Yes, I know I have glitter on my face.

Current mood: exhausted i am exhausted. that said, this is amaying, fantastic, the MOST FUN EVER!!! weäre in leipzig now, have been for two days, Spain played a game here and won, so the spaniards were partzing hard from the afternoon, then germanz had a game on TV tonight that the whole citz watched. thez won, so much, much partzing in the streets until--well, i donät know until when, because i am too tired and am going to bed now. tomorrow, maybe frankfurt. not sure. or where the brits are playing. we are totally in love with the aussies. i am a magnet here, all the men want to talk to me. even spoke portuguese to an angolan man in the street tonight. everyone asks if i am spanish, which i so do not look spanish. the men completely ignore jason and just start talking to me, one even sat on my lap for a picture, another tried to dance with me. very, very strange stuff going on over here. i could get used to it. now, shower and to the bed.

Current mood: awake "Alisa, estas sudando como un pollito", so says my friend Maria, "Alisa, you´re sweating like a little chicken." Not quite sure how little chickens sweat, I do agree that I am a sweat factory. In fact, if sweat were a valuable commodity, I´d be rich rich rich in this 18,000 degree weather. I´m sleeping close to 12 hours a day and sweating 24. Although right now, there is no sleep happening. Hence the blog during the wee hours. I was sent to bed at 2am, but even after having listened to the entirety of Acid Guitar, I was still sweating and not sleeping. What. The. Hell. We´re leaving Sevilla tomorrow for Brussels and parts German. No idea yet where we´re sleeping tomorrow, or even what country we´re sleeping in. Details... Jason has this idea that we´re going to catch a night train to Berlin. Don´t know why Berlin, since we don´t have to be there until Tuesday and he wants to watch the Japanese play somewhere else on Monday, but whate...

Current mood: refreshed Yesterday´s food-- We had the most disgusting lunch I can remember EVER. It was some OK paella with chunks of pork and scallops, followed by fried fish (some white kind that´s not very big) and a bunch of bigger-than-sardines but not that big fish, with a salad. The white fish was disgusting, horrible, worse than chicken!!!!! The waiter was awful also, practically threw the menus at us, then demanded to know what we were going to eat. When we asked for the check, he scowled $14, like duh idiots, you saw the price on the menu. We threw the money on the table and ran. Then I remembered why I rarely eat out in Sevilla. The restaurant food is not that great. So for dinner, Paz took us to this neighborhood seafood restaurant. It´s the only place I´ve ever been with her, so I think it may be the only place she goes to. Amazing. First were boiled, salted shrimp, so perfect you could compose an opera just singing their praises. Then, crab legs and crab...

Current mood: hot Scorpio: Today will be another breezy day -- fresh air will be blowing in from every direction, and it will give you peace while still piquing your curiosity. This is perfect timing, since right now new ideas, new people and even a few new adventures will start pouring into your life. Investigate everything you can! If you gravitate toward less-conventional people and places, you'll have a ball trying to figure them out. Ask leading questions, and keep your ears wide open for hidden meaning. Looking forward to that breeze--it´s a million degrees here in Sevilla and I´m sweating so much I don´t marion, even though I drink ALL the water. I am having the most fun EVER. It´s so nice to be here with my family, and having Jason here is a great bonus. I love finally merging two parts of my life together, even as it´s a little surreal. Like Paula speaking English and driving. Wow. When I met her she was 13, now she´s 21. And Maria, well, no surprise there. She´...

Current mood: content I´m in Sevilla, at the house. Finally. Let me tell you a little story-- My flights were perfect. Even the LA to London flight sitting next to the beautiful Indian woman in the gorgeous sari--who had such bad BO I thought I was in Africa again. I got to London, and since my bag was checked through from SD to Sevilla (very unusual and I was a little suspicious), I went straight to the Iberia counter to check in for my flight to Sevilla. The girl told me that I was very late for the flight that was leaving in 5 minutes. She called and told them to hold my bag and for me to run and try to catch it. They wouldn´t wait for me, but maybe I´d have a chance to get on. And if I got on, then my bag would to. No Alisa, no bag. Right. Alisa in Sevilla, no bag in Sevilla. Of course. No problem, since I always bring clean underwear, my eyes and toothbrush in my carry-on. No one was at the airport to get me, no big surprise there. So I thought I´d just change some...

Current mood: enthralled I guess this is what the whole Taking Over the World plan is all about. Ana, Angel, Rich and I met Julia and The Boy (Chris) at the Roxy in Hollywood last night to watch the best band in the world spin a little of their magical web. When Rafa plays his guitar, he looks like he's transported, almost autistic in his brilliance. He has this sweet angel face, and a humble demeanor, then he starts to play and pulls you into the wild vortex of sound that he creates. Rafael Moreira is amazing, and he said that I'm amazing! He is always so sweet, like he's flattered that I think he's worth driving from San Diego for, while I'm flattered that he's so nice to me when there must be tons of people who are so impressed with him. And then of course, there's the Brazilian factor: The way he looks in my eyes like I'm the most fascinating person he's ever talked to. Wow, I sound like the biggest 12 year old groupie. I'm gushing....

