Alan A. Coming To America

last days in america

2008-11-10T19:26:00.010-05:00

hey guys!

it’s been a little while i haven’t written, but i have been pretty busy lately.

laurent and I have spent a weekend in new york last week, because we really needed to get away from montreal. we took part in the halloween parade in the same costumes we wore in august for montreal gay pride. we got photographed a lot, and we had a lot of fun. the rest was nice too, we went out, went to the brooklyn museum…

back in montreal we went back to work, but the money wasn’t great, so im leaving on wednesday with not much, but enough i hope to live 2 months at mom’s.

the pictures of laurent (a.k.a. josh) and i in our bar for our shows can be seen at that address buy the way:

http://ladonis.com/elle-lui.html

we had a big argument with one of our (homophobic) housemate who started being aggressive towards me. laurent came to help me (my hero!) and the madman punched him in the face! we then decided to leave the house, and moved with jacques, laurent’s best friend, for our last week in montreal. jacques is a 63 year-old gay man who’s a lot of fun to be around, we really get on well the three of us so we’re having a good time.

i can’t wait to be back and see my family and my friends who I’ve missed a hell of a lot. i won’t be able to post as regularly as i have been doing until now, but i promise i’ll let you know what’s happening during my holidays.

i should spend a week in rennes late november at my best friend tiph boy’s and for gurvan’s birthday, then a week in paris at laurent’s. then christmas with family, new year’s eve with friends, and laurent will come to nantes to meet my family!

in january, we will be continuing our adventures but we’re still undecided where for now. florida seems not to be an option anymore, as we don’t want to be dancers anymore but we want to concentrate on our careers. for that, we decided that if one of us has to be somewhere at some point, the other one will follow him. so we should be going either to the canary islands or to greece. seen worse! lol

thanks for your comments.
fred: I’m so sorry, coming back to paris on the 12th and taking a train straight away to nantes. :’( you should’ve told me earlier!
aurelia: i’ll be back in paris end of november-early december, hope to see you then!

nina, celine, where are you???

mwah!

myshit completed!

2008-10-28T00:18:00.003-04:00

hi guys!

after a lot of trouble with the website, i've finally uploaded the final versions of the 6 songs I wanted to post on my myspace page. so now that's 6 songs that are complete. the first three ones will be on a cd that i might send to record companies. then if you add 3 more to those 6, that'll be the complete cd. i feel very accomplished, happy and proud. i like my songs! lol

i'd appreciate if you could each tell me the songs you prefer.

www.myspace.com/AlanAsound

now what's left to do: have a makeover for my "myshit" page, work on the layout of the cd (i designed it already, i'll have to take the pictures and work on it), work on my youtube page, shoot some videos for my songs and post them, work on my website and... advertise! for that i'll be needing you, like sending links to my videos to your friends, and tell your friends to send them to their friends, so that i get the biggest number of views i can!!!

after laurent last week, I had my own show last friday at the bar we work at. i put on the "wonder brit-man" costume one more time and danced on the "wonder woman" theme song! here's a picture if you want:

then i took on a full suit and tie and stripped on the song "comme ils disent" from aznavour!

for halloween, laurent and i are going to new york for 4 days. with chicago and toronto canceled, we really need to get away together. and in just over 2 weeks i'll be back home in nantes for 2 whole months, can't wait!

thanks for your comments:

fred: when's your house warming party in paris? do you want me to ask my eurostar friends to get you tickets?

nina: can't wait to see you either. so new years eve in le mans??? ok then! :(

oh and where's your english guys??? lol

mwah!

5 months and some mastering

2008-10-20T11:28:00.008-04:00

hi guys!

laurent and i have met 5 months ago and for that, we went to the botanic garden in montreal and had a romantic walk in the afternoon. It was a cold but dry weather, and we enjoyed it. what you can see at the back of the picture is the inclined tower, which is there to hold the roof of the olympic stadium, and serves as an observatory point.

that evening, laurent took me to a nice french restaurant where we had a nice meal, then we went to the bar we work at as laurent did a show as batman. that was fun!

next week it'll be my turn to do a show and i'll put back on my "wonder brit-man"'s costume!

my arranger's going on tour, so i'm meeting him this week for the last time and for a last song. that'll be my 9th one! i've been in contact with a guy who masters songs for a very cheap price! so i'm paying him through paypal, i send him my songs and he sends them back with a brilliant sound! i've deleted all the songs on my myspace page and will post only the one that are mastered. but myspace is having problems uploading songs now and i can't post them! that should be working soon hopefully. so when you find a song on my page, lemme know what you think, because that will be the final cut!

three more weeks before going back home and i really cannot wait any longer! i miss my friends and family so badly!

thanks guys for your comments (always the same ones!)

nina: i'm back in nantes on the 13th, cannot wait any longer, so i won't stay at laurent's straight away. i'll go back to paris and meet his family and friends at the end of november. thanks for your frank comments on the songs, that's what i need!

celine: unfortunately, i don't think i'll be able to afford new year's eve in london... :( but i'll see you in nantes or in vendee, ok?

fred: here again, i don't think i'll afford to go to london :( but might be going to the south of france in may with laurent, just in case you go to your parents' around that time. and around may, i'll try to go to london but might be on my own.

love you guys! mwah!

one month left... and three new songs!

2008-10-12T00:55:00.003-04:00

hi guys!

well indeed in exactly one month I'm leaving montreal for good to go to france see mummy, my sisters and nieces and all my friends. i really can't wait and i'm getting more and more excited every day! i'll be staying there for two months and then i'll fly to florida with laurent, that's the plan. it's now been six years i haven't stayed for more than two weeks, and i really can't wait to take some good time off and to take care of my nieces a lot! anyone not far for that period of time has to let me know, i miss you so much guys!!! i'll be posting less but i'll still be posting a bit to let you know what's happening in my life!

actually i'll still have a lot to do. first of all, any paid work would help me a lot as i am saving for my holidays but i won't have much on the side! and i've decided i'll have to do a lot of work for my demos. i want to design a nice cover for my cd, and i want to shoot some videos! I have some ideas and i want to work on them as i want to post them on youtube. myspace is good for artists to get noticed, but now everyone has kind of left their myspace profile to join facebook. but everyone still goes to youtube!

talking about my songs, this week i've finished three new ones! listen to a song in french "la flamme", to the sad ballade "depression" and to the rock song "lackadaisical", still at www.myspace.com/AlanAsound . my arranger is going on tour soon and i've booked two days with him next week. but first of all i want to re-work on the songs we've already recorded. there's a few things i want to change, now i've listened to them enough. then i'll ask all my friends to listen to them all and to vote for the ones they prefer so that i'll choose the favorite three for a demo cd.

thanks for your comments, so few can they be:

fred: i need to work on that new cheeky song called "come over" (you know what i'm talking about???) but i'm not sure i'll have time to record it...

celine: indeed i'll be in nantes for christmas, and i hope we can catch up!

where are the other ones? looks like less and less people are reading me! :'(

mwah! xxx.

2 new songs!

2008-09-24T12:23:00.006-04:00

hi guys!

i'm back with two new songs! i've recorded i want you back last week and yesterday i've re-recorded out of the show, for the ones who knew it. i'm also working on new songs, but i think i'll re-record la flamme (here again for the ones of you who know it) next time.

also i've been playing with myspace, and i didn't like the 'alan_a_' thing, so i've been trying to find a new one. now only letters and digits are allowed, so the 'alan-a' i wanted is not possible... i've tried 'alanaofficial' for a while, but i thought it sounded too much, and 'alanamusic' was already taken, so i've chosen 'alanasound'. so the new link is www.myspace.com/AlanASound hope you like the sound of it!

my favorite song remains pleasure, even if i think out of the show is the one that sounds the best, but i have some surprises for the next few weeks, i'm working on some more cheeky songs, and one in particular is much cheekier! hehe!

working at the new bar is better in a way i make more money, and it's fun working with laurent.

i can't wait to be back to nantes in a few weeks now, i'm getting more and more excited about that each day!

chicago is now no more an option. we are going to stay in montreal in october as i don't have any money on the side, because of some teeth work i've had to get done (and it's not finished yet.) but we'll go away for a few days to toronto normally and back to new york for a weekend.

