so fresh, so clean

NOT.

sigh. i'm starting to feel like every time i come to europe there is some stupid issue that just kind of ruins the vacation. last year, it was missing luggage for FOUR DAYS. this time, its renting an apartment that just - all of a sudden - doesn't have running water. yep, no water, in very modern paris. it happened tuesday night. we checked in to our apartment on friday night and everything since has been fine (except for the apartment being much smaller than we saw in the pictures online). then, tuesday night, i went to the bathroom, flushed and went to wash my hands and there was no water in the sink. i went to the kitchen sink. no water. elaine poured brita water on my hands so i could rinse off the soap. we then went to dinner at a thai restaurant (i've been craving asian food). we came back at about a quarter to ten and found there still was no water. we call the woman who rented us the apartment and she gave us some instructions to check in the hall in case someone had turned off the water. we couldn't find it and we noticed that one of our neighbors' tv was on, so we rang the doorbell and he came out. we explained the issue and he mentioned that the neighbor between our two apartments had also mentioned he didn't have water. so we knock on his door and this other guy comes out. the four of us stood in the hall talking about it. we went and looked all around and finally found the original thing that our landlord was telling us about - it was on. it was not the problem. the four of us kind of putz around the apartment for 10-15 min talking about what the problem could be. we call the landlord back. she says "well, it's not my fault! i'm in the south of france, there's nothing i can do." typical french.

so elaine and i go to bed despite being hot and sticky. i got waxed yesterday and needed to rinse off, elaine walked for 5 hours and its super humid, so we were both gross. there is a random sink in the hall upstairs from us, so we have been able to flush - we flush the toilet like normal, then take the brita pitcher up to the random sink and fill it with water and come back down and fill the sistern with water. seriously. we have to make a few trips, though because the sistern doesn't fill with water after just one pitcher. i've also brushed my teeth upstairs. its silly, really. so this morning we wake up and the woman calls right at 9. there are construction workers in one of the apartments below us and she thinks that maybe they turned off the water. they came in around 10 (despite coming in before 8 every other day this week and banging and pounding to wake us up) and elaine goes to ask them if they've turned off the water. the man is a painter and he says "no, we haven't touched the water, besides, we have water." which they do. the neighbor from last night said that he would email the building association but it make take a week or more for them to fix it. we leave on sunday.

so elaine calls the landlady again, who hasn't returned our call from earlier in the day telling her that the workers say they didnt touch the water. the landlady says "well, what am i to do? these things happen and sometimes people just have bad luck." we would like her to pay for a hotel for us to stay in or give us our money back because this is a massive inconvenience. i am going to have to go to lisa's in the suburb's tonight and take a shower. then head back to town to sleep and get up and go to the wedding on thursday. if we dont have water on friday when we get back from the chateau (which is probably the day you're reading this), i don't know what we'll do. we want to threaten to go to the authorities because its technically illegal to rent apartments out for less than a year in paris. and we want to tell her that we'll plaster the internet with bad reviews and she'll never get another tenant again, but... i dont even know if that is right. doesn't it seem normal that if you rent out an apartment with certain amenities, you should provide those amenities and if not, then you reimburse or take care of the situation. the whole thing is just a massive joke and totally ruining my one vacation of the year.

THIS is the EXACT reason why i will never live in france. people dont care about others, they don't try to help.... and its so sad because paris could be the best city in the world if you had different people living here. i won't post this until friday, which means by the time you read this, i will have spent a few very uncomfortable and annoying days in gay paree. i'm already ready to leave.

[so fresh, so clean by outkast chosen because i am neither fresh nor clean and thats funny because i'm annoyed.]

at last...

so... if all goes well today (thursday), i am at the castle above... the lieu (place) where my friend is having the reception for her marriage. yippee! yes, you can all feel jealous now. but not really of me. or, if you are jealous of me, only be jealous that i have friends who have weddings at castles in france. because its not like *i* am ever going to have a wedding at a castle in france... for more info on the place, click here. the french government doesn't actually honor religious weddings, so they are TECHNICALLY already married (from a legal standpoint) because they had the justice of the peace wedding last month. but this is the "church" wedding to which everyone was invited. it is being held at an irish church in paris (found here). then afterwards, a friend is driving a few of us out to the chateau. it should be interesting... i'll take lots of photos and whatnot.

all this wedding talk and helping out and whatnot (this is my 2nd of 3 weddings this year!) always gets me to think about my wedding... and then... there is always this blank. i can't really picture it. i dont think, aside from jonathan brandis, i have ever thought about getting married. or really believed that i actually would. so its hard for me to think "i want this, and it has to be here, and i want that,, and these are the people i would invite..." etc. the only thing i have thought about is who would be in the bridal party, but... now that i have seen how bridal parties affect people, i dont know that i even want one. plus, i think its hard when your friends are all over the place. and i feel like there is a lot of tradition in weddings and i just dont really feel like i'm a very traditional person. i understand them for what they are, but at the same time, i dont really ever follow any of them. but hopefully this will be a beautiful weding, with little drama (there are only 48 people, including the bride and groom!), and lots of fun! on verra. je t'expliquerai plus tard (SI c'est bon!).

so what wedding details do you love?

