nice visit. On the way back they even take us through the “souk” which is now open. After almost 2 hours we are back where we started. We give our “friends” $20 for the 2 of them and get back on the ship. It’s lunch time and we head for the buffet, our second home now!!!

After lunch I’m tired and I go down to take a nap. When I wake up, the ship is already in the port of Gibraltar. We decided not to go out. The weather is not great and it’s very windy and chilly. We stay out on the ship and play UNO until the dinner buffet.

The ship leaves Gibraltar around 8:30pm and we are en route to Ibiza, the longest stretch of our journey. We see a sinking ship and a few dolphins playing behind the boat. We watch until it’s too dark.

We go to the show but after a while I go to the movie theatre and watch a movie. My sister joins me after the show. We go back to our cabin at midnight.

6eme jour de vacances – 3eme jour de croisiere – 21 Aout

I woke up at 8 this morning. I don’t like not having a window in my room. I hate sleeping in complete darkness. Paolo and I got ready and went down to the gym where we found Patricia. She had tried to wake us up at 7:30 (the time we had decided upon) but didn’t succeed and gave up. She leaves after a few minutes and Paolo and I do a 30 minutes work out. We all go to breakfast after that. At 9 the ship enters the port of Almeria. We will not get out since only people going on an excursion are leaving the boat. The ship sails away ½ hour later towards Malaga, where we will spend the afternoon and meet with the excursionists.

We keep busy waiting for the ship to get to Malaga. We get a thrill playing bingo with mom and almost winning $100. We have lunch at the buffet then go to take a “siesta”.

Finally we’re here. What a treat. Today the weather is beautiful and maybe it adds to the experience but Malaga is just amazing. Like all European cities, there are 2 or 3 churches around you at all times. We first pass the Cathedral which is very imposing and exquisite with all its details. We then stroll in the old part of the city. Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born here, and the “Fundacion Pablo Picasso” has the whole place mapped out by Picasso’s life. The house where he was born; the church where he got baptized; the place where he first lived; the place where his dad did this and the one where he did that… Every other block has a house where some member of the Picasso family did something, therefore now it’s a museum. Our map in hands, we go from one interesting spot to the next. Everything we see is wonderful. The highlight though is the “Castillo de Gibralfaro” located on a hill overlooking the bay and the port.

We walk back to the ship and decide to go to the buffet instead of the formal dining room.

At 11pm they serve “crepes” and we enjoy a sweet touch before making it an early night (well it’s only midnight). We’re all tired anyway.

5eme jour de vacances – 2eme jour de croisiere – 20 Aout

It’s 1:45am and I just got back to my room. Today was a great first day. I woke up at 7:30 this morning and Paolo and I went to the gym for 30mn. We then headed to the breakfast buffet!!! While we were having breakfast with mom and sis, we entered the port of Palma de Mallorca. We could already see from the boat that there were a lot of beautiful historical buildings and churches. We were ready for our first tour. We left the ship around 10 and took the bus towards the city center. The historical centre is very nice. Everything is maintained so well. We saw palaces, churches, an immense cathedral, more palaces, gardens… The weather was overcast but it was for the best otherwise walking around for 3 hours would have been a little less comfortable. After a zillion pictures (although my battery died and my brother's camera is acting up) and many “oohs” and “aahs”, we took the bus back to the ship. We needed a little food to recuperate from our long troll. We had a light lunch as the boat was leaving the port.

After lunch we went down to our cabins. Paolo and I started to watch a movie on my laptop but we both fell asleep after a few minutes. We rested and took it easy the rest of the afternoon.

We started to get ready around 7pm for the Captain’s Cocktail. Everybody dressed to the nine we went up to the lounge and met the captain and had a drink before heading to the dining room for dinner. We had a nice meal and our table mates got Dennis upset again!

Mom wanted to go see the show. I was a little scared but we all went anyway. Well, let’s just say it’s not the Queen Mary 2, but they did their best. After the “Parade of flags” mom went to bed and we headed to the disco for a little fun. The place got packed very quickly and it was really hot in there, but the music was good and we had fun. It is bed time now.

4eme jour de vacances – 1er jour de croisiere – 19 Aout

The internet connection on the ship was so slow that my brother and I gave up after 10 minutes. The entries made on the ship will be posted now that we are back in Marseille. I will post some pictures after I gather them all from our 3 cameras.