on monday, laurent and i have been to the old montreal to check it, but there's not much to see actually. indeed, montreal's not that old! well here's a picture of the port!

before that we went to have lunch at la binerie, which is apparently the place where they serve specialities from quebec, but that wasn't that great we found, and that looked more like a tiny diner than a restaurant! but it was still busy.

thanks for your comments:

fred: 2 comments! wow! i'm glad you and jamie like the songs, but i still have some work to do on them! sendind you both some big kisses!

nina: thanks again for your lovely email. can't wait to see you again!

where are the other ones? everybody's on holiday or what???

mwah!

new song: daddy

2008-09-13T17:27:00.005-04:00

hi guys!

yesterday i was back in studio with frank, who i work with now on some new songs. we had spent 5 hours on pleasure but it has taken us 8 hours to do daddy! you can listen to it on my mypace www.myspace.com/alan_a_

this song is about my father who died exactly 7 years ago. i don't talk much about him because i never entirely grieved and it's still painful, but writing a song helped me a lot. the music is inspired by a song called mamie that a young singer called mélody sang when i was a child, about her grandmother who was getting old.

writing this song has been good therapy. I actually wrote it back in 2001, but i re-worked on it in july this year. please tell me frankly what you think.

the picture is of my tattoo at my ankle and represent my dad's initial with a halo.

the boss at my bar being too much, and the fact that i have to pay a big fee to the DJ on the nights i'm not making any money made me take a big decision: i'm leaving and i'm going to work in laurent's bar. plus the money is better! so i had an interview today, i'm finishing my week in my bar and i'm starting there on monday. hope it's ok working with your boyfriend!

thank you for your comments:

fred: thank you for the invite. i'll let you know when we arrive but that's not gonna be before december!

celine: keep posting babes, with pleasure!

nina: how was the weekend at cece and will's?

flo: still waiting for your email! hey by the way carrie has a cell phone in the 6th season, with pink glitters!

mwah!

Pleasure...

2008-09-02T19:28:00.006-04:00

hi guys!

i'm sorry i'm taking quite long to write, but in the next few weeks, i should be updating the blog once a week or so, with a new surprise each time!

i had told you i had been working with this arranger on my songs, but he got a problem with his computer and had to leave early for new york. i haven't been looking much, but my friend jim told me about this other guy who could do nice work and recording for a very good and cheap price! i met him today and in like 4 hours, we all re-worked and re-recorded my song pleasure, that some of you may know. you can listen to it on my myspace page: www.myspace.com/alan_a_

i'm meeting him again next week and we should work on two more songs! i'm very excited about this new cut, please tell me what you think frankly.

important spice news: melanie c's pregnant!!! she's the last one of the band to be expecting as, let me remind you, victoria has 3 boys (brooklyn, romeo and cruz), melanie b 2 girls (phoenix and angel), geri a girl (bluebell) and emma a boy (beau.) please, no critic on the names! sorry celine i took so long to post this news, just been lazy! here's a picture of the parents-to-be:

laurent and i are thinking of moving to chicago in october for a month. and for those who are in london, we are thinking of spending a couple of days there at the end of the year! gonna need to stay somewhere though... we are currently looking for another apartment as we have to leave the current one next week!

laurent being a huge fan of the singer, we've downloaded the new mylene farmer's cd "point de suture" and i can tell you it's really, really good! much better than the one before! my favorite song is "sextonic" (a song about dildos!) and laurent's is "c'est dans l'air." the hidden track is mylene's version of the ave maria, which impressed me actually! she actually has a very good voice! if you were hesitating in buying the cd, don't hesitate any more!

thanx for your comments:

cece, will and aline: sorry for the 6th, have fun for me, i'll think of you! thanks for the picture, aline's a beautiful little girl now!

celine: thanks for you 3 comments!!! lol you're crazy!

fred: katy perry is very big in america with "i kissed a girl" but listen also to lady gaga with "let's dance", great song!

nina: still waiting for the letter! be quick i'm leaving the apartment on the 9th!

didi and yaya: definitely see you at the end of the year.

miss you all guys! mwah! xxx.

Montreal Gay Pride and some sun burns!

2008-08-18T19:13:00.012-04:00

Hey guys!

First of all I would like to apologize for the fact that I have taken so long to write, but I had not much to say, I was pretty busy, and you also take your time commenting! Hehe!

The weather for over the last two months has been really bad, we had about two rainy days for one day without showers. But this last weekend was great, hot and sunny, a weather like they usually have all summer in Montreal! You know how white I am, well it was enough for me to end all red! At the time I'm writing this, I'm covered in yoghourt, because Laurent's Mum said it's good for sun burns! And now it's all rainy and thundering again -_-...

On saturday, with a few other dancers from my work, we went to wash some cars in the afternoon to get some money for an association called Gay Line. It was actually really funny because we were only wearing underwear!

Yesterday Sunday was the Gay Pride parade in Montreal. Laurent and I had designed the costumes we wanted and our friend Jacques made them. We were very proud of the results and we got photographed a lot! Tiph Boy, next year I want to wear it again for the Gay Pride in Nantes with you. So my costume was like a Union Jack version of Wonder Woman (I told people "I'm Wonder Woman's husband... hum actually, no, I'm her brother") and Laurent had his own version of Batman! That day also marked our 3 months anniversary! Yay! Here's a picture, hope you like it...

More photos of both saturday and sunday can be seen there:

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=148559&id=605925007

(a big, big thank you to Sebastoche on Flickr some of the photos!)

I have bad news for my friends from Nantes: I've changed my September ticket for one on November 9th, as it's better for me and that'll help me financially. So I'm really sorry to say, but I won't be here in September, sorry about your party Cèce and Will! :( Hope you're not too disapointed... So I'll be back in Nantes early november, but for 2 months!!!

Thanks to those who commented:

Céline: Enjoy the nice weather for me! :(

Nina: Still waiting for the postcard! ;)

Fred: I shouldn't be back in London before next year...

Laurent: Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...

Emilie: you deserve the love you have!

Mwah!

montreal more french than french, and how i'm going creative

2008-07-31T13:07:00.006-04:00

hi guys!

quebecois people want to be sure they use much less english words in their sentences than we do in france, even if they use the words "cruise", a "tune", "fit", "cute", "top/bottom" and many more... so they can prove that fact to themselves, they take every english word we french use and translate them. that way they don't say 'weekend' but "fin de semaine" (so long!), they say "chandail" for a t-shirt, or "cedule" (nothing to see with the schedule of course...) for a planning. the thing could be funny but it gets ridiculous at times. therefore, a stop sign will be translated...

... and then KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) becomes PFK (Poulet Frit Kentucky)! I wonder why they didn't translate McDonald's, and what it could've become! :D

i've been in touch with my friend charlotte who wanted me to write a column about my experience in new york. i've done it and it should be published in a gay magazine in essex, uk. to complete the column, i've made a list of the bars, clubs and places i preferred in the city. i feel like carrie bradshaw at times! i might end up doing that for different other cities. montreal should be the next one, and i'll talk about the next places i go to also.

also, i've met a producer i should be working with on my songs. we met and decided in august we should have time to work on the music and to record about 5 or 6 songs. we'll see how it goes, but i should end up working on my myspace page and do something a bit more professional! of course, you'll know about it!

thanks for your comments:

marcelo: good to hear from you since new york! to explain marcelo and i plus a few friends went to an asian karaoke bar in new york, the bar was quite empty, but because we sang a lot of spice girls/britney/kylie songs, the barmaid went to see us and asked us to stop singing because we were disturbing the customers at the bar who didn't sing themselves! in a karaoke bar!!! plus i have to add you had to pay for every song you wanted to sing!

flo: if batman's your favorite superhero, you'll have a lot to talk with laurent! the movie is great indeed! and for cyndia's bracelet, i hope you sent it back to her? she can't stay without it!

nina: enjoy your holidays! so emilie and seb are moving to ottawa? did you tell them i was in canada too? ottawa is not that far from montreal you know!

fred: miss you so much here too! haven't seen you since february! :'( enjoy the nice weather for me because those last few weeks, we've had a lot of rain in here, and that's really annoying! montreal is usually very nice and hot in the summer, but of course the only summer i spend here, it rains!

love you guys! mwah!

batman and birthday of a special friend...

