GWB at border

GWB-at-border
Originally uploaded by Chris Lloyd.

A shot of the president overseeing the business of screening visitors to the US

Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 12:13:19 -0400 (EDT)
From: "chris lloyd"   Add to Address Book
Subject: Olympic medallists Despatie, Hartley, Shewfelt welcomed home as heroes, Le groupe de travail sur les frais exigés aux parents poursuivra son travail
To: "paul martin"
CC: chrislloyd@videotron.ca

Dear Paul,

Well, we made it: … to New York in just under 24
hours. We helped the artists pack the truck yesterday
morning and rode with Dominique until Quebec City,
where we caught the bus. A quick break and supper in
Montréal where we re-connected with Mitch and Annette,
who had caught the bus after us. And then we were on a
bus again, heading into the darkness and rain. The
border check went surprisingly smooth, even though I
had been preparing for the worst. Reading Naomi
Klein's take on the economic reason d'etre for the war
and restoration in Iraq had set my anger and paranoia
to new heights. To what extent are you aware of the
constitutional changes Paul Bremner et co. made in
Iraq? The ongoing attempt at complete privatization of
the entire country, reducing corporate income taxes to
15%, allowing 100% foreign ownership, signing 40-year
leases, no provisions for the public interest, firing
500,000 civil servants, disallowing trade unions… the
list goes on and on. No wonder they have a bloody
revolt on their hands. And the US media continue to
call the resistors (to foreign occupation, to the
forced takeover of their country) "terrorists"? Seems
to me the US admin. are terrorizing a heck of a lot of
the Iraq people. Anyway, I'm sure you know all this.

We made it to Andrea's place by 8am this morning; it
is a super-cute cottage in the courtyard of an
apartment building, very isolated, very cozy. We had a
nap (I didn't sleep well on the bus), and now the sun
has come out and it is hot again and we are itching to
explore. Maybe we'll see what the GOP demonstrators
are up to.

-chris

_____________________________________________________
Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca

Marie-France's glasses

Frances-glasses
Originally uploaded by Chris Lloyd.

Almost all the drinking glasses in the house are hand-painted. These one's have butterflies or some other winged creature, but what caught my eye is the strict attention paid to the signing of each glass. Now that takes a steady hand!

Marie-France's painting

Frances-painting
Originally uploaded by Chris Lloyd.

The house where the girls are staying has lots and lots of paintings up on the walls; Marie-France is quite prolific. Most are quite bad, but I really do like this one. Something about the wonkiness of the barn and houses, the big patch of grass in the foreground, and the adorable sheep with odd faces; just white dots on black grounds.

Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 14:09:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: "chris lloyd" chrislloyd6627@yahoo.ca>  
Subject: PQ refines referendum strategy, moves away from referendum-election proposal, PQ: Les délégués rejettent une proposition réclamant la démission du chef
To: "paul martin"
CC: chrislloyd@videotron.ca

Dear Paul,

Spent much of Saturday morning cleaning the apartment. The cats love the new blue carpet, and roll on it repeatedly, and leave lots of white and grey hair all over it. It’s the same with my new bedspread. Do you have any tips on how I can keep the hair off, or do I just have to rely on The Fantastic Brush? So I swept, cleaned, scrubbed, vacuumed and packed for NYC, then cycled to Discount to pick up the truck. Daniel had arranged everything and the pickup was smooth. I stopped for bagels, smoked salmon and scotch (for the supper), and then, finally, dropped Courtney and Sarah’s suitcases off at the bus station. They had been in my closet for over a month! I kept forgetting that I had them. There was a lineup at the station that ended up putting me close to an hour behind schedule. I found the first couple hours to Quebec to
be the hardest, as I was quite drowsy. Must have been the heat.

Had a scare when I arrived in B-S-P. Claudine met me at the back of the arena, where I was leaving the truck, and I thought we had misplaced the bottle of scotch. We drove back and it was nowhere to be seen;
I was having visions of the youth of B-S-P stumbling across my bottle of Bowmores and having a wild night at my expense. Luckily it was under the passenger seat. It takes a good woman to find these things; I had practically given up and was starting to think about kicking something. Do you have many female advisors? Maybe, just maybe, the world wouldn't be such a F**ed up place if more women were in charge. Just saying!

The party at Le Maison d’Artists was fun; lots of food, some elaborate dishes, lots to drink. Spoke to M. Simard for a bit. Started a fire in the backyard but we didn’t stay long. I think it was surprising for many people that we left so early, but we hadn’t seen each other in a month, so what can you do? We’d set a tent up in the backyard but it was a bit on the chilly side, so we had me more scotch and smoked a bit and hit the sack. Do you have a favourite scotch?

Today I have to make some paintings. Peter B. called me yesterday and is going to be in Montréal this week and wants to meet with me, see what I’ve been working on. I only have 2 of the frottage paintings at home (and they aren’t that good), so I want to do a few more. Unfortunately, it is raining at the moment, so the frottage won’t work. It’s OK if the ground is a bit wet, but rain will cause the paint to dilute and bleed. Mona (the curator of the Symposium this year) is giving a tour at 3pm that I would like to hear. After that, who knows, maybe a hike in the woods. If it is still raining we'll go for a drive and then just watch a movie.

Do you remember me telling you about the paintings and painted glasses at the house where the girls are staying? Well, here are is a picture of my favourite painting by France, as well as some of her glasses. I quite like the composition of the painting, and adore the little faces on the sheep. The glasses are quite accomplished, as well.

-chris
__________________________________
Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca

madman8x11

madman8x11
Originally uploaded by Chris Lloyd.

