Trick or treat

Salut,

OK, for those of you not on Facebook, here's your chance to see what I look like tonight (more pictures on Picasa). I'm sittig on my sofa in the living room with some Led Zepp playing back (The song remains the same album for those who care). I'm wearing the same dress I was wearing today at work, the one for which I won a bottle of wine for best costume of the day ;-)... I was telling the guys that I would think about them when I will drink it, and they said that they would drink to forget that they had seen me in that dress... Ho well...

It is funny to see the faces of the little kids when they see me open the door like this... The teenagers say that I'm kind of cute and the parents can't prevent themselves from laughing :-) Ho well... I'm having fun!!!

Both my girls are with friends having parties before and after tick or treating, I have no clue when they will come back (or call me to pick them up), so I stay here and wait, write you a few lines, listen to music and drink beer... Life is good. :-)

And you? What are you doing tonight? Or what were you doing on Halloween night 2008 if you read this later on? Come on, don't be shy, leave a comment... I know you want to do it... Go ahead, it doesn't hurt... And we like it... So if you don't do it for yourself, do it for us...
Have a ver good Halloween, a very good life, a good laugh, and never, ever, forget to have fun!!!

BYE
MAD... Or should I say, MADette??? :-)

Deadlines...

Salut,

sitting on my sofa... No, I didn't bring my sofa in the bus, I have a dentist appointment at 10 and the cleaning lady is also about to show up. So I decided to give you a few minutes before I dive into work work work...

Deadlines... Without a deadline, I'm not sure I would have finished my novel. I decided at one point to finish it before a planned trip down south to meet a cousin of my wife who is living in Europe (yeah, I know, weird, he lives in Europe and we met in Dominican Republic, it was pretty cool actually). Since I wanted to bring him a copy of the first complete draft, I needed to finish it before the trip. I was about 100 pages away from the ending, and about 10 weeks left, so I had to write 10 pages per week. I invested all my lunch time to write at least a page, and then a page every night, and I would have the week-ends as buffer if I was going to run late... And it worked, I completed it before the trip...

Same thing for music. My partner Norm often asks me for deadlines so that we can push ourselves a little more into making music together. We had the deadline of my 40th birthday party to prepare a show, and we did (which reminds me, I should put some of the videos from that show on Youtube, eventually). We also participated in a couple of contest, so those were also deadines that pushed us into completing decent demos.

Same thing at work. Some people might not like it, it adds pressure, stress and frustration, but it helps us being more productive on a day to day basis, during the long season, instead of just waiting for the playoff...

Why do I talk about this today? It is because I'm running late on a deadline at work, and I'm not too proud of myself, so I try (really, I try very hard) to resist the temptation to come talk to you here more often... But... Now... I gotta go... Go MAD Go... Hit this deadline and move on...

BYE
MAD

I feel like posting in the bus...

Salut,

sitting in the bus again. Was the first one in the bus this morning, I arrived at the stop just after the previous bus left. I like that. Anyway, at this hour (8:12), there is a bus every 2 minutes. Some of the buses have a few single seats, so I choose them when I can. I know, You will say that this is so unlike me, that I would strive to sit with someone, talk to them touch them... But no... You don't know me that well...

It's like when I tell people that I'm a very rational guy... They very rarely believe me. .... Sorry for the delay, I was putting on my headphones and cranking my iPod to U2 music (Sunday Bloody Sunday)... Ho right, you're reading this asynchronously so you can't tell how long I take to write a single phrase, a word, a single letter, or how much time spend in between them... ho well...

So... People don't believe that I'm a rational guy, but I am... I was telling GG last night that I think I must have frustrated my heart somehow at one point and it doesn't want to talk to me anymore. Some say that I just listen to him... But I do... I just don't hear anything. OK, nothing at all would be exaggerated (but you know me, why stop at the exact state of things when we can add some whip cream and sugar on top of it, right? mmmm whip cream.... mmmm:-).

I think that I feel with my brains instead of my heart and guts, and I've been doing it for so long that I'm getting pretty good at it. Another thing that may influence others in thinking that I'm not so rational, is the fact that I'm very loud and demonstrative. I strongly believe that it has nothing to do with feelings and emotions. Actually, the fact that I don't have much of those, helps me being so openly blunt, there are no inhibition getting in the way.

It's like when I talk about my marriage which failed after 16.5 years. I think it was a very rational relationship, on both sides (the mother of my kids is just as bad as I am on this side, if not even worst than me, if it wasn't for the fact that she is a woman, no stereotype here, women are much closer to their emotions than us stupid men). Anyway, we had a relationship that made sens. But there is no sens in love, love doesn't make sens... Come on, admit it!

But the good side of this (thus the analogy to what I was saying above), is that our separation and divorce was totally painless. OK, the fact that we are not short on money helps (especially the fact that I don't really care about money, so giving her half of what I had, when she didn't have much herself, was OK with me, it was the "rational" thing to do, and why worry, just do it and let go). But I think that the main factor for the success of our divorce (I tell you, it really is a success, we actually get along so much better now that we are separated, it is truly amazing), it is because there are so little emotions involved...

A rational marriage is bad, but a rational divorce is great. So I think that the fact that I'm so transparent, demonstrative, loud and open, is actually a sign that I'm a rational guy, emotions don't get in the way, I just do it. "Le ridicule ne tue pas" as we say in French, but so many of us are afraid of it. I'm not, fright is an emotion, and I don't have much of those.