2008-07-21T13:01:00.007-04:00

hi guys!

just wanted to start by wishing nina, one of my most faithful friends on here, and my very best friend, a happy birthday as she turned 28 yesterday. i have to say we've been to school together for 16 years, been to our first club together, got drunk for the first time together, an so on! and she married one of my best friend too!

saturday night, laurent dragged me to see the new batman movie but i have to say it's a great one. heath ledger is really good as the bad man! watched it in imax, which made it even better. did you know it's the best-seller movie of all times for the first weekend?!! better than titanic!!!

then i've been sick in bed all weekend... :(

thanx to those who commented:

* fred: yes laurent speaks french as he is french! from paris! lol.

* nina: i'll do my best for september, but if i come you'd better wait until after that for your "good news"!

don't know where my other friends are...

love you guys!

two months...

2008-07-18T00:38:00.006-04:00

laurent and i have been together for two months! yep, it's the longest i've ever been with anyone! not bad, is it? hehe. so for the occasion, i got him a lovely three colored rose, and he invited me to the cinema! we went to see wall-e, and i gotta say it's a must-see! it really represents where america (and the world in general) is going... it shows hypothetically the humans in the future, what could happen, what we could become... scary. and there's a sweet love story between two robots! no need to tell the ones who know me well that i cried! hehe.

thank you fred and nina for your comments! fred, i should be back in london in april next year normally. nina, yes i'm still dancing in the bar, and i need to see if i can come back to nantes in september, but i'll definitely be back before the end of the year. love you guys!

mwah!

florence foresti and friends in montreal...

2008-07-12T15:02:00.004-04:00

hi guys!

yesterday laurent and i went to a gala called "juste pour rire" (just for laughs) that the french comic florence foresti was presenting. she is really funny, and we've been fans for a while. she introduced some french humorists like arthur (yes for the french ones, the arthur of star academy or whatever he does now in france...) and the beautiful imitator michael gregorio (if you have a minute, go on youtube see what he does, he's really good!), and also some big canadian names like anthony kavanagh and the gorgeous stéphane rousseau (see picture above.)

that's it, very few comments, so very small post, and also i don't have much more to say, nothing really exciting at the moment...

thanx anyway to émilie and fred (glad you're back) for their comments! nina, where are you???

mwah!

our apartment and a spicy drag queen show!

2008-07-03T14:14:00.009-04:00

hi guys!

back in montreal, everything is going well. i wanted to share with you a few pictures of the apartment i'm sharing with laurent:

the kitchen:

the lounge (huge flat screen tv if you please):

the bedroom:

yesterday night, i went to a drag queen show where they were showing a spice girls show! no need to tell you i had so much fun! i dragged laurent there (well he didn't have the choice anyway!) and met my friend leiko who i used to work with in new york and whose in montreal for a few days.

they even spotted me as a big fan in the crowd and dragged me on the stage! was real fun!

thanx to fatime, herve and celine for your comments, it was a great pleasure to see you again in london too. miss you guys!

a little nice picture before leaving:

mwah! love ya!

weekend in london

2008-06-25T10:27:00.006-04:00

hi guys!

as a surprise for emily who was having a party on saturday because she's leaving london, i went back there for a few days. as you can see above, she was very emotional even if she kinda knew i was coming...

i had a very good weekend and it was fun and interesting to see all my friends again. i'd like to say i'm so sorry to those i haven't been able to see because i've been running!!! and i'm sad i didn't get to see fred who was traveling to france with jamie one the morning i arrived!

i came back yesterday night and after dinner, laurent and i went to watch "99 francs" at the cinema (or at the theatre as they say in america) with jean dujardin.

not much more to say. but thanx to emilie (who's a friend from high school) and nina for your comments!

mwah, love ya guys!

ps: the song i am listening to at the moment: girls aloud: "je ne parle pas français", french version for "can't speak french"> the words are so funny!

moving in new apartment with laurent

2008-06-18T14:32:00.007-04:00

hi guys!

ok ok, i've been asked a few times so i'm gonna make it official. yes i'm seeing someone, his name is laurent, i met him in new york just before moving to montreal, and we met again over here and we've been together since then. he's a real sweetheart and we get along very well. and because he stays out of town for the moment and wanted to find something in downtown montreal, we've decided to move in together when we've seen this apartment this guy who's traveling to europe for 3 months is leaving us. it's a great flat, at a very cheap price and i hope we'll have lots of fun there! and here's a picture of laurent, which i've been asked.

next to that i'm getting ready for a little travel but i can't say any more for the moment so i'll let you know at some point next week.

oh, and i couldn't finish without telling you, but i'm so proud the spice girls won at the beginning of the month another award for best group at the glamour awards! and here's a lovely picture of the less busy ones who could attend the reception: geri, emma and melanie b:

ok now you can shout at me in the comments for talking once again about them! thanx to those who commented on the last post, and let me quote you again:

damien & aurelia: thank you for being there and HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAMIEN (sorry i'm a tiny bit late!) well you deserve your picture to be posted too, as i've done it for everyone before, and so that everyone can see who you are:

nina: i don't know if new york misses me but i miss it a bit, yes, though i'm happy to be here in montreal, i'm having so much fun! and for the other question, i think i answered it above! oh and thank you for your order on venteprivee, that got me a voucher for my next one! what did you buy?

emilie & rebecca: a blast from the past indeed! after 12 years!!! well that was real fun talking to you on skype and we'll meet up in september and party!

fred: i'm so sad we cannot meet up too but wish you a nice trip. "oh was there a driver? well let me think, this is important... i must've done because i saw them run out and you're right, they got into a blue car and there was a man seated in the front seat... and... oh he was GORGEOUS!!!" (sorry about that!)

love you guys! mwah!

new job

2008-06-10T03:20:00.005-04:00

hi guys!

i have some exciting and news. i've found a new job that's much better paid and much more fun. i'm dancing in a club now. i'm not gonna give up the pizzeria just yet (even if they still haven't paid me...) just in case, but that could be a good way of paying my debts and living well during my time in montreal. we'll see how it goes... who would've thought i'd end up being a dancer??? hehe...

by the way this is my friend jim who i'm staying at in here.

so my life in montreal is starting to get more exciting that it used to be... i'll tell you more about it in a few days!

thanx to flo and fred for their comments! hopefully i'll see you guys very soon!!!

mwah!

edit: first job in montreal & birthdays

2008-05-31T22:22:00.008-04:00

hi guys!

ok before starting, don't you worry i don't drink too much! i've received many messages asking me not to! last weekend i did a bit, but i've spent the whole week dropping my resumes in shops, restaurants, bars... in my area. i didn't say anything about my situation in america and thought i would tell them only if they call me for an interview. a new pizza place has opened a week ago and they need people, so i've been asked to work there from thursday. generally it's only 4 hours but it's still good to take for the moment and i really get on well with the guys there. i don't think it's very well paid (i actually didn't ask how much...) but at least it's paid as well as i keep my tips for myself, and don't share them with anyone. well unfortunately, canadians don't tip as much as american people... i'm working again tomorrow night and i'll be paid on thursday, but i might work only on the weekends. well at least i'll have time to look for something else in the week.

well it's still saturday in here, so i just wanted once again to wish a lovely birthday to my dear friend fred! sorry for the pic!!!

but it's sunday already in france, so i'll also wish a lovely birthday to my niece lisa!

and because i'm starting with the birthdays of the people i am close to, monday will be cecile's. loads of kisses to you three! love you!

thanx again to those who took the time to comment:

fred: really hope we can meet up for breakfast on the 21st! oh and did i wish you a happy birthday???

flo: i wish i could see marc-andre! and thanks for your support in the job hunting.

gus: copiiiiiiiiiiiiiine! oh my fucking god, i can't believe i have a first comment from you!

herve: nice to read you too! i'm glad you liked geri in that show, i watched it on youtube, she is just great!

and gus and herve, you know you can just enter your name instead of posting anonymously!

mwah!

