Synchronicity

I am taking a French linguistics course this semester and I am learning all sort of phonological words and descriptions. It doesn't seem like this is very practical or even applicable to my daily routine, but as I was writing a work e-mail this morning, I made a typo and wrote, "convusing." The little red spell-check underline popped up, and I looked more closely at the word. But wait a minute, I thought, that's not a spelling error - that's a natural linguistic evolution: la sonorisation!

So I was right on one count: the class is NOT practical. But I was wrong on the other: apparently it is quite applicable to my daily routine.

Guilt

It's been months since I've posted here. I've got all of the same excuses: I've been busy - went to Las Vegas and le parisien's wedding, bought an apartment, started a new master's program... But that won't cut it, and I know it. I mean, I could have been updating about these changes as they happened and I wouldn't write a stupid "catch up" post.

I also feel guilty because of something that happened just a few minutes ago. You see, I have this set of cheese plates that I absolutely love. They came in a box that looks like a huge camembert cheese, and there are vintage cheese labels on each of the plates. (They look kind of like this.) And during the move, Jube broke my favorite plate.

I didn't even get upset - I've broken plenty of things in my time, and one clearance cheese plate isn't worth the trouble. But I did regret it.

Tonight I served myself a brownie on one of the remaining cheese plates, and I thought back nostalgically on my favorite plate. I found myself looking down at the cheese plate I had, thinking, "If only it had been you who had been broken!"

Poor little cheese plate.

Convergence of Interests

My newest news: I just bought tickets to see Muse in March! I'm so excited!

I've liked Muse for awhile - since my first trip to France, when le Parisien took Jube and me to fnac, where I listened to "Origin of Symmetry" on the headphones, which was in 2001. When I got back to the US, I looked for the album, but could only find their debut CD. I only recently discovered that it wasn't released until 2005, explaining my confusion in being sure there was a new album!

Anyway, I only discovered that I really liked Muse when I listened to their 2006 album, "Black Holes and Revelations" and listened to the 9th track. Although it's called "City of Delusion," I like to pretend that it's really called "City of Illusions" after Ursula K. LeGuin's book. It's not very likely, I know, but don't you think that a band that I like so much would also like LeGuin?

And that's how I realized that I liked Muse. A lot.

Happy 3rd!

Last Thursday Jube and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary - or as they say in French, our "three years of marriage." We went to the Manor House at Poplar Springs where we celebrated our wedding reception in 2006. My little brother now works in the kitchen there, and he had them create a little dessert surprise for us. Yum!

Sexy Texty Monday

A quick followup from Sunday's SMS exchange:

Gem to Jube (06/09/09, 4:52pm, just getting out of work and heading to her bus in the sweltering heat): omg fing hot!

Jube to Gem (06/09/09, 4:54pm): what is hot?

Gem to Jube (06/09/09, 4:56pm): the weather. what, u thought i saw federer?

Probably wisely, Jube only addressed the weather in his return text.

Texty Tennis Sunday

Jube is in Norfolk this weekend for a short visit, while I stayed back in Maryland. He wasn't able to watch Roland Garros, but I was!

Gem to Jube (06/07/2009, 10:29am): Federer winning 2 to 0. 6 to 1, 7 to 6. great tiebreak. a streaker* on the court scared fed. . . flashback to seles?

Jube to Gem (06/07/2009, 10:44am): Awesome.

Gem to Jube (06/07/2009, 10:45am): 3rd set now 3 jeux a 1 fed mene**

Gem to Jube (06/07/2009, 11:10am): Fed wins! crying on court. crowd screaming, kids dancing. 3rd set 6.4

Jube to Gem (06/07/2009, 11:11am): Champagne

Gem to Jube (06/07/2009, 11:41am): What a nice guy! he said he wasnt /happy/ that nadal lost #thats mean# but he was def relieved. agassi gave the coupe.

I love the French Open! I love Roger Federer! I love tennis! What a great morning!


*Update on the "streaker"

**3 games to 1: Federer leads

Weather

The weather has been warm, almost summery lately. We haven't wanted to turn on the air conditioning, so we've done one of my favorite things: slept with the windows open. It feels great until the neighbors next to you start pulling fence posts out of the ground at 8:00 in the morning and the guy across the street decides that mowing the lawn is best done at 8:45. And to think that I was looking forward to sleeping in on Memorial Day...

Who?

9:18 p.m. Watching TV.

Gem: Tu la trouves jolie?

Jube: Who?

Gem: Her. There - with the pretty dark hair.

Jube: Her? No way!

Gem: Really? I think she's pretty.

Jube: She looks like Michael Jackson.