From: chris lloyd
Date: Fri Aug 27, 2004 11:53:35 PM America/Montreal
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject: Ottawa has money for national drug program, provincial finance ministers say, Bernard Landry confirme qu'il reste à la tête du Parti québécois

Dear Paul,

Sorry i didn't write last night. I was tired. But now the "work week" is finished and with it, the tiredness. I'm quite excited about the NYC trip. There seem to be lots of convention-related activities going on throughout the city. And Saturday night is the final supper with the artists in B-S-P, which should be fun.

Today I suffered through a series of minor mishaps while installing drywall (maybe i have a latent case of dyslexia? I kept making cuts on the wrong side of the sheets), but eventually everything worked out and Mike and I were quite productive. I haven't really been learning much french from him; the odd word or two, but his tenses seem as bad as mine.

After work Mohanad, Tom and Allen went out for some beer, and we ended up drinking for five hours straight. Not a good scene, but pas mal. It is interesting, to say the least, to become fully absorbed in the worker lifestyle. But I long for more, and then wonder if that is selfish. Is a BFA really a Bachelor of Fuck-All? I seem to be in a rut, and can't make decisions on my next phase of artwork. Maybe you could hire me as an artist-in-residence? Parliament Hill could probably use one. I'd hang out in the visitor's gallery, making notes for artworks of some sort. Bizarre installations involving Kraft Dinner, whipped cream and gravy, mixed with drywall plaster and insulation. Could be interesting. How about official portraiture? I could use the practice, it is always better to draw and paint from real life. Surely you could schedule in some sittings? Do you want to see some slides?

The weather has been odd, it rained hard early this morning but was sunny in the afternoon, later it became cloudy and really, really humid. I'd going to have a shower. Tomorrow I have packing to do, and apartment cleaning, then driving the big truck to B-S-P.

-chris

NYC, here we come!

2004GOPconventionlogo
Originally uploaded by Chris Lloyd.

From: chris lloyd
Date: Thu Aug 26, 2004 7:17:38 AM America/Montreal
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject: Horrified onlookers watch police shoot hostage-taker in downtown Toronto, un preneur d'otage est abattu par la police en pleine heure de pointe

Dear Paul,

The job is slowly getting to me; too repetitive, too dull. Measure, cut, drag drywall up stairs, install, repeat. All day long, and as I wait for the end of the week to arrive it seems as though the days are lasting longer. Worked on my grant stuff, art stuff for a bit last night, then helped Sarah R. tape off more stripes in her room and had supper, then actually went to bed early, before midnight, before eleven! My body is feeling exhausted. But only two more to go and then the week is over and then it's the weekend. I'm driving the 16-foot truck back to B-St-P to collect some of the artist's stuff, and to meet up with Claudine before our trip to NYC. Hey, we're going to be there during the Republican Presidential Nomination, got any tips? The convention is one of a series of historic quadrennial meetings of the Republican Party with a primary focus on officially nominating a candidate for President of the United States and adopting a party platform. Attendance includes 2,509 delegates and 2,344 alternate delegates from every state of the Union inluding the nation's territories and overseas dependencies. The convention marks the formal end of the active primary election season, although the primaries were essentially uncontested; there was no challenge to the incumbent, George W. Bush.

The theme of the convention is "Fulfilling America's Promise by Building a Safer World and a More Hopeful America." What kind of a long-winded title is that? Perhaps it should read "Fulfilling America's Manifest Destiny by Bombing the World into Hapless Subservience."

The Department of Homeland Security officially declared the 2004 Republican National Convention a National Special Security Event. As a National Special Security Event, the United States Secret Service is charged with employing and coordinating all federal and local agencies including the various bureaus of the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation and New York Police Department to secure the venue from terrorist attacks. Expected security expenditures will reach USD $50 million, half of which is funded by the federal government.

The city will employ an active beat of 10,000 police officers deployed as Hercules teams — uniformed in full riot gear and body armor. While Boston police officers wielded batons and body shields for the Democratic convention, Hercules teams will be equipped with machine guns! Commuter and Amtrak trains entering and exiting Penn Station will be scoured by bomb-sniffing(?) dogs as uniformed police officers will be attached to buses carrying delegates. So arriving in NYC next week should be loads of fun!

-chris

From: chris lloyd
Date: Wed Aug 25, 2004 7:16:15 AM America/Montreal
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject: Stephen Harper addresses Conservative senators in before Parliament resumes, L'ADQ dit ne pas faire de récupération politique avec les dossiers chauds du moment

Dear Paul,

The change in weather is definitely affecting my mood. It took a few days to notice, but I think that there is a link between the smell of autumn in the air in the mornings, the fact that I have to wear long sleeves while cycling to work, and a mild feeling of depression that has been lurking about me. As these seasonal changes commence I always think more about directions, where I'm going in life, etc. etc. You know how it goes.

I hosted a small dinner party last night, Jen and Nick and Sarah R. and Mohanad, Jara and Safi all came over and we had squash soup that Sarah had made and lots of breads and dips and tahbouli (sp?). It wasn't a very late night but I was exhausted by the end of it anyway. All the last-minute vacuuming and cleaning beforehand did me in. Do you stress out and run around the house like a madman before guests come over?

-chris

the-scream

the-scream
Originally uploaded by Chris Lloyd.

