The Life of the Star

Meeeeeme

2008-07-23T20:31:57Z

The Claire is in Faroe!
Yes, that's right, the group of islands lost between northern Scotland and the Polar circle which you'd never heard of!

Anyway, first of all, I was tagged. I don't know who hasn't been... Joey, maybe. Laura? I've no idea.

Starting time: 20:51
Name: Claire
Sisters: None. But a million billion aunts and cousins and relatives of all flavours.
Brothers: One. People's usual response after seeing us together: "... do you two have the same parents?..."
Shoe size: 37-38 French size.
Height: 5 foot nothing...
Where do you live: in Rennes, Brittany, North-West France

Favourite drinks: water, lemonade, orangina, russian earl grey, Irn-Bru
Favourite breakfast: ooh. Bacon and eggs, toast and salted butter, kippers, lots of home-made jam, various Danish salamis and rolls (getting used to the local diet). Erm... left over cake from the previous evening. Muesli with plain yoghurt, lots of fruit and honey... I usually choose to skip breakfast rather than have a crappy one.
Have you ever been on a plane?: I was 5 weeks old when I first flew.
Swam in the ocean: Often in the past. Seldom now – it's always so damn coooold! That being said, I splashed through the ocean a couple of weeks ago.
Fallen asleep at school: Only once, Spanish class.
Broken someone's heart: I'm not sure.
Fell off your chair: Yeeees. Fallen off a toilet (-in- a toilet, actually. It was on the day my brother was born and it's all I remember from that day). Been stuck i a folding chair. The usual.
Sat by the phone all night waiting for someone to call: No, but once, my friend Elisabeth and I slept all night with the phone connecting us, because there was a weird stalker dude on my landing and I was scared... ¬.¬
Saved e-mails: I seldom delete any.

What is your room like: right now, I'm in a room in my cousin Yastrid's house, in the village of Søldarfjørður (population:350). Out of the window, I can see the fjord, which is maybe 100m away, with a boat (a trawler) in the harbour. Across the fjord, I can see the other side of the island, but only just, as the fog is getting really thick and white.
Ever had chicken pox: As a child. I only remember the get-well card I got that had a teddy-bear badge on it.
Sore throat: often
Stitches: Wisdom teeth. So gross. And I think the two they didn't remove are coming out. From the side of my mouth. It's kinda weird and I don't want to ask my dentist...
Broken nose: never broken anything.

Do you believe in love at first sight: Nup. Surely love runs deeper than that?
Who was/were the last person/people you danced with: "Don't dance. Hate it. Case closed." says Cam. And yet, the last time I danced was with her and Cristina. We were dancing the Macarena and the Danse des canards (duck dance).
Last made you smile: this dude Julian on MSN. Making the crappest joke in the history of French humour. And that's saying something.
You last yelled at: Ummm... probably my brother, telling him to come and eat. Iono, I don't like yelling.

Today did you:
Talk to someone you like: just... family. Well, I'm on holiday, what d'you expect?...
Kiss anyone: elatives. Met about 50 new relatives yesterday. All called Olav and Magnus and Gudrun.
Get sick: felt a bit queasy. We ate so so much today.
Talk to an ex: nup
Miss someone: Natürallich
Eat: Oh yes. Huge breakfast. Followed by a surprise huge lunch 2h later. Then got home 2h later for a surprise high tea with lots of waffles. Closely followed by a big dinner. I want to diiieee. No, wait. Now I can diiee happy.

Best feeling in the world: a hug when you really needed one.
Do you sleep with stuffed animals: no
What's under your bed: monsters?
Who do you really hate: Sarkozy.
What time is it now? 20:09

