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I didn't catch a cold once all last winter, only to get one now. Yesterday my throat was sore and my voice was a squeaky whisper. The day before that, my nose dripped like a faucet and my ears ached. My tongue has had those tiny sore bumps on it. (What are those called, anyway? Ulcers? Canker sores? I used to know, but know I've forgotten.) I stuffed myself with cough syrup, cough drops, vitamins, and allergy pills, and today I felt better, although I was very groggy this morning, because my allergy pills all but knock me out cold.
I helped train this new girl at work today. She's the second new girl we've hired recently, and I hope there will be several more new hires so we won't be so damn short anymore. (It was very tempting to use hopefully instead of I hope in that sentence. I'm trying to get out of the habit of using that word incorrectly.)
Rebecca won Mod's Choice in the first icontest she ever entered on LJ. Look at her pretty banner!
I just spent way too much time completely redesigning this journal. It took forever, because first I couldn't find a new layout that I liked, and then when I finally found one, I had to change all the colors to shades of blue and translate the link text to French. Then I had to find a new background and new default icon. I had wanted to use one of Abigail Breslin in Nim's Island, but I couldn't find any and had to make some myself. That's why my new icon (of Abigail swimming) isn't so good; I don't have the best photo-editing programs on this computer. Then I had to keep making more little adjustments to my journal until everything was just perfect. I won't say how long it took me, but again, it was way too long.
I took a nap in the middle of the afternoon today, which may account for the strange dream I had. I dreamed that I woke up and it was five o'clock and I had to pick my sister up from work. I was still so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open, but I tried to drive the truck to pick her up anyway. I hate literal dreams that start with waking up because later I'm not sure whether they really happened or not. At some point during my nap I woke up and thought it was really important that I drink some Coke, so I went up to the kitchen, drank some, brushed my teeth, and went back to sleep.
Last night and the night before, I tried sleeping in the burrito bed, but after that nap in the butter bed today, I don't think I can leave it again. Most comfortable bed ever.
P.S. The title of this entry is from "The Lotus-Eaters," by Tennyson, one of my favorite poems.
I can go tomato, but what I do prefer...
Feb. 27th, 2008 11:51 pmLast night I had a dream about The Merchant of Venice (it involved Shylock and Jessica, their relationship has always fascinated me). I did some reading up on it today and found out there's a theater in Paris that's performing it this Friday. I don't know if I'll be able to get tickets, but since I don't have any classes Friday afternoon, I'm going to try to go see it. I absolutely love The Merchant of Venice; I think it is Shakespeare's best work and also (unfortunately) one of his most under-appreciated.
I have recently learned how to cook a steak haché, and I'm hella proud of myself for it.
I never did post what I thought of Atonement, so I'll do so now (no spoilers) ... As much as I love child actresses, sometimes they just don't live up to the hype. Abigail Breslin is a good example. Yes, she was excellent in Little Miss Sunshine, but was she Oscar-level excellent? No. (Sorry, Abigail.) But this was not the case with 13-year-old Saoirse Ronan, whose role got her nominated for Best Supporting Actress (the same category Abigail was nominated in, as well as child actresses Anna Paquin, Tatum O'Neal, and Mary Badham). Keira Knightley and James McAvoy might be all over the posters, but I think Saoirse's character was the deepest and the most important. She exuded innocence, as well as a confidence and self-assurance that reminded me of Rachel Hurd-Wood in Peter Pan. She also come off as the most refreshing and unassuming actor in a film that sometimes got too full of itself. The five-minute steadycam shot of Dunkirk Beach seemed to exist more to get the audience to say, "Wow, what a great shot!" than for any other reason. And one more thing that got on my nerves was that the characters often spoke really, really fast. The first prize goes to Keira Knightley for her line Yourealizethat'sprobablythemostvaluablethingweown! A close second is the exchange between Saoirse and Juno Temple: Isupposeyou'regoingtobeArabella - Wellnotnecessarily - InthatcasedoyoumindifIplayher?
