| Europe - Paris & Lyon |
[11 Jul 2009|05:56pm] |
It felt really weird getting off the train in Paris at Gare du Nord. London was easy, since I speak the language. Yeah, there are a few expressions they have that are different, and their accents are different, but by and large it did not feel quite as different from the US as I had expected. All that changed upon arriving in Paris.
I guess language makes a huge difference. Maybe lots of other people around could speak English, but I didn't hear any of it, just a lot of French conversations... made me feel nervous about getting onto the Metro and navigating my way to my hostel where I was supposed to meet up with my friend ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) burdges around 11pm. I had no working cellphone, and no number to call even if I had had one. I had looked at the routes very carefully beforehand, so theoretically I knew what I was doing, and I bought an French-English dictionary the day before just in case (which turned out pretty handy). I had also had the foresight to get 20 Euros (and 20 Pounds) from my bank before I left the US, just in case anything went wrong and none of my cards were accepted when I arrived. Sure enough, I was glad I'd done that. The machine to ride the Metro rejected all of my cards. It didn't even have an English option on it, but I could figure out enough of it to know that for some reason, it didn't like my cards. I felt a little bit of a panic, but remained calm and thanked myself for going out of my way to get the 20 Euros, despite others telling me not to bother. A guy in an SNCF uniform saw me having trouble and came up to me to try to help. Not understanding any of his French, I asked if he spoke English... he shook his head back and forth, no. He took my card though and turned it over... then he shook his head again and sighed in a hopeless way... confirming what I suspected, for some reason it couldn't read foreign credit cards. I tried to ask him if there was anyone else around who spoke English, motioning with my hands, but he didn't understand. I held out a 5 Euro bill and said "change?" trying to pronounce it in as French a way as I could. He still didn't seem to understand, and wandered off to help someone else who was having trouble, someone who spoke French. I waited a bit, looking around. Then after he sent the other guy somewhere, I went up to him again and tried the "change?" thing again pronouncing it carefully "shanjay?", a word I had happened to read an hour earlier on the Eurostar but wasn't sure of the pronunciation or if the meaning was right in this context. He pointed for me to follow the other guy he had sent somewhere and said "follow", the first time he said anything in English. Turned out, there was a window with a guy around the corner, and he gave me the change I needed, then I put it in the machine. Retrospectively, I should have just looked around for this in the first place... but for some reason because it was almost 10:30pm I thought there wouldn't be any windows open. Went to the nearest machine and put the coins in and got my ticket... whew! From there on, everything went pretty smoothly... and I discovered that there were a decent number of people around usually who did speak English, and also figuring out what French words on signs meant wasn't quite as difficult as I had thought it would be originally. After being in Paris for a few days, I felt so much more comfortable, even getting around by myself when my French-speaking friend wasn't there. I guess being mostly a virgin to this sort of thing, you get used to it after a while... not speaking the language somewhere can be a challenge, but in many ways it makes for a more fun adventure. I was glad I did it in stages though... first England, where it's mostly the same language, then Paris which is pretty cosmopolitan and there were a lot of other tourists who spoke English, then Lyon where very few people spoke English... although most people still knew at least some words. And by that point I had gotten down a lot of the most basic French interaction words. I had actually been listening to French audio tapes for a while (started doing that for fun independent of this trip) and that helped, but being there even for a few days helps so much more with picking stuff up. I really can't imagine how people from here get by in Asian or Middle Eastern countries, though, where the letters on signs aren't even the same alphabet! I'm sure that's a whole nother level of challenging.
After meeting up at the hostel, it was almost midnight but we had both come from earlier timezones and weren't tired so we went out to a bar. Wow! I was really enamoured of Paris right from the start. Among other things, we encountered a drunken rant by some guy there to us (in broken English) on how Americans "have no love" for the rest of the world, and how France is all about love, and somehow the Tour Eifel was proof of that. It was getting late, so eventually the bartender asked him to leave, but he didn't leave without first giving us each a big hug to prove that France had more love than the US.
Spent less time sightseeing while I was in Paris and more time hanging out with friends of burdges. Although at some point I did go by the Eifel Tower, saw the Arc de Triomphe, and walked all the way down the Champs Elysees. Also went to the French Pantheon, where I saw many famous French people's tombs, including Marie Curie, Alexandre Dumas, and Voltaire.
