tag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:/blogs/sophie-s-fortunes?p=1Juste S. 2023-10-03T11:18:46-04:00Sophie Bijjanifalsetag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/72821092023-10-03T11:18:46-04:002023-12-30T09:09:08-05:00Mixtape France 2023 <p>Je suis nostalgique des mixtapes que je pourrais vous envoyer par la poste ou en main propre….Alors voici sous format digital un mixtape de quelques chansons qui m'ont bien fait vibrer lors de ces dernières années en France. </p><p> </p><ol>
<li>Indifférence - André Minvielle et Bernard Lubat</li>
<li> Du bout des lèvres - Melkoni Project ( reprise de Barbara)</li>
<li>L'autre - Clarisse Bachellier et Sophie Bijjani</li>
<li>Dobai - Aqueles</li>
<li>Les mots d'amour - Mayra Andrade</li>
<li>Des hauts débats - Accordzéam</li>
<li>Sortilège - Dje Baleti </li>
</ol><p>N'hésitez pas à bénir à votre manière les artistes qui ont fait, font et feront vibrer vos âmes . </p><p>Pour les références et les publicités:</p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKPb_N_F1qJql4b2SW4l3fqJwCu2KnBsN&feature=shared" data-link-type="url">écoutez la Playlist sur youtube </a></p>30:01Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/71717022023-03-14T23:19:14-04:002023-12-30T09:09:08-05:00La chevauchée du Dragon<p style="text-align:right;"><span class="text-small"><strong>15-03-2023 </strong></span></p><p style="text-align:right;"><span class="text-small"><strong>en survolant le Pacifique, </strong></span></p><p style="text-align:right;"><span class="text-small"><strong>quelque part entre Barcelone et Bogota.</strong></span></p><p><i>Gratitude à Nour, qui m'a conduite à l’Aéroport de Barcelone</i></p><p><i>Je lui parlais du chant, de ne plus savoir comment m'exprimer à travers ce que je chante, ce que je raconte. Elle m’a dit: “Mais qu’est-ce que tu aimes chanter? Chante ce que me tu décris!”</i></p><p><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/233477/758c043f902eb100544bcee4a5c075f140afae5a/original/dragons.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p><p style="text-align:center;"><strong>La chevauchée du Dragon</strong><br> </p><p>Je parle du passage par le chat de l’aiguille</p><p>Sans voir la profondeur de ce dans quoi on va atterrir derrière.</p><p>Faire confiance à l’inconfort subtil d’un égo qui sent sa propre mort arriver, </p><p>et à tout l’amour du Saint Soi qui dit :</p><p><i>J’ai, tu as peur. La mort n’est qu’un passage, un passage vers un Univers en mouvement.</i></p><p><br> </p><p>No telling what you will find, because in a way, you already know it,</p><p>and it another way, you wouldn’t want to know more.</p><p style="text-align:center;"> </p><p style="text-align:center;">Car cette étape, </p><p style="text-align:center;">C’est la chevauchée du dragon,</p><p style="text-align:center;">Le courage d’y monter</p><p style="text-align:center;">La peur d’en tomber</p><p style="text-align:center;">La peur de finalement me lever pour ce en quoi je crois.</p><p style="text-align:center;">La peur de réussir, la peur d’échouer;</p><p>Des chimères qui ne disparaîtront vraiment jamais et qui pourtant, </p><p>ne font que garder, gargouilles, </p><p>la porte d’entrée pour les initiés.</p><p> </p><p>SB</p><p> </p><p><strong>IIe Partie</strong></p><p> </p><p>I walk through the valley of my own shadows</p><p>Bringing into light what I thought</p><p>I'd left behind to wither and die.</p><p>Ces <i>défauts</i> n'étaient que l'expression de ma propre lumière </p><p>nourrie à la haine, nourrie à la peur</p><p>Ces <i>cadeaux</i>, je choisis de les ramener dans ma propre lumière,</p><p>mon Propre Amour, mon Amour Propre</p><p>qui enfin peut en être un</p><p>car je réalise </p><p>que je n'ai jamais été Sale. </p>2:14Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/71696942023-03-11T19:18:28-05:002023-03-14T22:45:48-04:00Sésame, ouvre-toi<p>Je ne peux pas dire</p><p>J'ai la mâchoire serrée pour ne pas dire - Protéger ce qui est vrai.</p><p> </p><p><i>Et mon âme murmure, murmure en secret</i></p><p><i>L'immensité hors des murs, entre soeurs, on connaît.</i></p><p><i>Encore, nos âmes murmurent, murmurent en secret</i></p><p><i>Et leurs fruits, presques mûrs, bientôt seront prêts.</i></p><p> </p><p>Mais pour l'instant, dépose-toi ma soeur, </p><p>Dépose-toi, mon coeur, prends ton temps.</p><p>Laisse-moi t'appaiser, laisse-toi approcher </p><p>À ton heure.</p><p> </p><p>Sésame, ouvre-toi au rythme de ta confiance.</p><p>Femme, fidèle à toi, il n'y a pas de plus belle danse.</p><p> </p><p>Il y aura le monde à refaire</p><p>Et nous, souveraines sur Terre. </p><p> </p><p>SB Roldanillo, Colombia, 17-02-2023 </p><p> </p><p> </p>0:58Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/71105192022-11-25T16:46:24-05:002022-11-28T11:02:39-05:00Une minute et demi <p style="text-align: right;"> </p>
<p>Entre deux crises de larmes, je revenais à mon corps, assis les pieds dans le vide sur la rambarde sous l’énorme platane. Mon regard déterminé à expier cette souffrance a croisé deux yeux bruns entre deux écouteurs bluetooth. </p>
<p>Je replongeai dans un déchirement sans âges, soutenue par la météo pluvieuse et le parfum des reflux d’égouts dans le Canal du Midi. </p>
<p>- Madame, ça va? <br>- (je pleure) …. <br>- Ça va pas? Je pouvais pas juste continuer de marcher. </p>
<p>- Oui, ça va. (je pleure) </p>
<p>Il retire une oreillette blanche sans fil de son oreille gauche. </p>
<p> -… je suis juste triste. <br>Je m’empresse de le rassurer : <br>- Mais ça va </p>
<p>Il est resté debout à quelques pas de moi pendant que d’autres larmes roulaient sur mes joues. </p>
<p>- Tu veux me dire? Ça fait du bien de partager. Qu’est-ce qu’il se passe? <br>- Rien de grave <br>- Tu es sûre? <br>- Oui <br>… (je pleure) <br>- Alors qu’est-ce qu’il se passe? </p>
<p>- C’est rien de grave. Je suis triste parce que….<br>Prise de sanglots, je pointe en direction de l’énorme bâtiment de la gare Matabiau.<br>-...mon ami, il est parti. (je repars en sanglots libérateurs) </p>
<p>- Ah? C’est ça? </p>
<p>Je me suis retrouvée à lui frotter le dos pour le rassurer</p>
<p><br>- Ça va aller, c’est rien. Je suis juste triste. </p>
<p> Je me sens ridicule et en même temps quel soulagement de me laisser vivre l’intensité de ce désarroi. Je repense à la dame croisée chez le médecin une heure avant qui venait de perdre sa mère. </p>
<p>- Tu es forte. Ça va aller tu vas voir . </p>
<p>Je continue de pleurer, de rire en même temps. Éberluée par la tendresse de cette parcelle d’humanité qui m’est offerte tout naïvement. <br>Il faut mettre ta capuche, ça sert à rien d’attraper froid en plus. </p>
<p>Je ris . <br>- Non ça va, j’ai pas froid. <br>Je pleure. <br>- Et fais attention, tu pourrais tomber <br>Je regarde mes pieds qui pendent dans le vide, l’escalier en contrebas qui se jette dans le canal boueux, les déchets mouillés. Je pense: “Si je les ramassais aujourd’hui, est-ce qu’ils reviendraient demain? “ </p>
<p>Je ris. Ses commentaires de maman désemparée me touchent. <br>- Non, je vais pas tomber. <br>- Il faut être forte. Ça va aller. </p>
<p>Période de suspens. Dénudée et mal à l’aise, je cherche à lui donner le droit de continuer sa route: <br>- Merci de t’être arrêté. Ça va aller. <br>- Tu es forte. </p>
<p>Il est reparti, et j’ai continué à goûter à ce chagrin qui m’avait ouvert une porte miraculeuse. <br>Travail d’équilibriste, sentir sans s’accrocher. Laisser la vague me porter. </p>
<p>Je m’allège. Je me laisse pleurer jusqu’à m’apaiser tranquillement en bénissant ce jeune homme au coeur d’or de m’avoir offert cette minute et demi qui a illuminé mon coeur. </p>
<p>D’une simplicité, d’une puissance. </p>
<p>Il m’a vue, il s’est arrêté. <br>Sa maladresse était d’autant plus touchante. <br>Il m’a vue, il s’est arrêté et m’a offert son humble humanité désemparée. </p>
<p>Je suis prise de philosophie: <br>Je regarde les gens courir sous la grisaille. Je repense à Lana qui voulait me faire chanter : Les passants courent, les passant frayent, où donc vont-ils? </p>
<p>Mon esprit s’éclaire: Les personnages de mon univers ont besoin d’être vus. D’être aimés comme ils sont. Ils continueront à courir sous la grisaille après je ne sais quoi, aveugles au chant des saisons, tant que je ne les aurai pas considérés. <br>Il ne leur en faut pas tant que ça, juste une minute et demi pour que leur coeur chante à leur tour. </p>
<p>Je remercie ce jeune maître pour l’excellence de sa démonstration. <br>Je demande d’apprendre à oser regarder, surtout, à oser m’arrêter la prochaine fois. Prendre une minute et demi pour dire: Madame, ça va? Ça va pas?</p>
<p> Une minute et demi - Septembre 2022</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/9f1bf06d7d2ca592ba6a9893d7381067c1d29541/original/pluie-pour-minute-et-demi.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/71063422022-11-19T13:28:36-05:002022-11-25T16:50:55-05:00Soulspeak du 19-11-2022<p style="text-align: right;"><em>Soulspeak, c'est les 5 premières minutes d'écriture de ma journée, où je canalise mes guides, mon âme, l'amour, peut importe comment vous nommez cet espace de connection à une sagesse plus grande que soi. </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Quel bonheur de te sentir considérer que ce que tu désires est légitime!<br>Pause avec ça, ressens la fluidité de cette vibration.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tu sens qu'ici ou dans la souffrance, ton essence fait le même "travail" (ce mot, pour apaiser tes conditionnements).</p>
<p>Tu remplis ta mission, que tu sois heureuse ou déprimée parce que ta "mission" c'est cette essence qui vibre, qui fait vibrer ton corps, a cherché et a réussi à s'incarner dans la matière et retourne chaque moment un peu plus dans l'éternité de se savoir UNE.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Nous sentons une grande joie que tu t'autorises à rêver et à désirer ce que tu penses ou sens te ferait du bien et nous adorons être avec toi quand tu te laisses porter par le courant de la source, sereine, bénie.</p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/70914712022-10-29T16:07:43-04:002022-11-19T13:28:59-05:00Leçon d'humilité<p style="text-align: right;">29.10.2022</p>
<p style="text-align: right;">Cévennes, France</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Leçon d’humilité</strong></p>
<p><br>Edwige, tu ne m’as pas plu, exhalant ta bouffée de fumée à tous vents, le pouce tendu nonchalamment sur le bord de la route. Moi-même autostoppeuse, je n’ai pas eu envie de m’arrêter pour te ramasser.</p>
<p>J’ai senti ma conductrice hésiter.<br>J’ai dit: “Non elle ne me plaît pas. Elle fume la cigarette…Je n’aime pas comment elle est habillée…”</p>
<p>Elle me répond: "Ça ne veut rien dire ça, même la façon dont les gens s’habillent, ce n’est que pour masquer qui ils sont vraiment."</p>
<p>Alors les 5 minutes qui ont suivi, je me suis sentie coupable. J'observais avec horreur mes propres jugements, mon manque de générosité, mon mépris. <em>Moi-même autostoppeuse, je n’ai pas voulu m’arrêter pour toi. Partager la ride, partager le lift. J’ai eu peur que tu prennes toute la place avec ton odeur et tes histoires. Je n’ai pas eu envie d’être inconfortable.</em></p>
<p>La conversation avec ma conductrice a dérivé sur autre chose, j’en ai profité pour lui faire une belle leçon d’humilité sur les jugements qu’elle entretenait sur ses voisins qui ne l’aidaient pas à couper son bois ou à monter ses meubles alors que, manifestement, elle était en difficulté. Je lui ai fait remarquer qu’elle ne leur avait pas partagé ses besoins et que peut-être ils avaient peur d’être pris pour des machos, par exemple, s’ils l’aidaient… J’entends Florian me dire: “ On ne sait même plus si on peut tenir la porte, avec le féminisme, ces jours-ci….”</p>
<p>Elle me dépose à son village, notablement touchée par cette réflexion.</p>
<p>Je marche jusqu’à la sortie du village, et je tends le pouce pour continuer ma route.</p>
<p>Un vieux camper stationné à côté me klaxonne.<br>Une femme me crie du parking:</p>
<p>- Hey! Ouhou!! Tu vas où?</p>
<p>C’est elle, Edwige, dans ses joggings noirs, la clope au bec.</p>
<p>....</p>
<p>J’ai terminé mon bout de chemin jusqu’à Aniane entre Edwige et son pote, deux bouffées de clope et trois gorgées de vin.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/6219e10ba310499558f0837df1e7910325f6bee6/original/sables-liban.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><em>Merci la vie. </em></p>
<p> </p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/65132742021-01-04T12:33:03-05:002021-01-04T12:57:52-05:00It is too late for hope<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><strong>It is too late for Hope</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">And so this is 2021...</span>J’ai lu quelque part, dans un feed quelconque, une phrase qui m’a particulièrement touchée: </p>
<p><strong><em>“it is too late for hope.” </em></strong><br>Le ciel nous tombe sur la tête. Il neige en Provence, l’Outaouais célèbre un Noël vert. </p>
<p><strong><em>It’s too late for hope. </em></strong></p>
<p>Les nuages gris se resserrent autour de moi et je ne peux plus m’empêcher de les regarder. De vivre l’horreur qu’ils véhiculent, la peur qu’ils font vibrer en moi. </p>
<p><strong><em>It is too late for hope: </em></strong></p>
<p><em>Too late</em> pour attendre que quelqu’un.e d’autre le fasse à ma place. Too late pour espérer que, magiquement une société malade légitimise mon droit d’être saine pendant que je reste assise à boire mon café et à me ronger les ongles. </p>
<p>Il m’est possible de faire acte de présence et de regarder le chaos. Sortir du déni. </p>
<p><em>Too late </em>pour cet espoir illusoire qui m’a fait traverser l’Amérique tant de fois en espérant qu’enfin, cette fois, quelque chose, quelque part… </p>
<p><strong><em>It is too late for hope, but it is not too late to show up. </em></strong></p>
<p>En ce sens, le mot qui me vient pour 2021, c’est <strong>PARTICIPER</strong>.</p>
<p>Reconnaître que si j’ai choisi d’être ici et maintenant, c’est pour y amener mon grain de sel, et je suis venue avec tout ce dont j’ai besoin. Tout le reste, je le trouverai en chemin. Tout le reste me trouvera en chemin. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>Nous nous trouverons </strong></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>au moment opportun. </strong></em></p>
<p>Oh, certainement, maintenant pourrait toujours être mieux. C’est là-même le moteurde mon évolution.<br>Mais, en 2021 je me souhaite de prendre et d’apprendre à me donner le droit de participer. Accepter que c’est notre droit de naissance que de participer à notre existence. </p>
<p>Participer à ma façon, du mieux que je le peux, avec un “mieux” évolutif qui se laisse la place à l’amélioration mais qui reconnait sa valeur d’action dans le présent. </p>