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My brother arrived in Paris around 1am and we talked with him, planning the continuation of his journey the next day. We finally went to bed around 2am.

We woke up around 8am and went down for breakfast. Afterwards, we walked around the hotel for a last sight of Marseille. We checked out and took the metro to go to the port. More surprises were in store for us. I don’t even want to relive that by talking about it. It was a stressful morning. Paolo’s phone ran out of “time” while we were talking to him after he landed in Paris. My sister’s died last night, and mine was almost out too. The cell phone system is different from ours and you “charge” your phone with a certain amount of minutes that gets depleted as you use it. You then have to “recharge” it. You need to buy more “time”. It’s not that complicated but it’s really not the most convenient system either.
Anyway, I was afraid I would have no way to reach my brother once he arrived in Marseille. I told him I would be waiting for him at the train station, but the crazy circumstances seemed to dictate that he would have to get to the port on his own. To quote my mom: “It was easier to give birth to 4 kids than bring Paolo here”. But after stressing for hours and probably a stomach ulcer, he made it to the ship in time and we’re just happy he’s here.

We checked in and boarded the boat and settled in our cabins. We watched Marseille disappear as the ship sailed out and spent some time talking and laughing. It is exactly how I imagined it. I feel like I’m back in time, when none of my siblings were married with kids and it was just us and mom. We make each other laugh with silly things, make fun of one another, and tease each other. We are all carefree the rest of our families thousand of miles away. We walk all over the ship, discovering where everything is, checking each deck (there are 7 decks).

At 5pm we have the mandatory safety drill and we all gather in our respective evacuation spots. This allowed me to have an idea of the rest of the crowd. The boat left from Genoa, Italy, so a big portion of the population is Italian. However there are also, Germans, French, Spanish, British… There are a few beautiful kids (and I mean from kids to teenagers). I know roommie, 16 will get me 20!!! There are a few cute men, with ugly wives and I don’t think I’m being bias; I know a pretty girl when I see one

We then have a meeting to know about all the excursions planned on this cruise. The only thing I learn was that it’s just incredibly expensive. We decide to do most of our tours on our own

We have dinner at the second seating (9pm). We have 5 tablemates, who are French as well. We meet our waiter Dennis, who is from the Philippines. My mom in her usual logic says: “Our waiter reminds me of Norman. I like Norman, so I like our waiter”. Quite some shoes to fill. Dinner goes well, until our tablemates annoy Dennis. At first this made me think he was gay, because he went from nice to prissy bitch in 6 seconds (I know something about that) but he’s married with children (although this has never stopped anyone before). It’s impossible to know if there are any gays on the ship. All the guys (well most of the younger ones) dress well and have “man purses”. Next to them, Ryan Seacrest looks butch and macho. It’s so much easier in the US.

After we went back to our cabin, Paolo and I talked for hours before finally falling asleep.

3eme jour de vacances

For some reason I had a very hard time falling asleep and staying asleep last night. (hmm I need some....what's the name of the commercial for the sleeping pill with the butterfly again?) Anyway, I'm not sure why but I couldn't get some rest. Maybe I was just excited about the day ahead. I got ready and left for Orly where I was catching my flight to Marseille. After an uneventful short trip (about 1:30) there I was so close to seeing my family. I hadn't planned on seeing my brother in law with my niece and my nephew but they decided to drop off my mom and my sister in Marseille and make it a day trip. We all met at the hotel. My nephew who is 13 is officially taller than both his parents, and my niece is on her way too. I have not seen them in almost 2 years and they've grown so much. We hang out at the hotel for a little bit and then decide to go drive around and visit some of the town. My mom wants to go see the Cathedral Notre Dame de la Garde, which sits on the highest hill of the city overlooking it on all side. The view from there is breathtaking. The city is enclosed between the ocean and a chain of mountains.

I had been there once before with Olivier and some friends, but I think we just drove through and hadn't seen really anything at all. The oldest part of the city is a "maze". A labyrinth of narrow streets going up and down hills and north or south one second and suddenly east or west the next. Try asking for directions and you give up rather quickly. The explanation becomes so complicated that you'd better take your chances and go.