But, although I love the fact that I can be very expressive, I don't want to be suited only for successful divorce... I would rather have had a successful marriage... Actually, I want to have a successful relationship, with true emotions, with real love... So I must apologize to my heart for whatever I did to him, and make him talk to me again. As the emotions slowly come back in my life, I sure hope that inhibitions will not get in the way so that I can keep being open with all of you and keep the clown alive... Some people seem to appreciate it... As for the others... fuck them!

BYE
MAD... being a bad boy and not working on his novel because he would rather talk to you in the bus this morning...
We're almost there now, just a few minutes before the terminus, so just enough time for a proof read of all I said above...
Enjoy... and have fun!
8:31

No bus rides today...

Salut,

so I won't get to work on my Novel today (which I almost exclusively do on the bus these days)... And I didn't take the bus either last night, I had a nice (and very cute) little lady that gave me a ride to the bus stop parking lot on her way to Granby. And today, well, it' s 10:24 already, and I just got out of the shower, ready to leave for work. The parking lot will surely be full by now, and I will most probably work late tonight, so I might as well take the car downtown... I know.. Bad boy... No good... But a boy's gotta do, what a boy's gotta do...

So... I won't take the bus today, won't work on my novel or blog, and I might do a 120Km detour on my way home tonight so... I thought I would spend a few minutes with you, even though I don't have much to say except...

Ho... Wait till you see my Halloween costume... It is truly outrageous. I showed pictures to a few people that I know I won't see till Friday anyway and they freaked out (so did my kids). I don't want to put the pictures here until Friday because I will wear the costume at work and I want it to be a big surprise.

I will also wear it at home to give away candies... The kids will freak out when they see me... Much scarier than any vampire, skeleton, devils or monsters that you can think of... Just wait and see... ;-)

BYE
MAD... having a ball.. as usual... :-)

Bus ride quicky

Salut,

this is a quickie bus ride post before I get back to my Novel re-write. Is it Halloween already? Some people really look like they are disguised this morning. There is a bunch of angels and demons and some even scarier creatures in the bus this morning. OK, I agree that's mean, but I can't help it.

It really amazes me to see all this spectrum of looks and expressions we, humans, can have. So it really is a good thing that we don't all have the same tastes because there are quite a lot of people that would stay single for a long time, and others with way to many suitors.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that some people are not worth it. They are just not interesting to me. As others might really not be interesting to you and I, myself, am most probably disgusting for many. So when I see a couple, and find that both of them are really not attractive (to my own picky taste I mean), I really envy them. They found love, they are attracted to each other and are very happy together (OK, I may be pushing it a little bit, I know that not all couples are happy together, but bare with me for a second).

Whatever the looks we have, nature provides us with a wide enough diversity in tastes and other interests, that everybody can aspire to find that special someone that will find them so attractive and interesting. Even those that I saw int he bus this morning and thought that they were disguised for Halloween... Isn't this great?

OK, MAD,back to your Novel, the bus just left the parking lot, so I better get at it if I want to finish this re-write before that woman standing besides me lose her balance again and send her big butt on my keyboard, or even worst, my face!!! (just had a butt kick on the shoulder now... geeessshhh)

BYE
MAD the bus rider... ;-)

The week-end before Haloween...

Salut,

how was YOUR last week-end before Halloween 2008? Here's mine:

Friday:
Don't really remember... What have I done Friday night? Picked up the kids at school a little later than usual. Had pizza for dinner. Watched the tube with the kids. Went to bed early... but with my laptop... Bad idea... End up working and chatting in bed and get to sleep later than ideal... Had an interesting phone call at one point though... But I won't get into much detail and let your imagination flow... :-P

HO! Yes... Of course... It was Friday that I needed to dial 911 for the the first time in my life... But I already told you everything that needs to be said about that episode...

Saturday:
Dance lessons in the morning (no, no, no, not me, my kids, of course). Grocery and a quick lunch (Quiche Lauraine). Blogged about the Unbelievable Stupidity of the Friday night Fire. Got my nephew to babysit while I go to a family dinner with GG. There are a few birthdays in her family around this time (Ho, and she officially turned 40 on Saturday, I had already sang happy B-Day to her on the phone Friday night, remember? ;-)

Was raining like crazy on the highway to her brother's place in Magog, but it was fortunately quiet and already dried when I cam back home at the wee hours... Was hard to stay awake, but it was still worth the effort... héhé... ;-P

Sunday:
The kids (including the nephew who spent the night here, of course) got up around 8, less than 5 hours after I crashed in. I got up at 10h30 and did some work... Then it was the special Daddy's crêpes au jambon fromage for break-lunch (abbreviated to brunch). Marilaure had some school project to work on at a friends place, so Fannie and I went shopping for Halloween (after my mom came to pick up my nephew).

Added some outside decoration to the few little pieces I already had, and we we also bought costumes accessories for the three of us (wasn't easy to argue with Marilaure over the phone to choose her backup plan once we realized there were no Chinese costume available). Marilaure and I ended up with the same costume (with different sizes, of course). Can't wait to show you the pictures, but not until Friday night (or maybe Saturday morning). My colleagues will see it live on Friday, I'll wear it at work. And I will also wear it to give candies since the kids will go trick or treating with Friends.