<p>Si 2020 nous a surpris par les confinements qui n’en finissaient plus, le Covid, les fournisseurs de masque qui gagnent à la loterie, je nous souhaite un 2021 où l’on se donne le droit de penser au meilleur qui pourrait arriver. </p>
<p>Quand je dis meilleur, tout de suite me viennent en tête les scénarios où je deviens riche populaire appréciée reconnue. Ce n’est pas de ça dont je veux parler. Certes, ces scénarios apaisent mon égo mais je suspecte qu’ils me laisseraient tout autant isolée, dans une forteresse de succès et d’intouchabilité. </p>
<p>Quand je parle du meilleur de chez le meilleur, je fais appel à la Rêveuse en moi. Et celle en vous. Les rêveux et les rêveuses qui ont l’imagination fertile. Ceuxes qui savent que les situations win-win sont le résultat expansif d’échanges respectueux. Celle qui croit encore qu’une planète où règnent la paix et l’amour peut exister. Les alchimistes du quotidien et des grands plans fabuleux. </p>
<p>Et pour cette Rêveuse, je souhaite que 2021 soit une année où cette graine de justesse qui somnole depuis des années en nous s’abreuve de petits et de grands actes d’amour. Qu’elle germe, pousse, racine, arbre. Que la sentence “It is too late for hope” tombe, brise la télé des projections intérieures malsaines et nourrisse l’étincelle sacrée qui n’attend qu’un peu d’amour et de douceur pour jaillir et éclabousser un monde qui en a grandement besoin. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">C’est ce que je nous souhaite pour 2021. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Bonne année 2021 mes ami.es. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Je vous envoie tout mon amour. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Sophie</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/8fe1be6c002cbc9aa53b390016cb284e395b4684/original/layer-0-copy-2.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/63417632020-06-04T05:26:26-04:002020-06-04T05:26:26-04:00Chemin de guérison<p>il est vraiment temps de guérir </p>
<p>il y a du deuil, des parties d'ombre, de tristesse, de colère à ressentir. ENSEMBLE. </p>
<p>J’éprouve tellement de honte à avoir regardé cette vidéo de Georges Floyd qui se fait asphyxier par un officier de police. </p>
<p>Mon estomac se serre en sachant qu’avoir été là, je n’aurais pas eu la force d’intervenir. </p>
<p>J’ai tellement de peine à ressentir ce monde divisé dans lequel je tente à tâtons de survivre, de pousser comme un pissenlit dans une craque de trottoir cimenté. </p>
<p>Je jongle inconfortablement avec l’idée quantique que nous sommes inextricablement liés aux autres, que le monde n’est qu’une représentation de ce que l’on porte à l’intérieur de soi. Dissonance. </p>
<p>Il est vraiment temps de guérir. De créer de la cohérence à partir de nos traumas. Pas chacun dans son coin, ENSEMBLE. </p>
<p>Et tout doucement, sous cette gêne de me dévoiler à vous, je sens mon coeur s'entrebâiller d'espoir : la vie pousse, pousse toujours et elle nous invite constamment à s'harmoniser avec elle. Je choisis un chemin de guérison et j'espère de tout coeur vous croiser sur mon chemin.</p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/59866542019-11-30T22:57:44-05:002020-03-19T14:32:45-04:00New Song : I want your opinion!<p>I want to present to you my latest track. It's a latin, loungy, acoustic cover of the famous song that they play every hockey game, Eye of the Tiger.</p>
<p>I would ike you to listen to it, and then tell me what you think about it.</p>
<p>Where and when would you like to have this played?</p>
<p>Would you listen to it if it was on Spotify ? </p>
<p>What would be a good videoclip for this song?</p>
<p>If you feel like giving me some constructive feedback, please do so in the comment section below!</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>Sophie </p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/58504372019-08-07T13:05:57-04:002021-12-22T04:27:39-05:00Rencontre avec Damien Robitaille et Passage à l'émission Tout-Inclus<p> </p>
<p>Cet été, j'ai eu le plaisir de rencontrer Damien Robitaille et l'équipe de feu de l'émission Tout-Inclus à Radio Canada.</p>
<p>Stressée à l'idée de passer à la télé, moi?</p>
<p>Pfff !</p>
<p>ok juste un peu.</p>
<p>Mais finalement, ça m'a fait du bien de rencontrer un auteur compositeur interprète qui fait ça depuis quelque temps et peut me rappeler de ...continuer. Continuer. Continuer.</p>
<p>Ma tête tourne à 100 000 à l'heure et mes projets se réalisent souvent plus lentement que prévu. Le nez dans le guidon, j'oublie de regarder le chemin parcouru. Ce chemin, j'en parle un peu dans cette entrevue! Cliquez sur l'image ci-bas pour visionner l'entrevue. ( Ça commence à 12:38!)</p>
<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://ici.radio-canada.ca/tele/tout-inclus/site/episodes/439144/tout-inclus-emission-ottawagatineau-jeanfrancois?fbclid=IwAR0rgS7vqD4yFvXZuP2qHRu5AxiPsLh8kMeRYpCPzX8RLyRAHzeaFMIS0ws" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/1e67b45146b726f9cf52bb0cf4b6fb291c4707a4/original/elbow-screen-shot-2019-08-07-at-11-57-03-am.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a><br>Un merci spécial à l'équipe de Tout Inclus, notamment Geneviève Guilmette, Hélène Prévost et Sacha Laliberté de Radio Canada pour leur chaleureuse invitation dans le monde des caméras .Quel beau segment elles et ils ont pondu! </p>
<p>-------------</p>
<p>PS: Pour celles et ceux qui ne me trainent pas encore dans leur voiture ou leur téléphone : Une nouvelle batch de CDs vous attend: Ils ont été produits sur les berges du lac Supérieur et vous partageront surement leur paisible fraîcheur. Merci d'encourager votre chanteuse internalocale.<a contents=" Télécharger Feu d'grand vent " data-link-label="" data-link-type="album" href="/album/686348/feu-d-grand-vent" target="_blank"> Télécharger feu d'grand vent </a></p>
<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="album" href="/album/686348/feu-d-grand-vent" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/25e94c42d42d1fc71ee0706009a553239fe51421/original/webanner.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/57794842019-06-04T11:56:42-04:002020-08-29T11:08:26-04:00Qui es-tu? <h2 style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_regular"><strong>Répète après moi : </strong></span></h2>
<h2> </h2>
<p style="text-align: center;">Je ne suis pas mes objets ( Je ne suis pas mes objets ) </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Je ne suis pas mes possessions matérielles ( Je ne suis pas mes possessions matérielles )</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Je ne suis pas la rouille sur mon char ( Je ne suis pas la rouille sur mon char ) </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Je ne suis pas le trou dans ma robe ( Je ne suis pas ... ) </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Je ne suis pas non plus ma robe. ( Eh non, pas ça non plus)</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p>- Ah bon. Alors j'ai une question pour toi: </p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"><strong>Qui es-tu ?</strong></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"> </h3>
<p>Ferme les yeux. Laisse toi emporte par cette question entêtée: </p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Qui es-tu ?</em> laisse tes réponses changer</p>
<p><em>Qui es-tu?</em> laisse-toi rire ou enrager</p>
<p><em>Qui es-tu? </em> un oiseau noyé</p>
<p><em>Qui es-tu? </em> une larme séchée</p>
<p><em>Qui es-tu? </em> une palourde éventrée</p>
<p><em>Qui es-tu?</em> une âme isolée (allô la toune en <em><strong>é</strong></em> )</p>
<p><em>Qui es-tu?</em> un courant d'air chaud</p>
<p><em>Qui es-tu?</em> une montgolfière ascendante une explosion dans le ciel un million de potentiels</p>
<p> un sanglot retenu une cage thoracique comprimée 10 millards de solitudes et trois de plus pour ceux et celles à venir</p>
<p> une incarnation qui s'est oubliée</p>
<p> une incarnation qui veut apprendre à s'écouter</p>
<p> une incarnation qui veut sentir son pouvoir créateur</p>
<p> une incarnation qui veut surpasser ses mécanismes auto-bloquants</p>
<p> quelqu'un qui veut être portée par la vie</p>
<p> Je suis dans le courant. Je suis le courant. Je suis cruelle, j'arrache ceux qui s'agrippent aux berges. </p>
<p> Je suis puissante, je suis souveraine. Je tue et je blesse parce que j'ai été tuée et blessée.</p>
<p> Mes eaux sont rouges, noires, souillées. Je suis à l'étroit dans mon lit. Je suis forcée de couler, forcée par ma propre nature.</p>
<p> Je suis née prisonnière pour le rester.</p>
<p> Je suis découragée par mes pensées.</p>
<p> Je suis un cerveau survolté. Je suis insensible, figée, pourtant j'espère.</p>
<p> Je suis cyclique.</p>
<p> Je suis une mâchoire crispée. Je suis une crainte d'exister.</p>
<p> Je suis quelqu'un qui cherche de l'air frais.</p>
<p> Je suis quelqu'une qui peine à conjuguer au féminin</p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Répète après moi</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Je ne suis pas mes peines ( Je ne suis pas mes peines)</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Je ne suis pas mes doutes ( Je ne suis pas mes doutes ) </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Je ne suis pas mes douleurs ( Je ne suis pas mes douleurs ) </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p>- D'accord, alors toujours cette question pour toi:</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Qui es-tu ?</h3>
<p>Je suis une jeune femme qui chemine. </p>
<p>Je suis en recherche de bonnes sensations, de satisfaction. Je suis difficile avec moi-même.</p>
<p>Je suis une exploratrice. Je suis intelligente et brave. Je suis aimée <em>(sanglots) .</em></p>
<p>Je suis en attente, je suis prête à m'exprimer. Je suis chancelante. Je suis changeante. Je suis encore en vie.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Je suis trop pressée de penser à tout ce que je dois faire </em><em>pour continuer à rêvasser...mais c'est un bon début.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Et toi?</p>
<p>Toi qui cours aussi après le temps perdu,</p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;"><strong>Toi, qui es-tu? </strong></h2>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/57765632019-06-01T20:50:51-04:002019-06-01T21:02:11-04:00La Fourmi et les Caniches Royaux<h2 style="text-align: right;"><strong>La Fourmi et les Caniches Royaux<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/c4c36effd015761fdffd755e8d325e6b1fe1fe2c/original/africaregular.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></strong></h2>
<p style="text-align: right;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">Les belles palettes de couleur pour mon futur chez moi </p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><em>save it for later,</em></p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><em>peut-être que ça servira </em></p>
<p style="text-align: right;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">Je suis une pièce du puzzle et quand j’réalise ça, </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">j’ai l’impression d’être le gris du puzzle </p>
<p style="text-align: right;"> le flou du puzzle </p>
<p style="text-align: right;"> le background du puzzle </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">la fourmi du puzzle qui emmagasine tout pour un éternel hiver, </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">dans un monde où on mange des mangues pas mûres à l’année longue. </p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><em>Save it for later, peut-être que ça servira </em></p>
<p style="text-align: right;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">Quand je s’rai grande </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">quand je s’rai belle </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">quand j’aurai mon foyer à moi, </p>
<p style="text-align: right;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">J'y poserai mes valises, </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">mes cent valises d’incertitude </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">mes milles saccoches de second guessing </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">mes millions de boîtes de peut-être que ça servira </p>
<p style="text-align: right;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">Ça sera trop lourd - et surtout trop long à classer, </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">alors j’callerai 1-800-got-junk</p>
<p style="text-align: right;">et j’irai chez Ikea me remettre au goût du jour. </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">Et cette vie d’antan, sauvée pour plus tard, finira dans une benne de dompe où mes voisins déposeront les sac-à-caca de leurs caniches royaux. </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">Moi, dans ma nouvelle cuisine, légère et soulagée de ces fantômes d’espoir que j'aurais eu l’audace de nourrir dans mon passé, j’aurai maintenant tout l’espace nécessaire pour penser à vivre de nouvelles choses. Ranger mes nouvelles inspirations dans de nouveaux classeurs qui sentent encore le plastique d'emballage, bookmark DIY projects, idées de recettes, </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">une liste pour chaque désir restreint qui tentera de se décliner sous plusieurs formes. </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">Revenez-y quand vous serez prête. </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">Save it for later, peut-être qu’enfin, later, tu vivras.</p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/57347302019-04-27T16:13:23-04:002019-04-27T16:21:50-04:00À propos : Ateliers d'exploration vocale<p> </p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_regular"><strong>L'exploration vocale arrive en Outaouais </strong></span></h2>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_regular"><em>*Note : Le féminin est utilisé pour alléger le texte, et ce, sans préjudice pour la forme masculine.</em></span></p>
<p>La semaine prochaine, c'est la première fois que je proposerai mon atelier d'exploration vocale en Outaouais.<br>C'est une formule que j'ai testée à différentes occasions en Europe ( masterclass dans des écoles de musiques, même comme activité <em>avant </em>un concert) et j'en ai conclu que c'était un bel ajout à l'offre culturelle d'une région. </p>
<p>L'idée m'est venue après qu'on m'ait demandé mille et une fois si le chant, ça s'apprenait ou si c'était juste un talent avec lequel on naissait. Vous le demanderez à ma famille, mes premières interprétations de <em>My Heart Will Go On </em>n'étaient pas des plus spectaculaires.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Craintes inhibantes</h3>
