December 2001 archive
(127 entries)
December 31, 2001
Robin says it's a tradition...
Robin says it's a tradition to wear new yellow underwear on New Year's Eve for good luck. So she bought me some while she was out shopping today. How sweet! Are you all set with your yellow underwear?
Have a safe and happy New Year celebration if you haven't yet.
srah | 8:02 AM | TrackBack | Tags: holidays, luck, new year, tradition, underwear |
December 30, 2001
Okay, so it's the last...
Okay, so it's the last-blog-of-the-session so I have to come up with something fun for all of you Thundering Hordes of Readers who have been sent here by Blogger (why hasn't that been fixed yet? I'm not complaining, but I'm surprised...).
So... um. Alfie and I just spent hours deciding who we would kill. Have a crack at it.
I am listening to Texas' "Guitar Song". Mmmmmm. Texas sampling from Gainsbourg - does it get any better than that? If you don't know Serge Gainsbourg, you ought to.
Leave us a blah blah, will you, duckies, and tell us something interesting. What are you doing for the New Year? Are you making resolutions? What's your favorite flavour of ice cream? Do you like John Hannah? Where are you from? Do you just want to say hi and leave your website URL in the blah blahs?
<-- I made that ad in MS Paint. Yeah, I have mad technical skills. Don't laugh.
It's a little late...
It's a little late for this announcement, but for my money, this is the best Christmas movie of them all. Especially the singing vegetables.
srah | 6:45 PM | TrackBack | Tags: movies, muppet christmas carol, muppets |
If I were a Dead Russian Composer
 | If I were a Dead Russian Composer, I would be Igor Stravinsky. Known as a true son of the new 20th Century, my music started out melodic and folky but slowly got more dissonant and bizzare as I aged. I am a traveler and a neat freak, and very much hated those rotten eggs thrown at me after the premiere of "The Rite of Spring." Who would you be? Dead Russian Composer Personality Test |
I've spent the last two days...
I've spent the last two days trying to convince my dad and Alex that it's better to be a girl than a boy because girls have a much more interesting selection of socks available to them. I don't think they're convinced.
Not that I am planning...
Not that I am planning anything like that. Don't be frightened, Roommate. Or Alex, for that matter.
December 29, 2001
If Boyfriend and I ever got married
If Boyfriend and I ever got married, I would be Sarah Rivera. Ack.
December 28, 2001
What song was playing when
What song was playing when I woke up this morning? Brazil. How odd... am I really awake yet?
Off I go to bed
Off I go to bed (it's about time!) When you're finished here, why not check out one of my Blogs of Note?
Boa noite. <-- I am becoming a regular Portuguese expert! Or not!
srah | 4:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Tags: |
The Friday Five
1. What was your biggest accomplishment this year?
Becoming mentally stable enough (quiet in the peanut gallery) and comfortable enough with myself to handle having a boyfriend, the creation of the International Student Union, second semester in France, 4.0 GPA for this past semester... boy, am I accomplished.
2. What was your biggest disappointment?
Erm... boy, seems like I'm pretty positive for once. Gradually losing my French?
3. Will you be making any New Year's resolutions?
I'm going to try to be a better person. I think I was a good person when I was a freshman in college - that was probably the epitome of my goodness. I'd like to go back to that and think of others, be nicer to people, be understanding, and go out of my way for people. I'm sure it won't last. :(
4. Where do you wish you were celebrating?
Erm, here is good. If I could somehow manage to be with everyone I love, all over the world, then that would be sweeeeeet.
5. What do you plan to do for New Year's Eve?
I'll be celebrating with El Patito and family, rather than vegging on the couch with my family as in past years. Whatever - either is good.
srah | 3:57 AM | TrackBack | Tags: friday five, memes |
This is amusing
This is amusing - can you tell when the Recently Updated Blogs thing stopped being updated?
Robert Bullen blows...
Robert Bullen blows.
(I just made the announcement for the sake of saying that... but you might as well go to Roommate's concert while you're at it.)
Blogger's really having issues these
Blogger's really having issues these days. Once again, I'm typing my posts up in Notepad so I can post them all later, when the system's back up again.
(note: Obviously it's back up now that I'm posting...)
It makes me happy...
It makes me happy to be reading someone's blog and discover my own BlogSnob ad there.
I heard a commercial on the radio...
