Sent : Wednesday, July 14, 1999 11:21 PM
mailto: romeltfd@hotmail.com
Subject : Undercover Mountie
Yeah, seems I read something in the paper about the Filippino (spelling? One 'p'? Two? Your country is hard to spell...) President calling in a death row inmate's reprieve about thirty seconds too late... Perhaps an effective NGO strategy to combat the death penalty might be to distribute more exact time pieces to politicians.
Or would that be a tactic? But seriously, are you working on this? Or your organization generally?
Gilbert stayed at my place again last night. We had a good chat about some of the cases he has tried and his plans for Columbia. But he is definitely not a tequila drinker, that boy. And I noticed that he avoided the tea at breakfast. He seemed OK with the bagels, though, so he should fit right in in NYC. Oh, and he shaved off his beard. Too bad.
Speaking of staying places, Gilbert tells me that you LIVE IN YOUR OFFICE?!! Excuse me?
I'm heading to Ottawa this afternoon to look at apartments (because I certainly do not intend to live in MY office) for a few hours. Apparently, one of my future housemates, Gonzalo, found a couple of nice places. Gonzalo MAKES HIS OWN BEER. I have selflessly volunteered to be his official taste-tester.
It's going to be a fun year. M-J-M and I saw The Red Violin yesterday and it was fantastic: go go go. It's a Canadian-Italy production, set in Italy, Germany, Oxford, Shanghai and Montreal. So it's also in five languages, which is neat. It's the story of a violin and how it travels from place to place across the centuries. Very cool, and fabu sountrack. Jacques was supposed to meet us, but he was a no-show.
Lindsey, beer taster, apartment hunter, movie-goer, hostess
===================
Sent : Tuesday, July 20, 1999 1:04 AM
Subject : Apply what you learn
Hey, are you questioning my apartment-hunting tactics? The apartment we signed for on Wednesday was the first one I looked at, but about the tenth one Gonzalo had seen.
Security risk: Not only have I not fixed the lock on the back door, but that door no longer even shuts properly. Good thing I have that hockey stick.
Dad announced yesterday that he and Mum want to move to Sydney, Australia for at least four months out of every year. I hope their move isn't inspired by me telling him about your Dad. Maybe I made him feel unexciting.
Oh man. But maybe it's just a phase that will pass. Two years ago Dad was thinking about moving onto a ship and just sailing around so as to become an 'international citizen' and avoid paying taxes. But he abandoned that idea when he realized that he'd lose his medical coverage.
Lindsey
======================
Sent : Thursday, July 22, 1999 12:05 AM
Subject : Re: Heaven is where Jimi Hendrix is
Convent-boy: Yes, that would be the storm I was caught in on my way to a barbequeue, of all things. Unbelievable weather. But the ice storm still wins.
Park near my house: Carre St-Louis.
I'm ignoring the question because you're making fun of my project.
So Mathieu and my other friend Mike and Jacques and I went to the comedy fest last night. Pretty cool, albeit funny converstaion between Mike, who barely speaks French, and Jacques, who refuses to speak English. Saw an ice sculpteur (in July!) and the fastest painter in the world (landscape in 15 min). Also, 'the woman with the body of steel' who lay on a bed of nails while some guy broke a cement block on her stomach with a mallet. And the world's smallest singer. What a night!
Oh! Almost forgot. A Filipina (note my correct spelling) domestic worker facing a deportation order is holed up in a church in Edmonton. She is being deported for failing to inform immigration authorities that she was changing employers. But she says her first employer, a lawyer, dismissed her (breaching her contract) and then told her it was ok to take a job with someone else. The nanny is credible and made the front page of the national newspaper yesterday (big picture of her, too). Back to work (on my secret , but suddenly headline-making, project),
Lindsey
=======================
I am quite excited to go West. A good friend, Sandy, is getting married (to a guy named Andy!) and I am going to the wedding with my friend Brent, who I have not seen since I was living in Japan three years ago. He has been living in Osaka for 5 years but now is moving to the States to do his MBA. I can`t wait to see him! And I figure that the wedding is the perfect place for us to catch up, what with the open bar, buffet and the fact that neither of us will really know anyone else there (except for another good friend of mine from Toronto, Christine, who I haven`t seen in a while and who is also coming out for the ceremony).
Actually, how I met Sandy is a funny story. I was on a train to Quebec City about 7 years ago and met Christine when we both discovered that our luggage had been unloaded at the wrong stop. Anyway, we became good friends and when her best friend Sandy moved out to Vancouver she asked me to take her to lunch (I was at UBC). So Sandy and I ended up becoming quite good friends (shared love for margaritas and salsa dancing). So now we all live in different cities but will be together again for Sandy`s wedding!
