J'aime Maga

Elle est très drôle.

Je vous la présente:



C'est une belle façon de commencer ma journée. Merci Martin!

Cricket pants and Mr Canoehead

I went camping this weekend. I haven't laughed like that in a long time. It was fantastic.

Upon hearing the sound of a "cigale", I asked Micah, what we call the insect in English. "I don't know" he replied, "I didn't even know an insect made that sound"

"Yeah, and you know how?"

"No"

"Well...they rub their legs together and it makes the sound. It allows them to sing."

"So...what you're saying is; all we'd have to do is make pants for them and they would stop?"

And of course, camping always brings out the best of Canadian comedy. I'd never even heard of Mr Canoehead.

Le rose à l'honneur

Venez supporter une bonne cause le 16 août prochain, au Ros&lina, au 1000 de la Gauchetière Ouest!

What have I been up to lately?

I've been reading the last Harry Potter and re-reading the last hundred pages.

I've been nursing a cold and laying in eucalyptus baths.

I've been going to the Rogers cup and watching Roger Federer steamroll his opponents.

I've been walking 20 kms at a time, trying to train for the breast cancer walk, to take place at the end of August.

I've been setting up my last La quête shoots with a feeling of "écoeurantite".

I've been fighting with my sister.

I've been digging up old demons and trying to fend them off.

And most of all, I've been psyching myself up for my trip to Ethiopia.

What have you been up to?

is it your moment of fame?

I need two people for this show I work on who can answer a very quick question, each. En fait c'est supposé être un notaire et un scientifique mais ça peut être n'importe qui qui veut jouer le jeu.

Ça prend 20 minutes à tourner et ça fait pas mal. Promis. Les textes sont déjà déterminés.

Please!!!

Egypt

Every time I think of Egypt, I think Astérix et Cléopâtre. C'est plus fort que moi. It's such a huge part of my childhood.

Erin's in Egypt, so I'm thinking about Egypt.

south africa

Just checked my stat counter and I have 5 people who visited my blog from South Africa!! Well, actualyl, it's only 1 person, who visited it 5 times. But I know who it is!! It's Erin!! Yay!

Because in Ethiopia, you can't visit blogs. They're censored. Wouldn't want people getting ideas about free speech. But Erin's in South Africa right now.

I miss her.

à mon tour le test de personnalité

Benevolent creator. That's what I am.

You are a great person to interact with—understanding, giving, and trusting—in a word, BENEVOLENT

Your imagination, confidence, willingness to explore, and appreciation of beauty make you a CREATOR.

I scored the highest on my levels of empathy, attention to style, trust in others, spontaneity, openness and femininity.

I love personnality tests. And I'm glad there aren't really any surprises...makes me think I might know myself after all.

making lists

It's so easy to get distracted during the summer...I made a list this morning. A huge list. Stuff I need to do before my trip to Ethiopia. I'm starting to think I have too much stuff going on. Or I have too much I want to do before the summer's over.

And all I really want to do is sit outside, read books, drink campari-soda, and eat ice cream.

c'est tellement cool l'été

La meilleure façon d'apprécier l'été, est vraiment de rester ouvert à toutes possibilités. Ce soir j'ai pris une petite bière avec Véro en rentrant du bureau, ensuite nous avons partagé un sandwich ensemble assises sur un banc dehors. Et pis après, une crème glacée dans un cornet.

Tout le long, nous avons parlé de synchronicité, de destin, et de faire confiance à la vie. Il faut laisser les choses nous arriver et les prendre comme elles sont.

Une soirée parfaite.

buying back your greenhouse gas

So as most of us, I've been increasingly preoccupied with the environment. The most pessimist among us will say that it's too late so why bother, but I can't resign myself to it. I have to do my best to try to save this planet. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an environmentalist and I used to cry when watching the discovery channel (until my parents thought it was enough and forbade me to watch it).