From: chris lloyd
Date: Tue Aug 24, 2004 7:14:21 AM America/Montreal
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject: Layton says PM understands he will get needled over missile defence, Paul Martin recontre Stephen Harper et Jack Layton au 24 Sussex

Dear Paul,

Met up with Dan and Lisa for drinks after work last night. I don't know exactly what it is, but Dan's stories always manage to bring out the most psychotic rants in me. Discussing politics, George W. Bush, slumlords, and all sorts of injustices really gets me going. I was almost gleeful to hear about the stolen Edvard Munch painting, The Scream. Stolen in an armed robbery! And the museum visitors thought that they were being attacked by - you guessed it - Terrorists! Terrorists? In Oslo? Let me guess: the museum was full of scared witless American tourists. Either that or there is a new clause governing all news stories involving violence of any sort: terrorists must be mentioned! It's a good thing that the robbers took such a famous painting; the museum could just tack up a full-size colour reproduction in its place. They must have hundreds of them in the gift shop!

-chris

From: chris lloyd
Date: Mon Aug 23, 2004 7:08:40 AM America/Montreal
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject: Shewfelt's shining moment: Calgary gymnast gives Canadians reason to cheer, Le bouclier antimissile dominera les débats du caucus libéral

Dear Paul,

Had a nice, relaxing Sunday. Mohanad and I had early morning coffee in the sun, sitting on a bus stop bench discussing life and relationships. Biked to the Jean Talon Market and stocked up on fruit and veggies for the week. Washed a couple loads of laundry at S&M and sat in the sun some more, writing and reading. Made supper there and watched some of the Olympic coverage with Sarah. The coverage certainly changed depending on which station you are watching. Came home and tried to watch Huudsucker en francais, but I was too tired.

Now it's back to work, more drywall and insulation and framing.

Hey, have you seen the "This land is your land" animation? You can find it at atom films. Enjoy.

-chris

From: chris lloyd
Date: Sat Aug 21, 2004 8:36:12 PM America/Montreal
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject: Friends, family, curious turn out for funeral for reputed Montreal Mob boss, Regina: le père de la fillette portée disparue est de nouveau arrêté

Dear Paul,

Sorry I didn't write yesterday. The early mornings and days of construction have been taking their toll. I guess staying out late might have something to do with it. Thursday night Dan and Lisa arrived and we went to Vices & Versa, drank strong beer and gossiped about Halifax and the Khyber. It almost made me fly into a rage, the way HRM is putting the screws to the Khyber with back-tax bullshit and how Victor Syperek wants to run for mayor and turn the city into a great big inflated Show Shop. Last night we went to the Khyber Pass for supper (and swore not to speak of the Khyber), and then had drinks at Else's. Mohanad stayed over at my place and locked the dead-bolt on the back door so myself and the cats couldn't get in. I took them on a walk around the block so we could go in the front; it was the cutest thing, watch Kuan run after me. She's like a miniature wooly mammoth. Yagga whined and cried the whole way around, he gets freaked out easily. This morning I slept in and then Mohanad and I went for breakfast at el Coyote, then walked down St. Hubert. The streets are blocked off in a huge display of shopping excess; the throngs of people started getting to us, so we bought underwear on sale and headed home. I worked on grant and exhibition proposals while Mohanad watched Hudsucker Proxy, our new unofficial favourite movie of the week. I'm going to try watching it tomorrow in french. Hey, did I tell you I signed up for an intensive french class for the fall? 4 hours per class, 4 classes per week for 2 months. Hopefully it will help. The practice with Mike at work is good, but he seems to use the present tense exclusively. I need more immersion! Anyway, I need to have a shower and clean the stink off me, then check on bus schedules; we're going out to a house party at friends of Sarah R. and Nick and Jen.

-chris

From: chris lloyd
Date: Wed Aug 18, 2004 9:39:42 PM America/Montreal
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject: Romanow urges Martin, premiers to stop bickering, find a plan to save medicare, Jean Charest affirme que son gouvernement poursuit un ménage

Dear Paul,

Work has been going well. It finally seems as though we are on track and making progress. The past few days there has been a lot of running around in circles (not literally—I'll be sure to let you know if and when that happens. Given my past work experience, it is almost inevitable). Yesterday Steve dropped off wet and moldy 1x3s for the ceilings. The owner of the house was around all afternoon and caught a whiff of the wood—it was hard to miss, actually—and vetoed it, bringing the work to a halt and actually reversing what we had been working on, which was leveling the ceilings. Luckily she mentioned that she would prefer to have steel studs for the ceiling, as they are lighter and straighter and easier to work with. But today I was also working again with insulation. Despite the mask and hat and long sleeves the fibres get everywhere, and catch in the throat, creating a nasty cough. And nasty phlegm.

Working with this crew is very odd. A couple of the guys, Simon and Allan, are over fifty. It sometimes seems to me that Mohanad and I could very well end up like them; in certain topics of conversation (i.e. girls, bodily functions) they are eerily familiar; it is like listening to a tape recording of myself. In other areas, like language and politics, there is a bit more of a gap. I guess some things are more universal and last longer.

I saw Karina off to the bus station yesterday. We had a nice visit, very calming, actually, and fun. And i finished the copying and transporting of Claudine's thesis and dropped it off today, fifteen minutes before the deadline. The girl at the office had a bit of fun at my expense, convincing me that I was actually fifteen minutes late and that she wouldn't accept it; I had visions of fleeing the country, seriously. Hell may hath no fury as a woman scorned, but I think that screwing up a woman's thesis after years of work could potentially be worse.

Now it's back to apartment cleaning, in preparation for the next guests; Dan and Lisa arrive tomorrow night. I quite enjoy playing host.