Spent a lot of time going to bars and hanging out on the banks of the Seine river, where there were many other young people drinking and having a good time every night. One night, they were playing old classic American movies with French subtitles, projecting them on to a screen in public right on the river bank. Saw couples sitting on tableclothes there hanging out drinking wine... I'd love to come back there for a honeymoon or something if I get a chance. Most of the people we hung out with were originally from other places, like Italy or Asia. But of the 2 people whom I spent time talking to who had actually grown up near Paris, both of them (on separate occasions) insisted that it was a really boring city and they would love to get out and travel to somewhere "exotic" like California. One of them was obsessed with London and the British in general, and is hoping to go there to do a PhD on British literature. Having just been to London, I had a hard time understanding what she found so romantic about it compared to Paris... it makes me think that the grass is always greener, wherever you are. Not surprising, but it probably means the best thing to do is keep moving around or things will get boring wherever you are.
Ate some pretty fancy food while I was there, and more in Lyon. burdges seems to have acquired ridiculously snobbish food tastes since living in France... every time we went in to a bakery he turned up his nose and said "don't buy any of this crap... we can do better, let's keep looking." I think there may have been one where he said "this might be ok" but I was kind of smiling to myself the whole time about that, and he jokingly apologized at the end of the week for it.
My French-English dictionary screwed me over in one way, despite being otherwise useful. It had a section describing what it calls the "kissing" of friends when they meet up in Paris. It specified that friends typically kiss each other 3 times on the cheek when greeting each other or parting. So the first time I met up with people, and was introduced to burdges' attractive Italian friend, she presented one of her cheeks to me immediately. I didn't know what to do, so naturally I kissed it. Later, I found out that people don't actually kiss the cheek, they just rub cheeks together and blow a kiss in the air... which is what all of the rest of the people with us did to her after I was done. Oops--tres embarras! Upon parting, she gave me another chance though and I did it correctly.
Just stayed in Lyon for 2 days; they had a really nice cathedral, probably the best of all of them that I saw in Europe, and an old Roman ampetheater built out of huge stones which is still being used for outdoor plays and events. We spent the evenings drinking Pastis on various boat bars (boats docked on the river that are licensed to serve alcohol) and singing I'm On a Boat (the latest work from the group who brought you Jizz in My Pants if you haven't heard it). He had to explain at some point to someone in French what we were singing, which was rather amusing.
Next up: Geneva and LHC, but I probably won't get to it tonight.
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| Kink |
[11 Jul 2009|09:17pm] |
Should have gone out last night.
As it turns out, Wayne's racing a night race and won't be home till the clubs are about closed. Just not sure I want to go to a Buckhead-ish club by myself, even if it is a Secret Room event. Just getting from the parking lot to the door wearing latex would probably be a vigorous exercise in fending off weirdos.
blah.
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| Europe - London |
[11 Jul 2009|04:14pm] |
I've spent the past 16 days in Europe.
I'm back briefly for a few days and then will be flying to Florida for a week to attend my grandfather's 90th birthday celebration and associated family reunion. I hope in another 21 years we will be celebrating his "eleventy-first" although his health is not what it used to be so I wouldn't bet on it.
Main cities visited: London, Paris, Lyon, Geneva. I'd only ever been in Europe once before--when I was 17, I went on a summer trip to Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, and Slovakia with classmates in my German class. So seeing some of France, England, and Switzerland filled in some big gaps. Next time I go back, Rome, Amsterdam, and Barcelona are at the top of my list to see although I cannot predict what other circumstances may lead me elsewhere. Rome because it has the most history, Amsterdam and Barcelona because I've heard that they're just really fun cities. Although who knows, maybe I would rather go to Asia or Africa next time neither of which I've been to at all?