So I recycle, I compost, I try to ride my bike as much as I can, I use a diva cup, I try not to buy bottled water, I use natural cleaning products...etc. But the real problem is greenhouse gas, as we all know. So how to reduce our emissions more efficiently? Well, I found this fantastic website called sustainable travel international. It allows you to buy back your greenhouse gas emissions when you travel. So for example, my plane trip to Ethiopia will produce 5.2581 tons of CO2. I can buy it back though by investing in carbon offset projects that verifiably reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It will cost $80,19 (US). You can calculate and donate through the World Wildlife Fund site.

So is anyone taking a plane this summer? Think about doing this, please. I'm doing it and I think it's worth it when you think what's at stake, no?

choses à faire

J'ai été parti tout le weekend et il me semble que ça fait des semaines que je n'ai pas le temps de faire que que j'ai à faire. Donc, ma liste pour aujourd'hui:

- répondre aux courriels de mes ami(e)s
- lire les blogs de mes ami(e)s
- remplir un peu mon réfrigérateur---y'a rien en ce moment
- défaire mon sac de trucs que j'ai amené à Toronto
- acheter de la litière bio pour Ernest
- écrire mes idées de scénario dans un p'tit livre en attendant d'avoir le temps d'écrire les scénarios pour vrai
- arroser les fleurs
- appeler mes parents
- faire un liste de choses à faire pour mon tournage en fin de semaine
- écrire un email à Jean-Louis
- finir mon compte de dépenses pour pouvoir être remboursée
- écrire à ma propriétaire
- passer l'aspirateur
- payer mon compte VISA
- payer mon compte Gaz Métro

Voilà. Je suis sûre que je pourrais en rajouter...mais au moins c'est un début.

Bonne semaine.

gorillas

I'm totally obssessed with gorillas these days. Ever since we shot a scene with gorillas at the Granby Zoo for the show I work on. They're so intelligent, so like us in their mannerisms, in the look in their eyes. It's amazing to see them up close and spend a whole afternoon with them.

Gorillas actually use tools in the wild. And I even witnessed them do it in the zoo. They make tools out of branches and rocks. They fish with them, or find food, or check the depth of water. They also laugh when tickled or when play-fighting. One gorilla in captivity even learned sign language. Their DNA is 97-98% identical to that of a human.

And unfortunately, like so many species, they're seriously endangered. It makes me so sad to think that they may be wiped off the planet one day. It always makes me sad to think that they have been poached for hundreds of years. They're such a pacifist animal. And we humans are such horrible predators.

I think I might adopt a gorilla.

bridge over the blue nile, in ethiopia

this picture always makes me happy...
I'm so excited!!!

too much presence

Lately I've been feeling like the internet is way too invasive. I truly enjoy blogging but I feel like all these other sites like myspace, virb and facebook are somehow too much. I feel uncomfortable being too much on the internet.

It comes from facebook I suppose. I realize that I don't particularly want to be in touch with a bunch of people I haven't spoken to in 10 years. If I never got their email addresses back then (was there even email? I don't remember...) than maybe it's best left that way. I hate looking behind me. Nostalgia is never a very positive feeling. An ex-boyfriend once told me that he thought he'd managed to remain so young at heart because he didn't have a very good memory. He forgot things that happened to him (fights with old girlfriends, and any other unpleasant day-to-day stuff that happened) and so never dwelled on anything. It struck me as very wise. Since then, I've always kept in mind that it's best to look forward and not backward. Easier said than done, though, I know.

But I digress. What I wanted to say was that I feel there is way too much "Julie Girard" presence on the internet. So I've deleted my myspace account and was going to delete my virb account when I realised that it's practically impossible. I've searched and searched and can't figure out where I can delete the account. This, to me, is a serious violation of privacy. When you choose to create a profile, you choose to trade in your privacy, but when you decide to delete it, you should still have a choice.

I'm so mad about this. I'm just so outraged that we are left with no choice at all. It's not the virb profile in itself, it's just the fact that I can't erase it, that someone's decided that that is no longer an option.

it's finally here

Summer has finally arrived. It's officially here. I know this crazy heat won't last too long, but nonetheless, my flowers are planted, we can eat outside.

Everything seems more beautiful, more fun, more relaxed, just plain better, than any other season. People are always happy and smiling. Or at least, that's what I perceive.

