i am SO good at french.

man! so, to practice my french, i went onto the paris craigslist tonight, and i found out that i now know enough french to translate the following:

Salut à tous, je le sais que la question est un peu étrange mais...
pour ma thèse de l'université je devrais interviewer (5 questions très simples) quelque madame qui ait vécu à Paris (ou dans les proximités) entre 1920 et 1939, même si peut-être que à ces temps elle était une enfante! Les medames devraient avoir entre les 80 et les 90 ans (ou plus!) aujourd'hui... Elles seront remerciées dans ma thèse.
Merci beaucoup pour votre aide!
Arianna, Italie

french is the BEST. the post was in both french and english, so i was able to cover up the english part and figure out the french, then check my work. here's the link if you want to give it a shot: http://paris.craigslist.org/com/128318701.html

also, i went to see munich last night. it was...okay. not great, but not awful. but i saw it with david, and he rocks.

and, have you ever been around one of those couples that never stops bickering? maybe you ARE one of those couples? for the love of god, knock it off. really!

i heart molly ivins

from "Molly Ivins: Not. Backing. Hillary."

"Bush, Cheney and Co. will continue to play the patriotic bully card just as long as you let them. I've said it before: War brings out the patriotic bullies. In World War I, they went around kicking dachshunds on the grounds that dachshunds were "German dogs." They did not, however, go around kicking German shepherds.

The MINUTE someone impugns your patriotism for opposing this war, turn on them like a snarling dog and explain what loving your country really means. That, or you could just piss on them elegantly, as Rep. John Murtha did. Or eviscerate them with wit (look up Mark Twain on the war in the Philippines). Or point out the latest in the endless "string of bad news."

Do not sit there cowering and pretending the only way to win is as Republican-lite. If the Washington-based party can't get up and fight, we'll find someone who can."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/01/20/ivins.hillary/index.html

it's spectacular. read the whole thing.

chibs, i expect to hear from you on this one.

next goal in the "getting it together in 2006" theme:
don't be depressed anymore.

so, i got this light box.



i guess i'm going to be staring at this thing every day.
i'll keep you posted!

ceci n'est pas une pipe

so, my roomie priya is going to mauritania and morocco for work in february, and now she's learning french via this awesome program she downloaded, and i'm going to learn along with her. it's conversation-based - so it's based entirely on speech rather than writing. i think this will be good for me, because in my four years of spanish in high school, we spent most of our time learning rules of spelling and where to put the accent marks - so now my reading comprehension is pretty good but i can't hold even the most basic of conversations.

so anyway, i know how to say a bunch of stuff in french but i don't know how to spell any of it. i just ordered a french primer from amazon though, so hopefully i'll know how to spell soon.

i feel like 2006 will be the year of self-improvement. i'm tired of hating my job, and of not using my brain. i'm tired of feeling like i'm stuck. this year, i'm learning french, and applying to grad schools. and after my niece is born, i'm moving midwest-ward to be closer to my family, because being away from them is harder than i ever thought it would be.

i feel good.

divine

sometimes in life, you end up forgiving people, even though it's the last thing you (or anyone) thought you would do, because it's just the right thing.

i just hope he doesn't make me regret this.

update: i don't regret it, exactly. but one might say that it's not going as well as planned. sigh.

everything happens in threes

okay, for my entire life, i've never known anyone who had to have their gall bladder removed. and now, literally in the last two weeks, i have found out that three people who are close to me have to have their gall bladders removed - one already did, in fact. how freaking weird is that? it totally fits into the whole "bad things happen in threes" - this isn't really a bad thing, since everyone's going to be okay, but it's just really weird. that is all.

i saw george stephanopoulos in the gym again tonight. that guy can't resist me.

today on cnn.com they had this poll:
and when i first looked at it i thought it said
"do you agree that president bush has a head full of steam?"
yes, yes! a thousand times yes!

okay, so this story is hilarious, but i hope it's not too washington-insider. few weeks ago on washingtonpost.com, they had a contest to make up a piece of legislation that, when combined with the names of real-life congressmen that could have introduced the bill, is ironic or otherwise hilarious. the winner:
the Trafficant-Delay-Akaka Roadside Port-o-potty Act.
you might have to say that one out loud.

i am almost recovered of my strep throat/bronchitis/sinus infection. almost!

strep throat, bronchitis

home sick: