This is live performance of her around-the-world Number 1 hit:

 

La Tortura.

 

In Spanish? Yes, and it means the pain & frustration of your love life not working the way you need it to.

 

From Miami & the DVD of the tour, featuring Alejandro Sanz on guitar and vocals. This is my favorite version, because they're on stage having fun together.

 

(Don't watch this at work.)

 

This one is just for fun, and you don't need Spanish or English, just eyes to watch  (Only 60 sec long!)  

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZTDq-epCK4

 

 

 

And for dessert?  A funny PEPSI ad:

OK, switching to Spanish language for one of my all-time Shakira favorites.

 

 Please watch for (maybe you can guess?): FULL MOON appearing just over her shoulder about half-way through.

 

This is called Antologia (in English, = Anthology) a song she wrote at age 15, about the sadness of falling in love.

 

The performance is from Miami in 2006, her most recent world tour called Oral Fixation Tour:

 

 

 

OK, here is today's Shakira performance, also in English & from the same show  as yesterday's (in Rotterdam, from her DVD Live & Off the Record).

 

This is maybe the weirdest one (with real candles in her hair), but stick around for the end, and you'll see the Shaki crowd charisma in full force.

 

"Whenever, Wherever" live in concert:

 

I am creating a countdown of my favorite performances by Shakira.

(Please take a look here over the next few days, and you will see quite a variety.)

 

Yesterday's entry already included the first one, at the Lincoln Memorial honoring Barack Obama's election as President last Sunday, Jan. 18, 2009 in Washington, DC.

 

I was there, but not in time to catch this performance.

 

It is a favorite for me, but not really because of what she is singing (she joins Stevie Wonder & Usher). Instead simply because she is there, on the steps, participating in the American political process by showing support for Obama. When people ask me about Shakira most don't realize what she is doing, which is incredible: building a community of people around the world who are supportive of her cause, the children of S America and the world. She has already created, with the help of the two richest people on her continent, the largest charitable NGO in S America, called ALAS. Her support of Obama in the election did help him reach out to the Hispanic community, a key demographic of the Democratic party in the US and one where Obama was having a hard time being accepted. Shakira is the most famous entertainer in the Latin world right now, which you may not realize if you don't listen in Spanish.

 

For me, seeing this combination, Shakira with Obama and Lincoln, was absolutely amazing.

 

OK, on to another FAVORITE for today, also in English:

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvBJNonrIpA

 

This one is totally different, just a great little dance number on stage in Rotterdam, Holland, in 2002. It's about 6 min, but be sure to stick around for the 5 min mark when she sets the mic aside.

1. Time off of work: we were gone for two days of the work week, but five days total

2. Bonding with beautiful spouse during 500 miles of road slush to DC

3. Using hand warmer packet inside of gloves

4. Walking through DC with roads closed & finally finding the right tunnel

5. Seeing the official FBI explosives unit equipment parked streetside

6. But not in use

7. Finding a PortaPotty

8. Jumbotrons to view

9. The free concert at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday P.M.

10. Featuring a bunch of big name acts like Garth Brooks, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, and . . .

11. Shakira  singing Higher Ground with Usher and Stevie Wonder:

                www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpmCEBEBg1M&feature=related

12. She looked cold

13. But the Obamas were dancing at their seats

14. Finding hometown girl in the crowd, (a friend of ours that we were trying to meet there)

15. It was a big crowd

16. Caribou Coffee together after

17. Meeting the boyfriend the next day and hearing about their plans to travel to India (him) & Kenya (her) this coming summer

18. Dinner dressed in my tux

19. Getting a ticket to a Gala night, even though it was the wrong night to see the Obamas on their circuit of ten official balls

20. Getting TWO tickets to the Blue Standing section for the swearing-in ceremony, so spouse could accompany

21. The large, expectant crowd waiting to get through security

22. Getting through security, two hours later

23. The PortaPottys again

24. The speech, which was awesome, and specifically mentioned science funding

25. Those hand warmers

26. Stopping to warm up at a hotel with a Starbucks inside

27. Then randomly meeting a couple from our hometown, who had tickets but were unable to actually get in

28. But who also had ball tickets for the evening & no tux to wear

29. They were good Official Ball tickets to one of the ten Official Balls on the RIGHT evening when the Obamas WOULD be stopping by

30. Giving him my tux, gently used, so they could go together

31. Meeting a personal friend of the Bidens from Deleware at my hotel

32. Good dinner with my work group on Tues night

33. The drive back Wednesday (all day) through western Maryland, WV, PA, & Indiana this time

34. Western Maryland is beautifully scenic and hilly nd has a McDonald's

35. Where we randomly met a couple form Indiana who shared photos of their bos playing on the playground back home

36. Along with Malia and Sasha (during Indianapolis campaign trips)

I just got back from DC after visiting for the inauguration festivities. We drove (beautiful spouse came with!) and I had to work today, so just  a few words now, and then I will write a bit more this weekend when I have time to catch up with life.