And fashion is so much better in the summer. There are so many more possibilities. So many more kinds of shoes you can wear. And you don't always have to wear pants...you can wear skirts, shorts, capris...it really is a whole new wardrobe.

Maybe that's why people are smiling??!!

new iPod!!

As Jason would say, I have officially entered the 21st century. I just received my red nano in the mail. Yay!!
I figured I'd need music this summer in prep for the 60 km breast cancer walk, and it would be good to have something to listen to on the plane, on my way to Ethiopia.
Plus, it looks so cute!!!!

Ethiopia

Yes, I'm going to Ethiopia. I bought myself a plane ticket from September 3rd to the 22nd. I'm going to Africa.
I sort of did it on a "coup de tête" but I'm going. I'm getting my shots this week and I have to get a visa from the ethiopian embassy before I leave. This is big. Don't yet know how I feel about it but I'm going. I need to travel more. As so many of my friends have said; "this is a going to be a life-changing experience for you". Yes, I suppose it is.

Pubs pour le port du condom

Pub AIDES Baby Baby
Uploaded by PeteRock

J'aime bien cette pub. Elle est osée mais pas de mauvais goût. Si ça vous intéresse, vous pouvez voir 2 autres exécutions ici et ici.

Vue plongée

Je suis allé voir le show d'Arcade Fire hier soir. C'était super. Mais je n'en ferai pas une critique ici, je ne connais rien là-dedans. Je sais juste que je me suis beaucoup amusée, avant, pendant et après.

Nous sommes arrivé bein à l'avance, vers 18h30, parce que c'était admission générale et les portent ouvraient à cette heure là. Nous avons donc passé beaucoup de temps à attendre les 7 musiciens adorés, et à "se conter des peurs" comme dit si bien Simon.

Et moi, j'y suis allé un peu par hasard...ma boss me dit qu'elle a un billet qui lui reste, qu'ils sont 12 à y aller. Je connais 3 personnes. Et pis il y a un ami à elle à qui j'ai déjà parlé au téléphone pour lui demander de participer à La Quête. Mais peu importe, j'aime ça rencontré du nouveau monde (okay, je suis timide, mais après plusieurs heures d'attentes dans un climat un peu fébrile, on finit par se dégêner assez vite). Et pis, surtout, il y a l'objet de mon affection qui va être là, c'est ma chance de faire un move.

Nous arrivons donc et je constate que la prunelle de mes yeux est là avec une fille. Okay. Great. Fantastic.

Bon, essayons donc d'apprécier le show (chose assez facile à faire) et de connaître du nouveau monde.

Donc je jase avec plein de monde, je me fais des nouveaux amis. C'est super cool. Et pis là, je rencontre John, moment fort de la soirée:

-Salut, moi c'est Julie, on s'est parlé au téléphone. Tu as fais une scène pour La quête.
-Okay, ouais (visiblement pompette pas à peu près)...excuse-moi, je n'écoutais plus ce que tu disais à partir du moment où j'ai aperçu ton décolleté. J'ai une super vue en plongée d'où je me trouve (un gradin au-dessus de moi).
-Euh...merci? (petit rire gêné)
-Oui, oui, je sais qui tu es, je vais souvent sur ta page MySpace (mais de quoi parle-t-il?)
-Okay, bye.

Et pis, là, Julie, la sympathique amie d'Annie, me dit que c'est son ex. Elle est assise juste à côté de moi et a tout entendu. Je me sens un peu mal. Comme la nouvelle au secondaire qui se fait remarquer par les mecs et que toutes les filles détestent.

Mais c'est bon, elle ne m'en veut pas et on devient amie. Elle est célibataire elle aussi, s'appelle Julie, et elle est blonde. On ferait fureur à sortir ensemble, j'en suis certaine. Et elle sympathise quand je lui parle de la fête des mères et de voir ma grand-mère et mes tantes qui vont me poser la même question sans arrêt; "t'as pas de chum? une belle fille comme toi!!"

Et non, pas de chum, pouvez-vous croire???!!