Here's the real reason not to vote for McCain. You think Laura Bush is bad? Well, she is, but Sarah and I have recently decided that John McCain's wife Cindy McCain (he's 71, she's 53) happens to look just like the devil. I will now pimp some icons.
All made by me.
One day at lunch I was sitting next to one of the teachers (he taught science, I think) and he asked me where he was from. I ended up telling him a little bit about the French history of Louisiana, and his reaction was great when I told him that my grandmother's first language is Cajun French. "You mean, she's never studied French? And she's never been to France? But she speaks French?"
The other day I poured Sarah a drink in the cafeteria, and when she said "Thank you," I replied with the Chinese word for "You're welcome." She taught me this word a few months ago, and I guess she thought I had forgotten it, because she was so surprised that she exclaimed "Wow!" and almost dropped her fork. The look on her face was absolutely priceless.
And for no reason...
I like pickled onion, I like piccalilli
Picked cabbage is all right
With a bit of cold meat on a Sunday night
I can go tomato, but what I do prefer
Is a little bit of cucum, I come, you come
A little bit of cucumber
I will never get tired of that song.
Mardi Gras and Chinese New Year...
Feb. 5th, 2008 11:31 pmThe lycée is looking so festive right now. This Thursday is Chinese New Year, which is super important in Chinese culture – so important that Sarah spent all last weekend cutting the Chinese character for happiness out of construction paper and taping one on almost every single door in the the entire lycée! Then, yesterday, for no apparent reason, Mariana taught her students how to make Mexican piñatas out of paper mâché and hung the results up in the commons area. They don't clash with the Chinese New Year decorations as horribly as Mariana was afraid they would. She said she would teach me how to make a piñata sometime.
And I finally got tired of looking at icons of myself, so I set my icon of Sable and me as my default and uploaded five new ones. I decided to go with the theme of child actresses with dogs. Here they are...
All made by me.
The actresses are, from left to right, Hatty Jones (as Madeline, with Genevieve), Shirley Temple, Dakota Fanning, Natalie Portman, and Alicia Morton (as Little Orphan Annie, with Sandy).
On Friday afternoon, Heather and I finally walked to the library here. I checked out a movie that didn't impress me (The Piano, with Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin), and I also managed to find what I've been looking for ever since I got here: French Baby-Sitters Club books! I don't know why I didn't go to that library sooner.
On Saturday night, Heather, Nakeisha, Marlene, Sarah, Mariana, and I all got together in the kitchen and watched The Goonies. (Sara mailed me the DVD in a package last week.) Marlene was the only one of us who had never seen it before, but she was also the only one who had ever heard the Cyndi Lauper song on the soundtrack, "Good Enough" – I think they listen to some strange music in Germany. But she had been wanting to see it because she loves stuff from the '80s, and as anyone but Adam could tell you, movies don't get any more awesomely '80s than The Goonies. Sarah had seen it before too, but she didn't realize that until several minutes in.
All icons made by me.
Funny Chinese Sarah Moment: Later that night, Sarah told us all what animals we correspond to in Chinese years. I was born in the year of the rat, Marlene is a pig, Nakeisha a dog, and Sarah and Heather are sheep. Then she told us what kind of animal we didn't get along with, and which one we should marry. One of the assistants said, "I think I don't want to get married, I think I just want to make a baby." Sarah was horrified and finally to managed to splutter, "Chinese culture! Very different!"
I knew I was in France when…
- When it took me 35 minutes to walk to the closest McDonald's, and when I told one French person that I had been there, he said, "McDonald's? That's not real food."
- When I expressed my shock at there being a condom dispenser in the high school, one of my English teachers asked me, "Why do you find that shocking?"
- When I saw a French news program covering the recent American football game played in London, the anchorman showed some French people a football, and they had no idea what it was.
- When I needed to buy more contact lens solution, and discovered that the three supermarkets in town each have an entire aisle devoted to cheese, but none of them sell contact lens solution.
- When I asked one of my English teachers what would be doing for class next week, she replied, "Oh, I won't be here next week. I'll be going on strike."
It's hard to believe I left for France two months ago today.