<p>Combien d'entre vous n'osent plus chanter devant les autres parce qu'elles se sont fait dire une, deux, trois, mille fois que leur voix étaient horrible? Parce qu'un prof leur a demandé de faire du lip-sync à la chorale de fin d'année au lieu de chanter? Parce qu'on s'est moqué de vous une fois quand votre voix a <em>craqué? </em>J'ai entendu plusieurs histoires de la sorte qui m'ont chagrinée.</p>
<p>La voix, c'est l'instrument le plus intime qu'il existe, parce qu'il provient de nous. Quand on chante le coeur rempli de crainte, on est tendue. Quand on est tendue, c'est difficile de bien placer sa voix pour qu'elle puisse s'exprimer librement. Difficile d'apprécier le chant à ce moment là! </p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Le but des ateliers</h3>
<p>Mes ateliers d'exploration vocale visent à décrystaliser certaines peurs que pourraient avoir les participantes et à favoriser une atmosphère de jeu. C'est pourquoi je les appelle simplement des <em>ateliers. </em>Là où on est en lieu sûr pour explorer et s'amuser.</p>
<p>Et pour pouvoir se laisser aller à l'exploration, il faut la curiosité, il faut le non-jugement, il faut la joie de l'aventure.</p>
<p>Ce ne sont pas des cours de chant privé (<a contents="mais c'est une possibilité! Contactez-moi !" data-link-label="Contact" data-link-type="page" href="/contact" target="_blank">mais c'est une possibilité! Contactez-moi !</a> :) ) . C'est simplement un endroit où on peut se familiariser avec différents aspects de la musique, du chant et de l'improvisation pour en repartir le coeur léger et rempli d'envie de re-chanter. </p>
<p>Inspirants, pédagogiques, ludiques, harmonieux, nourrissants. Voilà ce que sont ces ateliers. </p>
<p>Chacune amène son bagage de connaissances et l'atelier s'adapte aux participantes. Vous découvrirez qu'il est possible de composer une symphonie inclusives, que tout le monde à sa place dans le paysage musical. </p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong>Ça vous intéresse ? Il reste quelques places pour l'atelier du 4 mai.</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><strong><a contents="Inscrivez-vous ici!&nbsp;" data-link-label="Ateliers " data-link-type="page" href="/ateliers" style="">Inscrivez-vous ici! </a></strong></span></p>
<p>Au plaisir de chanter avec vous!</p>
<p>Sophie </p>
<p>PS: Aimez-vous le poster que je vous ai <em>designé</em> ? </p>
<p><a contents="" data-link-label="Ateliers " data-link-type="page" href="/ateliers"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/ada13812b77d36bc351e9a099bf7af7613d5e5ad/original/affiche-05.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/57347532018-11-11T16:30:00-05:002019-04-27T16:33:41-04:00Nomination aux Culturiades - Rèlève de l'année<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/f3f5d50ebe246fd76a2f6811166594ab76500c6d/original/45579972-1885793104808934-2286079150265466880-o.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<h2>Surprise! </h2>
<p><span class="font_regular">Oh! Sophie Bijjani est nominée dans la catégorie Relève de l'année des culturiades! Je suis contente de pouvoir vous partager cette nouvelle. </span></p>
<p>C'est une petite pousse dans le dos de savoir que mon travail artistique ne passe pas que dans le vent. Je vous laisse consulter l'article du <a contents="Pressoir" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.lepressoir.ca/la-presse/2018/11/6/les-finalistes-des-culturiades-de-2018-sont-connus">Pressoir</a> pour avoir plus d'infos sur les autres participants.</p>
<p> </p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/53218812018-06-28T08:43:56-04:002018-06-28T08:50:09-04:00Une première collaboration! <p>Comme je vous le disais dans mon dernier morceau <a contents="Peindre l'aube" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://sophiebijjani.com/home/blog/peindre-l-aube" target="_self">Peindre l'aube</a>, le Monde est mon chauffeur.</p>
<p> Cette semaine je vous présente le fruit d'une collaboration avec un de mes chauffeurs privés, JB.</p>
<p>La première fois qu'il m'a déposée à Charleval (je traversais la Provence à ce moment-là) je ne m'attendais pas à le recontacter le mois suivant...Mais comme j'ai été amenée à passer une semaine à Charleval par la suite, j'en ai profité pour enregistrer ma première chanson à la guitare avec lui! </p>
<p>C'est une belle belle belle ballade anglaise que vous pouvez<a contents=" entendre ici" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WweLYSTgwM&nbsp;" target="_blank"> entendre ici</a> (ou regarder ci-bas) </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="4WweLYSTgwM" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/4WweLYSTgwM/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4WweLYSTgwM?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Je le redis, vive le pouce* </p>
<p>------ </p>
<p>*L'auteure de ces lignes ce dégage cependant de toute responsabilité face à votre propre expérience en "autostop".</p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/52673212018-05-31T05:20:17-04:002018-05-31T08:29:01-04:00Peindre l'aube<p>J’ai rencontré Florian qui est parti sur une autre planète. </p>
<p>Une chance qu’il reste des gens pour inventer le futur parce qu’à fixer le présent, ce matin, je tombais à plat: </p>
<p><em>Wow. </em></p>
<p><em> La ville, </em></p>
<p><em> les gens </em></p>
<p><em> seuls </em></p>
<p><em>dans leurs chars, </em></p>
<p><em>même ici, en Europe, à Genève.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Les gens qui se lèvent à 5h00 du matin pour être dans l’auto à 6, pour skipper le traffic qui nous retrouve toujours. </p>
<p>Une heure de voyagement d’une maison idyllique, loin du centre urbain, pour se rendre jusqu’au travail qui permet de se payer cette maison idyllique, loin du centre urbain. </p>
<p><strong><em>Oups. Mes lunettes sont sales ce matin. Laissez-moi leur passer un coup de chiffon. Ah! </em></strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Moi aussi depuis quelque temps je vis sur une autre planète. </p>
<p><em>- Et vous arrivez à en vivre? </em>(c'est une des premières questions que me demandent les conducteurs qui me prennent en stop à qui je dis être musicienne en tournée un peu partout) </p>
<p>- <em>Vous voyez bien ma limousine et mes gardes du corps</em>, que je leur réponds en embarquant dans leur auto. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>N’empêche qu’il faut se garder près du rêve pour vivre dans le déni de tout le laid qu’on voudrait me faire avaler au nom de la <em>Vérité</em> et de la <em>Raison: </em></p>
<p><em>Comment peux-tu vivre avec tant d'insouciance quand ... se passe en/à/au ...? </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ça me rattrape surtout quand j’arrive en ville. Et là je comprends: </p>
<p>Douce dérive. Tranquillement mais sûrement, mes vérités ont changé:</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Je ne suis plus <em>obligée de… pour…</em> </strong></p>
<p>J'en suis à accepter que quand je fais ce qui me plaît, tout s'aligne autour. Certain(e)s disent Chance, moi je préfère Magie. </p>
<p>Normal que ça me choque autant de revenir dans un engrenage d'ouvrier(e)s. </p>
<p>Une chance qu’il y a encore les oiseaux, les vignes qui grimpent sur les murs. UNE CHANCE que ça me choque! </p>
<p>Ça me met une évidence en plein nez : je vis déjà ailleurs, la plupart du temps. </p>
<p>Ouf. </p>
<p>Soulagement. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Je repense à l’acroyoga dans l’herbe avec Aurore. À nos soirées de gumboot improvisées. À toutes les nouvelles idées que j’ai eues ces derniers mois. À ces rêveurs qui traversent l’océan en voilier pour jouer du jazz d’un port à l’autre. Au jeu qui <em>donne envie </em>au cerveau de <em>penser</em>, qui donne envie de <em>faire</em> pour s’amuser. </p>
<p><em>Faut-il s’acharner à travailler quand on pourrait cultiver ce désir qui nous donne intrinsèquement de l’énergie pour plancher sur ce qui nous anime? </em></p>
<p>Cultiver l’inspiration qui nous porte quand on crée. L’inspiration, ce levier qui fait passer les heures en coup de vent, qui nous remplit même en s'écoulant, plus on l’écoule plus on apprend. Et plus on l’apprend, plus on la veut, parce qu’avoir sa puissance créatrice avec soi, ça rapetisse les murs ou ça nous rend géante. </p>
<p>Je respire un grand coup. </p>
<p>Oui, je me couche à 10:30, et alors? C’est qu’il me faut toute la nuit pour peindre l’aube.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/9b095dd85b9a9e7256d73fa43bb0d3d57e86f190/original/le-reve-2.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/51615832018-04-03T08:59:45-04:002018-04-03T09:10:29-04:00Salut Bye Allô -quand je pars je me retrouve toujours <p>La madame que j'écoute qui me garde zen sur youtube raconte qu'on a beau partir à l'autre bout du monde, on se retrouve quand même avec soi. Moi, en général, ça m'arrange parce que je commence à m'amuser drôlement avec mes idées folles et parce que, pour l'instant, après les 8 mois d'enregistrement, production, promotion de Feu d'grand vent ( <a contents="download" data-link-label="Listen / Shop " data-link-type="page" href="/listen-shop" target="_blank">download</a> // <a contents="spotify" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/album/7a0fS2k5bagVzAGGyLxVNf" target="_blank">spotify</a> ) , j'ai besoin justement de savoir elle en est où Sophie.</p>
<p><em><strong>Le diagnostic est tombé après seulement trois semaines et les nouvelles sont bonnes: </strong></em></p>
<p>J'AI ENCORE ENVIE DE FAIRE PLEIN DE CHOSES !!!</p>
<p>Entre autres...</p>
<ul> <li>enregistrer un autre album avec 4 compositions que j'ai déjà et qu'il me faut peaufiner, et puis quelques covers aussi. Mettons Fin 2018 ou 2019.</li> <li>faire du cheval</li> <li>apprendre à surfer</li> <li>faire des handstands et plus d'acrobaties</li> <li>des collaborations avec d'autres artistes</li> <li>marcher sur plein de sentiers dans les montagnes et partir pour plusieurs nuits</li> <li>refaire du chant classique</li> <li>jouer de la guitare</li> <li>sourire et apprécier ce qui m'entoure</li>
</ul>
<p>Bref, pleine de mes nouvelles résolutions qui, heureusement, ne sont pas très éloignées de mon point d'action actuel, je suis partie et tout se passe bien. Je vous laisse sur un texte qui m'est venu un peu avant de prendre l'avion Montréal - Keflavik - Paris avec ma bronchite . J'étais pas mal fière. pour une fois, de laisser la chambre chez mes parents en "ordre". </p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">J'suis partie sans nettoyer derrière moi</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">le coeur en cage, les yeux ouverts, crinière dans le vent</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">dans ma valise, des rêves trop grands.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">La même tête lancée sur un autre continent</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Fallait cleaner derrière pour qu'on en fasse autant devant.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">J'suis partie sans ramasser derrière moi.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Le coeur en cage, l'espoir din dents, </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">J'arrive dl'autre bord, qu'est-ce qui m'attend?</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Sont partis dans la même fièvre,</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Le diable au corps, à ch'val su'l vent. </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/eb75ec5dc9e1c51885fa180bf80c61b5113b387a/original/photoswebsiteweb-8.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/51615592018-02-23T14:40:00-05:002018-04-03T08:36:38-04:00Feu d'grand vent got it's first review!<h2>Feu d'grand vent got it's first review </h2>
<p>and it's a <em>sweeeeeet</em> one!</p>
<p>Thanks to Agnes from Bytown Sound who took the time to listen to the album ( and you can do so on <a contents="my website here" data-link-label="Listen / Shop " data-link-type="page" href="/listen-shop" target="_blank">my website here</a> and on <a contents="spotify" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://open.spotify.com/album/7a0fS2k5bagVzAGGyLxVNf" target="_blank">spotify</a> ) and who thoroughly reviewed it with an array of words that surprised and delighted me.</p>
<h3><a contents="Read the full shabam here.&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.bytownsound.ca/2018/02/feature-friday-sophie-bijjani/" target="_blank">Read the full shabam here. </a></h3>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/02398b6848f44da603554a740f6e2ceaf1c94284/original/screen-shot-2018-04-03-at-2-32-35-pm.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/49784962017-12-15T00:35:38-05:002017-12-15T00:41:23-05:00Philosophy Applied to Blackheads <p>There. </p>
<p>I did it again. </p>
<p>Now my face is a starry constellation or red blotches and old scars left by my expert fingers.</p>
<p>Pinching the skin tight enough for<strong> </strong><em><strong>that</strong></em><strong> <em>satisfying</em> <em>moment</em></strong>. </p>
<p>Ever had this experience where, the closer you bring your face to the mirror (so close you could draw cool things in the mist that your breath leaves on it, rather than torturing your poor ceels), the more black heads you spot? And the more you burst, the more precisely your cruel eyes spot each and every pore of your face that could be pinched ? </p>
<p>Well that’s just what I had been doing for the last 5 minutes of my life when I thought - </p>
<p><em>Hey I bet I could be doing something better for myself right now. </em></p>
<p><em>(just one more, this one right here..ha! oh and this one too! ) </em></p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, I totally acknowledge the satisfaction of popping black heads. I just realized that the longer I focused on imperfections in my skin, the longer I was in a place of not-enjoying-my-face. </p>
<p>The longer I was away from an activity that could lead to better feelings. </p>
<p>Then you ask </p>
<p><em>but Sophie, </em></p>
<p><em>what is it with you and feeling good? </em></p>
<p><em>You would rather have a face full of black heads and feel good than suffer for a moment? </em></p>
<p>Well, the thing is, they’ll be there no matter what. So you better focus on something else when I talk to you. No, not my mustache nor my unibrow. How about you look me in the eyes and enjoy the beautiful things I tell you?</p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/49617052017-12-04T15:03:09-05:002017-12-05T11:24:46-05:00High on Life - the Story Behind the Artwork<p> </p>