Random:
Is there a person who is on your mind now: There are several. They're kinda heavy and now my neck hurts.
Do you have any siblings: I do.
Do you want children: I do, yes. And my mother refuses to wait ten years to be a grandmother. On the other hand, she started saying that when I was 15 years old, so...
Do you smile often: I do. Probably too much. I have a silly smile.
Do you like your hand-writing: not really
Are your toe nails painted: nup.
Whose bed other than yours would you rather sleep in: one that squeaks less. Even if it's kinda fun.
What color shirt are you wearing now: light blue
What were you doing at 7:00 p.m. yesterday: I was at a relative's bday party. Pòl, who turned 70. It was rather cool, I ate caviar for the first time! And skerpikjøt, which is very old dried lamb or mutton. Absolutely viiile. The texture is halfway between dry meat and paté. As though it's in the process of rotting but hasn't quite made up its mind. So gross.
I can't wait till: Sarkozy dies violently.
Are you a friendly person:I don't think so. I'm not sure.
Do you have any pets: Not really, but I'll probably be responsible for my cousin's guinea pig when I get back to Scotland. Cue groaning. I'm not a fan of pets, as a rule.
Did the last person you held hands with mean anything to you now?: That would be my brother. He was grabbing my hand to stop me from tickling him.
Do you sleep with the TV on?: hell no.
What are you doing right now?: Sitting in bed, typing. Digesting.
Have you ever crawled through a window?: Must've done. I don't remember.
Can you handle the truth?: I think so.
Are you too forgiving?: no. I'm really not.
Are you closer to your mother or father?: Probably my dad. We have similar interested and senses of humour.
Who was the last person you cried in front of?: my grandmother. I hate that. So humiliating.
How many people can you say you've really loved?: No idea. Several.
Do you eat healthy?: I try, but moreso when I'm at home in Rennes or with my parents. As this meme may suggest.
Have you ever cried because of something someone said to you?: Sure. People often tell my I'm way too sensitive.
If you're having a bad day, who are you most likely to go to?: whoever sells chocolate :)
Are you loud or quiet most of the time?: Quiet, except if I'm particularly comfortable with the people around me.
Are you confident?: Not really.

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Attempting to read in English.
2. Going to Scotland alone for the first time.
3. Ummm...
4. Reading all the time
5. Can't think of any more

5 things on my to-do list today:
1. Play WoW (done)
2. Phone my parents (will do next)
3. Visit my aunt Edith (done)
4. Eat whale (done at last!!)
5. Look up the Fringe festival and try and decide whether I'll go (looked it up, haven't decided)

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. chocolate
2. crêpes
3. waffles
4. fruit
5. yummy stuff. Erm... crunchie bars!

5 things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. I think I'd give a significant portion away. Because I'm not sure what I'd do with it...
2. Buy an old building and restore it.
3. Get an awesome house.
4. Buy that coat I saw in Kirkjubøur the other day
5. Give people presents!

5 of my bad habits:
1. Short temper.
2. Picking at my hands
3. Whining when I'm tired
4. Whining when I'm hungry
5. Whining when I'm cold

5 places I have lived in:
1. Leith, Edinburgh
2. Lyon, Croix-Rousse
3. Rennes, Brittany
4. hopefully India or Canada or NZ or Aus or something next year
5. Paris eventually!

5 jobs I've had:
1. Babysitting
2. Homework help
3. Modelist
4. Historic reenactment/tour guide volunteer
5. That's all I can think of...

Finally, a message to Emma: Hey Emmmmmaaa. Sorry I didn't warn you, but in the end, I only spent a night in Edinburgh, arriving late and leaving around noon the next morning. On the other hand, there's a chance I'll be spending a few days there in August. From the 20th to the 24th, something like that. There's a festival of politics in the Parliament I'd loooove to attend, and it'd be awesome to see a few Fringe events, too. Thoughts?

ETA: we're being called back to the table for pudding. My God.

secondsilencer @ 2008-03-30T22:52:00

2008-03-30T20:53:03Z

Whenever I go to my favourite craft store, I let myself get one extra thing than what I'd originally set out to buy. Yesterday, that extra thing was a packet of bright green glass beads. Coming home, I rummaged through my crafty supplies and found that I had four identical beads in a dark orange and purple.

It's pretty basic, since I'd never used crimping beads before (and only had cutting plyers which cut the thread twice before I was able to finish) but I rather like the result...

Teh Cooking Projekt

2008-02-26T17:17:02Z

Apparently, idle hands get up to no good (viz. RPing, WoW, agit-prop, etc.)
So, for once, I decided to start a project during the Winter Holidays: Cooking at least one thing every day and photo-documenting it.
As well as the two things I've made today, I made a tomato tart and an apple/orange/lemon/rhum/cinammon cake, but sadly, no traces remain 24h later.

