pick-pocketers...

last night i was taking the metro to the bus stop to catch the last bus from lille to gondecourt...as usual i had my iPod on in full force to block out the rest of the world after a long weekend...nothing like a little iron and wine to make the commute tolerable...

while i was getting on i noticed a pair of guys, probably in their 40's...definately not homeless, but quite obviously drunk and looking a little scruffy...they sit down, and i stay standing near the door...after a few stops, one of them stands up and comes next to me...his partner, starts cracking up...i keep my eye on him and after a few minutes, i notice his hand start moving towards my mp3 player, which is buried in my coat pocket...so i give him a nice jab with my elbow and my best bitch stare...i mean really, did he think he was going to steal my iPod...it's connected to my head, idiot...at that, he cowers away and sits back down...for the next ten minutes or so, he keeps trying different passengers...and every time gets the same response...an incredulous look..."is that really the best you can do"...while his partner chuckles away...

i found a seat next to a nice little old lady...and after the two wannabee pick-pocketers get off she gives me the oh-so typical french sigh, and mutters under her breath...c'est vraiment penible ("it's so tiresome" - only the french would call pick-pocketers "tiresome")...and continutes to mutter under her breath about the horrible state of the metro system, and whatnot...we continue chatting as we walk to the the bus stop and it's not long until we reach the inevitable subject that all conversations lead to in this country...the 'hey, you're not french" moment...when i tell her i'm from america, i'm expecting the normal "oh, you know, we don't really like that bush guy", but i get instead..."oh the we love americans...in '44 we were all so happy to see them...so friendly and warm...not like the british...they're so cold"...i tell you, i could have kissed that little 3 foot tall, white haired, old lady...on an evening when i was beginning to hate france (i had stepped in dog crap about 30 minutes earlier...i swear to god it's like walking in a mine field here...i don't know how i made it this long, but since i bought my new, extremely expensive green and yellow asics tigers i've stepped in it twice...but anyways, i'm getting off subject) she restored my faith...unfortunately her bus came and she had to run off before i could ask her name...but i made it home with my iPod and my shoes got a good cleaning, so all is well...
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"there are sailing ships that pass all our bodies in the grass
springtime calls her children 'til she let's them go at last
and she's chosen where to be, though she's lost her wedding ring
somewhere near her misplaced jar of bougainvillea seeds "
-passing afternoon, iron and wine

more free associations

1. Coroner:: corona
   
2. Mystify:: "and together we will float into the mystic" - into the mystic, van morrison
   
3. Corroborate:: collaborate
   
4. Misinterpret:: misread, by kings of convenience
   
5. Humorless:: joyless...
   
6. Calculus:: coach kiraly...
   
7. Eye for an eye:: ...makes the whole world blind...
   
8. CPR:: slicc cpr training...with those creepy dolls with the removable mouths...
   
9. Stitched:: stich and bitch...i need a new knitting project...
   
10. Facility:: le fac (what the french call the university campus...makes me think of that scene in l'auberge espanole)

*****************************************************
if you wanna be my friend
you want us to get along
please do not expect me to wrap it up and keep it there
the observation i am doing could easily be understood
as a cynical demeanour
but one of us misread...and what do you know, it happened again
-misread, kings of convenience

hillary clinton in 2008

alright...going for post number three today...i guess this means i don't have to post for the next week or so...

an article from the new york times about a recent speech given by the former first lady...apparently she's trying to sway some pro-lifers to her side...somehow i don't see that happening...

one quote i found terribly "interesting"...and by "interesting" i mean "appalling"...

"I think she's trying to adopt a values-oriented language, but it lacks substance, at least if you compare it to her record," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council in Washington. "If you look at Senator Clinton's voting record on this issue, it's like Planned Parenthood's condoms - it's defective."

i can no longer resist...

so i've seen this free association thing on a couple blogs...and, well, it looked like fun...so here goes....

1. Material world:: material girl
   
2. Satin sheets:: ewww...don't know why, but they creep me out...
   
3. Blizzard:: pictures of the northeast on the news this morning...
   
4. Real estate:: phat crib
   
5. Dress up:: i can't believe i missed halloween this year...
   
6. Wesley:: snipes
   
7. Robber:: robin hood
   
8. Saliva:: loogey (i don't know if that's how you spell that)
   
9. Slave:: how i feel at this school...
   
10. Shift:: i hate this keyboard...why on earth do i have to shift to get a period...
    

worst day of the year...

see...it's not my fault i was feeling so shitty yesterday...

thanks to srah

ma vie en blanche

snowy morning
Originally uploaded by nat x.

this morning when i dragged myself out of bed, i was quite excited to see that it snowed last night...and this time it stuck!!!! i was hoping the french would follow the texas rules of shutting schools down at even a hint of snow...but it seems that here, they don't hide inside at the sight of a little white stuff...instead the buses bring the kids to school and as they're dropping them off tell them they won't be coming to pick them up in the afternoon if the snow continues...nice...