I heard a commercial on the radio where a choir of men are singing about how they like Arbor Mist brand wine better than monster trucks. Maybe I'm being a snob, but I don't think I want to drink the kind of wine that appeals to monster truck fans. Eek.
srah | 3:26 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Tags: |
December 27, 2001
I got pajama pants
I got pajama pants for Christmas and I have the week off work. What could be better than lazing around the house all day long in my nice, warm new pajamas? Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Maybe tonight I will finally
Maybe tonight I will finally get around to reading some more of The Fellowship of the Ring and see what happens after Tom Bombadil... though I feel more like just skipping on to The Two Towers to see how Pippin and Merry turn out...
"It comes in pints?!"
- Pippin
srah | 12:46 AM | TrackBack | Tags: lord of the rings |
I've added a Blog of Note
I've added a Blog of Note: my old friend Annica. I haven't kept in touch with her in a while, but I visited her site and noticed she had a blog, so there it goes. I've put the title down as Skittles?, but in the page source, the title is:
But the only thing that scares me is Keyser Soze.
Hee hee, An and her Usual Suspects. Here is a handy phrase from the phrasebook just for you, An: Jag talar inte svenska.
srah | 12:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Tags: |
Went to see FOTR again
Went to see FOTR again, this time with my family. I cried when Sam came along with Frodo again. It seemed a lot scarier this time, because instead of having Mr Lord Of The Rings Expert with me, who knew the story and was just wondering how they'd express it, I had a four-year-old (who should not have been there) in front of me and my mother next to me, screaming and clutching my arm in terror when hobbits popped out of the corn fields.
I was very impressed with the four-year-old. He held out for a long time. Before the movie started, I thought 'I'm not sure this is a good movie for such a young child'. And as the movie went on and there were scary demons and Orcs and whatever those Orc-goblin hybrids were called, I was sure of it. And I was scared enough for him. He did end up asking his dad to leave, but he held out through at least half of the movie. Brave little boy.
srah | 12:14 AM | TrackBack | Tags: lord of the rings, lord of the rings: the fellowship of the ring, movies |
It's not so much the cookie
It's not so much the cookie I'm interested in, so much as the wonderful array of awful celebrity photos.
srah | 12:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Tags: |
Darned Blogger is down
Darned Blogger is down, so I'm typing all of this into Word while waiting. La la la.
I went to church on Christmas Eve
I went to church on Christmas Eve and people didn't seem to like it when things about the service made me burst out in giggles. Sometimes I wish I could be more like my father, who doesn't take part in the whole religion nonsense, but isn't bitter or rebellious about it, either. I tend to feel like it's me against them, while he has a more healthy attitude of 'Yes, I get dragged here every week, but I'm not going to participate, so I'll find something useful and fun to do and take care of the babies in the nursery.'
The minister was talking about those stupid God billboards, and in particular the one where He says something about "Is the road you're on leading to me?" The minister said most people would think it meant "Are you going to church?" but she interpreted it as being about one's lifepath. Well duh. It reminded me of Bob's story about D. Lorien beginning her monologue by saying that "Unlike most people, I love my mother," which made everyone in the audience look at each other and think 'I love my mother...'
I got many lovely presents...
I got many lovely presents, including The Sims Hot Date, which will ensure that I never have to venture into the real world again, and a European phrase book, which will enable me to say děkuji, tak, dank u wel, kiitos, merci, danke, ευχαριστώ, Köszönöm, grazie, takk, dziękuję, obrigada, gracias and tack instead of "thank you".
srah | 12:05 AM | TrackBack | Tags: christmas, holidays, language, the sims |
December 26, 2001
I have psychic powers...
I have psychic powers. Or half a psychic power. As I demanded, I got snow just in time for xmas, but the part about it all disappearing by the 26th fell through.
December 23, 2001
I'm very upset...
I'm very upset because I went to Big Ten party store yesterday to buy some alcohol for someone for xmas and I didn't get carded. Me! This is upsetting to me because:
(a) A young-looking person was able to buy alcohol and not get carded and
(b) Said young-looking person was me.