Every French kid has had this cake: the gâteau au yaourt. It's insanely easy to make (so perfect after having baked absolutely nothing since early September) but very very boring.
Since discovering Teh Seekrit Ingredient and making it with chocolate chips and pieces of pear, my brother has decided it's his favourite cake of all times.

Adding a small banana, really mashed up and mixed in as well as possible makes it much lighter and moister than any other method. Whisking up the egg whites just makes it dry and bland, imo.
After being cooked, it's practically impossible to detect the banana (even knowing it's there, I have a hard time). As far as I know, no-one else uses this method. Ergo, it is a very good method.

Baking it was a bit of a hassle. As I had lost the original recipe (who'd've thought it'd be so easy to lose a scrap of paper with a scribbled recipe after having stuck it in a book five years previously?), I had to rely on the internets for cooking time & temperature. it turns out that covering the tin is silver foil ot prevent the cake from colouring too rapidly is a waste of time. It slows down the cooking way too much and might cause the cake to burn too easily.

I assumed my brother would like it better covered in frosting an hundreds & thousands.

Evidence would tend to suggest that I was right.
Voilà!

I also made an apple tart, requested by my mother to take to a party tonight for one of her students leaving for Brazil.

Tonight: Chicken Risotto!

secondsilencer @ 2008-01-16T18:41:00

2008-01-16T17:57:45Z

I've been tagged! But everyone's done it, so I won't tag anyone back.

1. The exams are over.
2. I learnt a new craft.
3. I get on well with my classmates and feel like I belong in this school.
4. I have unlimited phonez and can spend hours talking to everyone.
5. I'll be going back to Lyon in a month.
6. After a pretty depressing year (2006-2007), things are looking up for most of my friends and myself.
7. Erm... I no longer have laryngits
8. I'm gradually getting more comfortable with myself and the way I look.
9. I'm in a field of studies that's genuinely interesting, challenging and doesn't feel like a dead-end.
10. I don't have class till Monday :D

Level 1
() smoked a cigarette
() smoked a cigar
() done weed
(x) drank alcohol

SO FAR: 1

Level 2
(x) are in love/been in love.
() been dumped
() shoplifted
() been fired
() been in a fist fight

SO FAR: 2

Level 3
(x) snuck out of a parent's house
(x) had feelings for someone who didn't have them back (probably)
() been arrested
(x) kissed/made out with a stranger
() gone out on a blind date

SO FAR: 5

Level 4
(x) liked someone older than you
(x) skipped school
() slept with a coworker
() seen someone die

SO FAR: 7

Level 5
() have a crush or liked one of your facebook friends
(x) been to Paris
(x) been to Spain
(x) been on a plane
() thrown up from drinking

SO FAR: 10

Level 6
() been snowboarding
() met someone because of facebook

SO FAR: 10

Level 7
() been in an abusive relationship
(x) taken pain killers
() love/loved someone who you can't/couldn't have
(x) laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by
(x) made a snow angel

SO FAR: 13

Level 8
(x) been to a tea party
(x) flown a kite
(x) built a sand castle
(x) gone puddle jumping
(xxxxxx) played dress up

SO FAR: 18

Level 9
(x) jumped into a pile of leaves
(x) gone sledding
(x) cheated while playing a game
(x) been lonely
(x) fallen asleep at work/school

SO FAR: 23

Level 10
() used a fake/someone else's ID
(x) watched the sunset
(x) felt an earthquake
() killed a snake

so far: 25

Level 11
(x) been tickled
(x) been robbed/vandalized
() robbed someone
(x) been misunderstood
(x) pet a deer

SO FAR: 29

Level 12
(x) won a contest (sandcastle contest!)
() been suspended from school
() had detention
() been in a car/motorcycle/4-wheeler accident

SO FAR: 30

Level 13
(x) had/have braces
() eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one day
(x) had deja vu
(x) danced in the moonlight

SO FAR: 33

Level 14
(x) hated the way you look
() witnessed a crime
() pole danced
(x) questioned your heart
() been obsessed with post-it notes