It smells a bit strange...

This evening I had a cramp in my big toe.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch!" I cried. "I hate it when I have toe cramps!"

"Let me see," said Jube. He pulled off my sock and massaged my foot for a bit. "What's this?" he asked, smoothing his thumb over the bone nearest to my toe. The skin was dry. "Are you developing an onion?"

WWJD?

The other day at the mall, I was trying on some clothes when I heard the girl in the next dressing room open the door and call to her friend, "What do you think?"

Her friend called back, "Is it too small?"

I reflexively looked at the wall separating my dressing room from the girl's. I could almost feel the heat emanating from her angry body. Quiz: What was the proper response in this situation? I probably would have gone for something like, "It's okay," expressing some ambiguity with the ensemble without implying that my friend was (gasp) not a dainty little fairy!

"No!" she hissed back. "It's my size! Why?"

At least her friend knew the correct answer to this one: "Oh, it just looks a bit tight on the bust." Good comeback!

Metaphor

My Japanese coworker just bought a mini cassette recorder for her classes. Encased in one of those plastic boxes with no visible means of entry, it has forced her to pull out her scissors and poke viciously, then snag the blade and rip carefully.

"Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed, "This is harder than opening a fish!"

I looked over at her, laughing. "A fish?"

She laughed too, adding, "Yes, and you know, opening fishes is really an art."

Dans la nature...

During my old commute, I would drive a short way down Beach Drive. Beach is a winding road that traverses Rock Creek Park, 10 miles or so of lush forest that goes from Washington, DC to a street very close to my house. In the early mornings I sometimes see deer lurking in the brush on the side of the road, and in the afternoons bicyclists seem to think that they have the right of way (they travel in packs). I also see the same Metro commuters walking from Grosvenor Station back to their houses.

On one of my last days, I was driving through the morning mist when I saw a Metro commuter cross the road in front of me. I thought it was a bit strange that I'd never seen him before, but I figured that he might have left earlier than usual. Before my car drew level with him, he disappeared into the woods on the other side of the road. Bemused, I tried to find him in the woods as I drove past, but all I saw was a small path leading through the underbrush.

I enjoyed imagining deer and commuters sharing the same paths every morning, and then I turned off of Beach and entered the Beltway, where no one shares the same path happily.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Comps: Passed.
Graduation: Next week.
Job Search: In full swing.
Jube: Already bought my gift.

Tonight? Happy Hour!

Nothing Very Profound...

While watching America's Next Top Model...

Gem [during a commercial break]: I think that this is the new song by Madonna and what's-his-name, Timberlake.

Kilmer [after listening for 5 seconds]: It sucks.

So as you can see, my absence from the blogging world could possibly be attributed to meager blogging material. We'll see what I can scrounge up soon--exam time = procrastination.

Uhh..

Today while browsing an online newspaper, I saw the following headline:

Chirac opens among cheers and protests

What is this? What is Chirac doing in the news? Who was cheering? Who was protesting? What the heck was he opening? The one-line summary was obscure as well, something about fetuses and boos. I clicked on the link. I then realized that I had misread the title. Instead of Chirac, it was "Clinic opens among cheers and protests". It makes more sense, except... am I really that obsessed with France? I didn't use to think so...

Surprise!

The other day, Jube and I were watching TV around 9pm, relaxing after a day of work. We had even finished our household chores, taking out the trash, checking our mailbox, folding our laundry...

Suddenly our door burst open. Jube looked up, surprised. I shrieked a little bit, startled at the intruder. And a young Indian man, looking even more shocked than we felt, started stammering out an apology.

"I am so sorry!" he said, in his lilting accent. "I thought this was 514, not 513!"

He was so uncomfortable and embarrassed that I had to stand up to shut the door for him--he had thrown it open so that it was resting at 90 degrees from the exterior wall, and he didn't want to take the step in to our apartment that closing the door would require.

"That's okay," I said, "No harm done!"

When he left, I burst out laughing. Jube winked at me, saying, "At least you were wearing decent clothes!"

I had almost forgotten about this, but on Sunday my mother asked me over the phone if we had met any of our new neighbors yet...

Round Up!

I've been a bad blogger this week. First I had to write my papers, then I had to start 30 hours a week at my internship, and finally, instead of sleeping in on the 4th of July, I got up early to volunteer at a school event. I've had a couple of thoughts rolling around in my head to post, so here they come:

One
Jube picked me up at work the other day, surprising me outside of the building. He pulled the car up and said, "Bonjour, Mademoiselle, do you need a ride?"