I was quite looking forward to being carded for the first time. I think it's scary that someone as young-looking as me was able to buy alcohol. Just to prove that I wasn't having an old-looking day, I asked the waitress (Ginger) at Applebee's how old she thought I was and she said 16.
srah | 12:42 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Tags: alcohol, srah |
December 21, 2001
Four Things
Four things you'd eat on the last day of your life:
death by chocolate
creme brulee
chicken soup
Andy Smerczak's pierogis (sounds dirty)
Four names for an adorable new puppy:
Daisy
Fuzzhead
Kitty
Goldfish (I like to give animals identity crises. I am cruel)
Your four least favorite CDs from your collection:
The Brady Bunch Movie soundtrack
Ophelie Winter "Je marche à l'envers" single
CD player lens cleaning disc
No Lies <-- free Christian music CD
Four movies that made you think:
Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain
Pandaemonium
The Sixth Sense
Sliding Doors
Four celebrities you would have sex with:
John Hannah
Kevin Kline
Edward Windsor
Sir Ian McKellen if he didn't run away too fast <-- Boyfriend's suggestion
Four shades of blue:
navy blue
midnight blue
sky blue
aqua
Four causes to which you'd donate money if you won the lottery:
Oxfam
me
PBS
UMGASS
Four vacations you have taken:
South Carolina
Louisiana
Toronto
Limoges/Carcassonne/Nimes
Four songs that frequently get stuck in your head:
Butterfly - Crazy Town
If I Only Had a Brain - The Wizard of Oz
Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm
Theme from The Smurfs
Four things you'd like to learn:
Spanish
Bulgarian
Arabic
How To Win Friends and Influence People <-- not really, but I really should have a goal other than learning languages...
Four beverages you drink frequently:
tea
chocolate milk
water
lemonade
Four TV shows that were on when you were a kid:
Alf
Alf
Alf
Polka Dot Door
Four places to go in your city:
The Arb(oretum)
Art Fair
Hash Bash
Michigan Theatre
Four things to do with a rubber band:
tie your hair back
shoot it at Brian
put it in the box of rubber bands in the ultra-clean supply closet
keep a poster from unrolling
(via Formica)
OH MY GOD, that dessert
OH MY GOD, that dessert was lovely. Hhhhhhhhhhhhh... <-- shudders of joy
It had quite a layer of Kahlua in it, though. I think little Srah-can't-hold-her-liquor has gotten a little goofy from the stuff that the brownies were soaked in. Shall I ansher the phone like thish?
Maybe I'm just naturally goofy. It's so hard to tell with me. It would be really sad and pathetic if that was enough to get me tipsy.
Weekends are slow
Weekends are slow blogging periods while I'm in Ann Arbor. And I'll be home with the slow connection all week. So ration yourselves, folks. Read only a couple hundred of today's posts today and save the rest for the long, slow break. :)
The Detroit Free Press gave
The Detroit Free Press gave Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius three stars.
Pardon me, that gagging noise would be me, choking on my index finger. I've had to put up with those stupid previews for months now. The LEAST awaited movie of the year.
"I may not be smart... but I've got a BIG HEAD!"
The French and Spanish words for peanut
The French and Spanish words for peanut are both "cacahuete" but pronounced differently. In Cuba, they also say "mani", which comes from Arabic. Stephanie says that in Spanish, the sounds "al" (as in Alvarez) and "guad" (as in Guadalajara) originally come from Arabic, too. Historically, it makes sense that Arabic would have affected Spanish, but it never would have occurred to me.
I love words.
srah | 1:54 PM | TrackBack | Tags: arabic, french, language, spanish |
The Friday Five
1. What is the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?
Goat cheese is weird-tasting but not that exotic. I've had snails, rabbit, and ostrich. Not too exciting. And I like it that way.
2. Name one (material) thing you can't live without.
Computer!
3. Name something you've always wanted to do but didn't have time for.
Learn five or six languages.
4. What outrageous thing do you wish you had the nerve to do?
Go to a country where I don't speak the language and try to learn it there. And somehow find a job that doesn't require language skills. :)
5. How do you plan to spend your weekend?
Shopping, but I'd rather be doing something fun.
srah | 12:11 PM | TrackBack | Tags: friday five, memes |
So, there's this American
So, there's this American chap fighting with the Taliban and I know you'll think I'm insane to be having this thought, but - so what?
I don't know if I like the thought that he's going to be punished more severely than other people fighting for the Taliban, just because of an accident of birth. It's not his fault he was born in America.
I don't want to defend any naughty things he did with his Taliban buddies, but I don't think I like the fact that he's being singled out. I think they should be punished, but equally.
Maybe I just don't love my country enough to believe in "treason". I don't love political entities, sorry.
srah | 11:43 AM | TrackBack | Tags: united states |
RIP
RIP The poet and statesman died yesterday at the age of 95. We read some of his poetry in my Francophone Literature class in Grenoble but I know him best as the first president of Senegal and one of the founders of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, which is a political body linking the French-speaking countries of the world.
Please take a minute to learn about his life.
srah | 11:19 AM | TrackBack | Tags: discovered |
A caller to the library
A caller to the library just told me I was wonderful for helping him. Warm glowy feeling.