another weekend of craziness...made it to three movies this weekend...eternal sunshine was fantastic as usual, 2046 was weird and boring, and bad education was weird but very good...friday night we had a girl's night at the network cafe...it would have been fun except for the terrible dance music...i don't understand why it's so popular here...saturday we (we=20 assistants) ventured to watreloo for a party at sarah's...we stayed up way too late but had a really good time...

today i'm feeling quite rundown, even after nearly 12 hours of sleep last night...the fatigue brought with it a very bad mood...so this post is going to be a short one...here's to a good night's sleep and a better tomorrow...

ps...another fantastic daily show clip...who knew senator leiberman was so funny..

pss...trying yet another way of posting pictures...this time with flickr...
psss...thinkers anonymous...made me laugh, despite my bad mood...

*******************************
"love is no big truth
driven by our genes,
we are simple selfish beings "
-love is no big truth, kings of convenience

closer...

so...i've been single for the past couple years...i dated a few guys off and on, but nothing serious recently...what can i say, maybe i'm too picky, but i've learned to enjoy my freedom and i'm not ready to rearrange my life for just anyone. most of the time, lets say about 90%, i'm pretty content with my single status...

on my walk to the bus stop last night, i had a realization...maybe it had something to do with the movie i had just seen, closer (more on that later), or something, i don't know...but i decided that france is NOT a country in which one can be happily single. this place is just too damn romantic...there are people making out everywhere! on the metro, in the street, at the next table over at the café, in front of the lycee, in the bus seat in front of me....EVERYWHERE!!! as miriam says, "how dare these people be happy in public!!!!" i'm beginning to think they put something in the water here...it seems like everyone and their (little french) dog are in love...or at least are into PDA...

with all this public necking it's hard to be happy being on your own...i know it sounds pathetic...but oh well...so to all happily-in-love frenchies out there...get a room!!!!

oh yeah, the movie...closer was pretty good - much better than the grudge...and we did find it in VO!!!! jude law was...well...hot as hot can be... it really should be illegal for some one to be that rediculously good looking. clive owen is also quite hot and he played a really convincing scum bag... natalie portman i normally dont like (with the exception of the professional and garden state)...in closer she played a sluttier version of her character from garden state...but, as i said, i actually liked her in garden state, so i really didn't mind...julia roberts is still julia roberts...i've always hated her acting and this didn't change my opinion of her (it was interesting to hear her drop the f-bomb, however...that was definately a first)...all in all, it was a pretty depressing and bleak picture of love...something that obviously contributed to my mood last night...oh well, it was a nice chance to drool over jude law for an hour and 44 minutes...

the next movie outing is scheduled for this friday...telerama is sponsoring a film festival of the best movies of 2004...so we're going to go see bad education, rois et reine, 2046, and possibly head on...we're also going to resee lost in translation and eternal sunshine of a spotless mind (lacuna)...i own the first on dvd and i saw the second three times in the theatre...obviously they're two of my favorites...but i'm sure they'll be just as good as the first time...

SNOW!!!

ok, so it only lasted for 30 minutes...but hey, that's just about long enough for this texas girl...

finally went and saw the grudge today...yeah, not so much...

hopefully tomorrow's movie, closer, will be better...really i'm just hoping that it's showing in VO...the same goes for next week when the aviator comes out...i can't stand dubbing...

fingers crossed...

p.s....another great daily show clip... sept. 11th + X = SHUT UP!! X= whatever we say

noooooooo!!!!!!!!!

my favorite bakery, paul (yeah, it's a chain, but i don't care...their macarons are incredible), is being taken to court for not passing health inspection...sniff sniff....

"lonely, baby i'm not lonely, i've got my imaginary friend..."

another weekend past...

friday night was the evening of the second byop...the first one was held before the vacation, and was quite fun...this time sarah, miriam, ester and andrew came...aaron was supposed to come, but got sick at the last minute...i still think he's faking...:)...he was replaced by a last-minute substitution of olivier and pierre, two new french friends...because, after all, two frenchies equal one american, right??? (i'm kidding here folks. these guys are really nice. anyone who brings flowers and drives all the way to gondecourt for my cooking are saints!!!)...anyways, long story short...i believe a good time was had by all and i'm sure my neighbors were quite annoyed with the ruckus...but in my opinion, gondecourt is TOO quiet and needed a little shaking up...so after some couscous, multi-lingual scrabble and too much wine, ester and the french guys headed to their respective homes and the rest of us crashed at my place on my ever-so-comfortable air mattress...