Which reminds me that I don`t have a gift yet. I was thinking of getting a froth machine i.e. for frothy coffees etc. It looks like kind of a cool kitchen thing that most people wouldn`t normally have, but I don`t know, it might be totally useless. Not that I have time to go shopping this week anyway.
love Lindsey
=============================
Sent : Thursday, August 5, 1999 4:31 AM
Subject : Cry me a river
hiya, Romel. So you're bailing out the office, eh?
I am in sunny Vancouver, enjoying my parents' hospitality and their beautiful flower garden.
My flight over was quite an adventure. The woman sitting behind me was a psychopath: she attacked the back of my seat with her fists and feet when I tried to recline it and then, when the flight attendant told her to stop, she started shoving his beverage cart. He wrote up an "air rage" report on her, so I guess that she won't be flying the friendly skies again any time soon.
:) Lindsey
==================
Subject : beach boy
hiya, Romel.
sorry about the floods. Here we may also have a hell of a flood as there is too much snow in the mountains this year. We shall see.
So the big headlines this week are all about Chinese migrants. In the last two weeks, two ships have dropped migrants off the coast of British Columbia. The first ship contained 125 migrants in abosolutely squalid conditions. The second ship was spotted by the coastguard as it approached shore, so its crew forced the "cargo" of 123 migrants into the water and they had to swim for the beach. Not funny in the Pacific at this time of year. Luckily, no one drowned. A third ship was spotted this morning in the economic zone and is believed to be carrying more migrants.
Enough said... I just got back from a camping trip with the parental units. We went up to a lake that is just southeast of Whistler. It was beautiful and warm and we swam and read our books and drank a lot of wine. And we saw a bear. It was all very Canadian and bourgeois. Tomorrow
I have two job interviews, cross your fingers for me! Then on the weekend I am meeting a long-lost friend for a walk along the waterfront. Her name is Sarah and we were friends at University, then in Japan, and now she and her husband are moving to France. It will be nice to see her.
love Lindsey
=================
Sent : Saturday, August 28, 1999 9:02 AM
Subject : Bullseye
hiya, Romel. Last day of my holiday: too bad, so sad. Although going back to work does mean that I will have a computer again and can put an end to my radio silence.
The interviews went well. I got a job with a firm I like. Starts in one year, i.e. after my contract in Ottawa ends. The firm has a pretty large Japan practice (good), an office in Tokyo (better), also an aboriginal practice (even better) where they actually represent bands rather than just industry (best). I was impressed with the people I met out here and with the work they are doing. So I will try it out. Beats the hell out of Montreal and separatist politics, that's for sure.
How is Niza's job in east Timor for the referendum going? It is not so much in the news here - just bits and pieces. No one likes to discuss independence movements in Canada, surprise surprise. I hope that Jose Antonio et al. are safe and well.
Met with the Philippine Women's Centre the other day. Also SIKLAB, a group representing Filipino Migrant Workers in Canada. Very interesting people, but HOSTILE. Holy shit. Apparently, the CHRF did not invite them to some conference last year so they are bitter. Enter Lindsey Cameron, Target. Whew! :)
Lindsey
=========================
Sent : Wednesday, September 1, 1999 11:13 PM
Subject : Re: Bullseye
hiya, Romel. I hope that by now you have both recovered from your hangover and heard from Niza. I saw bits and pieces of the referendum on the news, but not much more than that. I guess I ought to buy a paper at lunch...
Anway, I started my new job in Ottawa on Monday, so it's been a stressful couple of days. I sort of moved into my new house this morning. Only "sort of" because I don't get my furniture until the weekend so I have to sleep on this mat-thing for a couple of days. Very nice. The job seems ok. I am panicking about how much French stuff I am going to have to write, but that's all I'm going to say about it because it gives me a stomach-ache even to think about it.
Otherwise, I am adjusting to post-vacation life. I miss my mum's cooking!
Love Lindsey
==========================
Sent : Wednesday, September 8, 1999 1:22 AM
Subject : Love me, love my letters
hiya, Romel. Thanks for the birthday greetings. You are actually the first person to send me some. It is so cheerful to start the morning off that way.
I am throwing myself a party on my birthday since I don't really have anyone in Ottawa to throw one for me. It is doubling as a housewarming party so as not to look too much like a desperate plea for attention. I will be sure to have a bottle of tequila on hand...
Is it a bad sign that I have already considered killing one of my housemates? Gonzalo told me he was going into work for three hours yesterday (it was a holiday) so I told him I would wait at home during that time for the guy coming to install his phone line. But Gonzalo stayed at work all day so my holiday was wasted because the phone guy didn't come until almost 5. Man, was I pissed. Now I think that he might be a bit scared of me, since he was very quiet at breakfast.