EDIT: today june 5th is florence's birthday, so happy birthday to her! she's turning 23... again! love that pic!

montreal

2008-05-24T13:32:00.005-04:00

hi guys!

after almost 11 hours train and only one hour sleep, i arrived in montreal on thursday evening. i was so tired that i've had an early sleep and slept 11 hours!

on friday i've been looking around for a sim card. but it is so expensive! so i've had a look on craigslist (the american equivalent to gumtree) and found a guy who's selling one already activated for $9 (it's $40 for the card + $15 to activate it, then you have to add the airtime, normally.) i've met him today but it's not working, so i have to wait until monday to call the customer service.

I've been out for the 5 à 7 (happy hour) yesterday night, but as i've started at 6 pm and finished at 6am, i've spent too much! the alcohol here is not free pour, they measure everything like in europe! i was out with jim at the beginning then i've joined my friend laurent and we really get on well so we had a bunch of fun! lol

i will be probably out tonight again, but i'll make it a quiet night out, maybe not drinking, and so not spending as much as yesterday!

thanx for your comments.

flo: i still wear my bracelet too, à la vie, à la mort, aux cosmopolitans!

fred: don't worry i'll be back in london! and thank you again for everything.

nickolai: wow nice to hear from you! wish you the best in kiev then!

nina: your comment and this post crossed, so i'm adding this here! everything's here!

mwah!

preparing my move to montreal

2008-05-17T13:22:00.004-04:00

hi guys!

part #2 of my trip in america is starting real soon and i have to say i'm getting really excited! flo and cyndia are now gone, and with everything we've done i really feel it's now time to leave new york. i gave my notice to my work, and after a few emails exchanged and the fact that they cut me off the schedule, i finally managed to get a couple of more days to work (sunday and monday.) as for my room, my landlord has offered me my last week on my deposit, and hasn't been too bothered by the fact i gave him only one, and not two weeks notice.

so i'm moving to montreal on wednesday. i felt quite weird lately about that, fearing i wouldn't find a job or wondering how it's gonna go over there. but my friend jim i have met in nyc a few months ago is offering me a cheap room in his hotel and said he could use some help around, paying me. plus i was at a party yesterday where i met this nice french guy called laurent, who's moving to montreal today! what a coincidence! and as he knows the city, he's gonna show me around and help me find a job! he used to be a stripper in montreal and told me i could make good money doing that! lol could be fun. and today, i've been reading the rough guide to montreal fred got me and i'm really getting excited to start over again and to go there!!!

next time i write i should be there already and as soon as i have flo and cyndia's pictures, i'll also post them!

thank you guys for your comments:

nina: don't worry i'll be back, and i plan on staying a bit longer in nantes at the end of the year.

willy: night! have a nice sleep!

fred: i'll be back don't worry, i miss you so much too, and thank you for that lunch when you told me i had to leave, i might have just canceled everything if you hadn't been there that day!

love you guys, mwah!

the beginning of the end in nyc

2008-05-12T12:53:00.003-04:00

hey guys!

i have sent my notice to my job yesterday and i am waiting for their response to tell my landlord. i am not sure exactly when i will be leaving, i told them i wanted to see that with them. i thought about leaving at the end of the month, but two colleagues of mine are going away and they might want me to stay until they're back, and that'd be more money... they might as well be pissed that i'm leaving and not want me back in there, i wouldn't be surprised! i have worked only 3 days last week and i'm scheduled for three this week, and that's not enough. plus i don't really get along with anyone apart from one waitress who's really sweet.

also i've found yesterday night a cockroach in my room, so i'm done with new york, can't take any more! cockroaches are quite common in here, and i'm actually quite lucky i haven't found any before, but they are huge and there's no way i'm living with that!

i've seen flo and cyndia every day. we went to the museum of modern art on thursday (i think, i've lost track...) and that was beautiful! i asked cyndia to take pictures of me everywhere, you know me! it's really annoying i don't have my own camera... then saturday we went to visit harlem, and yesterday morning we went to mass in harlem. the choir and the gospel were beautiful, i almost cried! and even the preacher talked like in the movies!!!

That's all folks!

Mwah!

back in nyc

2008-05-08T15:20:00.011-04:00

hey guys!

after a week in nantes where i've spent some time with my family and some friends, i'm now back in new york city. here's a little video i made to show you my 7 women in nantes i'd like you to meet.

it's been quite hectic at the airport in new york, because the guy of the customs has asked me so many questions, like am i working in the us? how come i'm coming back? where am i staying? how do i survive financially? etc. can't they just understand i just have lots of money and i'm just spending it??? lol

florence and her friend cyndia are in new york so i'm spending some time with them. we've been out a couple of time already, we've met some people (flo's met a couple of guys!!!), we've been on the top of the rockefeller centre (which i prefered to the empire state building because it's much newer, much less crowded and you get a wonderful view of central park...), we've eaten out a lot... i'll post a few picture in couple of weeks because the girls don't have their cables, so they'll have to email me the photos. tomorrow night we're going to a 1984 party in a club and then the girls will sleep at mine. and we've decided to go to a black mass in harlem on sunday morning.

cyndia, florence and i

that's all for today, thanx fred for your comment, and i've promised a sentence in french for my friend willy, so:

coucou willy, tu vois je ne t'oublie pas, merci pour vendredi soir et gros bisous a cece et aline!

mwah!

in nantes

2008-04-28T11:48:00.004-04:00

hey guys!

ok i'm actually in nantes for a week, so i should bring you some pictures back. i'll also try to do a little video, i want to introduce you to my 7 women and also nina! that should be posted in a week or so, maybe even before!

I've met my ex-workmates ben and demba in the week also and i should get a picture soon to post. so as soon as i have it, it'll be here!

sorry for the lack of news and the lame post...

thank you fatime (believe me, a face-lift for me is like the best investment this earth needs!) and fred (yes i found shangai in the end, pfew!) for your comments!

mwah!

memories, memories...

2008-04-23T14:14:00.003-04:00

hey guys!

as boring as it may sound, i don't have much to tell as i've been working a lot and not doing much next to that since gus is gone. so i thought i'd just post another video of us being drunk and silly after going out.

by the way, who's shangai? just my teddy bear! hope you enjoyed it...

mwah!

suspended from work!!!

2008-04-17T15:50:00.002-04:00

hey guys!

yesterday i went to work at 7pm, and my manager went to me and asked me what happened to me today. i was like "what the f**k are you talking about?" it happened that when sending the schedule for the week on sunday night, it said in the email that we were supposed to have a meeting at 2pm yesterday. but when i opened the email i was getting ready to go out with gus and didn't pay attention to that. so i forgot. apparently they tried to call me but in america, when you have a pay as you go phone, you pay when you send texts or when you call, but you also pay the same when you receive texts or calls. -_- and as i didn't have any more credit on my phone, obviously, i couldn't get any calls.

so as a result of that they've decided to suspend me from work for 2 days. so i'm going back to work only tomorrow. well i can use some time off anyway. but that is just stupid, and that confirms what i've been thinking about for a while: i wanna leave nyc! and that job. so flo's coming next month, and then i just wanna go to the next step: montreal!

ok some of you are not gonna be happy with the following news, but i couldn't resist ;-p

happy birthday victoria beckham!

mwah!

copine no more in new york :(

2008-04-15T16:54:00.008-04:00

hey guys!

i went to the airport with gus this morning to say goodbye. back at home at 8am and i've slept all day!

the weekend was annoying as i had to work long days and gus had to keep his days busy on his own. so he's been walking a lot, and on a couple of dates here and there. oh and he's done some more shopping too, of course, you know him! that was for friday, saturday and sunday.

sunday night we've been to a club called hiro ballroom and had a good time. the club is well known in here, and it was a real surprise for us to realize that it was actually free to get in! then we discovered how they make their money: the drinks are really expensive! the most expensive drinks i've experienced in new york city! but there was good music, a nice japanese deco and of course we got completely pissed! for sure!

tuesday was a bit hectic because of a big hangover we both had. but we managed to walk around in town. we went to a real funny place called m&m's world which is a big store with everything m&m's in it!!! we discovered tastes we didn't know could exist and i'm sure you can find only in the us, like peanut butter, crispy mint or even cherry! and so many colors, like different shades of blue and even grey. they even sell lots of different product with the m&m's brand on, like pillows, magnets, figurines, shorts, and even pajamas, that gus bought! here are the display of the help-yourself candies you can buy. and it's just a part of the store!

after that we went to a nice bar-lounge called ritz, and then on the hunt for a place where to get a soup and a cheese platter over a glass of red wine. but amazingly we didn't find such a place, so we just took a cab home, went to a store, bought the cheese and the soups and ate that at my place! which wasn't that bad actually. after a couple of hours sleep, we then caught a cab to the airport and after a hot chocolate at starbuck's it was time to say goodbye!

thanks for reading. i'm also going to add so more pictures to the previous post. thanks to fred for your comment. i'm actually on skype, so we can talk for free!!! and i have a webcam now!

copine: missing you here already!

mwah!

copine in new york!!!