Much better than the guy who talked to me like I had the intellect of a seven year old just because I was answering the phone...
Mick McCabe has a solution
Mick McCabe has a solution to the high school sports inequity problem: disadvantage everybody. Hee hee hee.
srah | 11:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Tags: discovered |
Oh dear, they're making Shrek 2
Oh dear, they're making Shrek 2. Shrek was amusing enough, but once was enough and I saw it twice so I'd rather not see it again for several years ifyoudon'tmind. But I have a feeling it's one of those movies that I didn't like but that were popular enough that people will want to watch it all the time and I will get trapped seeing it seventeen thousand times until I get to the point where someone pulls out the video and I leap at their throats, teeth bared, and maul them like a wolverine. Other movies like this: Grease, Dirty Dancing, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
(Hint: srah does not want Shrek for Christmas.)
srah | 10:45 AM | TrackBack | Tags: movies, shrek, shrek 2 |
Do you think the people in Shrek looked realistic?
Do you think the people in Shrek looked realistic? I don't. They looked fake and they didn't move like real people do. We don't have the technology yet. Will someone please tell Hollywood? There was only one point in The Fellowship of the Ring (and now I don't remember where it was) where I had that creepy Shrek-feeling, but I noticed it a lot more in Harry Potter - like when Neville flies into the air and falls off his broom, most of the Quidditch sequence, and when they're fighting the troll. We do not have the technology to replace stunt-people with CGI-animated people. It looks stupid and cartoonish. So stop it! Even if you're fighting a CGI troll, there are ways around it. You can cover up a stand-in troll with the CGI and put a real stuntperson on top. It can be done! That's how they had to do it back in the old days!
This made me think of this.
srah | 10:40 AM | TrackBack | Tags: cgi, harry potter, harry potter and the sorcerer's stone, movies |
I prefer the pronunciation "AR-ka-vul"
I prefer the pronunciation "AR-ka-vul" (I wish I had a schwa! Oh phonemic transcription, tu me manques!) to "ar-KY-vul". And "AR-ka-vist" to "ar-KY-vist".
Here at the library...
Here at the library, we have Tea every Tuesday and Friday - we all take our afternoon break together (except one rotating person to sit on the reference desk) and take turns bringing in treats.
Anyway, today is Mommy's turn (I should be calling my co-worker Marilyn, shouldn't I? I usually call her "hey you" at work) for Tea and she brought something Amy suggested. You take a big bowl and cover the bottom with brownies, then pour Kahlua over it (since 26 August, the Bentley staff is of legal drinking age. Ha ha), then a layer of whipped cream, a layer of chocolate mousse, and a layer of crushed Heath bars. (Lather, rinse) repeat till bowl is full. Mllllllaaaaaaaaargh and drool.
I wish I had a digital camera.
srah | 10:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Tags: food, work |
Sometimes when you publish
Sometimes when you publish to Blogger, it doesn't take and you have to give it another try. Two of my Blogs of Note are in this limbo. Gneargh.
Nothing to read. Answering phones.
Boyfriend was offended
Boyfriend was offended by previous complaining Golden Globes post. It was not to say that there have been no good movies, but that there isn't much competition for his beloved Fellowship of the Ring. The year in movies has been top-light and very very bottom-heavy.
srah | 10:00 AM | TrackBack | Tags: golden globes, movies |
Twice today
Twice today (see timestamp - I've been here since about 8:30) I've hit the wrong button on the phone and disconnected the person I was trying to connect to, rather than transferring a call to them. ARGH!
I took
I took Emode's Ultimate IQ Test and I am a "Precision Processor":
Like Pythagoras, you've got a very experiential way of learning and a strong mathematical mind.
Yeaaaaaaah. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Mathematical.
(via dangerkitty)
srah | 9:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Tags: quizzes |
December 20, 2001
What a sad sad slow year
What a sad sad slow year this has been for movies. Echhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I hope Amélie gets nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.
srah | 3:39 PM | TrackBack | Tags: academy awards, academy awards 2002, le fabuleux destin d'amelie poulain, movies |
SEVEN researchers and an ever-ringing phone
SEVEN researchers and an ever-ringing phone! (La sonnerie du téléphone est sempiternel, to use my French word-of-the-day...) Why do they torment me so?
srah | 11:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Tags: french, work |
My transcript counts
My transcript counts 4 passed hours, so I think I will start breathing again.
If I did indeed pass Women in Art, this has been my best semester at Albion. I rule.