-chris

From: chris lloyd
Date: Mon Aug 16, 2004 9:16:31 PM America/Montreal
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject: Dosanjh still nixing pharmacare, but premiers plan meeting to refine proposal, Pas question d'un régime d'assurance-médicaments, répète le ministre Dosanjh

Dear Paul,

Monday really felt like Monday at work. Both Mohanad and I were a bit sluggish. I didn't have any coffee today, maybe that had something to do with it. The four hours spent wandering around IKEA on Sunday with about a million other people might have added to my fatigue. The Swedish meatballs I ordered at the IKEA cafeteria didn't really hit the spot, either.

Today at work I spent half the day making moot what I did on Friday by removing all the ceiling slats that I had previously cleaned of nails. We had planned to re-use them, but they weren't level enough. Not up to snuff. Spent the other half of the day lugging 90 sheets of 9-foot gyprock into the house, because our boss is too cheap to rent a boom truck. Got to spend some time talking with Mike, the Romanian guy who only speaks Romanian and a little french; he's more advanced than I, but not by leaps and bounds, so it could be good practice.

Worked on Claudine's thesis tonight; actually, all I am doing is adding page numbers and some very basic formatting and sending it to the printer. To say I worked on it almost belittles the massive amount of work she put into it. I don't think if I added up all the academic papers I wrote over a 5-year period they would amount to what her thesis does. I'm very impressed.

I'm about to head out to meet Karina and grab a bite to eat. She's been downtown for the past few hours. It has been an odd, interesting and yet pleasant visit; there hasn't been as much tension as I was fearing, and we are getting along well. We've agreed to refer to one another as brother and sister when we are out, and had the opportunity to put it into practice on Saturday night at Blizzarts. We ran into Andrew Fraser, a familiar face for me from Halifax, and the Khyber, circa 2001. We couldn't tell if he knew we were pulling his leg or not, but it doesn't really matter. If he knew, he didn't let on.

I spoke to my friend Andrea in NYC tonight. I got her current numbers from her mom. Isn't that an amazing function of moms, that they are always so on the ball when it comes to contacts? Anyway, Andrea is doing really well and offered us her place when we come to visit in September; she needs a cat sitter. It was nice to talk to her, it has been awhile. We both seem to be in calmer states now, than the past few times. Both savouring love and lovely times, it seems.

-chris

From: chris lloyd
Date: Sun Aug 15, 2004 12:10:05 PM America/Montreal
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject:  Sister of man who died in Vancouver police custody slams chief, selon Bernard Landry, les membres du PQ doivent se prononcer sur son avenir


Dear Paul,

Mohanad and I are batting around some good ideas on how to end the letter-writing project. Would you be interested in taking part in a live, on-line chat room sometime? I'll let you know when it will happen. We'll have a real-time chat for a half hour or so.

It was another late night. The crew came over, Melissa, Sarah R., Mohanad and Jolina and we had some drinks and then went to Blizzarts for some dancin'. Made barbeque earlier in the evening, and spent most of the day wandering down St. Laurent with Karina. She bought some stuff; I looked at stuff.

So now we're on our way out to IKEA, the one on Cavendish this time. It'll take close to two hours by metro/bus. I've blown my IKEA budget for the year, but Karina is still looking for a couch and wants to actually sit on some of the models before ordering online.

-chris

From: chris lloyd
Date: Fri Aug 13, 2004 6:39:23 PM America/Montreal
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject: Starlight, star bright, last year's blackout proved importance of the night, Le Bloc réclame une enquête de la vérificatrice générale sur Postes Canada

Dear Paul,

Sorry I didn't write yesterday. It was a full day. Sarah and I finished watching Elephant in the morning. What a film. Amazing. Stunning. What took me so long to see it? Close to a masterpiece, really. The texture, the cinematography, the story, the sound, almost perfect filmmaking. Later on I finished the stripes at Sarah's place; the room looks hot, a big band of super-bright red horizontal around the room, accompanied by two different shades of hot pink. And after that I made some supper and planned to go to the ballet at Parc Lafontaine, but it was raining, and we decided to stay at S & M and drink. Jen and Nick/Tim came over, they are a hilarious couple, the conversation centered on early masturbation stories, quite fascinating stuff, actually. I was up a bit too late, and then up way to early to meet my next houseguest at the bus station: karina, my ex of twelve years. Should be an interesting weekend. We had time for breakfast and then I was off to work; the mythical Steve is real, and he called yesterday and I have a new job, which is excellent, as I am bleeding money. So I put off my interview with the Adult Film Industry until another future desperate time. And work today was fun, though all I really did was pull out nails and sweep. Still, it feels like good, honest work. Transforming a $1.4-million dump into a $1.4 palace, for someone who obviously has more money than they know what to do with. But maybe the water down effect works? I enjoy getting paid, but I also enjoy building stuff, making good work. I still have issues with the unequal distribution of wealth, but don't feel I can really do anything concrete about it now. Anyway, I cycled home in the pouring rain and became more wet than if I had jumped in the river. And now I'm exhausted and hungry and we're off to find a cheap restaurant somewhere in my neighbourhood.