2008-04-11T15:13:00.008-04:00

hi guys!

gus arrived on tuesday night. we went straight home and he was so jet lag and tired that we just called it a night.

on wednesday, we did LOTS of shopping (well he did! lol) then we went to chinatown and down to brooklyn bridge. here's a view of downtown manhattan you have from the bridge and a funny picture i love!

and yesterday thursday we went to see the statue of liberty, but didn't go on a boat to there because we would have had to queue for hours.

instead, we went to do some more shopping (told you everything was so cheap in here!) and on the top of the empire state building, which is nice. they gave us a picture of us with a silly background, but we had to pay $20 if we wanted it, which is ridiculous, so we just decided to steal it! lol. here's another view of downtown manhattan from the 80-something-th floor of the empire state building.

after that, hum, more shopping (no comment!) and we went out yesterday in 4 bars (nowhere, boiler room, wine bar where i work and the cock) in my area! we got completely pissed but had so much fun!

we're now going to eat something in a restaurant and then i'm working all weekend! :(

some more news soon, gus says hi to everyone!

thanks to fred, nina and flo for your comments.

mwah!

in nantes at the end of the month

2008-04-07T16:44:00.005-04:00

hi guys!

yep i've booked my flights, i arrive in nantes on the 29th and will leave on may 5th in the morning! can't wait to see my 7 women and you nina, and we'll have to go and see aline!

i'm really excited because gurvan arrives tomorrow! so we're gonna have to do lots of sight seeings and shopping. and knowing gus, i won't be able to sleep until the afternoon because he's gonna wake me up! lol.
by the way, his mum was in london this weekend and he sent me a few pictures. i'm posting this one, because i love it. awww i miss you so much guys! and knowing that when i'm back in london you'll be gone, that's really sad...

who posted a comment and deleted it??? thank you nina: yes the tattoo did hurt to be done, but it was quick as it's just outlines. can't wait to see you! and thank you fred too: london is my next destination, end of july. you know everyone in here tells me about my scarf you got me for christmas last year! they love it! lol.

hopefully gus won't forget to bring his camera and the cables, so that i can upload pictures in the week. oh, and i'm thinking about doing something different to this blog. something much nicer for you guys! you'll see!

mwah!

friendship never ends... and my new tattoo!

2008-04-01T22:49:00.005-04:00

hi everyone!

first of all, i'd like to introduce you to aline, who is my friends cecile and willy's daughter. she was born last tuesday. congratulations to the happy parents and welcome to our world little cutie!

following last week's post, i can confirm that gus is coming to new york next tuesday for a week! can't wait. also, flo will be here from the 4th to the 16th of may with her friend. so hopefully they'll bring their camera and their cable so that i can show you pictures of that. i have also decided to go back to nantes at the end of april for a week. i haven't been able to book my tickets yet as there are problems with air france's american website, but that should be done in the week. so nina i'll see you very soon! by the way let me explain why i'm going to nantes: because i have only a 3 months visa, so i need to get out of the country a bit, and that way i can go back and start another 3 months visa. if i stay in the us, i become illegal.

i had been thinking for a few months about getting a star attooed to mark my new york experience, well it's now done! i had it tattooed this afternoon at 6.30 on my right shoulder. hope you like it! it's actually two stars...

i've been thinking again and i might not stay that long in new york actually. with gus coming for a week and flo for 2, i guess i will have seen most of the city with them. and i'm getting bored of new york, and i hate my job! well i hate the place i work at! plus, my friend jim from montreal told me something i hadn't thought about: if i arrive at the end of july, all the summer jobs will have been already taken by the students on holiday. so i might go at the end of may, and look for a summer job! we'll see, i'm still thinking!

thanks to flo, nina and fred for your comments (always the same ones!) love ya!

mwah!

friends visiting

2008-03-27T17:38:00.003-04:00

hi there!

i'm sorry i don't write much, but i just don't have much to tell!

i've been talking with my friend clarisse on skype the other day and she might come and visit me at the end of july for a couple of weeks. she has holidays to take and she might come for a few days in new york, then as i'll need to get out of the country for my visa, we might go to some island (i don't remember where! lol) where her father has a flat for a week, and then as it'll be time for me me to move to montreal, she might even come with me there for a few days! well that's just projects but we never know!!!

by the way, skype is like the phone without paying anything, so if you are on skype, i'll try to keep mine open more often and my username is alan_a_

not only were we talking about that with clarisse, but gus called me today and told me he had found some really cheap tickets for new york and might come for a week... in two weeks time!!! would love that! my copine in here!!! lol

and i'm also gonna have to leave the country at the end of april for my visa, wanted to go back to nantes for a week but i can't find cheap tickets for nantes, and i've found some for london. so i may come to london soon! i'll need to stay somewhere guys!!! ;)

oh and for you all who didn't go to the spice girls concerts, just wanted to share that with you. it's the opening of the concerts, what you can see on the big screens and how the screen moved! so sweet! and at the end, each girl appeared in front of a white small screen and they started with the "la, la, la..." from spice up your life! awww!

thanx again for your comments!

nina: how's cecile? shouldn't be long now! how's the week all alone in your big house?

fred: there's not much loulou's news, that's why i moved to some spice girls news!

mwah!

spice girls crowned icons!

2008-03-21T14:42:00.011-04:00

hey guys!

yesterday, the spice girls have won an award on the capital radio icons awards. capital radio is a big radio in london, and they were giving awards to the biggest icons, and they insisted on the fact the spice girls really deserved them, after 9 number one singles and over 55 million records all over the world. melanie c and emma went on the stage to collect the award and thanked the fans before all. later in the day, kelly rowland showed up to receive an award for destiny's child and she said: "and big shout-out to the spice girls! we love you! we love you! you're the pioneers! i love you!" you can say what you want about the spice girls but they really deserve this award!

ok not much for me though, work and not doing much next to that. so i'm gonna move to your comments straight away:

flo: silly you, how could i forget about you??? i indeed miss london, more and more i would say, and i can't wait to be back! but in the meantime, i can't wait for you to be here in new york. i've got so many things to show you! when exactly are you arriving then?

herve: i have always considered you as a friend, and especially after the few months before i moved to new york, when we've moved closer i think. if your picture's not on it - because that's what you were referring to i guess - it's just that i was thanking the people who posted here the most! when do you plan to go back to france? everyone is abandoning me! :'( for mariah, let me know when and where she's signing here and i'll go get an autograph for you! and for my so-called american accent i don't know what you're talking about, i have a strong south london accent people say here! but i know i've taken on a few things and i hate it really! gotta get rid of them!!!

nina: the most faithful on here, but where's your english??? so you're gonna be on your own again for a week if clair's going away! tell aurelia and damien i want pictures of their honeymoon, and you gotta tell me straight away when cecile gives birth! oh and dada and olivier both have a girlfriend??? wow i want to know more!!! steal pictures!!! ;-)

love you guys! mwah!

A bit of geography...