<p>Hanging out in Bishop, "the land where 20 year olds come to retire and climb" I have often been asked what brought me here, since I wasn't a climber at all before this year. </p>
<p>So? Why come to the land of cowboys and climbers? </p>
<p> I can break it down in a short list of 5 reasons. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">1. HOME :</span></p>
<p> I’ve been in and out of the States for 3 years now (please find me a hus- oh no shouldn’t write these things here), and it feels like something keeps calling me back to the Eastern Sierras. It is honestly one of the few places that feel like home to me. I wake up and am amazed by the beauty of the landscape surrounding me. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">2. MOUNTAINS</span></p>
<p>Mountains on both sides of a desert valley. On the Western side, the Sierra Nevadas, photogenic granite queens of the valley (and counting some of the tallest peaks in California & the lower 48”’s tallest peak, Whitney). On the Eastern side, the White Mountains and their Ancient Bristecone Pine Forest with some of the oldest known trees in the world . So it’s a hiker’s paradise…and, as I came to learn and appreciate later on, a climber’s paradise. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"> 3. WATER </span></p>
<p>Have I ever told you how much I love water? ice cold lakes for cold plunges? Ice cold plunges after a beautiful hike in the Mountains? Ice cold crystal streams from which I can refill my water bottle during a beautiful hike? </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">3.5 HOT SPRINGS </span></p>
<p>well maybe this one is a subcategory of water but I think it deserves a whole bullet point to itself. Hot springs are so so so sacred to me. A hot bath in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by beautiful scenery (see the Mountain point higher up) . And since it’s California…I am…. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">4.NAKED </span></p>
<p>Why is this so important to me ? It’s the philosophy that comes with it. Feeling comfortable in your body even with strangers around. My body belonging to me, myself and I only even if there is someone else around.</p>
<p>And on the practical side, not having to go through the ridiculous process of wetting dry clothes, them taking them off and having to carry useless wet clothes around. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">5.SAGE </span></p>
<p>Oh the wonderful smell of sage brush. I love to pick some branches and leave them to dry on my dashboard. Then I forget about it and get a wonderful surprise when I open the car door. Oh the wonderful smell of sage brush. </p>
<p>I also love sage for its looks: it grows all over the desert and in the mountains, fills my eyes with its soothing light blue-green color </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">6.JEFFREY PINES </span></p>
<p>(ahah, did I say a short list o 5 reasons? The thing about life is once you start acknowledging beautiful things, they just keep coming your way) </p>
<p>Do you know what my favorite tree smells like? You’re just about to discover the answer. </p>
<p>My second year spending time in Yosemite, a ranger asked me if I had ever smelled one of these beautiful, tall-standing Jeffrey pine trees. </p>
<p>Na-ah, what do they smell like? </p>
<p>Of course he didn’t tell me but described how to identify them. And so for the next hikes sometimes I thought about it and tried randomly smelling different pine trees. </p>
<p>Until it happened. I stuck my nose in between two large chunks of bark and… </p>
<p>VANILLA </p>
<p>BUTTERSCOTCH </p>
<p>WAFFLES </p>
<p>OH!!!!! </p>
<p>I kissed it. I didn’t even think about it. </p>
<p> Hi I like you, you smell good, I kiss you. </p>
<p>Which bring me back to the Dirty Chai single being released tomorrow December 5th. The lyrics go like this: </p>
<p>“You know, I think we’d get on pretty well, </p>
<p>You’re quite attractive and I like your smell.” </p>
<p>Here's how and why I chose the artwork for it (and here's the artwork!) </p>
<p><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/5e125b007241cce44f25f1327dccd7b9c520139b/original/highonlifeyeslowres.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">I walk into my favorite coffee shop </span></h2>
<p>Bishop is full of interesting adventurers. One day, sitting at the Black Sheep (coffee shop that has witnessed most of my editing and mastering process) I officially met Rhiannon ( I had seen her before here and there in our dirtbag universe but we hadn’t spoken much) and somehow learned that she painted. </p>
<p>So of course I stalked her website. </p>
<p>AM I GLAD I DID!!! </p>
<p>Her art is SO beautiful and really speaks to me for she inspires herself from the Sierras outlines and then fills them with beautiful colors and mandala-inspired shapes.. </p>
<p> </p>
<h3>I don’t know if you’ve seen my album's artwork yet, but here it is: (and you can <a contents="purchase the album right here" data-link-label="Store" data-link-type="page" href="/store">purchase the album right here</a>)</h3>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/bfd7d377b23c00a4f3b25392e52ce2b435746dc4/medium/icon.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" /></p>
<p>It all started with the mandala to the right, who was inspired by the colors of the sierras in the summer. <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/a0fb35c2348bf932ce119e9e816d9c87a2494bf2/medium/cropped-sierraslow.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></p>
<p>So it made perfect sense to me to use her art as my single’s artwork. I asked her, she said yes, and here it is! </p>
<p>You should definitely check out her <a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.instagram.com/rhiannonklee/" target="_blank">instagram</a> or her <a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://rhiannonklee.com" target="_blank">website</a>, it’s full of her inspiring art.</p>
<p>And stay posted for the single coming out tomorrow !</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/48586662017-09-20T19:46:05-04:002021-10-15T09:39:15-04:00I'm looking at your...<p>I have been soaking a lot lately. Hot springs (and near-death experiences to get there), cold streams, glacier lakes… </p>
<p>Alone, most of the time I am </p>
<p>alone.</p>
<p>But sometimes there happens to be... </p>
<p>other humans with me. </p>
<p>And so I look at them and think </p>
<p>(oh pure soul) </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>why is it that French for </strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>Belly Button </strong></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>is </strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>Nombril</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>?</em>??? </strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/965c52a3bc871d225580980d33f660d9663dc7e6/small/six-pack-abs-diet.png?1505952656" class="size_s justify_center border_" /></strong></p>
<p>My latin skills aren’t quite strong enough yet for my brain to retrace the whole history of the word. I asked the Brasilian guy next to me:</p>
<p>- “What’s belly button in Portuguese?</p>
<p>- Umbigo. ” he said in a mellifluent (or -fluous, if you prefer) way. </p>
<p>Okay 3 points for the sexiness but I wasn’t closer to an answer. </p>
<p><a contents="Ok, google.&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.sophiebijjani.com/sophie-s-fortunes/blog/dis-google" style="" target="_blank">Ok, google. </a> The game is on. </p>
<p>I type in “<strong>Nombril</strong>" : </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/65b4fab39fb539d4905abf31fbbdcfa354b798b5/large/screen-shot-2017-09-20-at-4-17-06-pm.png?1505949562" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Not what I’m looking for, but i’m glad to know it’s a word in english too (and if you wonder what a <strong>fess point</strong> is: a point at a center of a shield…So…I’ll let you do the math to decide where the Nombril on a shield is but the proportions don’t seem to match the human body) </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Here’s what I got with “<strong>Nombril étymologie</strong>” (don’t speak french? the fun continues a little further down) </p>
<p>Les deux mots «nombril» et «ombilic» sont issus du latin. Ombilic a été emprunté au latin classique umbilicus, et est passé par la forme embelic. ... Les appellations de bédille (cordon ombilical) et badine (nombril), de même origine que boyau, boudin (du latin bodellus) étaient également utilisées anciennement. </p>
<p>OMBILIC! Voilà déjà quelque chose qui nous rapproche de umbigo mais comment est-on passé de umbilicus à NOMBRIL ?! Attention, voici la recette: </p>
<p>Du latin umbilicus via diverses altérations : </p>
<ol> <li>Une forme diminutive *umbiliculus qui donne régulièrement umblil, omblil en ancien français ; </li> <li>L’agglutination de l’article défini le dans lomblil et indéfini un dans nomblil ; </li> <li>La dissimilation des deux \l\, le premier devenant \r\.</li>
</ol>
<hr><p> </p>
<p>Then wikipedia says that most of the "<strong>Nombril</strong>" article is a translation of the "<strong>Navel</strong>" entry.</p>
<p>Huh!!! </p>
<p><strong>Navel</strong>! </p>
<p>I had forgotten that word. So here’s a little graphic of the origin of the word for you anglophones: </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/ef90d12004ab3afd066c70f64e00b7488d10f73c/original/screen-shot-2017-09-20-at-4-00-44-pm.png?1505949920" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>I'm a little skeptical on which Indo-Europeean root <em>Navel</em> and <em>Umbo</em> could share be but I will leave it here for now at tell you a very interesting fact about belly buttons that could be used in a detective tv series of some kind (COPYRIGHT!!!) </p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong>What do you do if you have two IDENTICAL TWINS to differenciate?</strong></span></p>
<p>Say, they're completely, totally identical, have the same haircut, the same irides (that's the medical plural for iris), no piercing, no scars to tell them apart?</p>
<p>Well then you forgot that the belly button <em>IS </em>a scar and that everyone, every single one of us has a UNIQUE BELLY BUTTON! </p>
<p>So lift their shirts and you will probably discover, after 50 minutes of nerve-wracking suspense and too many TV ads, who murdered who in a domino effect that will baffle even the smartests in your audience.</p>
<p>PS : You could have also taken their fingerprints. <a contents='NY Times says that "identical&nbsp;twins&nbsp;have different fingerprints' data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/science/06qna.html?mcubz=1" target="_blank">NY Times says that "identical twins have different fingerprints</a>" (But 6,8 or12-packs are better for drama, I agree.)</p>
<p>Anyway I'm sure it's gonna be an interesting program to watch ...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You can thank me later. Just remember me when you get rich.</p>
<p>xxx</p>
<p>S.</p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/48244892017-08-24T15:30:24-04:002017-08-24T15:58:37-04:00Wa-wa-wess !<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/b1155ba23543e3ce279ad8c109971253edfa48d8/original/wawawss3-2.jpg?1503604256" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span class="font_xl">Wa-wa-wess !</span></strong></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">on s'instalait en face d'un(e) ami(e)</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">on disait simultanément</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Wa-wa-wess !</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">on décidait si on shootait l'autre, si on rechargeait notre gun, ou si on se protégeait </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Wa-wa-wess !</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Wa-wa-wess !</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>I was five and he was six, </em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>we rode on horses made of sticks,</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>he wore black and I wore white, </em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>He would always win the fight.</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>Bang bang</em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Notre jeu à nous était plus le fun que celui de Nancy ça a l'air, parce que des fois je gagnais.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Wa-wa-wess !</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Wa-wa-wess !</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">J'brûle des miles,</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">J'mange du gas</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">l'Mid-West des États de long en large </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">et j'entends</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Wa-wa-wess ! </em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">L'air est sec, tout est piquant.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">J'me shoote au virtigineusement grand</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Wa-wa-wess ! </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">(je garde sous quasi-silence mon expérience radiophonique duocrhome:</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> chansons de cowboys et stations de Jésus, Dieu ait son âme. ) </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><br> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/48147612017-08-15T13:25:42-04:002017-09-20T20:24:54-04:00On the road again ! <p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/caaf05146fd27c8f7776cd286b8a92f0d31da3e6/original/screen-shot-2017-08-15-at-11-36-25-am.png?1502818660" class="size_l justify_right border_" />And I love it!</p>
<p>Of course one of the great joys of travelling is the connection to the moment. We are surprised by things and they delight us. And it feels good.</p>
<p>So here's the "plan" : </p>
<p>Move to BC.</p>
<p>but before...</p>
<p>Check out the<a contents=" TOTAL Solar Eclipse" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.space.com/33797-total-solar-eclipse-2017-guide.html" target="_blank"> TOTAL Solar Eclipse</a>. I'm so excited for this event and since it is only going to be fully visible in the US, I tried my luck at passing the border, once again. Of course they told me to go inside. Then, the officier that questioned me (for 30 minutes) was exactly what Americans don't like about Americans, but after giving me an "F" at "<em>passing the border" </em>he let me go anyway. He said I was a unique case. I think that's a compliment. </p>