-chris

From: chris lloyd
Date: Thu Aug 12, 2004 12:39:32 AM America/Montreal
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject: Canadian reconnaissance troops to get turreted versions of new jeep, Les plongeurs de la SQ retrouve le corps d'un marin disparu à Lévis

Dear Paul,

What kind of a party is it when there are only three different CDs available for music and entertainment consists solely of games of Charades and Pictionary? Mohanad called me while I was on the bus en route to montréal. I'd decided I was lucky enough to get a ride from B-St-P to Quebec, and took a bus from there. I spoke french the whole way with the guy who picked me up; when people speak slowly to me I understand almost everything. wow. I'm noticing improvements. It was hard to leave B-St-P, actually. I was having a really fun time. I tried to find M. Simard but he was out, and I ended up speaking with his wife for a short time. I missed the big supper with the artists he was preparing because I was supposed to start work today, but that was what Mohanad was calling me back for, on the bus, a half hour out of town, to say they weren't ready for me. I still haven't heard from Steve directly, we've played phone tag and each left messages but we haven't actually spoken. If I was more paranoid I'd begin to think he was an imaginary person.

So the other thing Mohanand had to say was that we had been invited to a pot luck. Just after we left from my place—I'd been home long enough to take a shower and change my clothes—it began to pour. Hard, heavy, leaning rain with loud thunder and bolts of lightning. People huddled anywhere for shelter. We took the metro instead of the bus. It is always odd going to pot lucks with people you don't know, when you haven't had time to prepare food, and when you arrive there are few guests and they are wandering around slightly stoned in a bewildering fashion. Mohanad left early, but I stayed for the pictionary. I haven't played in years, but I still have the golden touch.

So today I awoke hung-over, late, and went to S&M and Sarah R. and I began the horizontal stripes in her bedroom. I also washed some laundry. Completed two coats of the the cream and fixed up some of the peeling paint and plaster on the ceiling. We'll finish the pink and red stripes tomorrow. Talked to Geoff briefly and his mom, a designer, might have some painting contracts for me shortly.

Puttered around the apartment for a bit in the evening, cleaned up a bit, sorted through stuff, procrastinated, thought about art and what I'm doing, what I'm really doing, that sort of thing. Thought a lot about relationships, connections, motivations, etc. Talked to Claudine on the phone for a bit; we both seem to be missing one another more than we have in the past. We'd had a really fun weekend. She asks me questions sometimes that swirl about in my head for days after, branching out into almost unlimited permutations.

So tonight Sarah R. came over to watch Elephant but fell asleep after twenty minutes. Apparently this always happens with her.

-chris

Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2004 09:14:08 -0400 (EDT)
From: "chris lloyd"  
Subject: Another group of Canadian soldiers arrives home safely from Afghanistan, Le maire Tremblay et le chef de police se font rassurants face à la violence
To:"paul martin"
CC: chrislloyd@videotron.ca

Dear Paul,

Saturday was great fun, even though a large and often
ferocious-looking rain cloud followed us around much
of the day. We went to Petit Rivier St. Francoise and
made a bizarre discovery. In 1949 the world’s very
first commercial airline bombing occurred nearby over
Sault-au-Cochon, when a bomb exploded in a DC-13
causing it to crash, killing all 23 people on board.
The cause was not some act of terrorism, but a strange
case of love and money. J. Albert Guay, a jeweler from
Quebec City, had a friend put a time bomb on the plane
that his wife was taking in order that he would
collect on the insurance money and live happily ever
after with the cute 19-year old he was having an
affair with. At le Domain a Ligori, an original French
settlement from the 1600s and base of le Centre de ski
le Massif, there was even a part of the airplane
engine that was retrieved from the forest in1985, as
well as a host of laminated newspaper articles
surrounding the event. M. Guay and two accomplices
were even executed a short time after being found
guilty of the crime. How come I had never heard about
this before? And why hasn’t someone made a movie about
it?

So we drove around in the rain and then the sun and
then the rain again, wandered into some cute little
churches, saw some religious artifacts and bought
homemade wool socks. We found the road off the 138
that leads to the big long water pipe that you can
walk along through the forest to the dam, where there
is a big place to jump into the water. The water had
all turned brown from all the rain and wasn’t terribly
inviting; we hung out by the dam and enjoyed the
scenery instead.

Then we went to the hospital, as Claudine’s ribs were
bothering her, and we felt it a good idea to check
them out. She had been sandwiched between two cars
earlier in the week and has lots of bruises and
scratches as a result. We waited for about 3 hours,
during which time Karina called me to say that Judy’s
mom had had a stroke and was in the hospital and that
I should call, so I did. Judy loves her parents so
strongly and it is hard to watch her go through all
the hospitalizations and sicknesses. She wants to be
able to provide her parents the best care possible,
even to the extent of curtailing her own happiness.
She is incredibly dedicated.

After the hospital we thought there might be a local
film playing at one of the local watering holes, a place
popular with the bikers, but we had the dates wrong, it’s
not playing until next week. We stayed for a late
supper anyway and had a good talk, even though the
music was terrible and the adjacent tables we full of
drunk and loud people who insisted on singing along to
the bad music. We came “home”; France’s home, the
place where the four Sympo workers are staying for the
month. France’s home is full of little paintings and
crafts and glasses she has painted; very homey? In a
manner fitting to the environment we watched Psycho,
the original B&W, but in French, before going to
sleep.

And yesterday it was sunny and warm, and we went to
the river and sunbathed in the nude. Is this place
paradise or what? Every few minutes I catch my breath
and give a little prayer of thanks for these precious,
lucky moments of happiness. We stopped at the Centre
d’art later in the afternoon but Muriel was locking up
before I had a chance to send you my letter. I did
manage to find a better Blogger template that doesn’t
screw up the accents; it also looks better. We lazed
around on the back deck in the sun with Marjorie
reading magazines and newspapers before Claudine and I
went for a little drive to the other end of the Baie,
near the railroad tracks, and walked along the rocks
and tall, thick green water-grasses. Made supper on
the barbeque, tofu and veggie shish kabobs, petit
brochettes. Later on we watched The Butterfly Effect
(which I now hereby dub “the effect of bad acting”),
which took the solid and well-worn premise of
time-travel and made a bit of a mess of it.