2008-03-17T19:19:00.007-04:00

hey guys!

today a boring post, but I thought some of you might be interested! i'm gonna tell you about new york city. you have to know that first of all it's divided in 5 borough: bronx, queens, brooklyn, staten island and manhattan. manhattan is like the real new york and the other ones are the suburbs. like seen on the picture underneath:

manhattan has horizontal streets and vertical avenues almost all over. i mean well downtown there are diagonal streets with names and more on the coasts, but over most manhattan, the streets and avenues are well parallel one to each other. and it's really easy to find yourself because every corner is indicated by a sign (like you can see a bit on that horrible picture of me below) and the streets go from first street to one-hundred-something-th street and avenue go from avenue c, b, a then first avenue to eight avenue. numbers go from right to left for the avenues and from the bottom to the top for the streets. so i live on 7b myself for example, which shows i'm on the east side of the city and downtown.

they also have divided manhattan in 5 parts: downtown, midtown, uptown, harlem and washington heights. but it's not really well respected as if you're in harlem and want to go to washington heights, you'll say you're going uptown! quite complicated i know!

fifth avenue dividing the island in two, we'll talk about living on the east side or the west side. my address is therefore east 7th street. which makes everything so simple. no a to z needed!!! but there's a diagonal avenue also crossing most of manhattan, and i'm sure you've heard of it: broadway.

manhattan is also divided in areas: the financial district (with the world trade center), chinatown, tribeca, soho (which is not the gay part like in london, but just means south houston street and shows the beginning of the streets having numbers and no more names), lower east side, west village, east village (where i live), chelsea, murray hill, gramercy, hell's kitchen or midtown west, midtown east, upper west side and upper east side. easy, innit?

i have met a few english people lately and that's so nice and that confirms what i said in my last post, i'll definitely be back in london! miss it so much! feeling rather home sick at the moment!

thanx for your comments, nina i translated fred's comment for you and fred don't worry i'll be back very soon and that'll go quick!

mwah!!! love you!!!

planning the rest of this year

2008-03-14T17:26:00.005-04:00

hey guys!!!

hope everything's cool for you! here it's fine! i've actually been thinking and came to some conclusions, good news for you! america is really fun, i love new york, but that's not where i want to live! i mean that could change by the time i come back, but eventually i will come back! i plan to stay 4 and a half more months in new york, then see montreal, vancouver, san francisco and los angeles, but also to be back in nantes for christmas with my family, and new year's eve with my friends (that's with you, nina!) i want to spend a couple of weeks there (well if i have enough money! lol) and then go back to london, find a nice apartment and a nice job. hope you like that!

thanx again for your comments:

fred: don't cry, see i'll be back soon!

nina: how could i forget such wonderful friends! i love you for life!

and let me introduce you to sandy who works for eurostar on the belgian side and who i met in london as we have a friend in common!!! the world is so small!

and i just wanna send a big kiss to emily and gus who never comment but i know they read this from time to time. i love you guys, what we've shared that crazy year living together and arguing all the time is the best house share (and the best house) i have ever had! now go burn sandra's house! lol

now to finish, a little game: where is alan? on those pictures, alan is hidden somewhere taking a photo or shouting! did you find him???

love you guys!

mwah!

after a month...

2008-03-11T11:56:00.009-04:00

hey guys!

waking up and going on the internet between two sleeps in what i do quite regularly at the moment... i know it's taken me ages to post and i apologize for that! i gotta say i've been very busy lately working (a little), going out and getting drunk! and this time it's not because of the spice girls as we have no news at all!!! are they planning a secret end of tour for the summer???

ok i'm working quite a lot now at work but open to new suggestions. my flatmate ron took my resume and said he'd show it to a friend of his who works in restaurants. and my friend paul said he'd talk to a couple of friends of his who have gay bars. not that i like being around gay people, but hey one's gotta work!

my friend emma just flew back to london yesterday night, and she has shit loads of pictures and videos of me on her camera, so i should upload some in the week for you! in the meantime, i've decided to help you put a face on names you read regularly. so i've uploaded pictures of my friends who post the most on here. first of all, here's my all times best friend nina. nina and i have known since we were kids, our parents knew each other and we've been to all school together. she's here on the right. next to me on the picture is her husband clair and in between there's my best gay friend tiph boy! nina, you gotta join facebook!

and for you nina, meet fred first of all, whose my best friend in london. i've met him when at my first job in that french restaurant, and we've had so many crazy nights at g-a-y together!!! hey loulou, i have a secret to tell you!!!

this is flo, who i've got closer and closer lately actually. in the last year or so i would say. she was supposed to move to new york with me, but financially she couldn't and i just guess that was not the right time, but i'm sure she'll enjoy new york more in may! by the way, thanks a lot for letting me sleep over at your place for my last two days in london, flo!

and this is fatime, the most beautiful black girl i know, getting drunk and crazy as always! lol

ok it's only 12:30pm now, going back to bed! miss you lots!

mwah!

Need a new job!!!

2008-03-04T01:30:00.004-05:00

hi guys!!!

do you like the new picture above? it represents my mood at the moment...

hope everything's cool for you. nothing's really new here for me. i miss london and i miss you guys but i'm still gonna stay a bit more because i still love new york. people here are very friendly.

i have started this job a week ago and can you believe it? they're already pissing me off! i mean i received my new schedule for the week today and i realize i have 3 days off this week! i need to work, i need the money! but the worst is they emailed me today saying that there was a change in the planning and that finally i was off tomorrow too. that makes me work only 3 days this week! how am i supposed to pay my rent like that??? well i'm going to bed now, tomorrow morning i wake up and i'll hand more resumes out i guess!

to finish with something happier, here is another picture of my meeting with victoria, when she actually signed my t-shirt!

thanx again to those who commented, nina and fred, i love you guys! i'm feeling better about the girls, but i love those bitches! nina let me know for your work!

mwah!

and as my friend dave would say: "it's a spiceworld, and i'm just living in it!"

a day in toronto and how to get very emotional...

2008-02-28T18:21:00.007-05:00

hey everyone!

i'm back from Toronto where I've gone for the

last ever spice girls concert!!!

on monday night, after work, i've gone to buy the marc jacobs t-shirt on which victoria poses for skin cancer, and it looks great, doesn't it?

then i've made my way to the station to buy a bus ticket for toronto, even if i didn't have a ticket for the concert. after 9 hours in a fucking bus i couldn't even sleep well in and not more than 5 hours sleep, i was in toronto. the city's not great, lots of construction everywhere and not a clean city. plus it was so cold and snowing! i had met mengfan, who's also a spice girls fan from new york on the internet and we had agreed on meeting in toronto and drive back in the night. i went to her hotel to meet her, grab a shower and we made our way to holt renfrew, a posh store in toronto (a bit like selfridges or harrod's) in which victoria was doing a signing. we had to buy something from her collection though. so i decided to get the cheapest thing: a pair of tiny shorts for $175.00 ($180 something after tax, because in america, all the prices written are before tax, even in the supermarket... so annoying -_-) and i then got a refund. there was two lines, one for the people who had bought something from her range (you needed to show the ticket) and one for the ones who didn't buy anything. i don't need to explain that there was enough people in our line, so that the other ones never got to get anything signed. i joined my friends emma and dave in the line, and then jumped the queue which was not a bad thing. they were taking polaroid pictures of everyone but a bit before us they ran out. how annoying! so when my turn came, i shouted at the crowd to take pictures of me and her. she signed my t shirt and i went to the crowd to look for someone with my picture. there were a couple but i've lost a fucking email address because my phone is getting stupid and won't open my drafts anymore!!! i got this one though:

then we went to air canada centre where the concert took place. we went to the box office straight away and found some fucking great floor seats for the normal price. they always do that, we've noticed, releasing great seats at the last minute! i actually didn't know that i could get emotional over that tour. the spice girls themselves were teary, but on goodbye, my friends emma and mengfan and i just burst into tears! geri saw us (well we had been shouting her name since the beginning and we were next to the catwalk, so she really couldn't miss us!) and she started crying also! that was so sad! i've dreamt about that reunion for 10 years, i've always told myself that this tour would be a way to pass onto something else, forget the girls and think about myself a bit more, but when you've been a fan for 12 years, talking about them, listening to their music, and having an interest in everything they do every single day for that period of time, they take a big part of your life. i know this is a one-way thing, that they don't even remember my name, but i can't help but loving them and when i realized on tuesday that that was the end, that i would never see them again like that, the five of them, that just made me totally sad. it was like losing your best friend. i love those girls to pieces!

mengfan and i drove back to new york (yes i've driven a car in america and on the snow!) and i managed to catch a couple of hours sleep in the car. back in new york, i went home, rested a bit, took a shower and it was time to go back to work!

once again thanks to those who commented:

nina: how did the interview go? can't believe you never saw fan de!!! and my room costs $200 a week, which is roughly €150, which is nothing! everyone's jealous!!!

flo: you have to watch what's going on in atwt, it's so freeky!!! and especially the little video i sent you the link for, it's so sweet!!!