[ultimate romantic song, in my opinion, "at last" by etta james]

so confused!!!

ok, something WEIRD is TOTALLY going on... i'm "online" kind of... but not really. i have NO SIGNAL on my mac and whenever i turn on my computer, it asks me to join a network, but all the networks have passwords (which i dont have), so i dont join. instead, i go to the apple store to get my internet for free. (i'm in paris, btw, not sure when i'll post this, so just an fyi for context). and because i don't have internet in my apartment, i have been pulling up websites while in the apple store, and then just keeping my computer on, but shut, while i walk home and then pull them up when i'm in m apartment. as soon as i lift the monitor, it asks me again what internet service i want to connect to (i cliekc "cancel") and then i do my work offfline. HOWEVER, a few odd things have happened today:

1. i open up my computer back at the apartment hours after i have been at the apple store and i plug in my headphones. there is a song playing over and over and over again. i a) dont know where this song has come from and b) have never heard the song before. i look at itunes, and according to the main bar, there is nothing playing in itunes. i play a quick video and the video plays, but there is no noise. ??? so i close itunes. the song continues playing. i shut my computer and then open it again. the song continues. i finally realize that its a dopey love song from my friend's wedding website. i close the tab in firefox and the song stops playing. i thought i wasn't online! but then i figure i must've somehow, without knowing, downloaded some sort of plug in that allowed it to keep playing.
2. i'm on another site reading an article and i realized there is an advertisement that keeps playing over and over again. how is this possible?
   
3. a few minutes later, i am taking notes on an article i have read and i pull up this site that has top list of different things or whatever. you have to click "next" to see the next items in the list, so i initially think that its not going to work so i just write the header down for later for me to return to it. then i close the tab. by chance, i happen to click "next" on one slide and ... the slide pops up! even though i am NOT on the internet... so i go back and open the tabs that i had closed, and a few of them come up! its really really bizarre.

why is this working? is it kind of LEAKING a teeny bit of internet connection? i'm so confused! i'm going to try posting this and if you see it on tues night, it means that it posted despite me NOT being online (according to my little "signal" thing and the fact that none of my podcasts download). AND no one sees me online... so wierd!! anyone know whats going on??

[editor's note: wrote this on monday night and was not able to post it, so am posting it on wednesday when i'm back in the apple store able to use the internet.]

dream apartment - 39

obviously, i will need this hidden parking garage for when i have a porsche. or, more likely, a schwin ten speed. tip from here.

and as a bonus where is this from??
Drew: Nice car. I drive exotic wheels myself.
Natalie: What is it? A Schwinn ten-speed?

leave me, lying here

oh my goodness. its been q loooong fez dqys. ok. interesting. iùm in qn qpple store in pqris. qnd its been q long ti,e since i used q french keyboqrd: its kind of qnnoying:

apple store. that is zhere i am. i came here, not because i missed all things american but because i forgot my charger. actually, that is not qt qll true:

ok, i'm back on my own computer. i started that (above) earlier this week at the apple store on a french computer, with a funny keyboard, but now i am back at the apple store with my own computer and can type (mostly) normally. i'm sitting on the floor and there are people sitting above and next to me. i think they're reading my typing.

so anyway, the time that i am here now is monday afternoon, early evening. i have been in paris for a few days and already have done a ton of stuff that i have never done before, so that is fun. my friend elaine and i are staying in the 6th arrondisement on a super cute street with TONS of restos, bars, and shops. i'll take a picture later and post it. i should also take a picture of our apartment. its super super small. its like... well i dontknow. but since its so small (AND NO INTERNET) it makes it SUPER expensive, which is annoying. but i think tonight we're going to stay in, cook dinner, watch a movie on my laptop and get some value out of our money. oh, actually, i just found our apartment online. here it is. cute, n'est-ce pas?

oh. i also did something very bad today. i bought a bag. yes, i know, my weakness. i shouldnt' have even entered the store! but i DO love mandarina duck, and i just happened to be in paris during les soldes (the national twice-annual sales events) and well... it was 50% off. so... it was fate. it won't let me paste the picture in here, so here is another link for you of what i just paid way too much for. don't worry, i'll get a night job on the corner of my street. :) it looks waaay better in person and will be FAB-u-LOUS for work.