Tonight, I tried another improvised recipe of chicken and multi-colored pepper in the Wok. This time, I added read crumbs and creates a sauce by blending a bit of Kikkoman sauce, cherry sauce, BBQ and also a new one I bought yesterday, General Tao sauce. It wasn't too bad, not great, but still, not bad for a guy that hardly cook at all... And we treated ourselves with a chocolate fondue for desert, but I goofed, I used a regular fondue burner... Bad idea... I then remember that all we need it a candle for chocolate fondue. D'Ho! So my container cracked and my chocolate got cooked and lost the perfect taste of Toblerone... Damn... Better luck next time.

We still ate like pigs, and I still feel it... Having a hard time kicking myself in the butt to cleanup the mess we left in the kitchen for dinner and in the living room when we tried out our costumes... I feel like going to bed right away (well, after I'm done with this post), but I need to wait for the laundry anyway, so might as well finish cleaning and then I can treat myself with some Google work before going to bed... Ho, but not before I prepare the kids lunches for tomorrow... almost forgot that one again...

I hope you had a good week-end, and that you will have a great week... If you remember to have fun, things should go alright...

BYE
MAD... not feeling like adding pictures or links... live with it!!! :-P

Unbelievable Stupidity

Salut,

Those of you following me on Facebook most probably know by now that I had to put out a fire last night in front of my house... Yeah... Weird... An 8 feet tall evergreen, besides my front door, in front of a large bay window was on fire... What the FUCK!!!

It started while the kids were in the bath... Actually, Marilaure was done and was talking to her boyfriend on the phone (yeah, I know). I was playing the piano in the mezzanine when someone started knocking on my front door and ringing the bell like crazy. I thought it was one of my kids' friends... Come non already...

While walking down the stairs, I saw sparkling lights through the bay window and wondered... Hey... I didn't put on my Christmas light yet, WTF... So I go there instead of the door, cause... You know... Not sure which kind of freak is knocking at my door like that, I want to look through the window first to see who's there before opening the door...

WHAT? Flames!!! FIRE!!!! So I open the door to see a frighten friendly woman that was driving by, saw the fire and came to warn me... KUDOS MAM... She runs back to her car and I run back inside to dial 911... But the line is busy... No, not 911, my line... My daughter is still online talking to her boyfriend, so I ask them to hang up and finally contact 911.

They put me in contact with the local fire department and while I'm on hold (yeah, I know), I ask my daughter to take the phone again and tell them the details while I go take the matter into my own two hands. I get the hose out of the garage and start playing firemen (without the uniform, sorry girls, but the guys are on their way, a few of them were actually pretty good looking, you missed a good show, especially that they didn't have much to do :-).

I finally get to put out the fire on my own and the fire truck arrived a few minutes later. They looked around, make sure there were no damage to the house and that there are no sparks left that could start a fire again. No clue how it could have happened, they looked around a little bit more, no electricity there, nothing, and it's dark so we conclude to a stupid smoker walking on the street and throwing his cigarette butt randomly towards the house... That would be stupid enough to justify the title of this post... But wait, there is more...
This morning, when we got out to drive my little one to her dance lesson, her big sister noticed something under the tree that we didn't see yesterday because of the darkness. I look closer, and I recognize wrapped paper, like newspaper or magazine. But I don't have time to pick it up. So I guess, maybe a publi-sac that had been blown there by the wind at one point. And, bad luck, the careless smoker's cig butt would have landed right on it... Maybe... But wait... there's more...

When we got back home, I took the time to get that thing out of there. Wasn't easy to navigate between burnt branches, and walking in the mud... I even got a large trace of black soot on my favorite Quiksilver... Damn... But wait there's more...

When I pick up the big ball of wrapped paper (about 10 inches wide), big disappointment in the goodness of mankind... I see a large flat rock (about 25 square-inches and an inch think, FUCK!!!)... This seems to have been on purpose... TABARNACK!!!
Who the hell is stupid enough to do something like that???... If I wasn't there, my whole house could have been gone in hashes... Or worst, if that nice woman wouldn't have stopped to warn us, we may have not noticed in time, and my life, and even worst, the lives of my two innocent children would have been in great danger.... CALISS!!!!

Anyway, all is OK now, but that stupid butt head is walking freely and laughing at his own stupidity... What could have gone through the mind of someone to do such a stupid thing? To me... It is simply UNBELIEVABLE!!!! Unbelievable STUPIDITY!!!!

BYE
MAD... For once... I am.... Arrrrrrgggghhhhh....

I think I'm paranoid...

Salut les amis,

No, I'm not talking about that very good song from that Wisconsin band that made it all the way to the Rock Band game... Though the first line is very well suited for a stalker ;-): "You can look, but you can't touch"
I'm talking about my walk out of the bus this morning. I wasn't following anyone... but I felt followed myself... I could hear her high heels on the side walk... After a street corner turn, we had the sun in our back and I could see her shadow at my feet... I savored the wind in her hair, even without seeing her, even if it wasn't really the wind but just the way she balances as she walks, I still savored it anyway...

And then I wondered if she was looking at my butt... It is a good thing I'm wearing my Quiksilver today, they fit me pretty well and I heard I don't look too bad from behind in these jeans... I wonder if she noticed...

OK, maybe it isn't paranoia, it is just wishful thinking... Anyway, at one point, I got to stop at a red light, and I think I saw her pass me by... Same hair style and same high heel boot sound on the sidewalk... But a weird half leather half fur coat though. Not really my type...