Today I’m hitching back to Montréal, though I might
take the bus from Quebec City if I get stuck, and use
the time to work on the Manif d’Art application.

-chris

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Date: Sun, 8 Aug 2004 13:18:58 -0400 (EDT)
From: "chris lloyd"  
Subject: High oil prices a boon to energy-producing regions but afflict all consumers, Le congrès des jeunes libéraux prend fin par un discours de Jean Charest
To: "paul martin"
CC: chrislloyd@videotron.ca

Dear Paul,

I thought, given what occurred as soon as I exited the
metro yesterday to begin my hitchhiking journey, that
the day would be filled with bizarre occurrences, and
indeed it was. The moment I stopped on Cremazie to get
my sign from my briefcase a cement truck that had
stopped at the light lost its load, spilling cement
all over the road. At first I thought the mishap would
slow traffic and I would have better luck, as the
motorists would be driving slower, but I think it
ended up serving as a distraction so I walked to the
next intersection, where I was picked up straight away
while taking the first bite of my ham sandwich by a
young guy with a broken leg who works for foreign
affairs. He broke his leg while skateboarding. We had
a good talk about international relations and nuclear
proliferation. He dropped me off in Quebec City right
at the same on-ramp where Claudine and I had
hitchhiked a few weeks ago. There was another girl
hitching there as well, so we decided to hitch
together. We waited almost an hour before a snappy
green Beetle stopped for us. Catherine is studying
anthropology and the subject was of great interest to
the man who was driving, so they talked most of the
way about interesting details of the Charlevoix
region. There was something about a large meteor but I
missed some of the details. I think I’ll research it
some more. I thought he looked familiar, but it wasn’t
until we stopped in B-St-P that we both made the
connection; we had met last summer in the darkroom at
the Centre d’art, where Claudine and he were
developing photographs. The moment I arrived at the
arena a group of young skateboarders went through the
big target sign at the entrance to the Sympo. And
while Claudine went off to fix the problem with
Richard a giant fuzzy humanoid, live cartoon figure
approached me. It was Mitch, in his painting
“uniform”. He is literally blurring the boundaries
between painting and real life, as he attempts to turn
himself and his studio into a living diorama, while he
makes paintings. We talked a bit, did a quick tour of
the arena, met some of the artists and then Claudine
and I went for supper. Afterwards we took a rest and
then met up with Mitch and Katherine, one of the
artists with a car, and we drove up the hill to le
Balcon Vert for their 30th anniversary party. Drank
some beer, watched the fire, the stars (saw a shooting
star, of course), danced a bit to the sweet funky,
groovy sounds of Jean et les Jeanpignons before
Marjorie and Mathieu drove us back to the house. So I
guess overall the day wasn’t bizarre, but it did feel
like it was full of similar and connected vignettes.
Quite eventful, smooth and relaxing.

We were going to go swimming today but it is raining,
so we’ll take the car and go on a tour, a petit
exploration. Stopped by the Centre d’Art to send some
email, because the internet cafe is closed on Sundays.

-chris
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From: chris lloyd
Date: Sat Aug 7, 2004 10:27:20 AM America/Montreal
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject: "Shattered" ex-MP Svend Robinson given 100 hours of community service L'ancien député fédéral néo-démocrate Svend Robinson évite la prison

Dear Paul,

How and why is it that I often manage to give myself a hangover just before embarking on a trip? I'm heading out shortly to hitch to B-St-P, and am behind schedule and foggy behind the eyes. Spent most of the day finishing some painting at S & M and in my own bedroom, I've extended the grey, knocked out more of the yellow. Stopped at rona and bought my very first cushion, and matching roman blind, and together they both match, more or less, my new bedroom. I still don't know how I feel about this, about buying cushions, or even thinking about cushions, and why I'm in my early thirties buying my first cushion (a cushion is different than a pillow, remember). Have you ever bought a cushion? Mohanad came over last night, that's what started the decent into hangover territory. The leftover beer in the fridge, La fin du monde, la Maudite, fait plus fort. So we drink and then smoked and then become all designer-y, and were drawing up plans for furniture and discussing the philosophy of space, creating virtual pathways through rooms, it was fun. Then I hopped on my bicycle and met Sarah R. at Cinema Beaubien and we watched Premier Juillet - le film. It was good, very Montreal-feeling, fun storytelling. Again, hard to follow dialogue all in french, but I'm sure the practice helps. Afterwards we stumbled into Chez Roger's, a local neighbourhood swanky bar and drank more and invented narratives for the people around us. Walked home and bought bagels late, the bagel store is always open.

Gotta go, the highway beckons.

-chris

Bill

Bill
Originally uploaded by Chris Lloyd.

So I hear we are continuing down the slippery slope of negotiating (ahem-"appeasing") with the U.S. as they gear up for implimenting Star Wars (which I'm sure they'll do with or without Canada's help or consent, but whatever). My question is not whether we should stay in NORAD and protect North America (read the U.S.; I mean, who wants to lob missiles at Canada? I mean, really? What would be the point? And what would be the target? But I digress), but rather this: if Canada jumps into bed with the U.S. on the whole Star Wars missile defence plan, does that mean that we won't be able to bomb the U.S., or would it be a sneaky move in that it would allow us better access at bombing the U.S.? And is that why our national Minister of Defense is looking a little, how shall we say, psychotic? Or did the press photographers just catch him at a bad time, like in between a nasty hiccup?