<p>(to be fair, I understand that it's not helping my case when I tell them that I don't know yet <em>where</em> in BC I'll move, and that I don't have a gig there yet, that I don't have the # or the address of the person that i'm saying I'll meet in Seattle...I'll lie next time, for sure.)</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/a120e21da197a43c1b6ed5bf20d6a5672a5f9c28/medium/20170810-090933.jpg?1502815814" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><span class="font_large">Sand Pit</span></p>
<p>1rst night in, I was in Michigan: I drove into a sand pit and got stuck, really stuck there.</p>
<p>So I thought, okay, alright, looks like I've found my camping spot for the night. Next morning I stopped a random car passing on the dirt road to borrow their cell phone, called AAA, got pulled out of there and went swimming in lake Michigan on a deserted public beach (looks like people don't know how to swim when it rains...) </p>
<p>Then I spent a few days in Duluth with my friend Julia and we drank beer, did acroyoga (check out the video below for some cool tricks!) and SAILED ON A BOAT !!! I don't remember being on a sailboat before. I think I might try to hitch hike on boat next trip... Haaaa yes! Sailing at night was glorious, with the shooting stars and the burnt-orange moon rising...<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/c260d2e2b8814af01cd346201b8ef8b27dc88cd3/medium/20170812-195848.jpg?1502816241" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p> <iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="bafciCWdYKI" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/bafciCWdYKI/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bafciCWdYKI?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_large">The Continental Divide<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/d5651b8d7e06b2abec30c503509fda597568d71b/original/ontheroad2017.jpg?1502817234" class="size_l justify_right border_" /></span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">After leaving Julia, I spent the night lost in the middle of fields, found a lake with a free campsite. Didn't sleep much between, s</span>hooting stars, fish flying out of the lake, huge white herons and hords of chihuahuas (actually coyotes) partying all night. Then someone rolled in at 7 am and started fishing. So I gave up on sleep and enjoyed my breakfast with a new friend. Then drove off.</p>
<p>And drove across North Dakota</p>
<p>And drove across Montana... until I saw the sign:</p>
<p>CONTINENTAL DIVIDE ! </p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Haaaaa how good it felt to read this. MADE IT HALFWAY ACROSS THE CONTINENT !<br>And shortly after that it got even more beautiful for the eyes. I stopped for a hike in the Painted Canyon of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, saw wild HORSESSssss and had a photoshoot with them which gave gorgeous pictures:</span></p>
<p> And then continued on all the way to Wyoming.</p>
<p>The first thing I did when I got to the Tongue River Campground was swimming. </p>
<p>Oh.</p>
<p>Very nice.</p>
<p>Cold water. </p>
<p>Said hi to my neighbours, set up the tent, and fell in a deep sleep. Woke up in a flooded tent. Fell back asleep. And so today, I went to the public library nearby to write you all of this, until the rain stops and I can dry my things. Then I'll probably swim again and explore the canyon. </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/8ac447e0384f1aca7e2a6b8d554474a397efeb7f/original/ontheroad2017-3.jpg?1502817712" class="size_l justify_right border_" /></p>
<p> </p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/47526702017-06-21T14:40:45-04:002017-06-21T14:58:45-04:00Chocolate and Chips<p>Before I'm dead and forgotten, I'd just like to share this story with you.</p>
<p>It took place in a time of ballrooms, big bands and winter gloom...-<em>wait,, eh, 6 months ago?</em></p>
<p> Yup. </p>
<p>Out of boredom and anxiety rose a desire : if I couldn't control my mood, then I would control anything else around it.</p>
<p>So I started brewing my own kombucha, sprouting clover and beans and washing my face with cocoa butter.</p>
<p>If you find this weird, do not adventure further, as it only gets worse.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>At one point I even ordered non-<em>nano-zync</em> to eventually make my own sunscreen. That was also back in the days when I had started to use make up again, to hide the lack of sunshine-happiness from under my eyes. But then, the compact powder I had bought 6 years ago was almost empty. I was shopping for a replacement one when this brilliant idea made its way to my brain: </p>
<p><em>wa-wait!</em></p>
<p><strong>I BET I CAN MAKE THAT TOO!!! </strong></p>
<p>oh my. Off I was, googling " DIY FACE POWDER" and eventually settling for a recipe that called for arrowroot powder, bentonite clay, essential oils and ...SPICES for color! So there I poured ginger, <em>cimanomom</em> I mean <em>ciman</em>- cinnamon, and cocoa in the white powder mix until I found a color I liked. Yes it smelled delicious and fresh (a little tea tree oil, a little lavender too) as I applied it to my face. I then looked like any other face-powdered muchacha from the 21rst century. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Oh but you know this is not where the story ends.</strong></p>
<p>So fast forward some weeks from then and teleport 250km away from my laboratory. </p>
<p>Little Sophie's at a ballroom dance party, the big band is groovin' (and I am sweating).</p>
<p>Oh, one thing I forgot to mention:</p>
<p>in the midst of all these experiments, I had also started washing my hair with baking soda and apple cider vinegar. </p>
<p>Okay, now you've got all the information needed to imagine what dancing with me felt like that night:</p>
<p>like holding a melting chocolate bar and spinning a hyperactive bag of salt&vinegar chips around.</p>
<p>The wonder of it all is....</p>
<p><em><strong>People still danced with me </strong></em></p>
<p>and smiled !!!</p>
<p>I love humans. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong> Beauty tip updates: </strong></p>
<p>Still do the baking soda shampoo and apple cider vinegar conditioner, except is use the latter in a WAY diluted solution than I used that night. </p>
<p>The face powder is still sitting quietly in a jar in my bedroom. Ever since the cocoa butter face wash, I don't really feel the need for it anymore.</p>
<p>Now, about the BENTONITE CLAY (which makes me feel like a superhero scientist or like clark kent) ...When I use it for face masks, my face is the same color as my eyes! </p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/a87a7c043279d50d8286d4f29a9b109d87c381c1/medium/hero-lrg-shrekfiona.png?1498070422" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/47328292017-06-03T23:47:11-04:002017-06-04T21:07:07-04:00Do You Trust Me?<p>You might have noticed that I have decided to <a contents="crowdfund my next album" data-link-label="A Traveling Mind" data-link-type="page" href="/a-traveling-mind" target="_blank">crowdfund my next album</a> and so I wanted to write a little entry on why I decided to do the whole thing via my website and not via kickstarter or indiegogo or any other crowdfunding platform. The short answer is:</p>
<p>Because I can and that way I don't have to give them 5 to 8% of what you're going to send my way.</p>
<p>The long answer is that at first I had a feeling these platforms would "look good" for my reputation, in the sense that, people trust these websites and so would feel comfortable funding me via them. But after thinking it through, I realized most of you know me anyway, and even if we haven't met personally you know well enough that I'm not into music to rip people off but because singing is almost my only way to be. And so I don't need their names to back me up. (But I do need you to back me and listen to me sing ) </p>
<p>The other thought I had was: Oh but they're a good way to get people that don't know me to fund my project. But the truth is...meh, not really. The competition is intense on these websites and it's not like the website team is doing much to help you out anyway. Plus, I think the least 3rd parties involved the easier it will be for me to stay organized. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/111f14a6182a4dff10269dac3f526c5c40cd0395/small/cchc.png?1494430471" class="size_s justify_left border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p>See? Don't I look trustworthy? ;)</p>
<p>Love,</p>
<p>S. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>UPDATE</strong>: </p>
<p>Well it turned out creating the whole webpage to host a similar template as the crowdfunding websites use was a much bigger time investment than the 5% I'll save but I kinda liked doing it and figuring out how to organize the whole thing, so I'm not too upset about it. </p>
<p> </p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/47233532017-05-26T12:00:33-04:002017-05-26T12:06:09-04:00Morning Epiphany<p>Friends <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/c6ac115e8438c60c6472786f1a0e28c2270a8b4f/medium/botanical-snapshotchallenge-sophiebijjani-1.jpg?1495814249" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></p>
<p>Did you ever realize that our desires shape the world we live in? </p>
<p>We - shape - the - world.(oh yes, you do, even if you only have 3 000$ in your bank account <span class="font_small">(or less)</span>) </p>
<p>In the past months (years?) I have been in a weird place that most of you probably can relate to: patiently waiting, on stand by for life to say “Hello this is where it all begins” </p>
<p>And so here we are, waiting for someone (something) to extend their hands, waiting for someone else to initiate what WE want to do. </p>
<p>But can I tell you what’s flawed about this? </p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, cooperation is awesome. But no one knows better than you what’s inside of you. Even if you don’t clearly know what you want, your feelings are yours and yours only. In this we are all the same: your desires shape you into a completely unique creator of your every moment. </p>
<p>(at this point you might thin I’m high on something: Yes. Coffee. Music. Dance. oh, hippie you!) </p>
<p>I’m not saying quit your jobs and sell all your belongings. I’m saying….I love when you, when we, are aware that our only power is making the now feel better. And when we decide to take this easy way. By feeling better ourselves, everything, everybody feels better along the way. </p>
<p>I love you! </p>
<p>(and I’m off to create some wonderful music with someone I barely know because that sounds like something I’ve never tried before. Stay tuned ! (maybe <a contents="subscribe to my mailing lis" data-link-label="Sophie's Fortunes" data-link-type="page" href="/sophie-s-fortunes" target="_blank">subscribe to my mailing lis</a>t ? ;) <br><br>How do <em>you </em>keep yourself in the moment? Leave a comment below, we all benefit from your tricks! <br>I find photography really helps me focus on how to frame things beautifully. There's always an angle that will make something look better. Chose that angle! (or don't but then don't be upset if I smile when you complain) </p>
<p>xxx</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/2541f0d3697822d607273b152111a6b5cc5c89f2/small/sharing-logo-black.png?1492375381" class="size_s justify_center border_" /></p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/47214502017-05-24T22:55:01-04:002017-05-24T23:19:31-04:00Drawing Conclusions<p>After my fourth croissant today, I have come to the conclusion that croissants might not be the only answer in regard to what we are doing here. </p>
<p>So I bought a cheap bottle of organic wine and picked up the ukulele. (hear podcast below) </p>
<p>Conclusion: still pending...</p>
<p>I am not at my fourth glass yet. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/46879242017-04-27T16:31:37-04:002017-04-28T17:33:30-04:00Granny Sophie's Phone-Unlocking Adventure<p>It was about time I upgraded from my brother’s old Samsung Galaxy SII phone to a newer thing. </p>
<p><em>Why ? </em></p>
<p>I’m ashamed to tell you the answer. </p>
<p><em>Why? </em></p>
<p>I COULDN’T POST VIDEOS ON INSTAGRAM WITH THE OLD ONE !!!! </p>
<p>Sophie why do you need to post videos on instagram? </p>
<p>Well…This independent musician right here is trying to figure out how to use social medias to draw more attention and followers to listen to her stuff. Organic reach, they call it... I’m not paying for facebook ads (yet..) ! </p>
<p>Instagram & twitter are good hubs to reach new people, because unlike facebook, they don’t need to have “liked” your page to see your posts. People browsing on the different # hubs might check you out. </p>
<p>So, after last year’s Bijjmobile, I now present you </p>
<p>the </p>
<p>Bijjaphone! (or Cellajjani ? Oooh that’s exotic! Bet you've never seen anything like it!) <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/2c33f6a0a1e88ffa37edb3bbd37a069415341041/medium/s6.jpg?1493324825" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></p>
<p>(oh Sophie how do you find such creative names? Well, I’m an artist, you know!) </p>
<p>There’s only a little problem with this Bijjaphone. </p>
<p>It’s locked to Bell. And Bell will charge me 40$ to unlock it, although the guy I bought it from had fully paid it off. So what did I do? Of course, I googled my way to a cellular unlocking website called (watch out, they’re even better than me for names) </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><a contents="cellunlocker.net&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://cellunlocker.net" target="_blank">cellunlocker.net </a></span></p>
<p>They’ve got a bunch of different devices that they can unlock (unless you’re one of the lucky ones who bought a S7 who can be unlocked for free via samsung (it was about time!!!!)) and they say will send you a code within 1 to 12 business hours. </p>
<p>25$ (okay that’s 32 cad these days but that’s still better than ugly Bell & Rogers & the rest of ‘em) </p>
<p>So I decided to guinea-pig it for you. </p>
<p>Why am I writing a whole blog post for it? </p>
<p>Because I have found that sometimes, what made me use this website or the other was an online review I could trust. And since there are so many sketchy online unlocking businesses, I’d rather let you know if I find one that works! </p>
<p>I’ll let you know how the whole thing goes when I receive my code. I’ve never unlocked a phone before! I usually tear them apart and replace parts and that’s all. Now that’s become harder too with the new glass and edge designs phew why would you fix and re-use a phone when you can buy a new one for only 899$ (what a bargain, I can only survive 2 months with this amount of money!) </p>