I was listening to my iPod which was singing loud and clear those famous words from Kiss: "I was made for loving you baby, you were made for loving me. And I can't get enough of you baby, can you get enough of me?"... Not that I think she could be the one to which I would sing this song, but it must be a truly great feeling to be able to say these words to someone and truly believe in it... One day... One day... It's like that couple in the movie that is currently playing on my TV, August Rush... Cute little movie, interesting music oriented love story (I love those, like Moulin Rouge for example)...

I sometimes wonder if this is just fairytale stuff or if we are all eligible for this grand prize called True Love? I sure hope we are, I bought my ticket a little over three years ago (and I paid big money for it, trust me, you don't want to know the real number$)... So I'm waiting for my number to show up... We'll see... we'll see... one day... one day...

BYE
MAD the naive believer...

Wednesday morning stalking

Salut,

No, I'm not in the bus. I made it to the office without being arrested... no, no, no, I'm not that bad, I would never hurt anyone (at least, not voluntarily). But I must admit I kind of like stalking. One thing I noticed this morning (OK, I think I had noticed it before, but let's say I intellectualized it this morning)... Ho, and BTW, I'm all over the place, but I wanted to tell you that I have been listening more and more to The Nice Device and I really like their music, check them out, they're worth it...

So, about this morning's stalking, I realized that I don't always do it with women that I have seen in the bus and found cute... I sometimes simply walk and see the back of a head that attracts me... The color of the hair, the way it gets blown by the wind, the way the sweet skinned hand goes through it, the way she walks, the way her butt looks as she walks in front of me... I just can't resist.

But most of the time, as soon as I see her face... Big disappointment... Not my type (I resisted the temptation of saying plain ugly... oops... I said it... sorry...)... But this morning, when the wind blew her hair a little on one side while I was on the other side, watching her (of course), I could see her sparkling blue eyes and soft pale skin... Wow... She was a beauty... It surprised me because she walked in a weird way... The shape was nice, but the way her leg were landing on the floor with each step was not very gracious, her legs were not very straight, though they had a nice shape, a little skinny, but I like that...

So back to her face, at one point, she turned her head to look in my direction, so I could see it all... Wow, she really was my type... Though, unfortunately, way too young to even dream of talking to her, wouldn't be worth it... I know... Trust me... I know... Anyway, I'm not one that approaches unknown people like that, I'm more the type to watch and then describe here... I know... I'm sick... But I accept it... I am what I am... Ho, and I think she noticed that I was looking at her, and I didn't turn away as we usually do, I just smiled and looked straight in her eyes... She's the one who turned away... Ho well...

But all is not lost... On top of being too long, another very important point quickly changed my opinion about this mystery beauty, as we were about to get out of Place-Ville-Marie (yes, we did some of that stalking inside, it was raining and even snowing this morning), she slowed down (she was actually walking pretty fast all the way, I even had a hard time following her all along, there was some serious traffic in la gare centrale), so I slowed down (of course), and then she aimed for something in her purse... Could have been a gun or cayenne pepper to shoot in my face... But actually, it was even worst than that... She got a pack of cigarette our of there.... OK, I'm gone...

BYE
MAD
P.S.: BTW, on top of the snow this morning and the distinctive smell of a heating system that has not worked since last winter at the office, the most depressive sign that summer is over this morning... They tore apart the two restaurant terraces on each side of our building entrance.... Booohooohooo.... Till next summer...

Post bus ride post...

Salut,

sitting on the couch, I was... But I had to leave to bring my daughter to her religion class (don't ask... please... don't ask...). So I'm now sitting in the back of a big suburban church with my eldest studying verb tenses besides me while the little one is being brain washed... ho well...

I spent the bus ride back home to work on my novel (although my corporate MacBook didn't want to behave and I had to reboot it at one point... tempted to change it back to a real PC, grrrr). I was proof reading the initial chapters that I had already re-written.

I also spent some time in the morning ride to read comments I had received from friends of mine. One of them used to work in a police department and was telling me that some of the things I describe, from the police point of view, never really happen in real life... I guess it is the same as when I read a book (or watch a movie) where computers and or programmers are not really behaving like in real life... Ho well...

One thing I really need to work on though is the language level of my characters dialogs. My first incarnation wasn't very consistent and was too close to written language as opposed to spoken language... I'll try to fix this.

If you are curious to read the new version as I write it, so that you can provide me with comments, feel free to ask and I will more than gladly send you the pages that I have recently worked on...

OK, so if I want to complete it at one point, I might as well get one with it... So I will wish you a good night if you read this tonight (or a good day otherwise) and I might stop by to tell you a few words tomorrow morning... We'll see... Till then... Have fun!

BYE
MAD

80-20, writing or re-writing?

Salut,

OK, MAD decided to give another try to finishing the re-write of his novel and to also finish composing the music to go with it. Time to get my music partner involved and retry our weekly meeting to work on it (we used to invest our Tuesday nights to composing and recording music, this is how a few songs were born or older songs recorded properly, he's good, he's really good, not MAD, Norm of course). I just need to kick myself in the butt, to get that last 20% part of the work done, instead of, as usual, invest my time in the 80% work of a new project.

What motivates this move? Is it because of the comments I got from GG after she read the first incarnation recently? Is it because she kept me awake till the wee hours last night (her place always seems further from mine when I'm coming compare to when I was getting there, go figure :-)? Or is it because I got started again on writing by sharing my twisted thoughts with you on a regular basis? Or is it because another friend told me that I should be working on my novel "instead" of writing a blog (but, don't worry, I'm confident I can do both, it is kind of like going to the gym AND playing OK, both can be done and one can help get better in the other)? Or is because TD told me she would read it but only once it is published? Or is it because of my natural cycle of going from music, to writing, to photography, to film-making and then to music again, writing again, etc... etc... etc...