I laughed and got in. "I have the nicest boyfriend in the world!" I said, catching myself too late. "I mean, I have a great husband!"

Two
I think that I was lucky that I didn't speak any French before I moved to France. I just caught a short video of myself explaining something in French from February of 2005. Wow, I was bad! Thinking back on it I don't remember speaking that poorly. I think that learning in France helped me avoid the embarrassment of the Language Learner that comes from thinking you should be able to speak a language. I felt that way in Spain sometimes, thinking, Come on, you know this! Why is it so hard for you to understand?

Three
Tennis. I'll bet you're bored of me talking about it, aren't you? Well, I'm never bored with watching tennis! I am, however, bored with American announcers. In France, the announcers are certainly biased toward the French players, but they don't try to hide it. They urge them on like real fans--"Allez Grosjean! Allez la France!" In the US it is equally more subtle and more annoying. Instead of enjoying a well-played match, they pepper the commentary with suggestions like this: "She's lucky Venus mishit that return." Or, "Poor little Gasquet! That was a good serve for him! That's Roddick's average!" They say it with straight faces (I'm assuming), without any irony at all, giving the impression that they can't help it if the American players are just better than everyone else. If only there was one announcer who seemed like he enjoyed watching tennis, I would like it more.

Four
Tonight Jube, Lorene, Willy, and I are going to the Bier Garten. I'll tell you how it goes. There are only a few words or phrases I know in German, and das Bier is one of them. I also know Ich kann kein Deutsch, which came in handy in Austria, and "Twenty Minutes!" thanks to Run, Lola, Run. Funnily enough, that also came in handy in Austria. As we were checking into our hotel, Jube tried to communicate in his Bac-level German with the workers. Getting frustrated with us, the woman finally told us, "mumbleblehbleh zwanzig Minuten!"

"Jube, Jube!" I clamored, "I know what that means! She said 'twenty minutes!'"

"I guess we'll come back in twenty minutes, then," he said to me.

If Only I Knew...

Why is it that on vacation, when I have plenty of free time, I don't get anything done? And when I have a deadline or a paper due, I will do anything to get out of it? That's why I'm blogging tonight: I have a couple of papers I need to finish by Wednesday (yeah, thanks, I love having things due on the 4th of July!), but I need a break.

I don't really have anything to write, so here's a little Jube mixup from last night:

We were checking out the top 100 movies on Rotten Tomatoes. Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb was rated around 50.

Gem: Oh, Dr. Strangelove! I love that movie! It's sooo funny!

Jube: Dr. Strangelove, huh... Is that with Eddie Murphy?

Gem [howling with laughter]: No. You're thinking of Dr. Dolittle.

Jube: Oh yeah. Hey, don't put that on your blog, okay?

All I Ever Needed

My week of "vacation" has been going really great so far! I haven't had to wake up before 10am on any day and I haven't even been thinking about work.

On the other hand, I started a new class on Monday night, so I've been reading a lot of text books. And working on the papers I still have left over from a few weeks ago hasn't really happened yet, either...

Jube was surprised on Tuesday morning by being offered a week-long job at nights, so I've been free to do whatever I want. And "whatever I want" means watching So You Think You Can Dance, my new favorite show!

I never used to like dance. I thought it was boring, the "stories" were grafted on, and the music was the high point. Then in college one of my closest friends and roommates happened to be a dancer. I was subjected to numerous viewings of Center Stage, which must finally have convinced me that dancing was cool. [I still don't recommend the movie unless you are really into dance. I don't think I'll ever watch it without Catherine...] By my senior year I had watched White Nights without coercion and cried at student recitals. I like dance now. So, without further introduction, enjoy the latest YouTube offering of my favorite dance from the first "competition" episode of SYTYCD (see? I'm already up on the lingo!):




EDIT:

And this is the video I originally wanted to post, but it wasn't up yet on YouTube. I think it is my favorite dance of all...

End of an Era

My first job came to an end today. Next week I have a mini vacation (I'm writing papers, starting a new class, and attending 2 meetings), and after that my internship kicks in at 30 hours a week. I can still pretend that things will be calmer around here, right? And instead of sleeping in tomorrow, I'm getting up early and going to Busch Gardens with my friend Rosa! Jube will spend a men's day in with Willy, playing guitar and X-Box 360. In fact, he is brushing up on his video game skills right now by watching an instructional video ("See? The Germans are hiding behind the fence, but I can shoot the fence. That shows you that you shouldn't assume that you can hide behind everything!").

I have a funny post coming up, but I lost the cable that connects my camera to the computer somewhere in our apartment and I'm too lazy to find it right now. Just shiver in anticipation...