From: chris lloyd
Date: Fri Aug 6, 2004 1:18:09 AM America/Montreal
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject:  Canada-U.S. amend defence pact to keep missile detection within Norad; André Ouellet se défend d'avoir mal agi, mais craint d'être congédié

Dear Paul,

Spent all afternoon at IKEA. The place is mammoth, and after you get through the two floors and think the place can't possibly be any bigger, you hit the warehouse. Karen's dad loaded our findings into his car and on the roof racks and drove Melissa and I home. I got the impression that he is a bit like me in some ways; in that we both really like driving. He is a very slick and skilled city driver. Years of practice, I suppose.

I bought a new bed frame, which I have been thinking about for months, and some new sheets, and a new comforter cover, as well as some frames for drawings and some beer glasses. Not that I've been drinking a lot of beer, just that it's nice to have a decent sized beer glass for those occasions. The bed frame went together much easier than i had anticipated; the design and engineering that goes into IKEA stuff can be downright stunning sometimes.

I've gone 2 straight days without smoking, and it hasn't been so bad. Anytime I think of smoking I just change the subject with myself, and do something else. It sort of means I haven't been sticking to any one thing for any long period of time, but that's probably OK.

Spent the evening at S & M painting their tiny bathroom the most intense colour red you will ever see. It is blinding it is so bright. It will take at least three coats, maybe four to even it all out. I'll finish tomorrow, then faire de pouce a B-St-P for the weekend. Next week it's off to NB to visit the folks and Judy, who bought some of my paintings from Peter's gallery, of course. It's great to have a major patron but I sometimes wonder if no one else ever has a chance to acquire any of my work? Not that I'm complaining, of course.

So why is it that open, undefined relationships seem to work just fine under "normal" circumstances but when it comes to issues of distance and uncertainty and jealousy they become awkward and unweildy? Is it a case of "out of sight, out of mind" or "out of sight, and I wonder what's going on and it's driving me crazy??". I find it interesting that words are never enough, that trust and respect and honesty run much deeper. Anyway, I don't really want to get into it here. By the way, have you ever given your wife a pearl necklace? And if so did you warn her in advance or just spring it on her? What was her reaction?

-chris

From: chris lloyd
Date: Thu Aug 5, 2004 9:12:09 AM America/Montreal
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject: Ailing Afghan child arrives in Toronto hospital to undergo cardiac testing

Dear Paul,

Spent another full day in the apartment. Web site stuff takes a long time, and is thoroughly addictive. I spent a good chunk of the day just re-arranging images of the Dear Jean… paintings, re-formatting them, etc. It's fun to do, and I'm sure with practice my speed will improve.

I had a call from Sarah R. near the end of the afternoon. Another crisis; she'd just been fired from her job, and was quite upset. I met her at the metro and we went for ice cream; not the best solution in the world, but better than nothing. Bi never showed up to move in, either, so S & M are still looking for a new roommate. We went to Home Depot to get the rest of the paint for their bathroom and Sarah's bedroom stripes.

And more bad news: The new IKEA catalogue arrived in the mail yesterday. I'm planning a trip there today with Melissa and Karen. How can one pass up bathroom towels for $1.99? There is a lot of cool, cheap crap, so we'll soak it up today. The home improvements shall continue!

-chris

From: chris lloyd
Date: Wed Aug 4, 2004 10:10:25 AM America/Montreal
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject: Alta auditor general finds meat-packer profits tripled after mad cow crisis

Dear Paul,

I spent almost all yesterday in the apartment, which felt quite odd by the end of the day. I'm not used to spending so much time here. I had to go for a walk around suppertime just to get some air and clear my head. Too many thoughts were piling up, and I was having a difficult time keeping on track. I need to prioritize better. The tattoo designs aren't finished, neither are Tamara's designs. I need better structure to get things done. I did, however, paint a few rooms in the apartment, which is a nice improvement. I still need to build a few bookshelves and some curtains for the studio. Some new picture frames would be nice, too.

Oh, you should check out my first attempts at updating and re-designing my website; you can find the link near the top right on my blog, or just click here. Let me know what you think. If you would like me to not use the PM image from your website just let me know and I'll change it.

If you were to get a new tattoo what would it be? I was thinking armbands with fish, maybe a shark-like fish, but I like the idea of a fish eating its own tail, which is a bit tricky to draw. The other idea I had was of tattooing one of the new frottage drawings, maybe the "laroche eau". I just can't seem to settle on one image.

Had a late barbeque last night (because I tried lighting the coals using canola oil, a "sure-fire" trick Mohanad told me about. It didn't work, and I still had to use the starter fuel, and the canola oil only succeeded in created billowing, smelly smoke). Read for a bit, watched some TV, went to bed. Exciting.

-chris

From: chris lloyd
Date: Tue Aug 3, 2004 12:00:54 PM America/Montreal
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject: Wal-Mart workers at store in Saguenay, Que., win union accreditation

Dear Paul,

Shawn and Caroline are off, they caught a taxi to the airport early this morning. We had an early night, and just stayed in and watched Le declin de l'empire americain, this time with subtitles. I prefer subtitles to dubbing; one has the opportunity to ignore the subtitles and follow the dialogue and the action better. I'll check out more FrancoFollies tonight. I've been completely impressed by the punctuality; every show begins exactly on time, to the second. What a feat of organization.