Whatever reason, I'm now sitting in the bus that is departing from the suburbs parking lot that was completely full this morning and even spilled over to the streets around it so I had to walk a few blocks under a small sparkling rain to get to the bus stop, and I will complete this post in a minute or two, and open the new version of my novel (which I already started rewriting a little while back) and get to work... And have fun doing it... :-)

BYE
MAD
P.S.: No time for links or images this morning, sorry, plain old blog text... Hope you enjoy it anyway...

Dreaming in traffic

Yo...

Sitting in the car.. Typical suburban traffic to cross a bridge. So I pick up my phone... but not to make a call, that's illegal now. With all these SMS I exchanged in the last few years, I'm getting pretty good at typing without looking at my phone.

I had a bad night sleep last night. Weird dreams again... I often dream weirdly... I know... Not surprising... Anyway I much rather dream than suffer stomac pain like my friend TD... Poor kid...

I hope I'll be in good shape tonight... Going for a few beers at l'ile noire with university friends and might do a pit stop in Granby afterward... So I really need to be in good shape, right? :)

On the bridge now... Going at 70 klicks... So I guess I should stop writing...but I can't... I told you... I'm addicted to you...

On the island now... Took about 20 mins to get on and across the bridge... Note too bad...

Hope you're having fun reading this (otherwise, why bother, right?), and I wish you even more fun for the rest of the day, week, month, year, and through the rest of your life... Love ya...

BYE
MAD... Driving downtown now... :)

Sunday morning Latté...

Salut,

Sunday morning... Got up around 10... Though I was woken up by the kids getting up around 7, they were nice enough not to come see me.... Got back to sleep for a few hours...

Did some Laundry... checked on the kids playing Rock Band in the basement... Seem OK... Put on some music... Make myself a Large latté poured some cinnamon on top of the perfect milk foam... took a sip.... Haaaaaaa.... THAT is a Sunday morning... Although... Having someone else to enjoy it would be nice... But that's OK... It will come...

Last night was a lot of fun... We were at my parent's place (they still live in the house where I grew up, they moved there in 1964, when my mom was just about to turn 30... wow). My eldest brother lives in the basement, this is where I spent time fighting with a virus last Sunday and missed my friends show... Last night, I had my revenge... The PC is clean now...

I also got my mom to read the post I wrote about her... She was very happy about it. She also told me why she wasn't using her PC as much, the little nephew keeps on screwing it up... So I fixed this and setup her account so that she can start using it again... We'll see...

Haaaaaa.... Just took another sip of latté... Ho... I think I have some cinnamon flavored milk foam on the tip of my nose... sorry... I'll have to type faster, the kids are getting hungry... They want me to bake them some ham and cheese crêpes. Yeah yeah, let me finish my coffee first (don't worry, they had something to eat when they got up, they're big enough not to die of hunger on their own).

I was listening to the Indie rock CDs I bought at the show last week (The nice Device and Nista), I really like the grooves of The Nice Device, and, of course, my friend Tommi and his girl friend Stina have done a really good job with their latest EP.

So, of course, I tell myself... Why don't I do the same? Maybe I could try out this new Indie Rock style... Pick up my electric guitar and rock it... And then, I get an SMS from GG saying that she just finished reading my novel, loved it and can't wait to talk to me about it... OK, I may stop at her place on my way home tomorrow night... It's just a small 120Km detour... :-)

So, of course, I tell myself... Why don't I finish the rewrite I started a few years ago and get it published... I could also finish the music I started composing to go with it... ho... Did I ever tell that I started writing music to go with my Novel? I want to publish the thing with a CD inserted in the book sleeve... This CD would contain an instrumental song to go with each chapter... and a bonus track with lyrics that would resume the whole thing (Fais-moi rêver, which should be the new title of my Novel... Yeah, it's written in French)...

Which makes me think that the pieces of music that I have completed for a few of the chapters are not really available on the Net... I'll fix that now... Stay with me for a few minutes, I'll be back.... tic tac tic tac (it's 11h20 now)...

OK, it's now 11h56, but I didn't spend all this time getting the songs available. I got disturbed by the kids, the laundry, the door bell and the fact that, for some reason, I couldn't access the link I just created while I was connected through the office VPN... weird... Ho well, now it is done, and you can access it via the following address, for which a link should be added to MultiMAD soon. In there, you have a bonus title track with lyrics that summarizes a little bit the spirit of the Novel (though it wasn't written with this intention, it has been written by the same twisted minded author anyway, the same guy you are reading now actually ;-). Then, you have a few of the chapters instrumental song with the chapter number as a prefix followed by the chapter title... My goal was to capture the essence of the chapter and express it in a musical form... But I will admit that I sometimes cheated and fond some existing music from my past creations and thought that they would fit well (like Préparation which was composed in the '80s and it kind of shows, but I think it is OK :-).

Note that none of this is in its final form (except maybe "Fais-moi rêver" which was worked on a little more). So I guess I will have to go back to work on these in my basement and add a few more for the other chapters... I'll let you know if I make some progress there... Stay tuned...

