Sunday, May 24, 2009

cold turns your breath into clouds

It is anything but cold here, right now, in the gasping, record-breaking Lyonnais heat. I lay in the coolest room in the apartment with all the windows open, and dream while I am supposed to be studying.

I've been listening to this song a lot, possibly because the video is too cute for words. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4sa2HoXpsE&feature=PlayList&p=3C7EDDA78EE64DDD&index=1).

I am realizing that some combination of being physically inactive and living in the Land of Pastries has done some pretty serious damage to me. I'm not looking forward to having to buy new clothes for riding and for work when I get home -- hopefully something a summer at the barn and in the dojo can help me fix.

By the way, two songs that are really good to jump around in your underwear to are:
American Hi-Fi, "Flavor of the Week"
The All-American Rejects, "Give You Hell"
My weakness for bad pop-rock will probably never die.

I'll be home in nine days!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

bisous?

As I sit here frantically striving for some sort of thesis topic to present to Professors Rossman and Reed, I have one headache inducing, worry inspiring thought -- France is not done with me.

Or, should I say, I am not done with France. Despite the myriad tribulations this country has put me through this semester (and, inadvertently, in semesters and years past), it seems my thesis will be nothing other than a careful treatment of some aspect of French history.

I need to be putting my energy into thinking up that thesis, I think, not blogging about it.

Monday, May 4, 2009

notes on other blogs

"Self-pity, needing someone, and the bittersweet sense of self-reliance. There must be an archaic, non-English word for that experience. (Probably French?)"
-nightmare brunette

The best I could think of was "débrouillardise" (resourcefulness), but I'm not sure it really carries the bittersweet combination that she's searching for.

The quote is an excerpt from a short piece on cities, loneliness, and life in your mid-twenties. I am very interested to see what the next handful of years brings me.

Now, back to the teeny world of note recopying.

listening to: mixes from ML
reading: blogroll

Friday, May 1, 2009

well you put on quite a show.

This is the first book I want to read when I get home. (http://openlibrary.org/b/OL2196866M/Above-the-river)

I never thought I would actually feel like I was living in a James Wright poem.

listening to: Take A Bow (remix) // Rihanna
reading: nothing much