Glad to hear that Niza returned safely from East Timor. El Obaid is also back. What a mess. I agree with you that they should send in a peacekeeping force. I hope that Juan Antonio is ok.
:) Birthday girl
==========================
Sent : Thursday, September 23, 1999 8:54 PM
Subject : fall back
hiya, Romel. Summer is definitely over in thi spart of the world. Only four degrees when I woke up this morning, brrrr!
Work is busy as hell. I haven't had a weekend off since I started, so this weekend I am going to Montreal to take a break. I am doing a lot of writing in French, which I am slow at. The other people in my office are still nice, although one of the guys that I thought was cool turned out to be quite the slimeball after he'd had a few drinks. Oh well, on to better things.
What are you up to these days? Lindsey
=====================
Sent : Friday, October 1, 1999 12:57 AM
Subject : Re:
hiya, Romel,
I am getting along great with my housemates Matias and Gonzalo although they are a bit messier than I am used to. Sometimes I feel like their Mom, like when Matias asked me the other day if he should start the dishwasher (I think he got the message when I answered, "Use your judgement, dear.") But they cook and they rent movies, so it all balances out.
I have been invited to a party tonight that is UNRELATED TO WORK. Not that the people at work aren't great, it's just that the geek factor is pretty high. I can be a nerd too, but at least I like to party. My friend Paula in Montreal introduced me to this friend of hers who works for Foreign Affairs and, apparently, throws a lot of parties. I am actually very excited to go, which gives you an indication of how desperate I am to socialize.
love Lindsey
===========================
Sent : Saturday, October 30, 1999 1:38 AM
Subject : Happy Hallowe'en
Boo! I am off to a weird party this year - instead of just wearing costumes, we have to wear costumes that make up a word or an expression. So I am pinning autums leaves and lines from my favourite poems onto my clothes and I will have to keep walking around the party. Can you guess my costume? It is "poetry in motion"! I hope that other people can guess it, or I will feel like a dork...
Sounds like you have been crazy busy. I hope that you had a nice visit with your daughter. You sounded a bit worried (?) about not having seen her and her mother getting married.
Work is good. I have been working on a lot of applications by refugees for judicial review of negative decisions by the Immigration Board. The lawyers on both sides submit some pretty bad arguments and poorly organized work. Very disturbing. But not disturbing enough for me to want to become an immigration lawyer.
:) Lindsey
==============
Sent : Tuesday, November 2, 1999 10:23 PM
Subject : Re: Future immigration lawyer
hiya, Mel. Sounds like you are having a good visit with Ayi. Sucks that you don't get to see her more though... I am sporting a lovely black eye from a weekend game of pick-up soccer. Some guy planted his elbow in my face. Very nice. But it was a fun game - it is Indian summer here (is that politically correct? Aboriginal Peoples' Summer? First Nations Second Summer?) and nice and warm.
Re my hair: Short short short as usual.
:)Lindsey
==============================
Sent : Monday, November 22, 1999 10:18 PM
Subject : re: down from the mountain
hiya, Romel. You're a hard guy to keep track of - it sounds like you never stay in one place for very long!
Bing is in Manila now presenting the project I was working on in the summer. I hope that you are in town and easy to find, because I have sent her with your office phone number and a cadeau... :) Lindsey
======================
Sent : Friday, December 3, 1999 10:32 PM
Subject : Re: WTO
hiya, Romel.
Glad to hear that the Tequila actually made it to you! Don't drink it all in one place (or do, perhaps...). I hope that Niza wasn't badly hurt at the ASEAN protest. The "Battle in Seattle" has been big news here, since there were thousands of Canadians who went down to participate. So much for freedom of assembly, I guess.
Lindsey
========================
Sent : Saturday, December 25, 1999 9:22 AM
Subject : Step into Christmas
hiya guys,
At the moment, I am in Vancouver. My brother is here too, so it is the first time in almost a year that we are all together. Of course, we have all fallen into our usual roles. I suppose that my brother and I will bicker our way right through adulthood into old age! :)
By the time I get back to Ottawa, the canal should be frozen and I will be able to go skating at lunch. I am also taking up snowboarding, and have found some cheap lessons at Mt. Fortune in Gatineau Park. My lesson-taking partner-in-crime, Jeff "Rider B" Brown, is trying to convince me that we can't just learn how to snowboard, we have to BECOME boarders. Right. I can just see myself around the office remarking, "Your reasoning in that last judgement was sick, Your Lordship."
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, love Lindsey
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