<p>——————— </p>
<p>But Sophie what are you gonna do with you new (used) samsung S6 (hah bet you were dying to know which one I got, it’s not even a stolen one!) </p>
<p>Well, friends, I will now be able to shoot<em> two different angles </em>when I do my youtube videos. How about that? </p>
<p>I also enables me to take very flattering selfies. #nofilter Arrr ! <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/0deb7193f422c2b961a066216d781c022ee4dff2/medium/20170427-232145.jpg?1493324958" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></p>
<p>I’ll also be able to record more easily & with better audio/video quality snippets of compositions, improvised performances, and just share more content with you of my every day life. Can we use the social medias to actually be more connected? </p>
<p>For a while, it felt like a burden. Like it was all a show, I had to fake that only cool things were happening to me Like the social medias were just a big game I had to play in order to get fans. </p>
<p> That’s not how I want to look at it now: I want to see it as a net of opportunities. As a way to connect with people who like what I do and people who inspire me. One thing I love about blogging is that it enables me to hear back from you and to share with you more detailed thoughts, although you are not physically here with me drinking tea. </p>
<p>So I feel like having a decent phone (excuse me, a top of the line-already-outdated-phone) might enable me to do all of this more easily. </p>
<p>Plus, I really needed to get a phone number again (the 5th one in 2 years?) for gigs and planning things and…well, okay, I didn’t need it. But since I like being everywhere and often just take off on an impulsion, it is useful. </p>
<p>—————————— </p>
<p>So what about that website ? </p>
<p>Well, I got a confirmation e-mail first, then 12 hours later, I received an e-mail from them with the unlock code.So, here’s how it went: </p>
<p>I inserted a sim-card that wasn’t on the Bell Network, <br>I got a message asking me for an unlock code. <br>I entered the 8 digit unlock code that <a contents="cellunlocker" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://cellunlocker.net" target="_blank">cellunlocker</a> had sent me: </p>
<p>Device Unlock Successful </p>
<p>Hell yes! </p>
<p>So now I’m with Virgin until a different provider has a better promo plan on. </p>
<p>Guess what?...Virgin runs on <strong>Bell Network</strong>. <em>(toudoum-tcha!)</em></p>
<p>You know I never do things half-way. </p>
<p><em>(except cleaning the countertops and shining the stainless steel fridge & microwave doors</em>, I hear my parents say)<br><br>xxx<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/2541f0d3697822d607273b152111a6b5cc5c89f2/small/sharing-logo-black.png?1492375381" class="size_s justify_center border_" /></p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/46262132017-04-25T12:12:43-04:002017-04-25T17:19:21-04:00Work, Wine, Worry - The Happy Minute Experiment Disclaimer: This post is for the chronically unsatisfied. If you are totally contempt with your existence at the moment, don't even bother (why should you?) !<br><br>Life hacks.<br>What a cool trend. I too wish there were shortcuts to ....joy? success? money? love? <br><br>From the little that I know, feeling good is probably the best thing you can do for yourself in the moment.<br>Why is it easier said than done?<br>We all have our excuses but I think it is time to <em>stop</em> <em>explaining</em> why we feel terrible and just<em> start feeling better</em>.<br>Tell the story differently or talk about something else.<br><em>Something</em> that feels better.<br>Our emotions are such a great way of knowing if we're on the right track. Even feeling bad is good once you notice it and start working towards better feeling places.<br>I'll keep it short here with my optimistic blabla but if what I'm saying here resonates with how you are feeling, you might want to listen to what Abraham Hicks has got to say. It's been really helpful for getting back into alignment during the dark winter. <br><br>Anyway, now you know where that's coming from. Here's the experiment:<br> <div style="text-align: center;"><strong>When you wake up,<br>Think consistent feeling-good thoughts for a minute.</strong></div>
<hr><br>You know what I had to do? <br>USE A TIMER !<br><br>As if OVERTHINKING happy thoughts could be dangerous for my health. <br><br>"What if I go over time? My oh my, there are so many things I need to do, book shows, find a job, bite my nails, drink coffee-<em> no, Sophie, you can always go back to worrying later, give yourself a break!</em>"<br><br>Now think about it, what if feeling good is something that can be practiced?<br>Could it become easier and easier for your brain to wire and spread happy thoughts?<br>Like practicing a sport or an instrument? <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/ea6f9e6d1626f2be960b9870467c4201c3fc9c86/medium/work-wine-worry.jpg?1493136870" class="size_m justify_right border_" /><br><br>There are so many doors that we don't even know are there when we're feeling down. It's not about selling all your stuff and quitting your job <span class="font_small">(well, depends on your job...) </span><span class="font_regular">it's just about doing a little better every day, you've heard that before I bet. Well I will tell you again; <strong>One step at a time.</strong></span><br>I like to look at it this way:<br>You're in the middle of an imaginary circle (oops, ever noticed how egocentrism and geocentrism are only one typo away?) <br>Your momentum/ energy/ goals / thoughts are directing your towards point A on the outer rim of the circle. <br>Now, a little shift occurs in this momentum-bundle and you just rotate a tiny little bit towards something else. At the edge of the circle, you'll be somewhere totally different. That was only a little step away. <p>(you can replace butterfly with anything else you like, cake, horses, waterfalls,or more urban stuff like ermmmm...I'm sure you'll find something!)</p><br>I know, I know, this is a very incomplete example but I just wanted to demonstrate how a little goes a long way. <span class="font_small">(Same for your savings, right? Well, that's only if your savings account has an interest rate that's higher than inflation...Getting carried away) </span>
<hr><br><br>There is <em>so much</em> out there for us!<br><br>Let me know if you notice anything as you begin to mindfully orientate your thoughts or how the process goes for you.<br>Love, sunshine and butterflies,<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/2541f0d3697822d607273b152111a6b5cc5c89f2/small/sharing-logo-black.png?1492375381" class="size_s justify_center border_" /><br> Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/46730612017-04-16T16:44:45-04:002017-04-17T22:45:36-04:00Now What?<div style="text-align: center;">
<br><strong><span class="font_large">My first gigging year in review + (one of) my new goals!</span></strong><br> </div><br>Hello friends!<br><br>Some of you I have met hitch-hiking around, others are long time friends, others I have met busking or performing somehwere,<br>maybe I haven't even met you yet (what? make yourself known!) <br><br>In any case, thanks for reading this, following me and sharing your thoughts with me. <br><br>Let's go back in time first so you can see where this is all coming from. <br><br>After graduating from Jazz Voice, I was 21 and thought I would eventually figure "it" <em>(life)</em> out one way or another. I thought I'd get a clear ANSWER but couldn't even find a question. Tsss <span class="font_small">(hahaha naive me. I do recommend some love in it all, though, but to keep this post manageable in length, I wont tell you what I think usually makes people happy or not. )</span>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/8431c68acb48bf74b88c7888e0294494efc6f9a4/medium/screen-shot-2017-04-16-at-4-28-31-pm.png?1492374533" class="size_m justify_right border_" />And so I left for an epic 6 months-ish hitch hiking adventure across Canada and in the Western part of the US. That's when I started busking. I wasn't spending much but I didn't want to spend more than I earned, (the busking experience is for another post as well). I bought this gorgeous 15$-princess/bride-dress (leading to interesting tan-lines too) and sang my heart out on the corner of the streets in Durango, then in Santa Fe. (bonus: <a contents="here's a playlist" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKPb_N_F1qJqxrOCIdWt8CZlJfvEZM-Qc" target="_blank">here's a playlist</a> of some busking videos from these good-ole-days)<br><br>What a beautiful experience this trip was: Connecting so easily with others when you are so vulnerable (seen this ted talk by <a contents="Brenée Brown" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability" target="_blank">Brenée Brown</a>?).<br><br>Then my question got more precise: </p>
<div style="text-align: center;"><em><span class="font_large">How can I adventure in a sustained manner,<br>creating something bigger<br>that lasts longer than a trip?</span></em></div> <br>For a little while this question lingered in my subconscious.<br> <hr> <p>As the North emerges out of hibernation, I'm starting to get all sorts of crazy ideas. Some of them are inspired by <a contents="Amanda Palmer's "Art of Asking"" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://shop.amandapalmer.net/products/art-of-asking-book" target="_blank">Amanda Palmer's "Art of Asking"</a> and others are just fantasies that have been with me for a little while already. </p>
<p> Almost exactly a year ago I had set myself a goal: to play 15 payed shows over the next year so I could actually call myself a professional musician (Sure, there was music-school before, but let's be honest, it doesn't teach you how to make a living as a musician, mostly just made me more anxious about my capabilities.). <br>May 21rst 2016 was my first 3h-solo show at the Wakefield Mill and since then, I have played over 30 paid shows. (✓ CHECK ! ) <br><br>So now is the time to set some new goals for the upcoming years. But first, let me tell you this: </p>While getting paid to play music definitely is very enjoyable, the best part of it, for me, is the connections that I create with whoever is touched by what I am sharing. For that, it really helps when the crowd I'm playing for is sober enough to understand what I am saying, which is why I stay away from the pubs/bars scene. <span class="font_small">(Plus, granny Sophie likes to sleep early and watch sunrises when possible.) </span><span class="font_regular">And while restaurants and street corners are perfectly fine venues, I would like some more diversity too. </span>
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_regular"><strong>So how do I do this?</strong><br>Well...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br>Here's my latest fantasy....<br>(drum roll)<br>.........<br>.......<br>.....<br>...<br>.<br><strong><span class="font_large">House concerts! </span></strong><br><span class="font_small">(genius, nobody has thought about this before!)</span><br> </div>
<div>If you're not familiar with the concept, here's my take on it: smaller concerts of an hour or two that gather from 10-50 persons in a host's living room (or basement, or whichever room they have that can accommodate us). Acoustic or very lightly amplified . It can be at potluck, just a show, a big party after, or everyone goes home once it's over...it is a very, very flexible concept. As for contributions, I'd go with something like: throw in the hat whatever you can afford to pay for the concert. <br><br>Wouldn't that be a great way to share my music, my joy, travel, meet new people and make new friends?<br><br><strong>Welllll I do think so too!!!</strong><br>Plus,it's something I've been wanting to try for a year or two, but I didn't feel confident I had enough people interested in what I do. Now, I realize that I don't even need a whole lot of people. <em>Start small, and then it'll grow.</em><br><br>So who wants to be a part of this adventure?<br>I'm thinking North America for the summer, and then if <span class="font_small">(<strong>WHEN</strong>!)</span> my crazy dreams come true, we can expand this to Europe and wherever else I can connect with a host in the world? <br><br>Please, comment if you have any thoughts, ideas.<br>Please share with anyone whom you think would be interested by this concept.<br><br><strong>Last but not least</strong>, if you think you would like to host a house concert, get in touch with me so we can talk about it in more details (no commitment ;) ).<br> via <a contents="facebook" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/sophiebijjani" target="_blank">facebook</a> (the link will take you to my page) or via email ( sophiebijjani@gmail.com ) <br><br><br>I'm really excited to start planning this with you. <br>xxx<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/2541f0d3697822d607273b152111a6b5cc5c89f2/small/sharing-logo-black.png?1492375381" class="size_s justify_left border_none" alt="" /><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>(can't find a way to make this smaller, but you get the idea) </div>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/46566442017-04-03T18:22:37-04:002017-04-10T19:20:19-04:00Dis GoogleIl y a quelques jours, j'enregistrais 2 000 "phrases" (lire : mots aléatoires mal épelés et non accentués) pour une tâche de collection ou sampling de voix en français canadien. L'exercice était d'une tristesse infinie parce que je ne pouvais m'empêcher d'imaginer que c'étaient de vraies recherches Google.<br><br>Je vous partage donc un poème absurde que cette tâche abrutissante m'a inspiré. Je vous ai laissé quelques fautes puisque je vous aimes.<br>Je vous conseille aussi de suivre les règlements pour un résultat plus concluant . <p><em>Règlements: </em></p>
<p><em>- Lire à haute voix, en français canadien. Essayez d'être le plus naturel possible. <br>- Prenez une pause aux virgules. et une plus longue pause aux … <br>- Veuillez enregistrer 15 lignes supplémentaires après vos 2 000 au cas où quelques uns de vos enregistrements soient de piètre qualité. </em></p>