OK, I guess I should feed my kids now... It is, after all, one of our three main animal characteristics (if you remember me quoting them in a previous post), and I hope my kids will stick to the first two for a little while, they have enough trouble with the second one already... Ho, this reminds me we are receiving my daughter's boyfriend this afternoon... Maybe I should get dressed!!!

BYE
MAD... really... ;0)

Happy B-Day Mom

Salut,

I was born on April 28th, 1966, my mom was 31.5 years old then, and today, she's turning 74. She was the 17th birth in her family, she was born on a 17, and in '34... (I told you I like to play with numbers :-). Yes, 17th birth, and she had a little sister for about 6 months. Only 12 of the 18 kids getting out of my grand-ma actually made it to adulthood. Those were different times...

So I had just turned 11 when my mom was my age, and my eldest just turned 11 (so for the quicker reader, I had my first child at the same age my mom had me, but I was the 4th of 5, all of which reached adulthood, well... maybe... except for me :-).

It's a little hard to imagine our parents at our age, or compare what our kids are going through now to what we went through at their age. A friend of mine was telling me about a recent episode with her teenage son and I told her, we were the same at this age, and she claimed it is not the same... I disagree... it is all the same... Different times, but same people... with only very small differences... Man kind evolves, but not that fast...

So back to mom, or actually, one more thing I was thinking about when I mentioned that our parents used to be our age. You know how I like to watch other people don't you? At one point, I started looking at old women (though not quite the same way I was looking at that cutie in the bus the other day, I'm not 'that' twisted)... Especially the very old women... try to imagine them as the really cute young girl they might once have been... It is not easy... It is almost like only the "not so cute" ones survive long enough to become old ladies... Time can be so hard on our body...
My mom is 74 today, and I have seen pictures of her when she was a young little girl, and then a young adult, and then a young mom, and it proves that my theory is wrong. There are some very cute girls that live long and become old ladies. I know, some of you will think that I shouldn't use the term "old", it is not nice. Well just look it up on Webster, definition 2a... At least I use the term lady(3c), this term could be changed for a much meaner one, but I won't give you any examples, I will let you guess.
Mom's dream, as a little girl, was to have kids. And she had 5: 4 boys and 1 girl. Then she couldn't wait to become a granny, which she did at the age of 59, it started with a little grand-son, and then she had 4 grand-daughters in a row... And then another little girl and the (currently) last one, another boy, to close the loop.

I'm telling you these things about mom as opposed to wishing mom a happy-B-day because I know she won't read this. I bought her a computer a few years ago, and she doesn't really use it, it is mainly my nieces and nephew that use it. Ho well... Different times, different habits, yet, same people :-)

Anyway, the bus is arriving downtown, so I will still wish a very happy birthday to my mom in front of you all, and don't worry, I will call her later on (she's not an early bird, she used to work night shifts when I was a kid). And for those of you wondering why I didn't really talk about her, except for her love of kids and all these numbers about age, it's just because... this is my mom, a grand-mother, always talking about her kids... and age... And I love her very much....

BYE
MAD, the son of Margo!

The creative urge.. part I

Salut,

sitting in the bus again, going back home to pickup the kids early, have a quick dinner and on with the taxi rides for dance and acting classes. "sitting in the bus" seems to be my equivalent to "once upon a time"... Maybe I should change the title of the blog to the MAD bus rides... But Na... MADLY-MAD suites me pretty well I think.

I don't think my MAD inspiration depends on the bus (or the train)... I do get influenced by the weather though... While the bus was still in the garage of the downtown terminus, I had no clue how to start this, and where I would go (actually, I still don't, but I go anyway)...But once the bus got out, and I saw the nice blue sky and sunshine in my face... I started typing... The sun just hid behind a dark cloud now, as if to contradict me...

I almost succumb to the temptation of not writing and reading instead... But I realized a little while back that I'm much more a producer than a consumer (though I'm working on that). When I was a kid, we were thought to give more then receive and I seem to have taken this a little too seriously. If I go see a live band, I would rather be on stage... When I watch a movie, I wonder if I could make a movie like that, or wish I could tell a story like that... Same thing when I read, or take pictures... Some of my friends that are into photography love to browse for other people pictures and learn from it... I guess I'm too lazy, I prefer to just take my own pictures... But I'm working on it...

That might be one of the [many?] reasons why I do so many different things and never really succeeded in any of them. I don't invest enough in learning from others... Even for blogging, again, I write much more than I read... Why do I do that? Why am I that way? Is it in my genes? Is it related to something that happened in my childhood? Or later on? I have no clue...

But I keep my eyes open, looking for hints of why, and how I could fix it. Yet, only when and if I need to fix it. It is not necessarily a problem, but I get the feeling I would be a better producer if I did a little more consuming... Of course, I have to be careful not to fall in the "Copycat" trap (I already suffer from that enough!!!), but there is definitely something to learn from what the others have done. This is one of the great skills that makes us humans as opposed to other animals.

For those who don't believe in anything supernatural (whether you call it God, inspiration, or collective consciousness, or whatever), our brain is just a very fancy computer. When we were born, it had some pre-wiring done based on our genetics, that allows us to scream when we are hungry, and be scared when we are in danger so that more blood get pumped in our muscles, and of course, for males at least, also having blood pumped into a specific muscle when we feel the urge to reproduce (at least, for most males ;-). But that's it. That's about all the human animal needs to survive and reproduce, get fed, flee danger, and have sex.