After the cathedral we go down to the "Vieux Port" area (the old port) that advances into the city. We look for a place to have dinner and we end up on "La Canebiere" a famous street here (probably the most famous one). It's been written about in songs and poems. It's a big boulevard starting from the old port and taking you further in the city. Gilles says that they've been doing lots of changes to make it more people friendly. There are fewer lanes for traffic and the sidewalks have tripled in size allowing for a nice troll, while you're window shopping or looking at the architecture.

We check out several places for dinner and finally agree (no small feat when you have kids in the group, who would be happy with Mc Donald) on a Tunisian restaurant. It's a small place but it looks like the customers are local people and that generally is a good sign. That was a good choice, because the food was excellent. We all cleaned our plates. After dinner, Gilles, Jean and the kids drop us off at the hotel and go back to Avignon (about an hour away) where Gilles lives. My sister, my mom and I go back to my room to deal with my brother!

Paolo's saga: They finally lifted the red alert on Guadeloupe and the airport was re-opened. My brother would keep us updated via text messages, but the information would change every 5 minutes. They were leaving…they were not… they were… or maybe not. I couldn't make any arrangements for him in Paris until I was sure when and where he was arriving (Paris has 2 airports). This morning, I did try to see if I could change his plane ticket but because it was a non-refundable one, they charge you an arm and a leg. I begged and used my charm but nothing worked. The round-trip plane ticket is lost. You can't even use the return portion only. To avoid fraud (because of course a round trip ticket costs less than a one way) they will make you pay the rate of the day that you travel on which in this case was about 3 times the price of the ticket with an advance purchase rate.

Paolo's last text was that he was on the aircraft and that they would be leaving soon, arriving at Charles de Gaulle (instead or Orly) around 1am local time. At the hotel we started to look at options. Spend the night at Charles de Gaulle and take the TGV from there seems to be the most efficient, although not the cheapest. But we figured that he had not slept a lot for the past 3 days with the hurricane and then all these trials and tribulations about his flight, so we would just keep it simple. However we still could not book anything, because no one knew what they would do with the passengers once they got to Paris. The scheduled arrival airport is 2 hours away on the other side of Paris and the airline has to get you to your original destination somehow. Nobody seemed to know how that would happen though. If my brother didn't have access to his luggage until Orly, he obviously couldn't stay at Charles de Gaulle. Anyway, we just waited up until he arrived. Luckily they were giving people a choice, so Paolo got his bags. He will take the train in the morning and will be here with plenty of time before embarking on the ship. We found him a hotel and were just relieved that he had finally made it. We all went to bed.

The hurricane is leaving Guadeloupe now and moving on to other targets. Although there are no death accounted for in Guadeloupe (there are 2 in Martinique) it is one of the strongest storms in the past 20 years. The damages will mostly be seen in the agriculture. 70 to 100% of most plantations were completely flattened. 2/3 of the island is still without power and some roads are still blocked with debris cutting access to some people.

2eme jour de vacances

Because before I left for France I flew six days in a row, then got home and was rushing to be ready to leave again the following day, I did not really pay attention to the news; especially the weather. It turns out there is a hurricane over Guadeloupe right now. The island is on Red Alert and everything is shut down, and people are safely barricaded in their houses. I talked to my brother today and so far no extreme damages. The bad news, the airport is closed and they're not sure when it will open again. He was supposed to leave tonight and get here tomorrow in the morning. We would then have flown together to Marseille to meet my mom and my sister. Not going to happen. If he leaves on Saturday, he will get to Paris on Sunday and hopefully still have time to fly to Marseille and board the cruise ship. Boarding ends at 3:30pm and the boat sails at 4pm. If he misses the boat, I don't even know if they would let him catch up with us somewhere else. And that would be days later since the first stops are in some small islands in the Mediterranean Sea and I don't know how he would get there. I'm trying to think positive and hope that they lift the alert in Guadeloupe in time.

Yesterday, I had a nice evening with Valerie, our friend Yves and Valerie's brother and sister in law's "au pair" Kiki. Valerie's brother Jerome is married to a Danish girl and for the past 2 years they've had "au pair" girls from Denmark spending time with them and their son Alric who's now 3 and speaks French and Danish already. The 3 of them are in Denmark right now on vacations and I'm staying at their apartment in the 15th "arrondissement". So Kiki (a true Danish, blonde, blue eyed, beautiful 22 years old girl), Yves (who used to work with Valerie), Valerie (I worked with her when I lived here but we knew each other even before that), and myself had dinner at an Indian restaurant. Yves who lives in the suburbs took forever to meet us, because he cannot follow directions and got lost like 10 times!!! Kiki's French is still very limited (she's only been here a couple of months) so our whole conversation had to be in English. We had a wonderful time and laughed a lot. I was however getting really tired. We all got back to the apartment for hot cocoa and after a while I was literally falling asleep in the middle of a sentence. Finally Yves and Kiki left and Valerie and I went to bed. A looooong, fuuuuullll first day. I'm so happy to be here.