saturday, after cleaning my place, miriam and i headed to lille and saw le chateau ambulante (i believe the english title is howl's moving castle)...I LOVE MIYAZAKI...this latest one isn't his best, (nothing can replace my neighbor totoro from the top of the list) but is really good...after, we went to cafe oz, an australian bar with carolyn and andrew...drinks were a bit expensive but it had great music...finally, a place to escape the bad techno music...last night, after taking the last bus home from lille, i called and talked to clye-ray for an hour...after hearing about her weekend in austin with the dentist and the mountain girl i was really homesick for austin...i can bitch and complain with the best of them about the horrors of living in texas, but i love austin and really miss it...i haven't found another city with such a great, realaxed atmosphere (what i wouldn't give to be able to wear a tank top and flip-flops right now-and not freeze my ass off!!!!!)...so to all mes ami(e)s still kickin' it in a-town, enjoy it while it lasts...sniff...

this past week i've started putting my ipod on random play...it's been a nice way to rediscover some music i haven't listened to in a while...like self and the old 97's (hence the title for this post)...it's been especially nice to rediscover fiona apple, i think i listened to tidal at least three times this week...

today, of course, i'm back at work and have started meeting the new groups...the first one was great...they were all so sweet and interested...i'm very excited to be working with them...the second group didn't show up so i have a free hour (haven't met them yet and their already on my good list!!)...so the second semester starts with hope...we'll see how long it lasts...

p.s.... i want one!!!!!
p.s.s...holy crap, this guy is lucky
p.s.s.s...did you know that for college students, the higher the s.a.t. score, the more liberal their views are??? interesting...

no wmd?!?!? wtf!!!!!!

and i was sooooo sure they'd find them, too....(too bad you can't type sarcasm)

so they've given up, but will he actually come out and apologize for his mistakes...of course not...

*~*edit...a couple really good daily show clips...a interview with howard zinn comparing bush to christopher columbus and "canadian fakin'" a hilarious clip about american tourist pretending to be canadians*~*

pictures from italy...

so i've decided to try and post these pictures a different way since i had so many of them...here are the links...if you have a hard time seeing them, you might need to sign up for imagestation.com...it's free..

part 1 - lille and paris

part 2 - rome and the vatican

part 3 - siena

part 4 - florence

part 5 - venice

and just for kicks...more pictures from the ferris wheel....

first week back and i'm already thinking about the next vacation...

...thank god the next one is only four weeks away!!!!

once again i get to end the week on a positive note...the terrible class didn't come today (only the students who wanted to come showed up...there were only two, which normally would insult me, but the two girls that came are so sweet...i would gladly take them over their obnoxious classmates)...the internet is working again...tomorrow is saturday and i can finally sleep in!!!

i forgot to mention it in my last post, but the counter crossed the 2,000 hit mark during the vacation...thanks to everyone who reads...you love me, you really love me....

i had planned on posting pictures from italy by now, but expecting the internet to still be down, i left my camera at home...if i have time tomorrow morning i'll post some...

alright, the cleaning lady is making the rounds and giving miriam and i dirty looks for still being in the school at 6:30 on a friday night...i'd better scram...
******************************************
"and i'm screaming at the top of my lungs
pretending the echos belong to someone i used to know"
-postal service, we will become sillohouettes

top 10 lists

ok, i've been meaning to post this for forever...here are my top 10 lists for 2004 (in no particular order)

top 10 cd's of 2004
jimmy eat world - futures
garden state soundtrack
hayden - elk lake serenade
modest mouse - good news for people who love bad news
rufus wainwright - want two ("better pray for your sins, cause the gay messiah is coming")
kings of convenience - riot on an empty street
cali - l'amour parfait
air - talkie walkie
franz ferdinand - franz ferdinand
luke - la tête en arrière

top 10 movies of 2004
gardens state (hello, could you expect anything else)
before sunset
eternal sunshine of a spotless mind
harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban
un long dimanche de fiancailles
motorcycle diaries
fahrenheit 9/11
kill bill 2
girl with a pearl earring (technically released in 2003, but wasn't widely released untill january 2004)
starsky and hutch

happy new year...

so i'm back...i hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season...i've been back in lille for little over 24 hours...i got back an hour and a half before my first class yesterday...of course i was completely unprepared...so we just ended up talking about the vacation and about new years resolutions...i made them come up with three each...it really bothered me how many of them said "stop smoking"...
italy was a blast...my favorite cities were, by far, siena and venice...seina was so quaint and venice was just too surreal...but in the end, i'm glad to be home...traveling was getting really tiring...every two days having to get up and repack your stuff and haul it to the train stataion was a huge pain in the ass...it was great seeing my mom and sister...we had a big travel scrabble (one of my b-day presents) tournament...the final score was mom:2, me:3, sis:4...yeah the little twerp won...i chalk it up to my english being so bad after spending so much time in france...but somehow i don' t think they bought it...oh yeah...by the way, sis, it is bogie for the golf term, but bogey means "something that causes fear" so i guess you legitimately won...sigh...
well...i'm at the internet cafe and this i costing me an arm and a leg...so i must say à bientot...