Finally got through
Finally got through to ACIS.
I got 0.0 quality points for Women in Art. Does that mean I failed? Or is it just because I took it credit/no-credit that it doesn't show up like my other classes? Notgoodnotgoodnotgood. AAAAAAAAAAAAH! I don't want to have to take another gender class!
Why did I study abroad?
French has long been my favorite subject at school. When I was 15, my French teacher took interested students on a trip to France and my parents thought that broadening my horizons was important enough that they helped me pay for it. We had a short family stay, then toured around the country in a bus for two weeks. When I was a senior in high school, I decided that I enjoyed French enough that would major in it in college.
So I asked my French teacher how to look for a college with a good French program. The big answer that I got was that they were all pretty similar in terms of classroom-learning, but the best way to learn French would be by going there. So my main concern in choosing a college was Do they have a study abroad program? Most do, but some are more encouraging than others. Albion seemed to have a good, established one, with their own program in France. And I liked Albion. So there I went.
My freshman year, we went on a 10-day trip to France with my first-year seminar, which only made me want to study abroad more.
Why France?
The obvious answer would be "I’m a French major, duh...." But there are a wealth of French-speaking countries in the world, ya know. Well, Albion didn’t have any programs there. (Not true: they have one in Sénégal, but I think I didn't know about it). I picked France because they speak French there, Albion had programs there, and because I liked it when I visited in ‘96. They don’t push the Sénégal program as much as they should. I had actually thought about doing only a semester in France and another semester in England or Scotland, since I was more interested in the UK than France. Silly girl.
Why Grenoble?
I don't like Paris, which was my only other option in France. I don't dislike Paris, but I’m not a big-city kind of gal and besides - it's expensive. Albion's Paris program is for internships, too, and I wanted a more academic atmosphere. I'd come to Grenoble with the freshman seminar and didn't think much of it, but I figured I'd survive. I think I must not have been looking up, because there are hellalovely mountains around.
Why did I stay with a host family?
Albion made me. That's the only reason. I'd had negative to mediocre host-family experiences in the past and was scared about doing it again. But I'm incredibly glad Albion made me, because I made some great friends by doing so, and they really do feel like a second family. Also, living with a host family is excellent when you're in a foreign language atmosphere because you pick up on the language a lot better. At the CUEF, you're with students from all over the world - except France. So this was my opportunity to meet French people and hear French as it's normally spoken.
Why for a whole year?
Once again, that would be Isabelle's (my teacher from high school) influence. She said that doing a semester almost wasn't worth it and that I would regret it if I didn't go for the full year. Which I’m sure I would have. Most of the friends I've talked to who only did a semester regretted not staying. Grenoble was cheaper than Albion tuition, so I was actually making money with my generous lunch money and reimbursements. So cost wasn't really an issue. And since I have only one major and had only one requirement left to fill (damn you, Gender credit!), there was nothing to hold me back academically. It's one of the last experiences like this one could have - after graduation, you have to organize your own trips and could never actually live temporarily and study in another culture. The only thing that might have held me back is that it's sort of depressing to be away when you friends graduate (or get married). And it's a bit of a downer when all of your friends are off-campus, gallivanting around the world and sending you postcards first semester, but then second semester, they're all back together and having adventures without you. But what kind of adventures were they having? Were they anything like being hit on by Americans who think you’re French? Staying in a hostel inside the walls of the medieval city of Carcassonne? Setting up an Easter egg hunt on the grounds of a converted abbey? No, they were trudging to Baldwin in the snowy Michigan February while I was at the Pont du Gard with my sleeves rolled up. Ha ha!
What did I get out of it?
I am not the same person who left the United States a year and a half ago. Being in a foreign culture with not a lot to do, I was very introspective. Which I've always been. But for some reason, it worked. I definitely came out of my shell, which I think comes from thinking in France, 'Why the hell couldn’t I order pizza myself? At least the pizza man speaks English. Stop being such a wimp.' I became more comfortable with the language and the people, and came to love France more than I'd previously loved the UK. I made friends - both in my host family and in my classes. I had a lot of amazing experiences I never would have had here. I decided I didn't want to be a librarian - I still don't know what I did want to do - but that isn't that. I became more comfortable and confident of myself.
It all sounds clichéd but it really did change me, and if you have the opportunity, you should do it.
srah | 10:26 AM | TrackBack | Tags: france, french, grenoble, host family, my favorite posts, study abroad |
Okie dokie
Okie dokie. Researchers aren't doing anything pesky like coming in to the library so I'm guarding the phones and the empty research room.