After a restful night I woke up to find a beautiful day outside. Sunshine and blue sky. Valerie left for work at 8:30am and I got ready to go for a jog. I felt happy running in the waking city with the great weather. After I came back, I had to finish bidding for my September schedule (the deadline is today) and that took a little while. I didn't leave the place again until 11am. I took the bus and the metro to go meet Valerie at her office. We had a nice lunch outside and walked around a little bit after before returning to her building. I stayed with her for a while, using her computer to check my e-mails, her phone to call my brother and my mom, and my ex Olivier. It's so nice to have a friend who's a Director!!! I made plans with Olivier, and we met at the Trocadero, facing the Eiffel Tower. The weather didn't stay as nice as this morning but it was okay. He took me to the bank of the Seine River to introduce me to "Paris Plage" (Paris Beach). It's something they do every year now and I had never seen it. For one month they close off miles of the road along the river and turn it into a "beach". Parasols, sand, lounge chairs, games, fountains, cafes, flowers and plants. It is truly amazing. You can walk along or stop and rest in one of the chairs and people watch or enjoy the "bateaux mouches" on the river as they go by. We walked for a couple of hours and then went to "Gare de Lyon" to meet Valerie. She's going to visit her mother for the weekend; a 3 hours ride south of Paris with the TGV (our bullet train). We had drinks at a cafe at the train station and chatted until it was time for Valerie to leave. Olivier and I decided to have dinner together and we went to a nearby "Brasserie". We had a wonderful time (except that we were surrounded by people smoking; it's time they pass the ban on smoking in public places). The food was great, and I guess people know it, because the place was packed. We finally left and parted ways. I took the metro back home.

Now that I've talked to my mom and my sister, I cannot wait to see them tomorrow. That hurricane better be gone so my brother can get here too...

1er jour de vacances

Apres 3 vols (San Diego-San Francisco; San Francisco-Francfort; Francfort-Paris) je suis finalement dans la capitale parisienne. De l'aéroport j'ai pris le bus jusqu'à la Place de l'Etoile, et de là un taxi jusqu'au Pont de Sèvres où j'ai retrouvé Valérie à son boulot. Elle travaille encore et j'en profite pour écrire ces quelques lignes.

Les gens qui me connaissent savent que Sydney est une de mes villes préférées. Mais en arrivant dans Paris, je ne peux m'empecher de penser que c'est la ville la plus belle au monde. Les grandes avenues bordées d'arbres, l'architecture, les monuments... bien que j'y ai vécu pendant plusieurs années, je suis toujours émmerveillé à chacune de mes visites. Le soleil essaye de briller un peu et on dirait un jour de printemps quand l'hiver s'est enfin retiré, que la température remonte et que les journées se rallongent. Ce n'est vraiment pas l'été, mais ça me convient tout à fait car Paris en pleine canicule est insoutenable.

Ce soir je dîne avec Valérie et Yves.

Finally

I was hoping I would get back home on Sunday and have a couple of days to have everything in order before I leave for my vacations. Unfortunately my schedule kept on changing and I got back home this afternoon. Well yesterday now since it is after midnight. So I am finally on vacations for 2 whole weeks.

Henry, our friend who lives in Tokyo is visiting so I wanted to see him before I left and spent a couple hours with him and Michael, while my car was getting worked on.

I am as excited of going away as I am exhausted from flying. Actually the idea of getting on another plane (more like 3) so soon is rather annoying but I have no choice. Once I'm there I'm sure it will all be forgotten. I had a list of things to do which started with 9 items and ended up with 15 as I went through them. I did pretty good since I have 3 things left to do: unpack and re-pack; put my requests for my September schedule in the computer; pay my bills and balance my checkbook. Right now I'm just taking a little break to write this.

I cannot wait to see my family and spend some time with them. I will also visit a few friends before and after the cruise.