fred: i'm so sorry i miscalled you!!! i miss you so much too!!!

mwah!

moving in the snow... + link to fan de

2008-02-24T03:45:00.005-05:00

hi guys!

i have moved into my new room yesterday!!! so i've moved from this:

to that:

it's been quite difficult to move my big suitcase in the snow, so i had to call a cab at the end, but it was worth it! the room is much bigger, i can even do my yoga in it, so i need to buy a new yoga mat now! i had to go and buy sheets and pillows and comforter and they're not cheap in here i found! but i'm happy!

i've started my job tonight and it went well, but i just can't wait to get my money now! and i need to be off on tuesday for the last ever spice girls show in toronto! i've talked to a fan who's renting a car and he's going on monday, but we've decided that after the concert we would go back to nyc together splitting the driving and turning up the volume of the spice girls songs we would listen to!!! that'd be real fun!

oh and i've been working on something too! you know i met the spice girls for a french TV show back in 2000 right? so i've worked on the subtitles, and putting the real sound in english for the meeting, so that english people can actually understand, and it's now on youtube! here's the link:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PF67LHD7kTk

thanks again to those who have posted comments. nina, you're officially the most into it and the most present and i thank you for that. for those who don't know it, nina and i have known each other since we were babies, we've been to school together until we were 19!!! thanks for the picture on flickr, i like that one! you should post the ones from our wild teenager nights!!!

fatime, don't you worry, how could i forget so wonderful friends! especially when they give me news (contrarily to others! ;-))

love ya guys, mwah!

Chicago the Musical in Broadway

2008-02-21T17:30:00.008-05:00

hello guys!

that's all news i have, i went to see chicago in broadway yesterday. chicago is actually one of my favorite movies and i wanted to see the musical in london, but never did. tim, my friend who used to be a dancer on broadway a few years back, invited me as his friend stephen got us tickets. the seats were pretty good as we were on the 5th row and right in the middle. the actresses playing roxie and velma were great, as was mama morton, and billy flinn was played by john schneider, who used to be in the dukes of hazzard. that's the blond guy on the picture:

i've decided i'm gonna push tim to go back to musicals. he wants to but i'm just gonna make sure he does. we went to a bar where they had acts singing or doing something else, that was cool. then i joined my friend william in a karaoke bar, where i sang a few songs and met the two hosts, a swiss guy called jeremy and a lovely lady called mimi, who had her own mini-mimi!!!

i didn't start work today finally because they're refurbishing the bar and they could not open today as the work is not finished. but i start tomorrow at 1pm.

ho, and tomorrow i'm moving to my new place! i've found a cheap big room. i have to buy a duvet (or a comforter as they call it in here) and some pillows and sheets, but once i'll have moved the bed to a corner, next to the wardrobe, i'll be able to do my yoga in my room!!! i'll try to take a picture of it.

thanks to fatime (i'm not sure fat's a great nickname though), celine (you're not the first person to call me alanou though), and of course the most regular on here nina for your comments! love you guys! keep reading!

mwah!

spice girls live in madison square garden

2008-02-20T01:46:00.018-05:00

hello you lot!

like you must have read it in the title, i made it to madison square garden to see the spice girls live on monday night and that was, as victoria would say, "major!" my friend carol and i ended up standing right in front of the end of the catwalk!!! this is how close to the stage we were:

and this is how well we saw the girls when they were right at the front:

while singing mama, the girls brought their children on stage. cruz, victoria's latest son, literally stole teh show by break dancing!!! that was so sweet!

and at the end of the song, bluebell, geri's daughter took the mic and sang, a capella s'il vous plait, "mama, i 'ovyou!!!" she was adorable!!!

and as a last shot from the concert, here is victoria's solo part, a catwalk when she makes fun of herself like no tabloid will ever be able to, and i love her for that:

after the concert, we ran to a taxi to the hotel, to try and meet them when they get in. some of them had already arrived, but geri, after writing on the blog for the official website, went out and even if most pictures did not work, i managed to have a glimpse!

but the best was going back to the hotel this morning. we saw 3 spice girls in like 5 minutes!!! first one out was melanie c. i've worked on the picture, but you know my phone's camera is so bad! she was so sweet!

second out was geri. she went straight in the car to put on bluebell's seatbelt, and then she came out to sign stuff, talk a bit to us but her manager asked us not to take any pictures.

but taking too much care of geri, we almost missed melanie b who had made her way to her car already! she was about to go, her manager saying they did not have time. the car went, then stopped, and she went out, took pictures with everyone!!! thank you sofie for the picture, at least this one's much better than the one with melanie c! i showed mel my picture of me and her at fan de when we kiss and she said she remembered and "that was funny!"

i then spent a time with sofie, and we enjoyed ourselves taking silly pictures with a taxi...

... and a police car that i tried to rob... lol

oh and the french people will understand the joke with the last two letters of nypd! lol

to finish, talking about my friends who i am not going to see for a while now, here's a picture of all of us in front of a mini statue of the liberty:

i have also changed all the pictures on last friday's post "a day at the beach" with better quality ones! thanks again to sofie, carol and emma for those!

now, thank you guys again for your comments.

flo: i have not gotten any news back from my job, i hope they still want me to work for them! but there's a chance i might still be in new york in may! but will you come?? only kidding!

and stop stealing my magv's words!

nina: thanks for making the effort to write in english! kiss everyone for that! missing you here!

celine: about gurvan, good luck! lol and yes i get a free drink after my shift, so i can try the wines i'm selling!

love you guys!

young professional...

2008-02-17T21:15:00.007-05:00

hi everyone!

you are reading the blog from someone who works in new york!!! hehe, yeh, i got the job at that wine bar, i just got an email about it! so who's gonna be fired then? that sounds like big brother! but they're doing refurbishment at the moment and i will not start before thursday, and i really need the money now, but we'll see.

going out on friday i've met that guy who told me he lived in the area and had a room available that i might be able to take. the room is $200 per week, cheaper that what i pay here! but he emailed to day saying that i would have to stay at least 6 months, and that's not possible as i have a 3 months visa! unless i go on holiday for a week just before 3 months, come back and, hop, that's another 3 months starting! hehe.

and another good news: i have found a great ticket for the spice girls for tomorrow on ticketmaster, that means it's face value and it's sure it's a real ticket! but they asked me for the US address my credit card was registered on, and i gave the address from my hotel, but it's registered in the uk, so i'm not really sure it's gonna work. so tomorrow early in the morning, i'll go to madison square garden and see if i can take the ticket. if not, i know that guy who's selling good tickets.

by the way, i was telling you about my spice girls fans friends who i meet with a lot at the moment. angie went back to canada and she

put a few pictures on facebook. so let me introduce you to, from left to right, sofie, a random lady, carol, a poser, emma (who i know from london) and angie (a star on denden, the official spice girls forum):

and here's a little picture of me going crazy in the subway (see, i am still that mad even so many

miles away!):

yesterday night, emma, carol, their friend marcelo and i went to a corean karaoke bar. you know you have to pay $2.00 per song in those, but that didn't stop us! so we started singing lots of songs, from spice girls (of course) to britney spears, stacie orrico, etc. it was a big fun until the girl at the bar said we could not sing anymore because those customers were fed up with our singing. i don't know if it's me and marcelo's version of "i'm a slave for you" they didn't like but we decided to leave then. we explained that we were just having fun, that we had had drinks, that we had paid $28.00 only for the songs and that if they don't want to hear us, they'd better either sing their own songs, or leave. well we had a blast anyways!

response to the comments now:

thanks guys for your comments, that is always good to read. now, to fatime (and fred who agreed): i never said some people read it more or whatever, i just thanked nina and flo because they were the ones who commented on the last post! this way i can now thank nina, celine, and you fatime and fred for your comments! love you guys!

by the way, instead of posting with "anonymous", you can choose "name/url" and you can enter just a name and no url. that should work.

mwah!

a day at the beach!!!

