AliThinks

The Silly Quiz I Promised To Post

Which Rock Chick Are You?

I have no idea who this is, but I like her name, and I like to think I'm bold and funny, and have nice cleavage.  I don't think I'm Welsh, though.  I found this quiz here, via a link from Celia at SweetlyPAZZO.

The Part of My Day That Sucked Big, Large, Huge Igneous Rocks

In which I rant for 4 minutes and 6 seconds, and you get to see some kitten acrobatics.  Edit: And I say "it was like" a little too often for comfort. 

The Part Of My Day That Didn't Suck

This morning I accompanied the 8th graders on a field trip to see a movie for their French class. 

We saw Le Mystère de la Chambre Jaune:  an interesting crime film based on a novel of the same name. 

And I didn't have to teach this morning, which was a good thing. 

Too Tired To Blog Anything

Nothing to say, either. 

Must. Sleep.  Now. 

NON!

Today French citizens voted in a referendum on the European Constitution. 

I took this photo yesterday at the town square.  These metal backdrops for campaign posters are put up before any election or vote. 

I find it interesting that both the PCF (Communist party) and the Front National (more right-wing there is not) advocated a NON vote. 

The "ruling" party advocated a OUI vote. 

Did I vote?  No.  I'm a French citizen, but I don't feel European, and I don't envisage staying in Europe for the rest of my life. 

Please excuse the fly-by coverage of this referendum.  However, I have always stated that politics will not invade my blog. 

La Teuf Des Reums

Today is Mothers' Day in France.  La Fête des Mères.  I woke up this morning saying "La Teuf des Reums" to myself.  This is verlan, a kind of slang that involves inversing syllables and sounds.  "Verlan" itself is verlan for l'envers, which means "the reverse," or "the other side."  If you say à l'envers, it means "backwards."

It didn't take too long for me to catch on to verlan when I arrived here more than 12 years ago.  I don't speak it, unless I'm trying to make someone laugh.  It's fun to affect an accent from the Paris suburbs, and speak verlan. 

Zyva, choure-moi mon skeud, espèce de caillera!

What was I saying?  Oh yeah, Mothers' Day.  I got some handmade cards from my kids, and C. gave me a flowerpot with a strawberry plant in it.   T. gave me a photo of himself in a frame that he made.  They woke me up from my afternoon nap today by giving me a foot massage. 

It was good. 

Lait Fraise

Movie Meme

Rand posted TIME's list of the top 100 movies on his blog, and he bolded the ones he's seen.  Perhaps this has been making the rounds, perhaps he just made up a meme.  Anyway, I'm stealing the idea. 

I didn't bold mine, but rather turned them blue, because for some reason Typepad's WYSIWYG thingamajig didn't want to bold my selections, and I was too lazy to go in and add tags in HTML. 

The movies I've seen are in blue, then. 

Cat Blog Friday (Future Geek Edition)

For the Friday Ark, at Modulator. 

The kittens love the computer: 

Cookie reads AliThinks while Slick just chills to the music. 

I Need More RAM

...in me brain.  This morning on the way to work I wrote a blog entry in my head.  It was all about these shitty little cars that you don't even need a license to drive, and since I was behind one, I was writing this blog entry.  It was a really good entry, all snarky and witty and full of lines like "I was driving with no hands."  I had the time to write AND revise the blog entry, because the SLC in front of me was going. so. slowly. 

And then I got to work.  And I taught.  I gave tests.  I corrected.  I filled out report cards.  I got into the tandoori oven I call a car and drove home.  Now I can't remember my blog entry.  All I remember is that I was stuck behind a shitty little car this morning.  It was green, and it was going 70 km/h on a road where the speed limit is 90.  (Brownie points for readers who take it upon themselves to convert that into mph all by themselves).

So instead of getting upset about the lost blog entry, I'll teach you some new French slang.  Well, new for me.  During last period, 9th grader Tristan said "Elle claque, votre robe." [insert puzzled look from me] "Avec Jean-Baptiste on trouve qu'elle claque.  Qu'elle est très bien."   For you non-francophones, Tristan literally said "Your dress slams (or snaps, or slaps: claquer can be used for either slam as in door, snap as in fingers or slap as in cheek).  Jean-Baptiste and I think it slams/snaps/slaps.  It's really nice." 