London: Went to a gothic industrial event known as Antichrist with luxvalence. We were originally planning on going to Slimelight the night after too, but we were both pretty warn out by then and the Antichrist event (which happened to be their 5th anniversary celebration) was a hefty 25 Pound ($40) cover, enough for me to spend on clubbing for a while. But let me tell you, the London goth scene is far from dead! These people really know how to dress, and how to throw an event. Much bigger than any goth event I've been to in the US, had lots of big rooms with some live acts and some DJ's, a bdsm room, a pitch black makeout/sex room with bowls of condoms at the door, a strip tease (boys vs. girls), a fire swallowing act, and a cross you can crucify yourself on and get your photo taken in your sexy outfit, for another hefty fee. Got dragged into the makeout room by a pretty hot goth guy with long blond hair who liked to bite and scratch... since we hadn't even talked at all (just danced a bit) I felt uncomfortable going all the way with him so I stopped things after they started going too far; I did feel like a bit of a tease, although it was really good practice for me in asserting my boundaries and feeling free to say no. London also has a bunch of free museums that I went to. Had tea and scones in the afternoon with luxvalence, and fish and chips and bangers and mash at a British pub later on. Saw Buckingham Palace and various other touristy things, although not inside or anything. Did my best to Mind the Gap while I was riding the tube! Oh, and I went to a cool place called Cyberdog in Camden, which I have pictures of... and ate some curry on Brick Lane which was difficult to describe but pretty cool.
Took the Eurostar 1st class from London to Paris, through the Chunnel. (For some reason for this particular time and day the 2nd class seats were actually more expensive than 1st class... and I think it was because 1st class was cheaper than usual.) The meal they served on it was excellent, and my first taste of French food which was a remarkably sudden change from British food. I was also just generally very impressed with how much more comfortable trains are than airplanes to travel... much more leg room, don't have to turn your cellphone or laptop off, no annoying rumbling and loud noise the whole time, normal air instead of dried out recirculated airplane air, quicker time through security... the list goes on. Why does the US use airplanes again? I never realized just how much they suck until experiencing the alternative.
I'm saving Paris and Geneva for the next post (or two).
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| Stuffed Chiles |
[11 Jul 2009|07:46pm] |
Last week I was the lucky recipient of a bag of fresh chilies from Bonnie's parents' garden.
I went looking for a recipe for poppers, but found this delicious recipe from Martha Stewart instead.
* 6 fresh poblano chiles
* 8 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast
* 2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
* 5 small tomatillos (about 7 ounces), husks removed
* 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro, plus sprigs for garnish
* 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from 1 to 2 limes)
* 1 3/4 teaspoons coarse salt
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 2 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (from about 5 ears of corn)
* 2 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled
* Freshly ground pepper, to taste
(see the link for the directions!)
I switched out the chicken for some diced grilled squash, just because. Grill 1" thick slices of squash with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper until they are just tender. Don't overcook, or it gets mushy when you bake it. I bet firm tofu or even shrimp would work well too.
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| The end is the beginning is the end |
[11 Jul 2009|03:20am] |
Closed on the house Thursday. In at 10am, done by 10:40. Got internet set up.
Thursday night I got several wonderful friends, a truck and went to it. We got about 75% of my shit moved. Specifically the big stuff. To everyone who showed up, thanks.
Today was hell. I got about an hour of restless sleep. I found out I need to get my plumbing approved before they will turn my water on. I need to have all low-flow stuff. I have it already, but it could be a week before the county inspector comes out, signs off on it and they turn it on.
My brother and I spent most of they day sorting, packing and cleaning at the old place. We finally were done about 1am. We dropped off the Uhaul, took a shower at the old place, and left.
I rode the motorcycle down the connector and out 20 to the house. Despite the pain, it felt good.
Did I mention the pain? Hell is not knowing what box you packed your drugs in. Tomorrow will be spent laying prone and making old man noises. My sciatic nerve is angry and it feels like someone is stabbing me in the right asscheek. My feet feel like being stabbed would be an improvement. Oh! Hello ibuprofen! Have you seen your buddy percocet?
It's not "home is where the heart is" It's "home is where all your boxes of crap are"
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| For what it's worth |
[10 Jul 2009|03:39pm] |
if the person involved even sees this...
I'm so very sorry. You didn't deserve that sort of treatment.
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| Late at night a big old house gets lonely |
[10 Jul 2009|02:26pm] |
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♥ seshat1 is going to be in town this weekend. I'm so excited to see her again. I haven't seen her since my trip to London in Nov 2008. *bounes* I am such a shy type of person but I love meeting fandom friends who can ramble with me about odd things no one else understands. Hee.
