Premio Adonáis 2011
Vanesa Pérez-Sauquillo (accésit) y Jesús Francisco Bernal Castell (Premio Adonáis 2011) ayer despúes de la ceremonia en el Ateneo de Madrid.
Paul Gladis: 
Shamrock Isle
Well folks, in just a few hours I’ll be off to paradise they call Ireland, The Emerald Isle, Éire, or by it’s much more exciting name Fireland.
Vanesa and I’ll be gone for the next week, renting a car in Dublin, cruising up around Sligo, heading by my ancestor’s town of Foxford, illegally digging around Connemara for marble, Ignoring Galway and sweeping through to the Burren & Bunratty Castle. Then testing out fear of heights by driving down Connor’s Pass to Dingle. Who knows what we’ll be up to in the final few days, but I’m sure it’ll be full of pub visits, pints of Guinness and hopefully some colourful characters.
And since this is my first trip with the new image-capturing machine, I’d better get around to posting the last few trips I’ve taken as to
A. Give y’all something to do while bored at work over the next week and
2. give me the time to put up the Fireland photos as soon as I get home.
Have a wonderful week Me-hearties! (Wait, that’s pirate, not Irish.)
Póg mo thóin!!! (That means, “Good day!!” in Irish. I can’t wait to try it out when I get there.)
Ok… So… Here are the pics!!
Las Palmas
Return to Las Palmas - Part 2
The awful whip-crackers at my academy send me packing to the Island of Gran Canaria to get my teach on. This time they even made me stay over the weekend, giving me time to search for an escape route on the east of the island. I don’t know why I keep working there.
Semana Santa in Albondon
One of the reasons I love Spain is that for some reason (Easter) we get almost an entire week off in March (some years, April. Why can’t we agree on a day that Jesus died??)
So I headed down to my favorite spot in the south, the sleepy village of Albondon, where my good friends Nathan and Edurne live.
With us were Inti, Ari, Julito and Ali. 7’s a party, you know.
Here’s is also where my camera died and started me thinking about getting my new lovely one. Thanks rock!
(You may want to click on FULL SIZE for some of the panorama shots.)
Colmenarejo
Vanesa studied abroad in Paris 10 years ago and she got along so well with the others that they make it a point to get together and see each other once every few years. 10 years have past, they’re a little older and hopefully a little wiser. Definitely good people. I had a blast meeting them all and spending the weekend in the Sierras near Madrid.
Rome
I don’t know how we do it, but once a year, members of my family and I end up meeting at some random place abroad. Last year it was a visit to my brother Chris in Kyoto with Mom, Guy and Mwee. This year, I dropped in on Mom and Guy while they were gallivanting around Italy…
I only had a few days, so we made Rome our meeting place, and what a meeting place it was. It makes me wonder how they built it in so few hours…
Gran Canaria - Part III
Ok… So I went back again to teach.. Yadda Yadda Yadda. But this time I had company!!!! Wooohoo!! Vanesa brings some sunshine to the Canary Islands.
See you soon! ‘Til then, may the road rise to meet you and may the wind be always at your back.
Peas
The New Rig…
So… I know I’m seriously backlogged with the photos, but I thought I should toss up some of the first pics I took with my new gear. (Can I say gear now? It IS pretty kick ass…)
I’m still learning the bells and whistles… But before you know it, I’ll be snapping for real.
Peas.
The Recital
Recital - Vanesa and Paul
This recital is what brought Vanesa and I together in the first place. I remember trying to be all professional about this at the beginning, but she was just so adorable I couldn’t help myself.
And although we had trouble getting our act together long enough to seriously rehearse for any longer than 30 minutes, the recital went off without a hitch and was a big hit with the recital-goers. I believe over 100 people showed up, including the town councilor, for whom we had to wait… Tsk tsk tsk.
It was also my first introduction to almost everyone in Vanesa’s family. Needless to say, I was a little nervous. But they were all very nice people, especially her grandmother, who is an absolute sweetheart.
More Photos! Yeah!!!
Gotta get up to date before The Camera gets here…
Sunday Rastro With The Roomies
What else to do on a random Sunday morning but head out to the center of the city with a few mates and drink beer and eat tapas until the time of day that normal people usually go out to drink beer and eat tapas.