<p><br><span class="font_xl"><strong>Dis Google </strong></span><br><br>OK Google, comment perdre du poids <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/808053803661ff64bde933a46dc0a9bef1380b17/original/tryptique-1-1.jpg?1491258117" class="size_l justify_right border_" /><br>trois fois plus de piment, <br>Salut Google, chasse spleen <br>gout gueule…aparatchik definition <br><br>Hé Google, raconte moi une blague <br>vba inputbox … pétasse <br>Hey Google comme toujours <br>buy…Hé goog gueule <br><br>OK Google perfect model <br>Salut Google blonde masturbe <br>potiron, jeu pour enfant <br>tele 7 jours- décoration intérieure <br><br>assurance habitation multirisque… poignard <br>Le diable au corps… la rose des sables. <br>Salut Google review banque du Luxembourg <br>vive la liberté… Google bague en or orient <br>dis moi Google lancome teint idole foundation <br><br><br>Bonjour Google mercenaire <br>Bonjour Google malien <br>Google babeau <br>Google big bang <br><br>dis moi Google l’esprit d’escalier <br>école de la fonction publique… dis-moi Google remède <br>auberge la sainte paix…hé google frère jacques <br>tv plasma acheter en ligne sonorous ... <br>Hé Google gagner argent sur internet <br><br>vivre…dis Google <br>Nier pc dis-moi Google recette été <br>les terasses de randinara - <br>Amulette maladroite, bichon frisé <br>indigo Matante… future simple <br>Falloir verbe conjuger </p>
<p>OK Google, jeune fille nue <br>danse avec les loups… cloison <br>Blond vénitien, ejaculation precoce <br>Google bondeline popeline <br>Mille tendresse…béton imprimé <br>Bonjour Google Jean-Pierre Genet, arbalète à vendre </p>
<p>Sacré fleur, bateau mouche <br>Veuillez agréer... croisière caraïbes <br>Chapeau bas, salut Google .<br> </p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/46432092017-03-23T18:26:05-04:002020-08-29T11:09:44-04:00A Sunny Spring Day (everything is coming my way) <p><span class="font_large"><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/3891a89afba83890d98e9a39ed051c3368c2b987/original/20170321-20170319-dsc-2330-2-1.jpg?1490307541" class="size_l justify_right border_" />A Sunny Spring Day</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong>(everything is coming my way) </strong></span></p>
<p><br>12:20 </p>
<p>I got there as he was chewing on the last bite of his sandwich. 20 minutes late. </p>
<p><em>I’m sorry Andy, it was 11:30 and then all of a sudden it was 11:50 .Somehow there's a black hole that appears every time I have a chance of getting somewhere on time.... </em></p>
<p>He greets me with a warm hug. And on we go for a lunch-hour-catch-up blitz. I tell him about the good stuff, and about my desire to get more gigs.<br>His answer: <em> It’s easy for you, just walk into a venue with your face and your ukulele, sing a tune, smile and they’ll hire you.</em></p>
<p>I put the back of my hand to my forehead and sigh : <em> I wish life was that simple!</em><br><br> </p>
<p>————— </p>
<p><br><br>4:15 pm </p>
<p>I’m strutting in the Byward Market after a little jam session with friends (check out <a contents="Aaron Ray" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://aaronrayband.com/" target="_blank">Aaron Ray</a> : goooooooood stuff) . </p>
<p>E-mail break: </p>
<p><em>Hey Sophie thanks for the response, </em></p>
<p><em>I will be at my work in about 20 mins so come in anytime after 2:10pm as I am interested in booking you for the month of April. Thanks again,</em><br> </p>
<p>I’m the one who offered to go there in person, but now I’m hesitating because…<strong><em>.I’m wearing….khaki sweatpants</em></strong>….and big chunky boots… </p>
<p>I take a deep breath and walk in anyway: I’ll just smile and he’ll look at my teeth, right? </p>
<p><br>—————— </p>
<p><br><br>15 minutes and some chit-chat later, I’m plugged-in and playing because they happened to want to test-out their sound system. </p>
<p><em>Hi Ottawa, I’m Sophie and I’ll be playing for you for the next… </em></p>
<p>I sing shorter versions of my songs so that they can hear a wide range of songs before they're done the test.<br><em>Who</em>, <strong><em>They</em></strong>?<br>Oh! Yeah, there’s the Owner, the Manager, the Other Manager & the Operator. </p>
<p>Other Manager, whose name I learn later on, comes up to me and hands me her business card: </p>
<p><em>You know that there are jazz evenings downstairs at the</em> <strong>Vineyards. </strong><em>Get in touch with me so we</em> can book you sometime this summer, we’d love to get a female jazz <em>singer</em>. <br><br>————— </p>
<p><br>I can imagine the spark of laughter in Andy's eyes.<br><em>Told you so!</em><br><br><br>By the way, check out my event page to know when I'll play at <a contents="Coasters" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://coasters.ca/" target="_blank">Coasters</a> & <a contents="Vineyards" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://vineyards.ca/" target="_blank">Vineyards</a>! ;) <br>You can also like/subscribe to my facebook page if you'd like frequent reminders of when & where I play. </p>
<hr><p>Photo credit: Check out <a contents="Jeffrey Hung" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.instagram.com/jkthung/" target="_blank">Jeffrey Hung</a> on instagram (@jkthung) </p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/46399262017-03-21T19:39:10-04:002021-01-04T12:46:45-05:00The Communist Cookie Batch<p><span class="font_large"><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/c16b5309f6ebe684c8ffeff8bc65f4a8f20f6d98/original/cookie.jpg?1490139447" class="size_l justify_center border_" />The Communist Cookie Batch </strong></span></p>
<p>I just made a batch of delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. </p>
<p> As usual, right before I added the chocolate chips I was picking up huge chunks of the raw mixture and delightfully eating it. </p>
<p>Although I will eat them once they are baked, my usual motivation for making cookies is solely based on this cherished moment. </p>
<p>I then added the chocolate chips and started separating my creation in raw, aligned little unbaked cookies: a row of 3, a row of 2 <br>(I was thinking: “ huh, capitalism at it’s peak: these parchemin papers are 3 inches smaller than the conventional cooking pan, so that if you want to use your pan to its full capacity, you need to use two…and so buy more parchemin paper! Tss. But they wont get me, because I’ll just squeeze all the cookies on a single sheet! Gnahaha” Also, since I had already eaten the equivalent of 2 cookies, there was already less stuff to fit on the sheet, but that’s a detail… ) </p>
<p>So, back to our rows. </p>
<p>One , two, three </p>
<p> One, two </p>
<p>One , two, three </p>
<p> One, two <br><br>One , two, th-!!!*!&@?! <br> </p>
<p>I DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGH DOUGH LEFT TO MAKE A THIRD FULL COOKIE!!! </p>
<p>And no - I couldn’t just leave the half-started cookie to its destiny to burn faster than all of the other cookies on the pan. What were my options? </p>
<p>I didn’t want to eat it because it was full of chocolate chips and I was already full from all that I ate before. </p>
<p>I didn’t want to go through the process of splitting it between all of the other cookies because the pattern on the pan would then be incomplete anyway. </p>
<p>So I did what any good leader would do. </p>
<p>After I had my fair share of raw dough, </p>
<p>I stole a little chunk of dough from every other cookie on the pan </p>
<p>so that I could create The-Full-13th-Cookie. </p>
<p>They didn’t complain.<br><br>Sophie For President! (err, <em>Queen? </em>no, I mean, <em>leader, leader, </em>right...) </p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/46253322017-03-10T17:33:33-05:002017-03-10T17:51:19-05:00Histoire en queue de poisson<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/02a45498e1510901daacc17b8da6de3be687bc41/large/queue-de-poisson.jpg?1489184831" class="size_l justify_right border_" />3:45 pm ce vendredi à Ottawa<br><br>J'ai l'impression de perdre ma vie. Au moins je l'ai battu aux échecs une partie sur deux (lui, pas ma vie). Ensuite, je l'ai reconduit au bar où il travaille (rien d'autre à faire). <br><br><br><span class="font_regular">J'ai eu un flash. Walk in, and say:<br><em>I heard you need a barback</em><br><br>(je le sais, il me l'a dit, celui qu'il a formé la semaine passé s'est désisté aujourd'hui)<br>Travailler ce soir. Faire 100$ même si l'horaire tue ma joie de vivre, c'est assez excitant et bref pour survivre. Travailler demain soir. Peut-être même, (et je rêve) j'aurais pu <em>subber</em> barback jusqu'à ce qu'ils aient trouvé quelqu'un d'autre, après la St. Patrick.</span><p>J'y pense, j'y pense et j'y repense: <br>Easy money, remplir mon temps d'argent <br>de gens saouls <br>de stress d'autre chose que "qu'est-ce que j'fais d'ma vie?" <br>contre le sommeil de mes nuits </p>
<p>travailler pour tuer mes jours.</p><em>Mais tes vendredi de danse swing?</em><br><br>travailler pour tuer mes jours. <br><br>J'ai "besoin" d'argent et l'idée est excitante. Je m'ennuie presque du temps où je coulais des bières chez <em>Magnan</em> en détestant tout de l'endroit et des gens <span class="font_small">(sauf le sexy busboy qui a fini nu et trop saoul un jour (une nuit) dans mon lit avant de finir nu et trop saoul dans le lit d'une autre). </span><br><span class="font_regular">Oui, c'est clair, je m'ennuie! </span><br><br><span class="font_regular">Je pense à tout ça en conduisant vers l'Église où a lieu la soirée swing. Je me dis qu'ils ont peut-être besoin de volontaires ce soir pour organiser la soirée et si ça peut me sauver les 25$ (fuck, am I <em>that </em>broke?) d'entrée, pourquoi pas? J'ai rien d'autre à faire....à part poursuivre cette idée folle d'une nouvelle job qui n'a rien de commun avec mes rêves profonds.</span><br><br><span class="font_regular">La porte est barrée, il est beaucoup trop tôt et personne n'est encore arrivé.<br>Je rembarque dans le traffic et, pompée de je ne sais quelle volonté, la BijjMobile me ramène devant le Heart & Crown.<br>Je fais un U-turn.<br>Je respire dans mon char.</span><br><br><span class="font_regular">Je sors du char et je commence à marcher.<br>Dans l'autre direction.<br>Pour pas qu'il me voie (comme s'il m'oubliait pas dès qu'il entrait là-dedans). <br><br>On m'a offert une passe de stationnement valide jusqu'à 6 am. J'ai marché deux blocs.<br><br>J'y ai repensé: <br><em>peut-être que ça serait bien pour moi de penser à autre chose qu'à ma "carière artistique"...un peu de stress proactif, oui! </em><br><br>Il faisait tellement froid dehors je me suis sentie ridicule. J'ai coincé la passe de parking dans là machine où les gens vont payer.<br>J'ai conduit jusqu'au café à côté d'où il vit, presque repue du stress mental que je venais de me causer.<br><br>Repue d'avoir fait un choix et de ne pas avoir saisi l'opportunité.<br><br>Satisfaite de me connaître et de savoir que quelque chose de mieux s'en vient, même si ça veut dire 400$ de moins à court terme.<br><em>Je t'aime, </em>que je me dis. <br><br>J'espère que quelqu'un a trouvé la passe de stationnement.<br>PS: Ça vous dit de danser le swing sur de la musique live, ce soir? Venez au <a contents="O-town Showdown" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.otownshowdown.com/g/schedule/" target="_blank">O-town Showdown</a>!<br><br>PPS: SVP une aventure, quelqu'un! (mais pas une de coeur de pierre et d'égratignures!) </span><br> Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/46234392017-03-09T14:13:29-05:002017-03-09T14:13:29-05:00Not to brag but...<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/9af3bd5b456db88e53893ea88ee428f7a21e2d7b/original/spanordik.jpg?1489086724" class="size_l justify_right border_" /></strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong>Not to brag but...</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: right;">I am so painfully alive! </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">-3 C and I went skinny dipping. 3 breaths, no more: my toes I couldn't feel for the next 10 minutes. </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">I looked around at the beaver on the ice and the geese that somehow lost their way and ended up staying here over the winter (why do we do that when we can LEAVE) </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">then I realized <br>there aren't many people like me around </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">well, there were none except some thoughts of him floating here and there. </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">Life is so wild and when I can't let it out it burns me inside.<br><br>Why am I still waiting? <br> </p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/46074472017-02-26T15:23:46-05:002017-02-27T13:23:41-05:00Newton, Knives and Friends ( A Sharp Piece of Advice) <div>
<span class="font_large"><strong>Newton, Knives and Friends ( A Sharp Piece of Advice) <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/c208fefc547dbc5f1cf855476a6a931a42fc21b9/medium/medievalknife-2.jpg?1488140294" class="size_m justify_right border_none" alt="" /></strong></span><br><br>Recently, my mind was blown away by the first half of "The Elegant Universe", a book by Brian Greene on the Superstring Theory. <br><br>Why the FIRST half only? Because it sums up some great "discoveries" of classical field physics and of quantum physics as well. It's a wonderful crash course on the main insights of the last centuries in physics and explains with clarity why there is a clash between the Quantum and Classifcal fields in physics. Then it presents the Superstring Theory as a possible avenue to resolve the conflicts between the two fields.<br><br>It was refreshing to be reminded how much creative insight and funky-thinking there is involved in theoretical science. (the second part, in my non-scientifical opinion, got too technical and we don't have sufficient technology to test out 99% of the ifs and maybes proposed, so that is where I left the book) <br><br>But then this small opening into the physics world lead me to even more existential questions (sing it! : " the more I see the less I know" ) .<br>So my Skype conversation with a dear friend studying environmental science seemed to be the best moment to clarify some calculations that were troubling me. I decided to ask him some guidance over a subject every normal person should worry about : </div>
<p> </p>
<div>" Say somebody throws at knife at me at a speed of 20 ft/s but I start running away at a speed of 8 ft/s, then the knife is actually approaching me at a speed of 12ft/s. Right? <br>- Right.<br>- So how long do I need to run at this speed to avoid the knife hitting me? Because at one point the knife will fall to the ground due to gravitational pull, yes? So what additional information do I need to know other than the speed of the knife in order to calculate this? <br>- So you would need to know [ ... ] but honestly it would be way easier for you to just step aside. "<br><br><br>I love how my friends can broaden my perspective in the most unexpected ways.</div>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/45760822017-02-05T17:02:18-05:002021-12-08T10:26:56-05:0010 Reasons to Swing Dance<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.michelleschrier.com/en/" style="" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/12d54a553e869b5257d4af2effd6201f800aa926/original/michelle-schrier.png?1486331810" class="size_orig justify_center border_none" alt="drawing by Michelle Shrier (some more great illustrations of hers over here!)" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><br><br>I have been attending <a contents="Ottawa’s Street Dance Society’s" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.swingottawa.ca/calendar" style="" target="_blank">Ottawa’s Street Dance Society’s</a> evenings on Friday nights for three weeks now and I’d like to share with you some happy thoughts about why I think swing dancing (and probably all social dancing) is marvelous.</p>