 

It was cold.

 

It was awesome.

 

I did not get to meet the Obamas or shake hands. The closest we got was at a McDonald's in Maryland stopping for coffee on the way home: we started chatting with a family & it turns out that their kids play with tthe Obama girls. They had pictures.

1. the shortness of the month, just 28 calendar days

2. the return of daylight

3. January where I live?

4. not good, not good

5. January has less daylight than one good June suntan

6. February where I live?

7. (approximately halfway to the North pole

8. if you start from the equator

9. which, of course, I do . . . right around Colombia)

10. anyway, Feb makes substantial progress back toward the 12-hour day

11. which I consider "normal"

12. and I like Feb. 2

13. known as Groundhog Day

14. (but also the birthday of my favorite Colombian)

15. it's one of the midseason "holidays"

16. like Halloween (Oct. 31, mid-autumn) or May Day (May 1, mid-spring) also

17. they are celebrations of the time of year

18. without turning them into national events

19. Feb. 2 is mid-winter, a comforting thought

20. (counting from solstice in Dec. to equinox in March)

21. hence the "six more weeks of winter"

22. I think we just had six weeks of winter in the past four days

23. schools were closed because of the record cold and wind chill

24. but: I didn't have any beer freezing in my kitchen this time

25. February is usually nicer than that

26. I consider it the kinder, gentler winter month, the optimistic winter month

27. plus March gets sloppy and makes you want to go to the Caribbean . . . or at least Florida

28. but little Feb is just an optimistic month

I am planning for travel to DC for the inauguration festivites. Probably just going to drive . The flights are expensive, and I just don't enjoy the thrills of air travel anymore: waiting in long lines, worrying about delays after arriving two hours early, hoping for the checked bags to come through.

 

I can drive there in eleven or twelve hours and I am guessing that the flight itself would probably take about seven hours including ground transportation to and then from the two airports. So I prefer the flexibility of driving and leaving when I want to and stopping wherever I feel like it.

 

The swearing-in ceremonies are schedules to start at 11:30 a.m. on Tues. the 20th, but everybody has to be inside the perimeter much earlier or risk not making it through security checkpoints. Weather is a worry, because no one is allowed to bring anything like backpacks or even umbrellas. This, I assume, is intended to help with security risks. People like me, armed with umbrellas?

I posted this on Blogspot, but now that I am BACK to Spaces, here it is here as well:

 

WHAT I LEARNED FROM BLOGGING

1. I like expressing myself.

2. I really enjoy networking with people who comment on the site.

3. I am really (REALLY) bad at returning the favor.

4. Though I try to keep up, when I get busy it’s the first thing to go: making the rounds and keeping up with others’ blog comments.

5. I need to make a New Year Resolution this year to do better at that.

6. Another resolution is going to be to do better at keeping New Years Resolutions.

7. I got addicted to the Stats function. Not so much the numbers, but where readers are coming from and especially what Google searches brought them over to Gord-land.

8. Ideas keep coming. For what to write about. I like to keep things fun. I honestly didn’t know that about myself. That I would write like that. But I do, so I have come to accept that.

9. The ideas I have for writing seriously are still there, several books that need to be written.

10. Commitments from Real Life keep coming also. Makes writing difficult to keep up with sometimes.

11. Writing is time-consuming. Everything I post is usually written once, just as it flows out, and then edited once or twice, depending on how complex the topic might be. I usually find more things to fix later on, but seldom go back more than once more unless there is a special reason to do that.

12. I am bad at spelling! This was a real surprise, because I am actually good at spelling in “normal” writing. But in blogging? I make a lot of mis-typed letter exchanges, etc. and then I just have a hard time finding them all. Even though I do look.

13. My three most-searched entries are probably:
a. 100 things I am thankful for
b. Hysterectomy advice
c. Sauna

14. Hugh Jackman in a Speedo still comes up every once in a while.

15. Hey! I didn’t mean that the way it sounded

Well, I may be up and running again.

 

I literally have not been able to Log onto Spaces for a month. All I could do was change the tagline below my main title. Not sure how I didi that either, now that I think of it. Anyway I have changed it back.

 

Now I am in a quandary about where to Post, because I started using a Blogspot site, just yesterday. Now I may be back here.

Well, I suppose I will take a look here tomorrow and if I can still Log on here then I will have to make a decision about what to do next.

 

This is confusing me just typing it.