Before...something

I love the Before Sunrise and Sunset movies, Linklater is a genius! Both movies are rich in good dialogue and we get to know the characters so well that we can sometimes identify with them in small ways as fellow humans. Eventhough I think it's good how the last one ends, at the same time I'm left desiring more good conversation, more witty insights derived from everyday life and wanting true closure from a seemingly open ended, never ending book of the relationship between these two characters. So I have written a scene or two that picks up where we were left hanging last, I will share it with you here:

scene: Jesse is sitting on the couch in Celine's apartment as Nina Simone plays in the background from her stereo system. The song ends and there is a silence before the next song (He was too good to me) starts. Jesse sips his tea and Celine starts talking as he puts it back down on the coffee table.

Celine: "Do you think your driver is still here?"
Jesse: "I don't know, how long do French cabbies ussualy wait? If this was New York, he probally already picked up and dropped off two people".
Celine: "Yeah, so what time is your flight"
Jesse: " I know it's soon"
Celine: "I'll walk you back to your "cabbie" she says in a sacasticly funny tone."
Jesse: "yeah that's probally better" -he walks back to the kitchen and puts his half-ful tea cup on the counter top-Celine goes to open the door as Jesse shuts it with his hand.

Jesse: "O.K. wait, is this how it ends this time? You know, I mean it was so short and it's never how you expect it to go, and since you don't know how it ought to go, you're always wanting more right?"
Celine: "I don't know, what else do you expect to happen?"
Jesse: "It's just that I have waited nine years to meet you again and it's over in one afternoon. I want to know you more, I believe that there's more to you after all this time."
Celine:"It's just like life, it's over before we know it, but we're preparing for it our whole lives like were expecting more than just our day to day living. (she looks away at the window for a short pause and starts talking again) It's sad to think that maybe we're not preparing for some great unknown but we're just preparing for death, no? Or just the afterlife, whatever that means to us."
Jesse: Maybe you're right, but for now I'm caught in that thrill of excitement that there IS more to it.
Celine: "We can't get caught up in all that stuff , at some point today we have to except reality, the reality that you have to leave and I have to keep on living here in Paris with...
Jesse: "Your photographer boy friend you never see?"
Celine:"...my cat. Isn't that easier to except than a scenario you have to make up?"Let's go" she said soft and quick
-as she opens the door her cat runs back out. Jesse and Celine walk back down the stairs of her apartment building. Arriving outside they are greeted by her neighbors who are in the middle of a festive cookout.
Neighbor: (in french)"Celine, why don't you and your friend join us for a while?"
Celine:"I'll be right back, he has to catch a plane"
Jesse: "Merci boquo" he said in his best French accent
-Celine and Jesse walk back to the tunnel where the driver had dropped them off, only to find it empty.
Celine: "Mondjeu"
Jesse: "O.K. this is awkward"
Celine: "I don't think he'll be back"
Jesse: "No, he may have just gone for some coffe and croisants"
Celine: "Come, you can call him from my place, you still have the number?"
-Jesse searches his pockets and retrieves the piece of paper with the number on it
Jesse: "Here it is, it's weird for me not to think this was supossed to go this way"
Celine: "No,no,no, don't give me that fate crap, cuz then I could say that you kept talking to me long enough to make the driver leave, which means that you were actually in charge of orchestrating this whole MEANT TO HAPPEN moment".
JESSE: "C'mon I'm too old for that stuff, why would he just up and leave when he said he'd wait, he seemed sincere enough at the time right?"
-Jesse and Celine walk back to her apartment as the sun starts to set.

That's about it for now, I wish I had more time for writting like this.

Musical Memories,

Memories often tie to music for me, like a soundtrack of my life. And if I could ever make one, it would be a huge compoloation of songs that people wouldn't expect to see on my list. However here are a few memories that will forever be coupled to music:

Don't look back in anger (Oasis) & Killing me softly (Fugees)- My three month stint in Ireland helping my parents move in the summer of 1996

I've got you under my skin (Frank Sinatra)- Taking up all the floor space at a wedding while dancing with Love, she was a bride's maid, we both were dancing fools

My Father's gun (Elton John)- My flights to and from Denver Colorado this past October

DJ Camillo reggea mix tape- Cleaning office buildings late into the night on a crew of three, good times...always

Right thru you (Allanis Morrisette)-Cruizin' the streets of Beckly, WV

Bullet with butterfly wings (Smashing Pumpkins)- Enjoying "illigal" music in my brothers room in 95'

Right here waiting (Richard Marxx)- being very nervous backstage before going on stage to perform on my guitar with my music school class in front of 600 people in 89' I believe it was

Zij (Marco Borsato)- A trip to Ireland on my own and then on to mainland Europe in 2002

River of Dreams (Billy Joel), Dromen zijn bedrog (Marco Borsato), anything by 2Unlimited & Thunderdome House, Guus Meeuwes, 2Pac, Tokyo Ghetto P, you oughta know(Allanis), Rowen Heze', Simply Red, 2 brothers on the fourth floor, Eros Ramazotti, The Key the secret (Urban Cookie Collective), Mariah Carey(all of Music Box & Daydream), Under the Bridge (Red Hot Chili Peppers),Hootie & the Blowfish, Cake boy (Sir Mix Alot), yesterdays (Guns & Roses), U96, to be with you (Mr. Big), Ugly Kid Joe, Pizza (Andre Van Duijn), Smells like Teen Spirit (Nirvana), Hadaway, Mr. Vain (Culture Beat), Laura Pausini, Rhythm is a Dancer (Snap), 2 prinses (Spin Doctors), Ace of Base, Bush,End of the Road (Boyz II Men) etc -High Scool!

Thank you for loving me (David Crowder Band)- A concertI attended with Lisa before we were dating, we danced, sang and prayed that day.

Tiny Dancer (Elton John)- Susanna!

Barbapappa theme song- My Brothers, I miss them...

African rain (Enya)- Writting a still unfinished "Short" story/ also a sleep aid in college dorm.

Louie Prima (Banan Split for my Baby)- Swing dancing on wednesday nights with the 3 musketeers.

Hard Day's Night (The Beatles)- Watching Hard Day's Night with Joel

The Luckiest (Ben Folds)- 3rd row with Lisa, reaching distance from the Baldwin he was playing.

Brick (Ben Folds Five)- College 1997 1st time I heard them/him

No Alarms, no surprises (Radiohead)- Debating my brother which OK Computer song was the best.

Too many more...

The Human Side

"I'd like to know where the riverboat sails tonight..." this song (My Father's Gun/Elton John) has been stuck in my head since I saw Elizabethtown on Friday. Crowe has such a good way of putting real human moments/elements in his movies that seem to have identifying value. Also he blends the music well. I thought of all the road trips I've been on, and how music was always a part of them, I recently took a road trip that involved great and intriguing conversation, and just like the movie it was in Kentucky.


There's always something new to discover on a road trip, even if it's the way the cashier at the Exxon hands me the pen to sign on the doted line to pay for my gummy bears and chocolate milk. The way she looks in the quiet of the woods. The feeling you get when you're driving distance away from your home but you're in a different world...escape. Southern cooking (butter pie?) History revisited or created for the 1st time. Getting to know someone better in a way that could have only happened here on this trip.