<p>Physical, social, intellectual benefits:<br><br>1.<strong>A Joyful Workout </strong></p>
<p>Once you've figured out the basic steps, you will soon discover that swing dancing is basically an aerobic workout. Before you even have time to realize that you are sweating, your mind will have gotten lost in the music and the moves, in the bliss of moving along the beat, looking at your partner, groovin', and suddenly you forget that you have been bouncing up and down for 2(3,4) hours already!</p>
<p>Plus, since every lead/follow has a different style, you keep adapting to new things all the time! <br><br>Which brings me to......<br><br>2. <strong>Neuroplasticity</strong>: <strong>How about a brain workout too?</strong><br>Let me tell you a little bit about neuroplasticity (The brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life).</p>
<p>While you are figuring out new ways to move your body, you are creating new neural connections, expanding your consciousness faaaaar beyooooond what you knew before. <span class="font_small">(I'll keep my spiritual beliefs for another post) </span><span class="font_regular">Then without even feeling like you are training, you will have improved your kinesthetic perception. </span><br><br>BONUS: once you have learned some of the basic steps, learning new ones gets easier and easier! Then just like french-speaking people have an easier time learning other latin languages (in general) you’ll be able to catch up more quickly on new dance moves if you practice dancing for a long enough period of time! <br><br>3.<strong> "dancing involves both a mental effort and social interaction and that this type of stimulation helped reduce the risk of dementia. " </strong><br><br>This is <a contents="Harvard Stuff" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://neuro.hms.harvard.edu/harvard-mahoney-neuroscience-institute/brain-newsletter/and-brain-series/dancing-and-brain" target="_blank">Harvard Stuff</a>, friends : <br>" A 2003 study in the New England Journal of Medicine by researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine discovered that dance can decidedly improve brain health. The study investigated the effect leisure activities had on the risk of dementia in the elderly. The researchers looked at the effects of 11 different types of physical activity [...] but found that only one of the activities studied—dance—lowered participants’ risk of dementia. " For the whole article, click <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://neuro.hms.harvard.edu/harvard-mahoney-neuroscience-institute/brain-newsletter/and-brain-series/dancing-and-brain" target="_blank">here</a>. <br><br>Braaap! Sorry Golf, Tennis & Biking...<br><br><span class="font_regular">...but wait, THERE IS EVEN MORE !!! </span><br><br>As you can read on this <a contents="excellent article" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://ukswingdance.wordpress.com/benefits-of-swing-dancing/" target="_blank">excellent article</a> about the benefits of Swing Dancing on <a contents="UK Swing Dance's website" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://ukswingdance.wordpress.com/benefits-of-swing-dancing/" target="_blank">UK Swing Dance's website</a>, "...besides improving a person’s physical and mental health, joining a swing dancing community can help build both verbal and nonverbal communication skills as well as give a person opportunities to ...<br><br>4. <span class="font_regular"><strong>make new friends.</strong></span>" <br><br>Social dancing, makes you become part of a group. Just like singing in a choir, vibin’ along with other human beings.</p>
<p>There's also that awkward moment when you dance with a new partner in the beginning : swing dancing requires a tight "arm-connection" that helps you lead or follow, which means to have to get close to the person you are dancing with. <br><br>In our North American society, it is so rare to experience this and while it <em>does</em> feel a little awkward and uncomfortable at first <span class="font_small">(oh but more neuroplasticity action again!)</span> , it is a connection with others that benefits most of us when you realize how much fun and creation happens between you and your partner during a single song. </p>
<p>I think that being touched by other human beings in a respectful and friendly manner is a powerful drug and helps shape a sane, and stronger community. <br><br>5. S<strong>tronger <span class="font_regular">community</span></strong>.<br>I have never hung out with such a broad range of ages (other than family parties or in a school class). Intergenerational dancing happens all of the time during a swing night. Dancing creates bonds between partners no matter the age, race, social class, hair type, and any other class you want to invent. </p>
<p>6. <strong>Consent is more than a fashion</strong></p>
<p>When a new song begins, people ASK you if you want to dance with them for the upcoming song. After that song, you are free to go dance with whoever else you want to! Then that same person might ask you a second time if you would like to dance. This time, you can still say <em>YES</em>!! or <em>no thank you</em> if you are tired,not in the mood for dancing at the moment or if you haven’t enjoyed dancing with them before. <br><br>7. <strong>You Can Dance With Anyone:</strong><br>In the past years or so, there is a new tendency in the swing classes that I have attended: Ambi<span class="font_small">(dextrous?)</span> dancing. This means that you are being taught how to dance as a lead AND as a follow. You can dance with your friends and teach them any "role". Leads are no longer stuck waiting for someone to ask them to dance. Leads don't have to lead anymore. There is still a very strong tendency for leads to be male, but I have been seing more and more people of the same sex dancing together and it makes my heart sing to know that we can do so. Now, even if you would rather stick to the traditional male-leads-female-follows point of view, ambi dancing can teach you something really valuable too: <br><br>8. <strong>You get a better understanding of your partner's role</strong><br>Which in turn makes <em>you</em> a better partner. Now you know how it feels when your directions aren't clear (for you leads). Now you know how it feels when your connection is unstable (for you follows). Oh, more understanding, I just love it. <br><br>9. <strong>You can go to a social dancing event by yourself</strong><br>You do not need a partner to attend. Wether it's during a swing introduction class or during the dance evening afterwards, there is a frequent rotation in partners. And in most cases, you do not even need to have any experience dancing. Just go to the beginner’s class that is usually given before the evening so you can learn the basic steps, and you’ll get to meet with some people trying this for the first time too! They probably feel just as awkward as you do!<br><br>10. <strong>International Passport</strong><br>Once you have learned some steps, you can go to (almost) any swing dance event anywhere in the world and dance with whoever is present there, and make new friends wherever you go! I have been travelling between Canada, Europe and the US for three years now and Swing Dance nights or Lindy Hop nights are a way for me to find a family wherever I go! <br><br>ARE YOU PUMPED??!</p>
<p>Find the nearest swing dance event near you</p>
<p>Get Happy & start groovin’ ! </p>
<p> </p>
<p>------------------<br><br>Special Tip #1 : BE PATIENT! If you have never danced before, give yourself some sessions to get into the groove. </p>
<p>“But, Sophie, how old will I be by the time I get to dance properly? </p>
<p>The SAME AGE as you will be if you don’t!” </p>
<p>Special Tip #2 : Have fun. Even if you are not a master of the new steps you just acquired, if you enjoy your time you are much likely to actually be dancing. </p>
<p>-----------------</p>
<p>See you on the dancefloor! </p>
<p>Ask me to dance....or maybe I'll ask you ! ;)</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Credits: drawing by Michelle Shrier (some more great illustrations of hers over <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.michelleschrier.com/en/portfolio_page/lindy-hop/">here</a>!)</p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/45747242017-02-03T01:16:43-05:002021-12-08T10:56:56-05:00One of Montreal's Hidden Gems<p>I spent the last few days in beautiful Montreal because we needed to film some more shots for my <a contents="first videoclip" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.sophiebijjani.com/sophie-s-fortunes/blog/sneak-peak-my-first-videoclip" target="_blank">first videoclip</a> and I decided to go there earlier than needed to enjoy my friends' company. We went bouldering and then they took me to a place of surprises and good vibes: <a contents="l'Escalier" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://lescalier-montreal.com/restaurant-bar/" target="_blank">l'Escalier</a>.<br><br>Of course I'd been there before during the time I was studying Jazz Vocals at the Cégep Saint-Laurent but it's one of those gems that fell into a memory hole maybe because the last time I hung out there I had a crush on a guy that never kissed me or a similar <em>disgraceful</em> story that the brain will quickly erase (and I am thankful for it!). <br><br>The name of this welcoming place, which literally translates to "The Staircase" is derived from it's location on Ste Catherine St : You'd never expect to find such a vibrant universe behind the small, almost unnoticeable door in the heart of Downtown , leading to a flight of staircases taking you straight to a maze of different rooms (the venue has kept it's apartment-like dimensions and you can decide if you'd rather hang out right in front of the band playing or in a quieter, more remote room with sofas & comfy cushions!). <br><br>But the thing that makes this place truly amazing - and probably unique, is the variety and abundance of it's musical calendar. Each day of the week, they have at least two different artists playing. From jazz duos to acoustic folk singer songwriter, hiphop, celtic jams, you-name-it. I love how diverse their programmation is and how accessible the bar feels. If you are somewhat ready for a pleasant surprise, like beer and tasty vegeterian food (and/or cheesy nachos) , chances are you'll have a great evening at l'Escalier and that you'll make new friends while dancing to whoever is playing. <br><br>Your turn now : <br>You probably can think of a wonderful venue that, after all these years, has remained a really good place to go to when you want to discover an emerging artist in a relaxed environment. </p>
<p> Share it with us in the comments!<br><br>Disclaimer : the stairs that you are looking for do look a little different than the ones I used on the thumbnail. </p>Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/45708202017-01-31T15:31:16-05:002017-02-04T19:07:42-05:00Sophie's got a brand new toy!<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/4a234f926524f7649084c0677dc74a1c8e1c6a09/original/new-toy-2.jpg?1485894276" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>Welcome to my Producer Desk.<br>We are pleased to announce that we have a new member joining our team: Akai Mkii AKA CutiePieMidiKeyboard so that we don't need to move-around a huge 88 keys keyboard to record a 4-bar MIDI bass line.<br><br>Why Akai ?<br>'Cause there was one for sale on Kijiji at half the retail price, and the add had been put up 17 minutes before I checked on the website.<br><br>Heaven sent?<br><br>I thought so too. <br><br>Stay tuned to hear what I'll do with it. <span class="font_small">(yes, that means subscribe to my <a contents="youtube channel" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT2fE1sD0jBN7ETb4IqE5Ew" target="_blank">youtube channel</a> so that you get a notification when a new video is out) </span><br><br> Sophie Bijjanitag:sophiebijjani.com,2005:Post/45699062017-01-30T22:05:06-05:002017-03-04T15:44:00-05:00Sneak Peak - my First Videoclip!<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/233477/ac6e1e9992944a0bca35eaca69de84d15185ae96/medium/screen-shot-2017-01-30-at-9-50-20-pm.png?1485832756" class="size_m justify_right border_none" alt="" />Yes. <br>Correct! <br>A VIDEOCLIP! <br>Well, there are good things happening in 2017 indeed! </p>
<p>This is something completely new for me, as I am used to live performances recordings: The whole real-deal-filming-thing is on a completely different level! </p>
<p>First you gotta get a track that is worth creating a video for. And I had just what we needed for that. In the imaginary drawer of all my creations, there was this full loop-pedal version of Hit the Road, Jack, whose lyrics I adapted for a female (and solo) singer . <br> <br>I then took the time that was needed to get the track from it's loop-pedal-draft-version to a finished recording <span class="font_small">(you won't believe it, but after my first <a contents="ALBUM" data-link-label="Store" data-link-type="page" href="/store" target="_blank">ALBUM</a>, I won a second full grant for a recording at the Dans Ma Chambre Studio in Gatineau!!!!)</span> , and it sounds <u>amazing</u>! </p>
<p>Don't worry, you'll have unlimited access to it in just about a week, once my very beautiful and lovely friend is done with the editing. </p>
<p>No pressure, right? .... But I'm rreaaally excited to share this new track with all of you, so HURRY! Until then, you can enjoy this <a contents="old-school live video" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/MqE6Fb05GJU" target="_blank">old-school live video</a> shot in Taos last year with Tom-Waits-Dusty from the Speakeasy Jazz Cats. And subscribe to my <a contents="Youtube Channel" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT2fE1sD0jBN7ETb4IqE5Ew" target="_blank">Youtube Channel</a> so that you are notified when the Clip is finally out! </p>
<p>Love & light, <br>S. </p><br><br><br><br> Sophie Bijjani