Yet, there is a little subtlety that was added to our brain pipes that allows us to learn from our experiences and make new links to create bigger pipes in our brain and invent abstract concepts that we can discuss amongst ourselves... Creativity is one of those abstract concepts that might simply be a complex combination of simple reflexes and the more we are exposed to the art of others, the more we feel inspired to create our own. After many generations of humans that have impressed each other with their creations, we got to a point where we have a hard time believing that only a few simple brain pipes could come up with all this, so we convince ourselves that it must come from a supernatural power that inspires us... Maybe... Maybe... I dunno... What do you think?

Arriving to the suburbs parking where my car is patiently waiting for me (good boy), so I will stop here, and let you have fun with this little reflexion of mine...

Till next time...

BYE
MAD

Making the world a better place

So...

in the train again, for the way back home... this will most likely be a short post (as much as I can be short with my 6' 1.5" :-). I need to get some stuff done for my job, which is starting to drag a little too much behind for my own taste... But I feel the wind changing now, I think I'll soon unleash the power of the MAD Googler and solve all the world's problem in a few hundreds lines of code... Yeah right...

Actually, with my previous employer, I once realized that I wasn't really helping humanity by simply writing code... I must be here for a reason... I have special skills (as we all do, I don't think I'm "that" special) and there must be a way for me to put them to good use... All these people that have worked so hard and had such brilliant ideas in the past few millenniums to make the world what it is today... Can I be one of them for the generations to come? I would sure love to...

For a while, I thought that my day job was just a plan B until plan A would get in motion, so that my songs, my stories and/or my movies would be broadcast all around the world to spread the words: "Have Fun!!!"... And the world would be a better place to be, thanks to my participation and the choices that I made in my simple and humble life to help others have a better one.

I describe this in more details in a short philoscientificomic essay that I wrote almost ten years ago (already?)... It is in French though, but I may decide to translate it one day. Let me know if you would like to get the English version when it becomes available. In the conclusion of that text, I come up with three laws to govern the meaning of our lives, similar to the three laws of robotics that Asimov came up with about 50 years ago (yeah, I know, Copycat, Copycat, Copycat... whatever...).

But as I'm getting older, shorter of breath, and one day closer to death, I have less and less faith in my capabilities to change the world with my artistic creations... I actually have more chances of changing the world with my biological creations (and I love every single cell of those two princesses), as they may develop better skills or make better choices than I did and take up the task of making the world a better place for generations to come... That wouldn't be too bad as a backup plan ;-)

But life has such interestingly funny twists... As I started to lose faith in my plan A of an artistic career, my plan B got to be more and more interesting. And I now have the feeling that as a Google employee, I actually have more chances of making the world a better place... I know... Still thin... But still... Much thicker than when I used to work for Avid Technologies...
OK, I'll stop here before I get to say bad things about my ex... employer... of course... I would never say anything bad about my ex-wife... of course... Come on... who does that? Who?... Really?

BYE
MAD... really... :-)
P.S.: On the bridge again, the view... the view.... wow... :-) Sun setting on St-Lawrence river... wow... I would take a picture but the windows are way too dirty... ho well...

Choices

Helllooooo....

Sitting in the train this morning... I chose to take the train because it is a bit more comfortable to work, the landscape around the tracks are more interesting than Champlain bridge and there is always room in the parking lot (as opposed to to the bus terminal where I got a warning last week because I was double parked and they don't seem to like that for some reason). Yesterday, I chose not to talk about the choice most Canadian citizen of a certain age and above had the right to make. I didn't even check what that choice was for the majority, do you know? Or is it a minority again? Anyway... I'm not sure it will make that much a difference... Ho well... At least that's how I see it, and I at least have the right to have an opinion...

But those are not the choices I want to talk about this morning... Almost a week ago, I made the choice to try and see if I could talk to you on a regular basis (so far so good, a little more than a post a day on average). In my French blog (MADeries), I talk about the usage of our time, and I describe it as the only actual choice we make (if you can't read French, try out the little translation gadget on the side, you might not understand it much more than French, but you could get a good laugh :-0).

A friend of mine was telling me yesterday that instead of investing my precious time in writing a blog, I should complete the edits I started doing to my novel after the publisher rejection (4-5 years ago already :-O), and finally get it published. I could also start doing short films for Kino again, make more photography or go back to music (I have been offered the bass player position in the "Turn it on again" Genesis tribute lately, and I turned it down, not enough time).It is true that those other interests of mine are a little harder to do on a train or bus ride. But writing... Whether it is this blog, short stories, short film or my novel... Yeah, I have the choice...

Ho, and work... Yeah, I shouldn't forget work... I told you about that a few posts ago... I have the luxury of having a job that I can take with me almost anywhere (as long as the MacBook battery last long enough and that I have access to Wifi once in a while)... I actually got a little behind my usual productivity lately because of some choices I made... So now, I will choose to stop babling here, save the text and get working... We are about half way between my train stop and the downtown terminus, so this should be fair (I'm addicted to fairness, did you know that?)...

So I hope you have a very good day, night or whatever moment you choose to read this stuff I push through the keyboard... And I wish you will make the right choices, today, tomorrow and for the rest of your life... We are allowed to make the wrong choices once in a while, but we must learn from it and move on (OK, there might be some fixing, cleaning up and appologies needed too, but that's another story, maybe ina future post?)... There is one choice I made a long time ago that I have been trying to share with as many people as I can, and I take every opportunity I have to remind the people around me about it... Choose to HAVE FUN!!!!