SO FAR: 35

Level 15
(x) squished barefoot through the mud
(x) been lost
() been to the opposite side of the world
(x) swam in the ocean
() felt like you were dying

SO FAR: 38

Level 16
(x) cried yourself to sleep
(x) played cops and robbers
(x) recently colored with crayons/colored pencils/markers
(x) sang karaoke
(x) paid for a meal with only coins

SO FAR: 43

Level 17
(x) done something you told yourself you wouldn't
(x) made prank phone calls
(x) laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
() kissed in the rain

SO FAR: 46

Level 18
(x) written a letter to Santa Claus
() been kissed under a mistletoe
(x) watched the sun set with someone you care/cared about
(x) blown bubbles
() made a bonfire on the beach

SO FAR: 49

Level 19
(x) crashed a party
(x) have traveled more than 5 days with a car full of people
(x) gone rollerskating/blading
(x) had a wish come true (but I only wish things that are likely to come true...)

SO FAR: 53

Level 20
(x) worn pearls
() jumped off a bridge
() screamed "penis/dick" in class
() swam with dolphins

SO FAR: 54

Level 22
() got your tongue stuck to a pole/freezer/ice cube/popsicle
() kissed a fish
(x) worn the opposite sexes clothes
(x) sat on a roof top

SO FAR: 56

Level 23
(x) screamed at the top of your lungs
() done a one-handed cartwheel
(x) talked on the phone for more than 6 hours
(x) stayed up all night

SO FAR: 59

Level 24
(x) picked and ate an apple right off the tree
(x) climbed a tree
(x) had/been in a tree house
(x) been/are scared to watch scary movies alone

SO FAR: 63

Level 25
(x) believe/believed in ghosts
() have/had more than 30 pairs of shoes throughout your life
() gone streaking

SO FAR: 64

Level 26
(x) played chicken
() been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on
(x) been told you're hot by a complete stranger
(x) been easily amused

SO FAR: 67

Level 27
(x) caught a fish
() made a porn video (unless the one with Elisabeth counts)
(x) caught a butterfly
(x) laughed so hard you cried
() cried so hard you laughed

SO FAR: 70

Level 28
(x) mooned/flashed someone (accidentally...)
(x) had someone moon/flash you
(x) cheated on a test
(x) forgotten someone's name
(x) slept naked
(x) French braided someone's hair
() gone skinny dipping in a pool/lake/ocea/river/stream/brook etc.
() been kicked out of your house

so far: 76

Level 30
(x) Rode a roller coaster
(x) went scuba-diving/snorkeling
(x) had a cavity
(x) Black-mailed someone
(x) been black mailed

SO FAR: 81

Level 31
() Been used
(x) fell going UP the stairs
() licked a cat
(x) bitten someone
(x) licked someone

TOTAL: 84

now add each total up & repost it as..
''I've done (84) out of 144 life experiences"

w00t!

can i has a internets?...

2007-11-04T15:49:17Z

I've been meaning to write a looong entry about Rennes and all that, but as I have no net access at home and I only get an hour at a time at the library, it'll have to wait...

I miss all you internet guys!
But I has no internets.

Technically, my livebox is working. But the wrong lights are flashing. I should phone the Hotline for help, but I forgot my mobile in Lyon. I should have unlimited phone, but since the livebox won't work properly, I don't. And since I need to be next to it while phoning the hotline, and since I can't really carry a public phonebox up two flights of narrow stairs, I'm not sure how to sort the dilema...
What's rather annoying is that I'm connected 24/7 to the neighbour's Neufbox but I don't have their password. The temptation! it burns.
Oh, and iTunes randomly decided to stop working and my iPod crashed last night. My watch interfrastically stops. It's Sunday and I can't go out to buy new batteries for my alarm-clock, so I'm not sure how I'll wake up tomorrow morning at 6:30...
Oh, and winter's just around the corner but I forgot both my coats in Lyon, too...

Waaah! lousy holiday!!!

secondsilencer @ 2007-07-12T14:38:00

2007-07-12T12:38:49Z

I made it into Science Po Rennes.

That is all.

