What is another word for "thesaurus"?

just because i've got the time

I would just like to take this opportunity to share with you a few things I currently enjoy. This post admittedly has little purpose, but hey, i've got the time so here goes:

Foods
natural yogurt (with nutella & peanut butter mixed in)
chai tea
Tartar cheeses
a fresh baguette
crepes from my "Crepe Man" who thanks me for my loyalty
pineapple juice & ginger ale
Hairbo "les Schtroumpfs" (gummy Smurfs)

Jeans
"Long and Lean" Left Weave by Gap

Shopping
my neighborhood marché (open air food & international market)
H&M
Galleries Layfette Maison & Gourmet
IKEA

Books & Media
"The Cat who went to Paris / who went Abroad" Peter Gethers
"The #1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series by Alexander McCall Smith
The Plays of Oscar Wilde
"Around the World in 80 days" Jules Verne
"Princess" series by Jean Sassons

Real Simple Magazine

LimeWire file sharing

BBC World News

Misc.
having my windows open
experimental cooking (getting creative with whatever is on hand)
re-arranging my space
the bridges of Paris




**What are your current pics or old favorites?

these are my two new friends...since they just moved here I have been trying to get them aquainted with the city-- first stop, Tour Eiffel :) (really, what did you expect?!)

Rita...

Friends in the Houston area, what is the latest? did you stay or leave?

"...coming out the wazoo"

This is one of the stupidest things I have ever done. I choose to share it with you only so that you may have a good laugh (at my expense)...

Last night after I finished working I decided to stop by and visit a friend. I was wearing a pair of pants that only has back pockets, so after showing my transportation pass to the driver I slipped it in my back pocket. When I arrived at my friends house the first thing I did was go to the bathroom. When I was about to flush I saw something strange resting on the bottom of the bowl...I was not about to let my curiosity lead me to touch the object resting in a used toilet, so I decided that maybe my friends had thrown paper or something in before I arrived and proceeded to flush. I stayed long enough to ensure it went down.

I stayed and visited for about an hour and when I was putting on my coat to leave I checked the pocket for my transportation pass. When I found it empty I remembered putting it in my pants pocket, but that was empty too. I was getting upset because this monthly pass costs 68 euros and I needed it to get home. We looked around the apartment and outside, but all we could come up with was that maybe when I went to put it in my pocket it had slipped out on the bus. So I gathered up my change and bought a ticket on the bus for home. I kept thinking about it and what could have possibly happened to it and all of the sudden the picture of the strange object in the toilet flashed through my mind...followed by the image of me deciding to flush it...

So...yes, I literally flushed 68 euros down my friends toilet last night. I just busted out laughing when I realized this on the bus, what else could I do?!

Luke 14:26-33

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple... any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

our new couch from IKEA came with a small "easy to assemble" storage bin that fits underneath. we have not had time to put it together yet, so i had some extra time this afternoon and set to work...the first few steps were easy to follow and everything was going as described in the instructions...until one big piece of pressed cardboard would not slide correctly, preventing everything else from going together! i am currently taking a break...staring down the unfinished piece of furniture that has lied to me. the above pic was taken towards the beginning of the project when it seemed like it was going to be fun and productive...

this morning when i got up the water was off in my building. i called a friend who recommended brushing my teeth using bottled water, i told her all i had was Perrier (sparkling carbonated French water)...she said it sounded like fun. so, i turned on my vibrating Colgate motion and poured in some Perrier. it truly was a party in my mouth, a French party to be exact.

I don't watch the news here in France but keep up with current events by reading the French paper and by logging onto BBC as often as I can. I have watched the current crisis in my home country as an outsider and therefore have little credit to my opinions on the subject. What I do know is that a friend sent me this today and I was encouraged by it http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05254/568876.stm

mon nouveau canapé convertible

my new, red courdroy, couch from IKEA...yes, it is swanky and comfortable (and will be your bed when you come for a visit)

Switchfoot on their new album Nothing is Sound

In 1991, when Rolling Stone interviewed Dylan on the occasion of his 50th birthday, he gave a curious response when the interviewer asked him if he was happy. He fell silent for a few moments and stared at his hands. 'You know,' he said, 'these are yuppie words, happiness and unhappiness. It's not happiness or unhappiness, it's either blessed or unblessed.'