Ho, we are crossing the train bridge besides Mercier bridge, it is always an interesting sight when the sun is shining. This morning is a little shady, but there is enough sunligth reflected on the river below the bridge to make me stop writing...

BYE
MAD

MAD Rides again

Salut,

not in the bus yet... Just got back from voting. I guess many Canadian bloggers will talk about that this morning... So I won't...

I'm sitting on a bench at the bus terminal. The sky is almost completely blue, except for a few small clouds at the limits of the horizon. The sun is bright and shiny, right in my face (I love that), with strong side wind that is exceptionally warm for this time of year. Life is good...So why talk about politics (oops... I just said the P word sorry)... Let's talk about a 4 letter word instead... LOVE... Na... I already did that a few posts ago (though we shouldn't get tired of talking about LOVE, right?)... I could also tell you about what I did yesterday, like starting the translation of http://multimad.com in English, but some people might see this as a political statement (ha, darn, that word again, I said I wouldn't talk about it)...


OK, let's go back to LOVE then... Some people say that voting is one of the few rights (if not the only one that) we have. But we also all have the right to love... Of course, some of us don't have the luxury of currently being IN love, but we can still LOVE... Yes, I know, the idea is to be loved in return of our love, and there is nothing said anywhere about the right to BE loved... Don't get me wrong, we all deserve it (at least most of us) but we can't really say that it is a right... But we do have the right to love, and we don't have to.... Ho... Bus is arriving, I'll get in and continue... Nope, false alarm... This wasn't our bus... Though there is only one bus line that comes to this terminal, this bus was lost or something... But it wasn't for us... Ho well..

What was I saying again? Ho yes, the right to love... Of course, as Peter Gabriel sings it so well, we all "Love to be loved" and "Need to be needed"... I love my kids and they love me back (some people will change the word kids for dogs, cats or reptile, almost the same, at least for them ;-)... Zillions of song writers have claimed that love is the best thing ever, All you need is love, if we believe John Lennon. Can you imagine that? One of my favorite movies is Moulin Rouge, and there is a very interesting meddley of contemporary music about love at one point.

Even when we.... Ho another bus... Must be the right one now... Yep, sitting in the bus now... So, even when we don't have the chance of being in a steady relationship, we can still feel lucky (Yeah, I know, I'm starting to repeat myself, I talked about that yesterday, but bare with me, I think this is important). Whether the sun is shining, or rain is pouring, whether we are surrounded by friends and loved ones or sitting alone somewhere dark and humid, whether we lost all our money in the sub-prime credit market or we were wise enough to keep it in an old stinky sock under our mattress, we still have the right to love...

Some people choose not to love. It is in their own right to. Like those who decide not to vote (oops, sorry). That's the beauty of a right, it is up to you... You also have the right to remain silent (which is something I have a very hard time with :-). It is up to YOU!!! So what will you vote for today? To Love or not to Love... THAT is the question... I made my choice... Have you made yours? Why don't you tell me about it? Let the whole world know about it... The more we know about others who love, the more we will be tempted to do the same. Spread the love, tell the people around you how much you love them... Imagine... All the people... Living in harmony.... Wow!

Well... Before I go (the bus is getting close to the down town terminus now), let me tell you one more thing... I love you... And never ever forget about it...

BYE
MAD... having lots of fun... Aren't you?

Whatever weather, thanks for all the fish!

Yo,
sitting alone in my living room... Alone with a nice latté, an orange, a few strawberries and one of The Nice Device's CDs playing. I'm feeling really lucky these days. Maybe it is the freedom of an exceptional 3 week-ends in a row without my kids? Don't get me wrong, I love my kids, but I'm not the kind who will miss them a lot when their not there (and, anyway, I still see them at least two days a week, every week, and now they will be with me for the next 3 week-ends, it always adds up).

3 week-ends ago was my first encounter with GG in the real world in almost 20 years... I also had a very entertaining dinner with SP and TC, whom I had not seen in more than 20 years too (though we have been in close virtual contact for almost 6 months now)... And on that Sunday, I went to see the Delerium concert which was simply amazing... It got me eye watered at one point, and I'm not a very emotional guy (but I'm working on it)...

2 week-ends ago, I had two 40th birthday party and one of them was for a musician friend of mine who put out a very good show and I got to meet a musician I played with in 80's and I had not seen him since (so "another not seen in about 20 years" reunion, wow). And of, course, I spent some good time with GG that week-end (who was the other one with 40th birthday party, this one was actually a surprise, though she was kind of expecting it).

And this week-end, nice dinner and movie with GG as I told you about on Saturday. We then had a very nice dinner at my place Saturday (which reminds me, I still need to clean the mess we made in the Kitchen... Hey, I wasn't here for most of the day, yesterday, so please, give me a break, OK?). And last night... Wow... What a night... I had a LOT of FUN (and you probably guessed by now how important it is for me to HAVE FUN :-), and I met very interesting people.

So, whatever the weather today, I will be thankful for the wonderful life I have the luxury to live. I'm actually glad that it is not nice outside, I will feel less guilty for staying inside and let my fingers crawl the keyboard for a good part of the day (yeah, yeah, I will also cleanup my kitchen and maybe do some laundry). I hope to spend some time getting mutlimad in better shape, and maybe have an English versions for you guys Frenchly-Challenged :-). We'll see where my fingers lead me to...

So long!...

and... of course... Have fun!...

BYE
MAD - 42!