2008-02-15T18:24:00.008-05:00

hi guys!!!

ok yesterday was kind of a special day for a citizen as i met with

my friends i was telling you about on weds and

we took a train to... the beach!!!

first of all here's a picture from the subway of the brooklyn bridge:

arriving at conley island, which is south of brooklyn, we went to this place called nathan's famous, which is supposed to be famous for its hot dogs, but they had nothing special at all, and the place was dirty!!! here's an picture from the outside:

then, when emma arrived (because she didn't wake up on time), we went on to the beach!!!

how fun is that to be in new york and on the beach!!! here's me and emma, and a little movie i've made with my phone:

so we then went back to manhattan to grab something to eat. little picture of me next the american subway:

gosh, you guys wanted pictures? here you have a bunch!!! well the bad thing is my camera is shit on my phone, but my friends should send me pictures soon, so i'll swap those ones with new better ones.

my friends went on the top of the rockefeller center to watch the whole city from there, but i couldn't as i had to go to work for my second training. the training went well, i'll receive an email on sunday to know if i have the job or not. either i have it, and i should because i'm brilliant (!), or i won't and they've just taken me on a training just to get an extra waiter for free for two days. which is actually silly because they hardly pay anyway.

today i went to hand some more resumes, i then went on the internet, looking for a good deal for the spice girls concert at madison square garden on monday and for the very last gig in toronto on the 16th. we'll see how it goes, i can't find one ticket on its own!

i don't know yet what i'm gonna do tonight but hey. it's friday and i feel like going out a bit.

finally, to flo and nina: thanks a million for your comments, they're not here to fill the page, it just means that you are interested in what i write and that you think about me! love you guys!

a day with some spice girls fans

2008-02-13T22:25:00.004-05:00

hey bitches!

first of all how do you like the title image??? not very well done ok but i don't have paint or photoshop so...

i'm not sure i'm going to continue posting on my french blog, as i think most people who read my blogs can read in english, so we'll see...

today i've spent the day with my friend emma from london and her friends from denden, a spice girls forum. we had fun and now i have someone to visit the city with! we got crazy singing spice girls song, i'm sure you didn't wanna be here! lol. i'll see the girls again tomorrow and we'll even go up the rockefeller center to have a view of the whole city at the end of the afternoon. then i'll have to go to work for my second non-paid training day!

here are a few picture of me with a replica of the statue of liberty and in front of the empire state building:

i'll also post pictures of the whole group of us soon, as soon as i get them, because i can't take good pictures as i've lost my good camera phone :(

to nina: thanks for your comment. things are getting fine now in new york indeed. i don't know was that job thing will work out but it'd better or i will have to leave soon. yep, money goes very quickly even if everything is so cheap in here! and i really miss london, but i don't want to leave just yet!

have a good day guys and we talk soon! love ya!

alan a. x

It's snowing A LOT!!!

2008-02-12T17:55:00.004-05:00

hey guys!!!

it's been snowing a lot today! here is a picture of the all-white-by-the-snow new york, when i went out of my hotel this afternoon! and it hasn't stopped all afternoon! so when I said on my french blog that new york is a too big and warm city for the snow to stay i guess i was wrong. but unfortunately it's not snowing anymore now and they say it's gonna be raining tomorrow :( but that made me really feel happy.

i was out yesterday with caitlen, a resident here at the hotel, and it was so cold! like -10˚c!!! we went to that bar 10 minutes walk from here and we had a good time. lots of pop corn, lots of vodka and coke as usual and even one round offered by the (very cute) bartender. caitlen told me she got this double room on the 4th floor with tv for the same price as my tiny single room with no socket! she's so nice, she even said she would talk to the guys at the reception for me!

i had a trial today in a wine bar. trial here means 6 hours unpaid, times 2. i'm also working on thursday from 6 and i can't even get my share of the tips, because it's only a training! they expect you to know your wines well, and there are about 60 different sorts!!!! and if i get the job, that means they're gonna fire someone!!! nice way to get respect from your colleagues! lol but i kinda made friends with that spanish guy who might have a room for me, for cheap, but it's in harlem... we'll see!

i'm gonna say something i have said on my french blog already (sorry for those who read both on here.) you know about americans being being fatter than the rest of the world usually (they say it so themselves, i'm not just being mean!) but it's actually the case for lots of things. for example, i went to mcdonald's and a medium meal had bigger fries than a large meal in europe, the drinks are huge too, and they don't know any meal called "cheeseburger meal", they only have the "2 cheeseburgers meal" (and it's the cheaper deal)!!! and their special burgers are not quarter pounders or half pounders but... pounders!!! same for the huge pizza we had last weekend (i posted a picture in the last post, even if it doesn't look that big on the photo) same for a cheese and bacon bagel i had, they cut it in too and put 4 slices of cheese on each half!!! that was too much! but there's something i like in mcdonald's though: they have dr pepper as a drink!!!!!!

i'll finish with a little thing for fatime and for those who don't have a google account and who have tried to post comments: now everyone is able to do it. just click on where it says how many comments have been posted underneath and choose to post with a nickname that you enter. and i will reply to every post! come on you have no excuse now!

love you guys, take care and don't do anything i wouldn't do! (that leaves a marge!)

alan a. x

one week!

2008-02-10T14:57:00.000-05:00

hi my friends!

well it's been a week already i've been in new york!

it's hard to find a job, especially on the weekend so i've had a break for the weekend and i'll start again tomorrow.

but yesterday i was out with my friend tim, a guy i've met in a bar in the week, and we went to a friend of his, jessica, for a video-pizza house party (tim with the HUGE american pizza on the

picture!) then with his other friend stephen we went to a neighborhood bar, as they call them here, where tim and steve knew the bartenders and got me an appointment for monday, when i'll have to bring my resume and have a chat with them. as well, a wine bar where i have given my resume has just called me and wants to see me on

tuesday and be trained on thursday! cool! of course, i will let you know about everything!

thanks for you guys who posted your comments.

the link is about that singer i discovered in a movie in london and he's performing in new york next saturday, and i'm listening a lot to his music at the moment, because it's very easy to listen to.

ok, i'm now joining my friend jason in a bar, he's from california but in new york for the weekend. i'll ask the manager of the bar if they're hiring! lol

special message:

FLO: been everywhere, i can't find your t-shirt about Heath so try to find me addresses of shops where they have it!

love you guys!

after a few days...

2008-02-06T15:52:00.000-05:00

hey everyone!!!

just a quick drop to let you know that everything is fine here, but I need a job!

i got a sim card so i now have cell number and i was able to print my cvs. the thing is to leave them and i wish florence was there to push me!

i had taken pictures yesterday but i have lost my phone in a bar :) well my phone i used in france with my english sim card in, but it's annoying.

will write again soon, don't have much to say today...

In New York!!!

2008-02-04T13:05:00.000-05:00

hello everyone!!!!

i've arrived yesterday in New York!!! at last!

well actually i arrived quite early but it didn't show as we then had to queue for 2 hrs for the customs. So annoying.

i found it difficult then to find my way to manhattan as the only train I found was going to jamaica station... how on earth am I supposed to know where the hell is Jamaica Station?

anyway, I found a bus which took me to grand central station, yes THE grand central station from the films!!!! lol. and before the bus got in the bridge (because we didn't drive ON the bridge, but in a tunnel IN the bridge) I could see the empire state building!!!

i then took a cab to my hostel, which is alright, yet quite crap, so I'm gonna try to find something else today. and i need to try to find a job also! and i wanna find a sim card so that i can receive texts and calls!

i went to eat something at a place called "ray's pizza" yesterday, but they put too much fat and cheese in my bagel for me! 4 slices of cheese, i'm not kidding! but the name made me think of my former manager in metro restaurant!

i then went to a gay bar in the neighborhood. i talked to that guy who was really sweet and after 3 vodka and coke (each double at $3!!!), i went to bed. but in gay bars you find free gay magazines and i have a map of manhattan with all the gay bars here! lol.

i came in starbucks to check my emails and to write this, but as silly i am, i forgot my adapter and i cannot plug in my computer and i have to be quick because i have only 4 min remaining on my battery!

funny story: i asked for a large skinny latte, but apparently there's a whole variety of skinny lattes, so the guy told me to order a large non fat skinny latte next time! lol

i'm now going to go back to the hostel, to leave my laptop, then i'm gonna go see that place in chelsea (the new yorker soho!) with room advertised as "$130 weekely." i need to find out if it's $130 a night, but pay weekly, or $130 a week and it's crap, but i might still have a look at the room!

and i need a sim card!

do not hesitate to comment!

love you guys!

alan x.