The Bold Soul: A Writer's Life in Paris

... and sometimes the answer is "Yes"

Every minute of every day, people around the world pray -- in different ways -- for what they want. Sometimes what we pray for is something small and simple, like: Please don't let it rain on Saturday for our family barbecue. Please let me get an A on my biology exam. Please let me get through this meeting without wanting to leap across the conference room table and throttle my idiot of a boss. Sometimes, we try to "bargain" with our prayers: God, if you give me this one thing, I promise I'll never ask for another thing as long as I live. If you let me win the lottery, I promise to give half the money to charity... but not to my deadbeat brother who never worked a day in his life. On occasion, if we're mad at someone who has hurt us, we might even pray for retribution, or at least for justice. When we pray in anger, these probably aren't our most spiritual moments, but we're only human. I hope that s.o.b. is unhappy with his new bimbo and I hope she makes him miserable. Please, God, make her pay for what she did to me. Other... Read more →

Violette

Limbo contest

Today, boys and girls, we're going to have a vocabulary lesson. The word for the day is "Limbo": (a) the abode of unbaptized but innocent souls [from Catholicism]; (b) a region or condition of oblivion or neglect; (c) a state or place of confinement; (d) an intermediate place or state; (e) a West Indian dance in which the dancers keep bending over backwards and passing under a pole that is slightly lowered each time. [American Heritage Dictionary, 4th edition] Now... which of these definitions do you think most apply to me and my situation of STILL waiting for that ghostwriting client to make up his mind? It was exactly 4 weeks ago today that I posted about this after having met with the client on March 1 to discuss the possibility of me ghostwriting his book. Since then, I have still not heard a firm "yes" or "no" out of this client ("firm" meaning a signed contract and substantial deposit). In fairness, it seems his mother was taken ill early in the month and he had to be out of town to be with her. This took up about two weeks of the past four, maybe longer. Then he was... Read more →

Do you hear the people sing?

The French love their right to protest, and once the momentum starts, it's pretty hard to stop it. So hold on to your berets... it seems France is in for a national strike tomorrow, March 28th, due to the protests against the CPE labor law. If you are in or traveling to France, Rue Rude posted some excellent practical information about the impact of the strike on transportation that you will need to know. While yesterday, looking at the postcard-perfect sunset over Paris, I was wishing I were there... I think I will be very glad I'm not there tomorrow. To those of you in France right now, I hope the grève is not too much of an inconvenience in your lives and that they resolve this CPE business soon. -------------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATE 03/28/06 11:50am EST: Fox News has been showing almost continuous live coverage of the goings-on at the Place de la République today (their video feed is from several hours ago before things really got started). It looks less like an organized protest and more like an escalating riot. The problem is that I know there are other protests going on around the country, but we're not getting any... Read more →

Wish I were here...

Today's sunset in Paris. Courtesy of Wannadoo's live webcam. Oh, to be there in person... Read more →

Just click your heels three times...

I'm back from Oz, folks... or shall I say, back from enjoying my beautiful niece Beth in her final weekend performances as Dorothy in the "Wizard of Oz". Here are few of my favorite scenes: If you'd like to spend a few more minutes in Oz, here are the rest of the photos. Read more →

Wily Coyote does the Big Apple

On a light note, and under the heading of "just when you thought you've heard it all": A wild coyote has been seen roaming around Central Park in New York City! He was finally captured this morning, safe and apparently healthy, and will be moved to a wildlife rehab center in Upstate New York (a spa for animals who are stressed out by city living?) The coyote was not, as you might think, an escapee from the Central Park Zoo or even the Bronx Zoo, which then begs the question: how the hell did he get into Manhattan? It's an island, after all, and the only ways in or out are by concrete highways, bridges and tunnels. How did he managed to get all the way into Central Park without being flattened by a city bus? Was this a coyote who was bored with life on the range out in Wyoming or New Mexico, and got a hankerin' for some big city lights? Did he hitch a ride on a pickup truck, or stow away in the luggage rack of a Greyhound bus? Float into the city across the Hudson River by way of an Acme Rubber Raft? I wonder... Read more →

My French Oasis

Because I am getting over still in the midst off a sinus infection that makes me want to sleep 15 hours a day and every time I cough the front of my head threatens to explode, I decided to skip my French lesson today. The antibiotics haven't entirely kicked in yet, so I figure by tomorrow I'll feel a bit more human. I hate missing my weekly French class, in part because I've already paid for it, but mainly because it is like my 90-minute "island" of total French-ness in a life that has the other 166.5 hours per week filled with my usual American routine of work-work-work. I have to drive 45-50 minutes to get to the class. Then for a hour and a half I struggle to comprehend what others are saying and struggle to find the right words to express my own thoughts. Then 5-10 minutes of après-classe chat with my fellow students as we make our way out to our cars. Then 45-50 minutes to drive home, unless I stop for lunch on the way home. With driving and class time, it takes up my entire Wednesday morning. It's like a little French oasis smack-dab in... Read more →

Haiku de la rhûme

Springtime is here now. My springtime cold is here, too. Nose runs like tree sap. Lisa Taylor Huff Read more →

Vive le printemps!

Spring by Alphonse Marie Mucha Read more →