Qui est Amadou et Mariam?

From Wikipedia:

Amadou and Mariam are a musical duo from Mali, composed of the couple Mariam Doumbia (vocals) (born in Mali's capital Bamako 15 April 1958) and Amadou Bagayoko (guitar and vocals) (born in Bamako 24 October 1954). The pair, known as "the blind couple from Mali" met at Mali's Institute for the Young Blind, and found they shared an interest in music...The duo produces music that mixes traditional Mali sound with rock guitars, Syrian violins, Cuban trumpets, Egyptian ney, Colombian trombones, Indian tablas and Dogon percussion. All these elements put together have been referred to as "Afro-blues".

(I had to look up where Mali is; it's in West Africa, bordered by Senegal, Burkina Faso, Algeria and Niger, among others)

Recently discovered this couple, courtesy of Launchcast. Their album Dimanche a Bamako (Sunday in Bamako) is fantastic. My favourite right now: Politic Amagni.

Their official website can be found at Amadou-Mariam.com; it defaults to French but can be displayed in English as well.

Rain, rain...stay as long as you like

It's pissing rain out. It's grey and miserable and I love it. Thank goodness spring has turned the corner.

I'm chatting online with my friend Cat who lives in Vancouver and is currently trekking in Europe. Right now she's working at a place north of London. Weather over there is apparently pretty sucky too; but with high winds. I prefer the rain. :)

The Sloganizer

Tired.

I am having trouble sleeping. I don't know why. It's unusual for me to have trouble getting to sleep, but the last four or five nights have been brutal. Last night it was after 1:30 before I finally got to sleep. It's brutal.

My celebrity lookalikes

Interesting! What's funny is that I've always thought Alicia Silverstone looks like my cousin Emily; and that Julia Stiles looks like my sister Julie; and that Lynda Carter looks like my aunt Neva. Cool!

Never was one for the quick up-take

I have made a discovery. Chet Baker. Yes, he has been dead for 19 years. He is just fab. West coast jazz is where it's what, cool cats.

Kinda looks like Chris Isaak, dontcha think?

Download this: entire album, "Chet Baker In Paris", ca. 1956. It's fab.

Have had way too much red wine and it's almost 2 a.m. Off to bed.

Your Quirk Factor: 36%

You have a few little quirks, but you generally blend in well with society. Only those who know you well know how weird you can be.

How Quirky Are You?

LOL So true!

Another blogthing

You Are a Coy Flirt

You may not seem like you're flirting, but you know exactly what you're doing. You draw people in, very calculatingly, without them even knowing. Subtle and understated, you know how to best leverage your sex appeal. A sexy enigma, you easily become an object of obsession.

What Kind of Flirt Are You?

Hidden attributes

The Part of You That No One Sees

You are powerful, passionate, and dominant. You have a vision of how things should be, and you do your best to make things happen. People rely on you for your strength. You are a rock to many. Underneath it all, you aren't so sure about your passions. So many ideas spark your interest, it is hard for you to get behind a select few. However, you see indecision as a sign of weakness. So you pursue your goals full force - no matter how foolish they turn out to be.

What's the Part of You That No One Sees?

Hmmm. Interesting.

Home

Back from Toronto. Can't tell you how glad I am that I don't live there. I was so glad to get home last night and just chill on the couch with Brandon, see my kids this morning... It's fun to visit once in a while, but with throngs of people teeming everywhere, all the time, Toronto is just not my style.

Hooray for Kingston. Congrats and welcome home to the young man (whose name I totally didn't get) who I sat beside on the train last night, who was returning to Kingston and to his wife after 5 weeks visiting Rome, Italy. Now there's someone who may even have been more happy to get home than I was.

There's no place like home.

Taking a few days off

Well, I'm officially on holidays; yesterday was my allergy study which I *really* didn't count as holidays. Definitely not a holiday.

Tomorrow I have some stuff to do around the house, and some shopping to do to get ready for my trip to "Trawnna". Tuesday morning I'm going with J on his school field trip; they are going to a conservation area to see how maple syrup is made. J already knows how, having an great-uncle that does that very thing north of the city, but he's looking forward to it nevertheless.

Then I get back from there, and I catch the train to The Big Smoke at 2:30-ish. Won't be back till late on Wednesday; and then I'm going to tackle the basement on Thursday-Friday. Lucky me. It won't know what hit it.

So I'm going to take a few days off from internet et al, aside from checking bank balances, etc.

Catch ya on the flip side. :)

Snow/ice/rain day

Schools in our district were closed today due to crappy weather. Okay, I'll admit the weather seemed pretty nasty first thing this morning. But really, by the time any of the buses would have been on the road, everything was just wet and sloppy. So my six-year-old spent the day at work with me. He was really pretty good, all things considered. Somehow, though, I'm still exhausted.

Going to bed early tonight and then selling my body for medical science tomorrow.

Farewell to Jay Kay

Jason Cheetham, better known as Jay Kay, front man of Brit funk band Jamiroquai, has announced his retirement from the music business. I do love me some Jami and have been a big fan of Jay Kay for years. Who can forget the Virtual Insanity video? Child can move like no one else.



Always diggin' the headgear. Enjoy your cars, Jay!

Selling My Body to Medicine; or, They Blinded Me With Science

I am participating in an allergy study at my local hospital. I've done it before, but not for about four and a half years, since I was either pregnant or breastfeeding for over three years.

I am exposed, along with the others in the clinical trial group, to ragweed pollen. The Environmental Exposure Unit simulates levels of ragweed pollen equal to what would be experienced outdoors during peak ragweed season. The last two nights, I have attended "priming" sessions - exposure to ragweed to activate my allergic reaction, so that on the treatment day, my allergies will respond as soon as the pollen exposure begins.

On the treatment day, we will be exposed to the pollen for two hours, then each of us in the group will be given "treatment" - we will receive one of two drugs, or a placebo. We then record our symptoms throughout the course of about 10 hours of exposure.

The drug we're testing has never before been tested in North America. The EEU where I do the testing, is world-renowned in this field. I have tested allergy meds for companies all over the world. I tested Aerius (desloratadine) before it was released on the market, and I believe that I did get "the good stuff", the medicine rather than placebo, during that study. It seemed to work well.

My allergic reactions don't often involve a great deal of sneezing; I sneeze a bit but it's not my main symptom. The absolute worst for me is my itchy, watery eyes and itchy nose, and post-nasal drip. Last night my eyes felt so gritty and gross, even with having worn my glasses. My glasses were coated with pollen. Yuck. It made it very difficult to see, and by the time I went to bed last night I was feeling like shit warmed over.

So, why do any of it? It pays pretty well. $500 when you complete the testing cycle, for this particular study. Each one usually pays between $450 to $600, depending on what's required by the study sponsors (the pharmaceutical companies).

As it turns out, I can be bought.