Current mood: bored I suspect I'm a bit of a hedonist. I gave up donuts for Lent, not because I eat so many donuts, but because I rarely deny myself anything. It's actually been a struggle this Lenten season to stick with my sacrifice. That's good; that's the point. The other point is, I rarely deny myself anything. I am happy with my life, with what I have, lucky to have amazing friends and family who love me, and I do exactly what makes me happy: art, travel, watch soccer games at Spanish restaurants with delicious sangria and tapas...

Current mood: exanimate I am tired of being irritated all the time. I quit smoking one year, one month and eleven days ago. Since quitting, I have gained weight, can't breathe, don't exercise and am cranky, really, really cranky. Moody, mean and anti-social are other other words to describe me. All the time. I'm thinking of quitting quitting. I spent the weekend in Palm Desert with my sister, her roommate, and our cousin. I thought we had a great time; my sister said I was mean to her for no reason. She demands, I snap. We had a huge fight via Mom, text messages and a family conference call. We agreed to stop torturing each other and not hang out. I cried for 24 hours. My eyes were so puffy for two days that I couldn't wear makeup. It doesn't seem like not smoking has been good for me. To smoke or not to smoke? Last time I quit I went crazy. This time I've been less crazy, but I'm not happy. Not. At. All. So Mom suggested I try Nicotine Anonym...

Current mood: hopeful I dreamed that I was traveling to another country with some of my cousins. I thought it was Africa, but I don't remember any black people, so maybe it was Mexico. We were visiting old friends of the family. There was a big bonfire at night in the yard. A guy said my name like a question, like he couldn't believe it, "Alisa?". I turned around and there was a tall, dark, handsome guy in a cowboy hat and sheepskin jacket, watching me through the darkness with the light of the flames dancing on his face. He hugged me and said that he had been waiting for me since we were little kids. It was a total soulmate moment. I didn't think I had one in this lifetime. So I'm thinking that I've been doing it wrong all this time. Instead of trying to find the guy I've been looking for all my life (it's not Angel, because I'm not the guy he's been looking for), I'll wait for the guy who's been looking for me all his l...

Current mood: thirsty I took this picture when I was in Africa. We were in this horrific hailstorm--who knew there were hailstorms in Africa!!!--it was pouring rain and we didn't have a place to stay so that we could catch the bus to Vic Falls at 6:30 am at the "Shell station in Divundu". How random was that? Mary and I were willing to just sleep at the gas station, but David insisted that we sleep in beds...whatever. So I was bored in the deserted lobby of this amazing lodge that I didn't get to stay at, and I was soaking wet, and I just started taking pictures of whatever and part of whatever was my cleavage, so here I am. [I exported this blog from a different account and need to re-link the picture.]

January 13, 2006 - Friday Suevester Current mood: crushed Category: Life I went to my friend Sue's husband's funeral today. He was 32 and he died of a heart attack on their 11th wedding anniversary. That is not supposed to happen. It's true that grief is for the living. I really believe that when you die, you go to heaven for eternity. It's good. It sucks for the people you leave behind. Rich's funeral was heartbreaking. Of course. Sue wore her red suit and red lipstick because she was trying to be brave. She was so gracious and grateful and all of the things that make me proud to be the president of her fanclub. She is something else. The whole church was packed. The cops were on one side, civilians on the other. They walked the casket in and she walked right behind it with her little hand on it. Stupid bagpipes. It was the full-on fancy funeral Mass, tons of up and down and kneeling. It sucks to be Catholic at Catholic funeral sometimes, because t...

January 8, 2006 - Sunday Heart art Current mood: annoyed Category: Art and Photography When I was working on the Dia de los Muertos art show, I was making a ton of sacred hearts (corazones sagrados). Now that I'm working on the Heart to Heart show, nothing. I hate hearts. I hate cheesecloth hardened by gesso that we learned how to do in San Miguel de Allende from that Austrian artist, Ingalora. I can't paint. I just like to make collages. Simple paper stuck to more paper and maybe some charms or something stuck to it too. Now I'm cutting hearts and flames out of tin and forming hearts out of cheesecloth and plaster and painting it all. Boxes. Whose idea was it to paint tiny wooden boxes with all of their corners and crevices??? Waaahhhhh...... But are you coming to the show? January 28th, 5-8 pm at The Next Door Gallery on Beech in South Park. There are some real artists whose stuff will be exhibited. Ann's stuff too. She won't be there because she...