I visited S & M yesterday and discussed more paint options with them. They are also a little stressed about their new roommate, Bi (pronounced "bee", who was supposed to be moving in but hadn't showed up or paid her rent yet. I emptied a garbage pail of maggoty water for them.

Registered for my Quebec health coverage yesterday. I was only waiting for about an hour, which doesn't seem that bad considering how many people were there, waiting for something. I also spent some time at a tatooiste, checking out some of the designs. There are some awful, absolutely terrible tattoo designs out there! I've been working on some of my own, as well as Tamara's dog-training design, and Aaron's tattoo as well. Back to the basics, the old-fashioned pencil and pen on paper. I have been adding bits and pieces to the website, now that I have all the files and Shawn has given me a little refresher.

Had a dream about Punch Drunk Love last night. It was very vivid and long, but different from the movie. More time was spent in the factory. Building weird things, robots that break other robots.

The weather is dull and overcast today. Perfect for house painting. I'm going to work on my own place today, keep those improvements rolling.

-chris

From: chris lloyd
Date: Mon Aug 2, 2004 1:45:31 AM America/Montreal
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject: RCMP, CSIS members among those grilled over leaks in Arar case: documents

Dear Paul,

Le Pyroman de le Plateau frappe encore? Mohanad called me from near Mont Royal with news that the power was out and fire trucks were everywhere and the place was covered in thick smoke. What's going on?

Had another really good day. Might have had something to do with the new futon frame; it is really comfortable. I had a good sleep (though weird dreams). Overall I just felt good about things; about life in general. Shawn and Caroline and I went to the Jean Talon market and wandered around getting fruit and veggies. Shawn has already given me helpful tips in updating my website, though so far all I've managed to do is fix up my CV and add your homepage splash image to mine. Is that copyright infringement? Let me know if you want me to remove it. Anyway, I stopped by S&M to say hi to Sarah and then walked to Home Depot and picked out some paint colours for Sarah's room and bought some black enamel paint for myself, for more frottage paintings, and also bought some plants for the apartment. I need more plants. The place needs the oxygen.

Wandered downtown on my bike and just missed the gay pride parade. I also tried to get a tattoo but the place Mohanad usually goes to was closed. I was fleeced at the mall while buying a sleeveless t-shirt, as it was way too hot outside, but I didn't really want to walk around topless. Too many people think I'm gay already. Actually, I don't think the sleeveless T will help alter that perception. Oh well, it was comfortable and cool, in the refreshing sense of the word. Do you ever have that problem, where people think you are gay? How do you deal with it? Anyway, I settled into the steps at Place des arts and took in some more of the FrancoFolies and drank some beer and enjoyed the wonderful sunshine. I listened to Stephane Cote, who was really good, though again I didn't comprehend everything. I have a hard enough time understanding everything an english singer sings about, let alone the french. Met up with Caroline and Shawn again and we wandered down to Ste. Elisabeth and had beers and smoked cigarettes before returning to Place des Arts to hear some of the Kitchose Band. They did a fun cover of Felix LeClercs' Le petit bonheur. We stuck around for a bit of the surprise musical guest, then caught the metro home. I took us in the opposite direction but caught the error just before the first stop. Berri-UQAM can still confuse me.

The cats seem to be enjoying the back alley more and more. Kuan is definitely one of the head honchos of the neighbourhood, judging by the way other cats navigate around her. it's like chess, watching their movements.

-chris

From: chris lloyd
Date: Sun Aug 1, 2004 1:02:48 AM America/Montreal
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject: Searchers comb dense brush as renewed hunt continues for missing girl

Dear Paul,

The periodic downpours continued today, well into the afternoon. Mohanad was caught in the rain with his bicycle and stopped by. We went to the laundromat and I found a nice wooden frame for the futon when we stopped at a second-hand furniture store. We haggled $50 off the price and got an 8-mm film viewer thrown in as well. Now we can actually see the frames of the old 8mm films Courtney and I bought at that yard sale a few months ago. Nice. We carried the frame back in the rain, and the futon actually resembles a functioning sofa now, instead of a folded-up mattress sitting on the floor. Nice.

Shawn and Caroline arrived, safe and sound. We walked the neighbourhood a bit and picked up a few groceries for the 'ole barbeque. Drank some beer and hung out on the back patio. They crashed early, as they had been up all night packing and had a long layover in Toronto. Shawn managed to do a bunch of website organizing for me while I was gone. Nice.

Karen and I went to see Jacob Wren's play La famille se cree en copulant / extra-fin, at MAI. I was able to follow much of it, but lost the thread a few times. If my concentration wavers it is easy to become lost. Jean-Pierre Gauthier did the installation, which was a nice touch of floating brooms and mops and folding chairs. I'd met him briefly during the Sobey Award exhibition in 2002. The play tries, in a bit of a tongue-in-cheek manner, to convince the audience not to have kids, given the state of the world and all. I'm not sure if it changed my mind on the matter; Jacob even joked afterwards that there could be a small baby-boom in the arts community, based on people who see the work and immediately propagate just to spite the thesis. Oddly enough, Ed called me this afternoon from Vancouver and I got more practical information about his next few weeks while talking to Dante, his bright 6-year old son. Kids are a bit of a mystery to me. So is theatre, which is also why it is such a draw. I should make an effort to see more.

Afterwards we walked to Place des Arts and took in a few of the free performances. It's amazing to me that there are three times as many free performances as part of Franco Folies than paying events. Papillon was good but a little heavy for me, and Les Respectables were really good, quite tight and energetic. A timely light show with them as well, but no feu d'artifice.

-chris