so yeah, this morning, elaine and i went to mandarina duck to get my purse (it was actually a part birthday gift from her, so thanks dear) and then we went to ile st. louis, which, can you believe i have NEVER been to?? its one of the two islands in the river int he middle of paris. i had never been. so now i have. we walked around a little and then went to berthillon which has like, apparently, the best ice cream in the world. i was told by a friend that we shouldn't go to the actual berthillon, but eat at the resto across the street and then get ice cream there. so we did that. i got mackeral, which i have had before and definitely like. i've just never had it cooked so the whole thing is there except the head. it was kind of surprising. i had to filet my own fish. then we walked across the river to the ile de la cite and walked past notre dame (which doesnt impress me) and over to sainte chapelle church, which my aforementioned friend recommended we go to. but there was a MASSIVE queue, so we decided to make reservations for wed morning to go. oh, that reminds me, i have to make reservations for that while i am here with internet...

ok, that sucked. its 9.5euro to go online, but only 8 if you stand in line. and now i'm wondering what happens if i dont have a printout.... hmmmm. i guess we'll just go stand in line. but i do have to get tickets to go to reims demain... holy crap! ca coute cher pour aller a reims! it's expensive to go to reims! like over 100 euros... i'm not sure i'm super interested in that anymore... i'll have to check with elaine when i get back to the apart. i guess you won't know what i do until later since i'm going to post this on tuesday and that is the day i'm meant to go to reims or not.... dum dum dum.

so whats new in the US since i've left?

[leave me, lying here, cause i dont wanna go... lyrics from veruca salt's 8 arms to hold you album "volcano girls"]

hotel california

so i've added another fun link to the "time enhancers" section... i love the liveplasma site, which i haven't looked at in YEARS, but now that i thought of it the other day and went back to it, i love it even more! its a site that amalgamates sales of artists, music, movies, etc and then tells you what people who bought those items have also bought. for example, eminem is closely related to 50 cent. which makes sense, eh? so i put in my favorites (garbage, kevin spacey) and find stuff that i already know or new stuff to check out.

who are your favorites? any surprises when you put them in?

this all came up because my coworker who sits next to me was listening to a radio station and i kept asking, "who do you like between ___ and ___?" i think it started with billy joel. i asked what his favorite billy joel song was then he asked who i liked better between billy and elton john. so i thought we'd do a little poll in the comments section and everyone can fill in in the comments:

billy joel or elton john?

the monkees or the beatles (ok, probably not a fabulous comparison, but who has heard of the turtles?? if so, the monkees vs. the turtles?)

bruce springstein or huey lewis? (again, not totally same realm, BUT i associate them together because they both played the same kind of music when i was growing up in the 80s - wildly different after then, but i still consider them the same)

the eagles or the stones?

i'll comment on my own in the comments...

[hotel california is arguably one of the most popular eagles hits. my favorite, however, is life in the fast lane]

dream apartment - 38

i LOVE this. it looks so awesome! i might want a white house with a bright pink front door... how fun is that? check out another view at apartment therapy.

what color would be your front door?

black hole sun

i think a lot about alzeheimers and dementia because my grandmother has it. and so when i see an article about it, i read it. it often makes me sad or cry because it is such a horrible experience to watch your loved one slip away - and i'm not even around my grandmother that often! AND she tries really hard to keep herself together when i'm around (vs. when my mom or aunts are around her). so i figured i would take some time to educate my readers on this horrible disease

i can't seem to post the video here, but i can put a link, so check out this link for a video of a doctor explaining that alzeheimers isnt entirely genetically passed on. which means that probably anyone can get it, and that there are things you can do to prevent it.

this article is interesting because it talks about the fact that there arent a lot of good drugs to cure or help alzeheimers, but they are starting to find predictors and things that will help decrease the chance of getting alzeheimers. for example, getting a lot of exercise and getting enough vitamin d (neither of which i do, but i am inspired to work out at least a half hour each day until i leave for europe and TRY to get some more sun (but i'm pretty sure i'm allergic to it) which is one way to get vitamin d).

so the point is - take care of yourselves people!

a few weeks ago, i was talking to my grandma during one of our twice-weekly calls and she says to me: “its been raining a lot. I could take my soap outside and take all my clothes off and get clean.” it was pretty funny. i don't know why she thought that.

another day, my mom was at my grandma's house, but i didnt know that, and i called gma to talk to her, but my mom answered. she said they were watching justin bieber on ellen and all the girls were going crazy. my grandma said she couldn't understand why people went crazy like that and my mom pointed out that she had a crush on a country music star, who i had never heard of. so i look him up on wikipedia and he's in his mid-40s and it turns out his wife is 20 years older than him. we were all kind of surprised, but mostly surprised when my grandma said, “older women make better lovers. If you knew who he was, he’d be in your heart all the time."

i'm just sayin...