OMGsqueeeee!!!!!!!

secondsilencer @ 2007-05-06T19:13:00

2007-05-06T17:14:28Z

Amazing that I went through all that trouble to regain French nationality to be ashamed of being French a few weeks later.

Crafty

2007-04-16T13:29:01Z

Boredom doesn't suit me... I've made stuff again!

So I now have an extra million pairs of earrings and little use for all of them.
Anyone interested, at all?

ETA: Blue & pink going to Sarah. Red & orange for Léa. Purple flowers for Laura. Red & russet for Silvia. Pink & white for Cam?
You guys rawk ^_^

Public post – the more answers, the better

2007-03-18T12:48:08Z

When you dream that you are trying to escape from someone, who (or what group of people) is usually running after you?

And associated to that, where are you from and what is your cultural background?

Crafts & Such

2007-01-12T20:40:14Z

I suppose you could call it a hobby...

N°1: The first one I made! (Unless you count the Lapinot one, but it looked kinda crap) Turned out surprisingly well, and I love the pink ribbon. Only it's too big for me. If anyone with a wrist of over 14 cm is interested...

N°2: The words on the wee disks are the lyrics from my favourite songs by Gainsbourg. And it fits! I really like it, too... According to the Padre, I should've included a photo of the man himself. Ach well.

N°3: The one my mum probably considers blasphemous. I don't agree... I see it more as proving that religion isn't something stuck in the Middle-Ages and fits just as well in the 21st century. Ok, there's also the fact that I wanted to provoke a reaction, but it looks ok!

N°4: Ultimate kitsch. I'm not sure any more words are needed. Dunno if the picture's very visible, but all the disks show little cherubs. Shaaame I never wear orange or yellow... I'll probably do a turquoise version of it anyway, for n°3 too.

That's all folks!

secondsilencer @ 2006-11-06T18:31:00

2006-11-06T17:31:28Z

Davie's over an hour late.
I don't want to think

Friends Only

2006-09-24T20:22:47Z

Week-end (at last)

2006-09-23T17:02:53Z

Right. It's developed.
That hadn't been planned.
Will need thinking about. Pbly should make this a friends-only LJ but there'd be no point, really.

Other than that?
Little Miss Sunshine: absolutely hilarious, brilliant film. Camera movements a bit unpleasant, some of it looked a bit messy but the rest was great. Maybe they could've done a bit more with Frank and the Dad, whatever his name was.

And silly games are dangerous. Especially when they involve throwing bottles around. Ouch.
Not that that'd stop us.

Something positive

2006-09-22T20:36:03Z

A note to Dot and Cam who might not read this. And to Laura and Tofu, perhaps.

Thank you so much girls.
What we're doing is pointless, in a sense. It won't have any consequences. It won't change things. It won't make anything better. The only people who will be "punished" by this is ourselves, really.
And yet, it's right. It's the right thing to do. It's small, but it's a start. At least we're not grumbling for a bit and carrying on like nothing happened.
I love you guys for having agreed to do this – for having volunteered to do it, actually. I love you all the more for it.
It feels pointless. Maybe even petty. But I don't know... it's something. Something menial, but so much better than nothing.

Merci de tout mon cœurs, as we say in France...
Dieu vous le rendra au centuple! (perhaps)

Dear cunts,

2006-09-21T20:03:13Z

You dementor Claire, I dementor myself.
I'm sure you're glad, you killed two birds with one stone.

You know what I'm wishing you,
Claire.

Uni

2006-09-20T19:18:47Z

I could talk about the ridiculously complex layout of the building. I could talk about the gayness of one of my lecturers (who looks like Daffyd from Little Britain). I could talk about the ridiculous course I had to take this morning. I could talk about the way no one has a clue. I could talk about the Most Boring Girl Evvar. I could talk about how I have two tutorials tomorrow in a building that doesn't exist. I could talk about the crazy weekly tests I'll get.

But no. It's not even funny anymore.

First Day

2006-09-18T21:11:34Z

Well, it was interesting, to say the least.

First thing that made my day: meeting a guy called Rodrigo. Knowing that there are people in the world and in my Constitutional Law group called like that made the sun shine brighter this morning.