Alright back to work before I fall asleep on my keyboard.

Friends and Family #2

I wrote about friends and family on Wednesday before I went to bed. Today when I checked my e-mails, my friend Lisa in Chicago had sent me this poem that same day!!!

This is the poem:
Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great city that has no end,
Yet the days go by and weeks rush on,
And before I know it, a year is gone.
And I never see my old friends face,
For life is a swift and terrible race,

He knows I like him just as well,
As in the days when I rang his bell.
And he rang mine but we were younger then,
And now we are busy, tired men.
Tired of playing a foolish game,

Tired of trying to make a name.
"Tomorrow" I say! "I will call on Jim

Just to show that I'm thinking of him."
But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes,

And distance between us grows and grows.
Around the corner, yet miles away,

"Here's a telegram sir," "Jim died today."
And that's what we get and deserve in the end.
Around the corner, a vanished friend.

Remember to always say what you mean. If you love someone, tell them. Don't be afraid to express yourself. Reach out and tell someone what they mean to you. Because when you decide that it is the right time it might be too late. Seize the day. Never have regrets. And most importantly, stay close to your friends and family, for they have helped make you the person that you are today.

Friends and Family

Michael and Norman came to pick me up this morning so we could have breakfast before they left for New Hampshire. We went to our usual place, Antique Row Café, and then went to the airport. As I was driving away in their car, I started to think of how much they both mean to me. It lead me to think of friends and family. Gay men often create their own family over time as they go through life and meet people. The blood ties are not always as thick as we hope and many of us who have lost contact with our parents and/or siblings, look elsewhere for that bond.

I realize that I have been really lucky. Although we are far from one another, I'm really close to my immediate family. It was not easy for me, as for most gays and lesbians, to come out but once I did, I wondered how people who cared about me could suddenly not love me just because of what for me is such an insignificant difference. Being the first kid of the family I had thought they might think I was going down the “wrong path” and was a bad example. I come from a macho society and homosexuality is not a thing that we were exposed to growing up and it certainly was never talked about. My mom is very religious and I thought she would have the hardest time coming to terms with my homosexuality. I guess she understood the "Book" the way it was supposed to and Love prevailed above all. My sister and I have always been close. I know she looked up to me and I did not want to “disappoint” her. I adore my baby brother and to think that he would not talk to me one day is unbearable. My relationship with my other brother is actually the one that has changed for the better. Growing up we were never that close. We liked different things and although we’re only one year apart we never had that much in common. As we got older we got closer. Older and wiser maybe? To me having a close relationship with someone is not necessarily talk on the phone everyday or live on the same block. My phone bill would be horrendous (well even more than it is) and we all live in different parts of the world. But still the bond is there, maybe even getting stronger as time goes by.

Throughout the years and the different places I've lived in, I have made some wonderful friendships and my "family" kept on growing. Some of those friends live far away but when we see each other we just pick up where we had left off. I have been blessed with a lot of wonderful people in my life who have had and continue to have an indelible impact on me. I sometimes think that I don't give a fair chance to everyone that I meet and might miss on a great relationship but I usually go with my gut feeling. Why do we like certain people and not others? Why do we feel a connection with some when others leaves us indifferent? Who's to say. I guess it has to do with where both parties are in their own life and skin when they meet. I can only be thankful for the people who are always there for me whether to share silly laughs or lend me a shoulder to cry on.

Someone said "to have a friend, you have to be one". I only hope that I am a good one.

Back in time #2

I took this picture just before leaving Jacksonhole. The views around the airport are really breathtaking. I can only imagine how it must look in winter with all the mountains covered in snow. I am amazed at how many people come here. Here we use mostly 757s which are usually full (182 passengers) for a 1 hour 15 minutes flight from Denver. We use United Express or some of our smaller planes to go way farther.

The town of Jackson is really cute and charming in an Old West kinda way. I walked around taking pictures and had brunch in a little cafe. On my way back to the hotel I was going to take a lift to get up on the mountain and enjoy the scenery, but there was some weather coming in and they closed down.

I actually would like to come back here one day (not for work though) and do some hiking. I read that there are some beautiful hiking trails, with lakes and waterfalls. I don't think there's much to do here besides enjoy nature anyway. I'd also love to go to Yellowstone which is a little north of Grand Teton National Park.