Krista wanted to know why I went to France for a year rather than a semester.
Well let's see now. That is a two part question, the first part being Why did I go off-campus at all? Or perhaps three, with Why France? So yarrrr, free hour, let's dig in.
I still haven't done my off-campus program evaluation. Maybe I should just hand this in.
srah | 9:36 AM | TrackBack | Tags: france, study abroad |
I am a CSS style god!
I am a CSS style god! I can modify my BlogSnob ad without messing up everything on the page!
In French Kiss, Charlie tells Kate that he's met a "godesse" - "It's French, Kate, for goddess." Which seems obvious. But the French word I know for goddess is "déesse". Unless there are two words (which I haven't gotten around to looking up), that's wrong and makes me sad because there's so much lovely accurate stuff in the movie.
Kevin Kline should be worshipped as a god. But not a godesse. :)
srah | 9:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Tags: french |
Someone has
Someone has rearranged the letters that fell off the name-plate thing on the outside of Diane's office to spell "mad and looming tales". That would make a good tagline for a blog.
I made cookies
I made cookies last night with Robin and Harini. Harini is a skilled cookie artist - I just slap frosting on and move on to the next one. I suppose someone's just going to eat them so I shouldn't worry about art, but... whatever. I don't know what my point was. I don't even like frosting.
Harini hasn't been sleeping or eating because her parents found out her older sister had had a non-Indian boyfriend, freaked out, and jumped on a plane a few days later to take her to India, husband-hunting. Somehow I find Viji finding a husband in India even less likely than Harini doing so, but I guess I don't know her as well. Parents can be dumb.
srah | 8:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Tags: friends |
I cried and cried
I cried and cried during Fellowship of the Ring last night. This may have had something to do with my post office experiences and my lack of sleep, but anyway... It was very good and very epic. I was going to say "I especially liked..." but I especially liked everyone.
A post about my study-abroad experiences will come during today's staff meeting, Krista. It seems like all they do around here anymore is have staff meetings.
srah | 8:47 AM | TrackBack | Tags: lord of the rings, lord of the rings: the fellowship of the ring, movies, work |
December 19, 2001
I'm somnambulating through the work
I'm somnambulating through the work day. I need some sleep, but it shan't be tonight, as I'm baking cookies with Robin after work, then Boyfriend and I are going to see Frodo & Pals in the evening.
People say that the French are rude...
People say that the French are rude, but in the French post office, they were nothing but helpful and nice. In the United States, on the other hand...
I went to the post office to mail Denis and Sophie's presents to France. In order to save time, I used one of the Bentley's Priority Mail boxes, which Bill very nicely let me have for free. I was going to send it Priority Mail anyway, so that was handy. Then when Amy, my mom and I went out to lunch, I popped over to the post office while they were waiting for the table to be ready.
The post office was surprisingly empty. I figure now that everyone must have known about Ugly Suspenders Man and gone to another branch, but I didn't. I got in line, then I was called and I walked up to the counter.
I put my box down on the counter and said "I'd like to send this to France." The clerk, who will now be known as Ugly Suspenders Man (because he was ugly and had suspenders, not because his suspenders were ugly) looked at the box and looked at me. He said nothing, but stared at me as if to say "Why do you exist?" After a while I got sick of being stared at and said, "Can I send this like this?"
"No," he replied quite simply.
"Is it the box?" I asked.
"It says here [once, very small where the postage is supposed to go - I hadn't seen it but that's no excuse for him to be rude] that this is for the United States and U.S. possessions. Last time I checked, France didn't fit that."
Isn't that a rude and nasty way of putting it? Maybe it's just me. He suggested that I come back and try again later, as in "Leave my post office and come back when I'm not working." I asked if it would be possible to send it if I changed the box, and did they have any boxes I could use? Could he possibly suggest one, or be in some way helpful?" USM replied that there was "one of those left over there, but you'll have to pay for it and you'll have to repack it and go to the end of the line." I loved how he added the end of the line bit, as though I were going to push up to the front of the line just to see him again sooner.
The worst part of it is that I felt like he was abusing me just because I look young... and that made me want to go crying to my mommy.
December 18, 2001
On a happier note...
On a happier note, someone brought pistachios to the library today. They were big and very yummy. If they're small, it's hardly worth all the trouble to get them out of the shell.
Are pistachios nuts? Or are they legumes, like peanuts are?
This is just stupid
This is just stupid: Ruling on girls sports gets mixed reactions. Our schedules are different from most of the country, but it's