This record was written somewhere between the blessed and the unblessed, between the godly and the ungodly by a few young urban professionals from San Diego. These songs are dreams and questions, bleeding together, breathing in and out- always somewhere between life and death. And I feel this tension, this distance now more than ever, like a numbing ache... deep inside. The distance between the way things are and the way they could be, the distance between the shadow and the sun. And this is where we exist: within the paradox. Living out our lives: oxygen and carbon and hydrogen and so on... This record was the attempt to make something beautiful in filthy backstage dressing rooms everywhere, trying to sing something true with a broken heart. This record was written about things that I don't understand.

And yes, there's more than a wink of irony in all of this: making music from our most intimate thoughts and selling these songs online for a dollar a pop. Singing an anthem every night about how "we were meant to live for so much more" and many times feeling like a failure; singing "I dare you to move" and feeling trapped. Both loving and hating all the fuss that the music has brought. Knowing that even Rock and Roll, perhaps the best job in the world will not make me happy (in the yuppie sense of the word).

And yes, this American life is absurd! a strange paradox indeed... Perhaps no amount of money, sex, or power has ever satisfied us before, but maybe today will be different! Maybe this new purchase will make me happy! And the sun rises and sets once more- another day, another dollar. A carbonated beverage will help to chase your insecurities away. This new product will help to fill the meaningless void I feel inside. And so I drink the beverage, wear the clothes, and watch the war on TV. meaningless. meaning less.

Do we hunt our ridiculous suburban dreams like the neighborhood cat? Have we quietly fallen in line with the advertisement? Are we driven by ego uncontrolled, our lives simply vain pursuits of meaningless ends? Do we attempt to validate our existence by materiel means, relational acquisitions, sexual conquests, fiscal achievement, and cultural prowess? It was another jewish man who said something like this a while back.

"All is meaningless," Declares the teacher.
"Meaningless, meaningless, Everything is meaningless"

For me, there is a terrible, wonderful freedom in coming to terms with these un-happy, un-yuppie words. It's a strange consolation in our dizzy and breathless race for happiness to find that you will never outrun the horizon. It's an avalanche you can't escape. It's a fatal wound that you cannot heal. If you fall on this rock you will be broken, if it falls on you you will be crushed. You see, this album started with a blow between the eyes that I am still recovering from, that's really all I've got to offer these days.

So in the half-light glow of radio shows, music videos, and greedy billboard charts I am aware of a darkness that is beyond me, I am coming to terms with my unbelief. No, I don't believe in rock and roll. No, I don't believe in the success that we've achieved. And no, I don't believe in me. In a free market world of the bought and sold I feel caught in between. I believe I've heard about a man who was exploited to sell everything from indulgences to the wars of men. And yet he offered only one bitter pill that was not easily marketed. Maybe that's what this record hopes to be: a simple bitter pill of truth that steps outside of our hamster wheel and looks up at the stars and beyond.

Maybe Dylan was right when he said Rock and Roll isn't Rock and Roll anymore. I've met so many lonely, desperate, beautiful people over the past few years. Yeah, I've got a bitter pill to swallow, but it just might be true. Maybe our lives drift quietly by and we can't stop the current. Maybe this modern river leads to the sea of death, where no medicine can cure these ills. Perhaps our restless wanting is satisfied only outside of ourselves.

It was another jewish man who said something like this,
"If you seek to gain your soul you will lose it."
I am on a journey that will one day come to final terms with these words.

Marie Antoinette's tree

Sunday I went to Versaille for the second time and came across this uprooted tree outside the Grande Trianon. The sign on it said that it had belonged to Marie Antoinette -- maybe she sat in it or under it, touched it one time as she walked by...no idea. Anyway, it is now dead like her.

They have been filming a movie at the Chateau about her life (starring Kirsten Dunst) and it has peaked my interest to read her biography before the movie comes out. Apparently she got a bad rap for that one remark about cake but she was supposedly a nice lady...I will keep you updated on my findings.

tonight i saw a man on the bus wearing a t-shirt that said "I am a rich man" and i was thinking that if he was being truthful then he should come up with a better way of getting the word out because let's face it, few people respect a t-shirt wearer in this society

une petite excursion

for anyone interested in a few of my favorite pictures from around Paris there is a new link on the right or you can just click here

some are of the traditional sights, some are random things i have enjoyed...obviously i have a ton more but here is what i call "une petite excursion" around my city.

sweet november

the 17th-26th I will be in the U.S. of A. for a friend's wedding and then spend Thanksgiving with my family! anyone want to play while i am home? hope you will make time to come and see me :)

do you like my new shower curtain? stay tuned for pics of my new couch..."en-shalla" it will be here next week :)