Monalia's World

Happy New Year 2012!

Tot el camp
es un clam
som la gent Blau Grana
Tan se val d’on venim
Si del sud o del nord
ara estem d’acord
estem d’acord
una bandera ens agermana.
Blau Grana al vent
un crit valent
tenim un nom
el sap tothom

Barça!, Barça!, Baaaarça!!!!

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Although I am not a soccer fan or follower, its hard not to get caught up in the excitement of living in the city with Europe’s top soccer team. The above iPhone recording is of the lady who sold me my Barça flag, which I now hang outside when I know there’s a big game on. Why not? It definitely is a hit with the neighbors.

So in keeping with the spirit I bought Quixote a Barça jersey which turns him from a star into a superstar! When Quixote wears his Barça jersey, the paparazzi-like cameras follow.

In the following photos he makes friends with a fellow fan:

My charismatic dog makes yet another friend.

My Catalan dog. (el meu petit gos Barça)

And here’s the Catalan Barça flag I bought from the lady who sings the anthem above:

Our Barça flag, with Catalan anthem written on it.

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So, although I’m not an avid follower of soccer the game, I am an avid documentarian. Last year, for example, I recorded (and blogged) the moment of the FIFA cup victory from my balcony – once I knew victory was imminent I simply turned on my Nagra and recorded the following, in which you can hear the ship horns, fireworks, general happy cacophony:

The sound of victory; Spain wins the 2010 FIFA trophy and the city is awash with celebration.

My canine companion Quixote exudes charisma:

1 – Quixote as the 5th Beatle. 2 – “El Chiquitin” posing in the music studio.

I threw together this slide show to give a feeling of my dog’s personality and photogenic stances. He will be featured in future posts about life in the city, so I thought I’d better give him his own dog blog today:

It took me forever to edit the above video down to 3 minutes because my dog is so darn cute!

In adventures to come Quixote will play a part, and in due time I expect I’ll post a second “Dog Blog”.

This is what Quixote sounds like when pleading with me:

And this is his playtime growl:

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I have had a canine companion since the time I ran away from home as a teenager *over* a dog who my parents wanted me to give away.

20 years ago *I* was the star and my dog a sidekick, as evidenced by the below video from the late 80’s where I was often seen rollerskatng down Melrose Blvd. in Hollywood with my dog Flash, who like my last dog, Pukka, lived to a ripe old age. I was in a popular band and was a minor Hwd. luminary back then…Now, over 20 years and 2 countries later, my canine companion has shrunk and I have grown and I have transferred the star role from myself to my dog, as evidenced by the following clip I unearthed just for this blog, of yours truly rollerskating down Melrose Ave. in the late 80’s:

Rollerskating with my dog down Melrose.

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Sometime in the future I will attempt to do a dog blog completely from Quixote’s point of view. But for now I thought it best to introduce him to me readers, for he is my muse and my canine love. Quixote is only 2 1/2 years old, so I have high hopes he will accompany me well into my 60’s… (scary thought).

Here are two self portrait photos, one taken just now for this blog, the other on a bike ride, of me and my buddy:

It’s a RUFF life!