Gee, thanks, boys.  What's your favorite part?  The fluid navy blue material?  The tiny pink flowers printed on the material?  The simple neckline? The near-ankle length?  Or is it the side slits that go up past my knees? 

Now, my question to you is, which verb translates best?  Does my dress snap, slam, or slap?

Wow

I just got contacted by a headhunter recruiter!  He needs someone to fill a position in a language institute (but NOT teaching), and I fit the profile!  Wow. 

Unfortunately, the job is in Paris, and I was upfront and said that it would be very hard for me to move.  If I'm going to be that far from my kids, I may as well move to the States immediately.  The recruiter said "Well, if you decide you want to move, contact me." 

I'm just here doing a little happy dance in my chair, feeling like Sally Field or something. 

Cor!

You Belong in the UK

Blimey! A little proper, a little saucy. You're so witty and charming... No one notices your curry breath.

What English Speaking Country Do You Belong In?

Thanks to Jenny. 

College Stuff

My senior fifth year of college I took a photography course.  I had always been interested in images. It was only after that photography class, and the C I got in it, that I started paying attention to my world. 

Or so I thought. 

The other day I found this photo that I took in the fall of 1991.  I'd scanned the print I'd made -- not that I had done a good job with the exposure, mind you -- and labeled it "to play with".  I never played with it, and I recently found it on a CD of backup documents (none of which I have ever needed, of course). 

I'm too tired to play with it now, but I did crop the scanned edges of the original photo.  I took this picture one hungover morning.  My housemate Heather was lying on the picnic table on our back porch.  Her legs looked lovely in the sunlight, and I tried to capture that.   

I've got the negatives from my photography course.  Somewhere. 

Fun With Kittens

So these new kittens are pretty interested in my computer monitor, and the goings-on thereabouts. 

I acquired this link from my friend Talalala..lala...la.  As I sat there and clicked and clicked, Slick became more and more interested.   

He was so cute; I had to take pictures. 

We Are Stardust, We Are Golden

On Mondays I have 2 hours of class, a 4-hour break, and then one more hour of class.  Sometimes I come home for lunch, but most of the time I stay at school and plan lessons, make photocopies, and things like that.

This morning was no different.  I corrected a pile of quizzes, planned a couple of lessons, and by then it was 11:00.  I remembered that I'd seen an invitation in the teachers' lounge to come and see the planetarium in room 102, so I decided to check it out. 

Small Town Photo Of The Day

So my kids were here, right?  And they are really cool; they always find a way to keep busy.  If they need me, I am here, but otherwise they do not rely on me to entertain them. 

My daughter took about 40 pictures of Cookie today (without telling me until after the fact, good daughter that she is).  Lots of them were blurry, but some were pretty good! 

This is the one that made me laugh the most.

Aftermath

My children live with their dad now, so I get to see them on the weekends.  Most Saturdays they have school until noon, so the weekends are short but action-packed.

You should see their bedroom.  You should see the living room.  Hurricane C* and Tropical Storm T both beat a path through here, that's for sure. 

We all straightened up a bit, but once again, time got away from us.  I'll clean up the mess later. 

*I'm not kidding when I say hurricane.  Her ability to leave a mess just astounds me.

Lettuce Eat Salad

Remember the Mutant Lettuce?  I'd promised to take my camera next time I went to Le Mutant. 

Yesterday I did just that, but only one of my photos came out.  I'm out of practice with the hip shots.  It's just as well, because the other shoppers were pretty normal-looking. 

They even had pre-washed lettuce. 

How To Make Me Laugh

Forget the new male kitten's name and call him Slime, instead. 

Sumatra Series

Sumatra doesn't like when I take her photo.  I don't know why; I rarely use the flash.  Perhaps it's the noise of the camera, perhaps I'm just invading her privacy. 

Sometimes I can't resist, though.   She was perched on the step of my IKEA stool, the light was lovely, and so I started snapping photos.  I took most of them using the digital zoom on my camera, which is something I usually avoid.  However, the light was bright, and the photos didn't turn out as blurry as they normally do with the zoom. 

You can see her annoyance grow as the series progresses.