I thought I'd discovered the worst kind of QCM (multiple-choice question) 4 years ago, in Secondary.
It worked on a betting system. If you were sure you were ticking the right answer, you could bet 10 points. If you got it right, you'd get 10 points, if you'd get it wrong, you got 10 points off. You could bet 1 point if you were answering randomly. It somehow worked out that if you handed your paper in without doing -anything- but voting 1 each time, you got 10/20.
I thought that was bad. But there is now different.
M. Gaillard started off explaining that our semestre exam would be a QCM. "Lucky us!" we thought, as those don't usually required much work. He then went on explaining how a QCM works.
"You will have a question and 3 possible answers. Therefore you can tick A, B or C"
"No problemo!" thought Claire, who was wondering why he was explaining anyway.
But then he carried on... "You might also have two correct answers. AB, BC, AC," as Claire blinked a little, thinking that wasn't very nice.
And it got worse: "Or you might have three correct answers. Or all answers might be wrong!"
So... in 30 minutes, you have to work through 50 questions, not knowing whether the answers given are right, wrong, partially right, partially wrong or written in Mandarin.

There has to be a way to combine both versions.

Property

2006-09-16T17:02:14Z

Instead of spending an afternoon slumped over the computer, we went to take a look at some of the family property in Siorac. Namely:
- the new house
- Parain's house
- the maize field
- the barn & veggie garden
- two tobacco barns
- the wee fountain (Fontaine de Roch)
- the Bois d'Isabelle (one half for Maman, the other half is mine)
- Bressailles

There was a time when owning land was a good thing. It gave value to your family name. It showed you belonged somewhere. Gave you roots as deep as time.
Now owning land makes you a nuisance. It could be built on -- why won't you sell? Don't be silly... you're not doing anything with it! You don't pick the chestnuts, you let visitors pick your mushrooms and walnuts. You haven't grafted the pear tree in years and have no plans of building on your plots!
The land doesn't belong to me. I belong to the land. I can't sell it, my mother can't sell it, my grand-father can't sell it. We can't sell what belongs to our ancestors and our descendants.
Live with it. Between your house and your neighbour's, there will be a patch of half-wild woodland. Not your new swimming pool. Not a house for American tourists. Get used to the idea.

More memeage

2006-09-15T16:21:25Z

If you see this, you must comment with your name, and I'll tell you something that really impresses me about you/something that I really like about you.

Why do I give in to these memes anyway?

Sarlat

2006-09-13T20:16:43Z

West wind mucking up my holiday plans.
Thoouuugh I will try and find time (read: shrug off my laziness) to go and see La Madeleine, since the touristy season is over. And visit Sarlat, too. Because I only ever went round the Cathedral at night when all those childrens' sarcophagi (plural of sarcophagus?) are totally creepy.

Also?
Claire... without you around the Internet for a while, who will I RP/talk with (about RPing, of course)? Laura-baby's never to be seen and everyone else seems to have... disappeared. Apart from rare reappearances. And then there's the whole bitching behind my back. *grin* I don't mind all that much. It's just silly to "tell on me" rather than try and kick my arse like a man. Woman. Critter. Yeah...
Reason why I want Last Marble to work. Even if it's just for a short while. Rather than going cold turkey.

Holiday Options

2006-09-11T09:09:22Z

So... still got 6 free days left with not all that much planned, apart from two things:
* Alex's 18th.
* Claire's Goodbye party

Alex's 18th... I don't suppose we'll be doing much celebrating on the day, would we? Since it's a week-day, which'd mean Léa n Cris wouldn't be able to make it. And on the Saturday, theoretically, Léa and I wouldn't be able to make it. Who's organising this already?
Then, Claire's party. I said I'd go – she made me say I'd go. But I don't want to. The people there will be her scout group and guys like Hélios and Co. (probably). Really not my kind of event. And I'm going to miss her as hell, so I'd rather not have an official "goodbye".

On the other hand, I really need to get the hell out of Lyon. Spend a few days reading in the sun in Périgord would be nice. Take the train tomorrow morning at 12, arrive in Sarlat at 8. Spend four days in the deck chair by the swimming pool or in the garden under the vine/fig tree/peach tree and visiting the town by myself for a change. Then get driven back home on Sunday. Also haven't seen the grandparents in ages and I really should. It's polite n all that. Meh...