[Black Hole Sun from 1994 by soundgarden was on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s and i thought it was appropriate for a ramble about mind games]

american pie

i often say that i feel more north dakotan than american. i like the values that i believe north dakotans have - being respectful, polite, community, living close to the earth, etc. and maybe this isn't necessarily a "north dakotan" sort of value system, but i see it more there than i do anywhere else i've lived (and i've lived in quite a few different places). i always start to think about being "american" when i'm getting ready to leave for europe. i have some friends over there who, because they watch their news (which includes a story on the US almost every night - how often does nightly news with brian williams do a story on france??) they think they know everything about living in the US. it gets frustrating because i'm always defending america or our way of life or some stupid interpretation of one thing or another. ugh. i'm already dreading it. BUT i was given a slight bit of hope when i read this article talking about the fact that america is great because no one murdered jay leno. it doesnt say he should be murdered, just that in other societies if companies wanted to save money, they would've done that. and i dont think murder is good, so it made me happy.

this is another article about living abroad now that obama is in office vs. when bush was in office. i haven't been to europe in 14 months, so it'll be interesting to see how its changed (if any) or how people there look at americans. (and, come to think of it, i was only in paris for a day last time, vs. this time it will be 9 days) the article points out that most americans (literally, "most" - only 30% have passports) will never realize how other's around the world look at us. and that is sad.

another thing that is sad is this article. well, sad for me, of course, because it puts me (once again) in the minority based on how i think.

ok, enough about all that. as you read this i am in london most likely. i'll be working from the london office on friday and then taking the train friday night to paris where i shall sleep forever and ever.

have you been abroad? and what are your thoughts??

[FABULOUS song by don mclean]

nuthin' but a g thang

so slightly worried now that i think about it. 1) i'm worried that my passport expires soon. i was thinking that i got it in 2002 because thats when i moved to france (and they're good for 10 years, so it would expire in 2012), but then i remembered, i got it in 2001 because i was stuck in france on september 11th. which should still give me another year, but what if they made a mistake and it expires soon? AND that means i only have a few months to add as many stamps as possible (i got extra pages sewn in to my passport last year and now want to fill them up because i actually have few stamps on the new pages) before getting a new passport. iiiinteresting (i'm just realizing this as i type, which means that i am now planning trips in my mind to far away exotic places that will stamp my passport)... but i'm also worried because 2) i don't actually know WHERE my passport is. i remember seeing it recently and putting it somewhere thinking "oh, i'll need this soon, i'll remember putting it HERE." but now i can't actually remember where HERE is. i told higgi that i'm not sure where it is and he said i could use his if i needed to. what a great roommate! don't you think?? i wonder how many people would offer up his or her passports for someone else. AND no mention of a rental fee! also, we have determined that we people will probably not question the woman handing over a man's passport aspect. and IF they were to do so, i would easily be able to make them feel uncomfortable for asking me about it. problem solved!

----------------

ok, so update (i wrote all that yesterday at work): i forgot i didnt have my passport until i was about to go to bed and was rereading what i wrote. i started having minor heart palpitations because i couldnt remember where my passport was. i spent about a half hour looking for it and was ready to freak out when i found it. it was NOT in a logical place. annoying. oh crap. i didn't look at when it expires.

i just looked. july 2011. i've got one more year.

----------------

ok, so just a summary. it's 4:35 and i have been up since... well, awake since 3 or so and up for about an hour. i set my alarm for 4am so i could finish packing and go through my donation stuff AND so i'll be sleepy tonight at 5pm for my flight. we'll see if that happens. last night i went out with a coworker which was good and then was about to walk home but it was NASTY STICKY out. so i walked half way then took the bus to the sushi restaurant to get me some yummy food. i went home to eat it and then left to meet up with friends at the beehive, which is this bar/club place playing live music. i had a scoop of ice cream and then went home to talk to a friend in n'awlins who, i had no effin idea, is actually a lawyer in a very important on-going case in the gulf... dum dum dum... crazy man, totally blowed my mind. so then i really went to bed. and woke up early! i'm kind of annoyed i woke up so early. grr. BUT on to more important things... today is... the day i leave for europe, yes, BUT it's also...

PLAYERS BIRTHDAY!!!

its my littlest brother's 23rd birthday. here is a picture of us from my cousin's wedding last year - yes, family, you were cropped out. sorry!


so here is a fun birthday cake for you, player. hope you have a great day! sorry for leaving for europe on your day. and also i have a gift for you but decided not to send it since i'll be home in a few weeks... so we'll celebrate then.

catch ya'll on the flip side!

[Nuthin' but a G Thang from 1992, hit #2 VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg) because my brother's a gangsta]