♥ I am brainstorming a possible AU Kirk/McCoy idea for ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) startrekbigbang. I've never really been that big into AUs before but I'm loving the ones I'm reading lately and encouraging Flora and Emi to write AUs and have been bitten by a bunny for one of my own. We'll see if I can actually write it. There's also a prompt at the Kink meme for a Doom/Star Trek crossover that is really, really tempting, but it's another I'm not sure I could do justice to or not. LOL Once I finish up Starship (it's only going to be like half as long as Motorbike so it's already working towards an end), I'll see what my muse wants to play with. I also have a few different longer one-shot ideas for things set in the Motorbike/Starship verse, too. *pets plot bunnies*
♥ I finally found time to save like 100+ fics to my delicious whatever thingy. Kirk/McCoy fics of various ratings. My tagging system is basic and likely total fail cause I was working on it late at night when I couldn't sleep, and there's more I need to add when I find time (like non Kirk/McCoy and, uh, Kark/Chris >_> fics). Anyway, the link is here cause someone had asked me to post it once I got it started. More will get added when I get time. I'm addicted to K/M!
♥ We got artist-author match ups finished at hermionebigbang. I'm hoping there won't be too many issues there. We've got some amazing fic and some brilliant artists participating, so it should be great fun come 9/19 when the archive goes live.
♥ I've had a pretty crappy week, mostly internal/emotional BS and cranky/depression stuff. Feeling better today, even if I hate working Fridays because of coworkers there on Fri that make things tense for half my shift. Mostly glad to not be feeling quite so meh about myself and RL etc. *hugs to y'all*
♥ I hope that everyone has a great weekend! *love and more hugs to everyone*
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| Skirts are back! |
[10 Jul 2009|01:08pm] |
  
ok, that's it for the shop this week. Next week: Pajamas made from vintage fabrics! I'm super exited about those, I might have kept a few pairs for myself, lol.
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| Food, Inc |
[10 Jul 2009|07:58am] |
So last night I went with a fairly diverse group to Rogue Apron's showing of Food Inc. By diverse I mean we had another artist who grew up in a small farm setting, a nutritionist and avid gardener, and a tech guru who grew up on a cattle ranch. I went in not really expecting to learn anything new, but I wanted to support the release of the movie, and more importantly, I wanted to hear the perspectives of my friends about the subject. The audience in general appeared to be made up of a few people who were really into some particular aspect the movie touched on... slow food, organics, local food, etc, and a lot of other people who were probably just learning about the issues and wanted to know more. It seemed like a good mix.
Since I read an awful lot already about most of the subjects in the film, the premise was pretty familiar. However, the one thing I thought the movie did extremely well was creating a narrative that connected the dots. Meaning, it gave at least some time to almost every aspect of our industrialized food system - everything from the scope of it, to the animal cruelty, to the problems with the regulatory agencies, to the multiple health issues and immigration problems.... all the way down to the downright terrifying intellectual property precedents that are being set in court cases brought by Monsanto. In other words, there was something for pretty much everyone to relate to, and that's the first step in getting people talking and working together.
The downside was that the ending almost ruined it for me. The end is full of the sort of feel good, write your representative, vote with your wallet, we can make a difference crap that I personally thought belittled the rest of the movie. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like they spent the movie talking about how the people in charge of the system were in bed with the people ruining the system, so I wasn't really sure why we were then supposed to think writing to them to tell them we didn't like it was going to do any good.
Beyond that, I was really bothered by the ending's comparison of the fight with Monsanto to the fight with and defeat of big tobacco. Tobacco use has always been a choice. Monsanto controls most of the world's food supply in one form or another, making it anything BUT a choice for an awful lot of the world's population. See: India. It's like comparing apples and oranges.
That said, I don't know that people who are already well versed in the industrial food crisis were this movie's target audience, and as such I'll let the things that bugged me go. Judging from crowd reactions around me, I think it most definitely appealed to people who are just starting to really pay attention to their food, or who maybe only really know about one or two aspects of the problem, and if it gets more people from different facets of the issues to realize they are all fighting the same battle, then great. The lady sitting next to me seemed fired up by the movie's proposed solutions, so clearly it works for some people.
There's one piece of this argument that I'm going to save for another post, however, and that's the entitlement argument. A guy says somewhere in the movie that people who don't care about how their food is treated are the kinds of people who will also find ways to marginalize the workers who produce it, and so on. There's a whole lot wrapped up in that meat for every meal mentality that I'm going to need a few more cups of coffee to tackle.
In the meantime, I hope everyone has a great weekend!
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| Fic: Restless Night (Kirk/McCoy) |
[10 Jul 2009|12:23am] |
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Title: Restless Night
Pairing: Kirk/McCoy
Summary: Jim can’t sleep after fighting with Bones
Rating: Adult/R
Word Count: 3285
A/N: #14 in the Two Men & a Starship series. Follows Knock Out Thank you to everyone who reads/comments! Note: There won’t be any new posts of this series until next week. I have a friend visiting from overseas this weekend, so I’m taking a brief break in posting in case my schedule is weird.
( Restless Night )
#13: Knock Out | #15: TBA
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| oh... about that pie crust: |
[09 Jul 2009|11:22pm] |
It was for this:
A savory onion and tomato pie that was inspired by my friend Hannah's cooking of this pie recipe from the Food Network.
I made basically the same pie, but with a few notable changes. First, I used whole wheat cous-cous in place of bread crumbs, and I eliminated the mayonnaise. I also couldn't find fontina cheese at my local store, so I upped the parmesan and added some leftover cheddar from the fridge. I subbed oregano for the thyme (because I didn't grow any thyme this year) and probably tripled the amount of basil (yes, I have a basil addiction). I also mixed regular and cherry tomatoes because my cherry tomato plants are... exuberant... at the moment.
The pie is in the fridge waiting to be cooked for dinner. For now, I'm off to a showing of Food Inc. More on that later.
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| things my gramma taught me v 3.1 |
[09 Jul 2009|03:17pm] |
If your Grandmother was anything like mine, she grew up in the aftermath of the depression and with a real sense of thrift and value. Going through the second World War only deepened that, and I think she's forgotten more than most people my age know about living on less, frugality, and sustainability.
This is one of those little tips I learned from her: No need for those non-stick cooking sprays, just save your butter wrappers. One of those holds enough residual butter to grease a pie pan perfectly!
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| First sixteen |
[09 Jul 2009|12:29am] |
Oops. I was going to get further down the challenge list today, but I came home and slept for three hours instead. Anyway, since the post is slipping steadily down the page, here's the list of the first sixteen.
- Another glimpse of the Smeltings teachers during DH, preferably whilst "doing their bit." for tdu000
- How about some interaction between Remus and Dora when Dora's getting older and certain things she did as a kid for severely_lupine
- In Stray, you mentioned Rita writing an article when Sirius went to live with James. I'd like to see Sirius's and James's family's reaction to that article for Anon
- How about something with Ginny and Luna while they are still at Hogwarts? Maybe somewhere in years 1-3? for riah_chan
- Remus's first transformation after taking the Wolfsbane Potion. :-) for Anon
- So . . . my request? Any fandom, any time, any theme. Just somethin' that acknowledges the concept [of Independence Day], and as something positive. :) That'd make me really happy. for akilika
- Regulus, later in his life, happy. For someone who exists in canon only in flashback, I quite like him :). for sonetka
- Teddy's twin girls find out that George is a twin and he has to explain why his twin's not around. for Anon
- I want to see Teddy and James having a bit of summer fun shortly before James begins his first year at Hogwarts for demonoflight
- The magical explanation for thunderstorms. You know, their mythology - or their 'true' explanation - or even both! *g* for amamama
- Harry and Ron post-hogwarts meeting with old classmates (I'm thinking harry having to face Romilda and Ron face Cormac McLaggen). for *Jenny~
- how About a more emotinally mature Harry conforting Susan Bones on the anniversary of the War? (because of the murder of her Aunt Amelia) for starnightmuse
- something with Neville and Ginny during the carrows take over for Anon
- Bill and/or Fleur's reaction to Ron showing up at Shell Cottage during DH. for spitc1899
- James becoming Head Boy. How / why - and what were the reactions of the other prefects, and the school in general, to the appointment of a Head Troublemaker? for alkari
- If possible, could I get something from an AU in which Remus never became a werewolf? for Anon
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| Less than 24 hours to go |
[08 Jul 2009|02:12pm] |
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I just got a cashiers check for the largest lump sum I've ever paid anyone. In theory, I should be a homeowner by noon tomorrow.
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