On one hand I murder me. On the other, my friends might. Psh...

secondsilencer @ 2006-09-09T18:59:00

2006-09-09T17:02:56Z

Cyrano
Henri IV
N'eût jamais consenti, le nombre l'accablant,
A se diminuer de son panache blanc.

De Guiche
L'adresse a réussi, cependant!

Cyrano
C'est possible.
Mais on abdique pas l'honneur d'être une cible.

Edmon ROSTAND, Cyrano de Bergerac, Acte IV

PC

2006-09-08T07:58:19Z

And a round of applause for the French Communist Party, which used the rules of capitalism to fight capitalism!

Quite a brilliant move – they can't stop the Parliament from voting a privatisation of French gas (GDF), so they'll do their very best to slow it down until the presidentials or at least oblige the Right wing to follow the article 49-3.
And how do they do it?
Well, it starts off with the Socialist Party handing to the President of the Assembly (Parlement) a total of 40 000 amendments, just before the Communist Party itself gives ovre 90 000. And since each of them needs to be examined individually...

Vu sur les Guignols de l'Info:

– Présentateur parlant à François Hollande entouré d'une montagne de feuillets: Et donc là, vous avez les 90 000 amendements, je suppose.
– François Hollande, l'air confus: Ah non non. Là, j'ai la liste des 90 000 candidats socialistes à l'investiture.

Smokies

2006-09-05T14:51:18Z

Everything has become so... sanitized.
Everything has to be clean. Healthy. Safe.

Kids come up to you in Archaeolink and point at the fire asking "Is that real fire?" and then are really shocked and surprise when I inform them that Of course it is. Have they never seen fire? Are they used to those fake fires made of red-ish cloth? Or have their parents taught them to fear fire?
It's ridiculous... teach your child to light a match, a candle, a fire. Show them that yes, it does burn. Yes, it can cause a lot of harm. And then teach them to domesticate it, to use it. Don't just create a world where danger is hidden.

In the same way – what about those kids who decided to take a swim near the polar bears in the Neew York zoo?
The press pointed out that they were young immigrant children, from poor families. They blamed a lack of education. But isn't it too much "education" that caused them to see polar bears as fluffy animals that want nothing more than to sit down with children and tell them stories? Why not show animals for what they are? Potentially dangerous, yes. But still beautiful and/or useful. Maybe kids should watch more of those animal documentaries and less debilitating educational programmes where Ali the Aligator teaches you to count to ten.

And then again, what about the Smoke Free Films movement? They cause a scandal each time a character is seen to smoke in a film (eg. the scandal when Superman (I think) collided into a Marlboro van). But then... over 20% of the American population smokes. It's a reality. And apart from experimental films, most of the production tries to reflect reality. People smoke. Yet you don't blow them apart when they do. So let them smoke in films. And if you're desperate, just stop your kids from watching them.
What would Gainsbourg do today? Him and his trademark cigarettes. Who sung
Dieu est un fumeur de havanes
C'est lui-même qui m'a dit
Que la fumée envoie au paradis
Je le sais ma chérie

God is a smoker of havanes (cigarette brand)
He told me himself
That smoke sends you to heaven
I know so, darling.

He'd probably be sentenced to death for incitation to mass-murder, I'd say.

CLES

2006-09-04T19:10:28Z

Obviously, 300 people going through the same test on Lyon-II's computers will slow down the process. So much that a test I could've done in 30 minutes took over two hours. And I'm not sure my answers got saved, since the thing blocked as I tried to "save". So I called the techie, who said "no problem" and quit everything. I have no idea if it worked.

And even if it did, I'm not sure they'll be happy with the answers I gave.
One of the exercises: Find the words that do not have their place in this list (ok, translated from Spanish).
* students
* lessons
* quick
* quality
* title
* train
* confident
I went for "adjectives". Dunno...
Then the next exercise was "find the title of this list in the list". So I highlighted the word "title" but I'm not sure they'll appreciate the joke. Since the right answer was probably "University" or somesuch. Meh...

PS – Dear Steelsings, you suck.
Get over yourself.
No love from Claire.