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Monthly Archives: November 2003

ma chat en feu

November 23, 2003

1) Funniest thing to happen so far today: my cat is trying to get us to light a fire in the fireplace. I know this because he’s grown accustomed to the heat from our recent spate of indulgent pyromania, and is sitting inside the fireplace right now yelling because it isn’t warm.

2) I spent all day at the cafe yesterday. Standing up on my feet for eight hours of what will be a normal shift after we are opened has once again kicked my ass, and all my muscles hurt today. I was lifting and moving stuff too, but mostly I spent all day yesterday making free drinks for people as they came in. Fun. I have a feeling we will be nice and busy, which is good for money but not so good for me to get my own work done here at home.

3) I’ve been trying to brush up my French. I checked out some videos that one of my teachers used to use in high school and have been listening to a lot of Francoise Hardy and Paris Combo. I definitely learn a lot more about language from songs than any other medium – like Mary Doria Russell says in The Sparrow, you learn past tense from songs of love and longing, idiom and flexible usage. Very practical, but can sometimes backfire on me if I’m unsure of my vernacular. You know how song lyrics are. “La maison ou j’ai grandi” a Francoise Hardy song, has taught me more about using past tense than four years of haphazard study and one trip to France. Vive la musique.

4) The brother of one of my best friends had a baby this morning (yes, it was his wife who did the hard part naturally) so my goddaughter now has a baby boy cousin. Congratulations to Joe and Natalie!

5) I would give anything to be the same person for a month solid. Changing from day to day makes it feel like I never move forward.