Party For Nate & Edurne
Our beloved friends Nathan and Edurne made it up to Madrid so we could throw them a little To-Do. Well, I’m not sure if that was the actual reason why they got their tokuses up north, but any reason was reason enough to throw them a party!
Ok! Gotta go see a play that my friends Marta, Parisa and Pablo are in!!
Byebahbahbahbahbahbahbahbah!!
Fast Times at Tori’s
Tori’s Flat Bash
After Chris’ Shindig, I headed off to Tori’s place for her house warming party. Almost all the regular faces showed up and some new ones did too. Nothing says good times like massive amounts of alcohol and a camera.
Warefell
Ok… let’s get back to getting back up to date…
Old J&J’s mate, Chris Wooding, on the eve of his going-awayness. The cool thing about being an author and being able to e-mail your work to your ‘boss’ is that you can work pretty much anywhere with an internet connection and move off to random countries. I know I should have learned how to rite good. I have no idea whose idea it was to bring beards, but I’d shake his hand if I remembered.
Wudduh-ya-know
My apartment gets FABULOUS water pressure at 4:30 in the morning. It’s been awhile since I’ve had such a pleasant shower…
And why, you might ask, am I showering myself at such an early hour? Well, in a few minutes I’ll be off to Rome, Italy to see Mom and Guy!! Woohoo!!
Here are some photos to pass the time while I’m gone…
After a record breaking run that finished off the final 2007 season at the Matadero 3 Theater, we were asked to come back and dazzle the crowds once again. Three sold out performances later, dozens of roses strewn across the stage and the smell of fresh success in the air - we closed the doors of the Matadero behind us, leaving our footprints in the legacy of this womb of the fine arts, and went to buy a round of beers to celebrate, effectively spending the entire profits we made on the show.
Good times…
(Oh, and the photos of us acting like jackasses in the basement of the theater… ummm, we were really bored. And this is what we do when we´re bored.)
Once again, the Queens of Friday’s Night, Jacki and Krystal show my why God invented Friday. Here you can see the consequences…
Arrivederci!!!
And Moving On…
Photos!!!
From 5 Months Ago!!!
Christmas in the US o’ A!
I once again make the long voyage home to spend time with the loved ones. Good to see that my family still rocks and the good friends still come to pick me up at my mom’s house because I don’t have a car anymore. Four Christmas Feasts with the Fam, 10 Year High School reunion, New Year’s Eve in New York City with Brother Mike, and carousing around town with the old buddies. Good times.
Click on photo to see more! (or here)
This is the biggest of the albums to come, so if you can make it through this, you can make it the rest of them.
Ciao!
Picture Time!!!
Sit down and strap yourself in (ala Clockwork Orange if necessary) and get ready for a visual (fake) orgasm!
Before I get around to posting all the lovely ‘Christmas 2007 in the US’ pics, I have some spring cleaning to do. Here’s a taste of the going ons in Madrid just before I flitted off to the homeland.
Bob’s Costume Party
Close enough timewise to be considered a procrastinators attempt at throwing a Halloween party, but in reality, Bob just likes having themed parties. So, for his Farewell to the Apartment Shindig, we all dressed up as famous dead people. I, as usual, half assed it by throwing on a white afro wig and an old sweater and going as Bea Arthur.
Thanksgiving 2007
My 5th Thanksgiving in Madrid. And I never get tired of explaining to Spaniards why this is the bestest holiday ever: Family, Friends, an absurd amount of good food, no presents, no religion, no patriotism - just be with the people you love, think about how much they mean to you and put on a few pounds.
Christmas Lights of Madrid
Me and the roomies, Sandra and Simon, go out for a stroll around town to check out the Christmas lights.
Happy Endings - Dress Rehearsal
This is by no means a complete documentation of the dress rehearsal, just the photos I was able to snap before I had to skip onto stage. Photos of the actual show to come once I can steal them off someone.
Happy Endings - Cast Party
If you’ve never had the pleasure of hanging out with a group of actors and drinking stupid amounts of alcohol, you’ve never lived, cuz, they’s CRAZY! I’m just saying, it’s never boring. Never. That’s all.
Ok… Next Up! - Christmas Stateside