The Bold Soul: A Writer's Life in Paris

Pushing the PAN(dem)IC Button?

Warning: This is not a happy post today. I just want you to be prepared. I am starting to wonder -- in the dim recesses of my quiet mind -- if the Universe is against me EVER moving to Paris. Up until now, I have been stubbornly committed to my desire to move to Paris, come hell or high water, despite the fact that it doesn't seem to be happening as fast as I would like and despite dire warnings from family members about terrorism, French rioting, and any number of other objections they have raised at the very idea of me choosing to live so far away in a non-English-speaking country. If I had the financial reserves in place, I'd BE there already, and money is truly my only real obstacle to immediate relocation. So I'm constantly working and trying to make more money and save more money and I'm basically doing all the right things. Yet I can't help but wonder why this is such a struggle when all I really want to do is make this one big dream in my life a reality. No one else is being hurt by it. It will be challenging but... Read more →

Heatwave Haiku

Sun unrelenting Too early in the season; Wishing for some rain. Read more →

"Delayed gratification" is not in our vocabulary

Americans are quite possibly the most impatient people on the planet. The Associated Press did some kind of a poll that found that Americans can't wait even 5 minutes for what they want. When we're forced to wait, we get "antsy", the poll states. Yeah, now tell me something I don't already know! Not only do we, as a culture, want everything supersized and larger than life, we want it, like, YESTERDAY. The concept of "delayed gratification" is completely lost on the average American these days. I've always known that I personally have issues with delayed gratification. One reason I don't eat as healthily as I should is that I don't like cooking for myself -- it takes too long, and I want to be able to just eat when I'm hungry and not have to "waste time" food shopping or planning or preparing meals. If there is healthy food available to me, I will always choose it -- for instance when I went to a Club Med some years ago, the food was all buffet style and totally fresh and delicious; I had no trouble making healthy food choices while on that vacation and came home 5 pounds THINNER.... Read more →

I'll have a Bud Light!

It just screams "America", doesn't it? Photo Credit: Lisa Taylor Huff. ©1995 All rights reserved. May not be copied or downloaded. Ever. Or I will find you and hurt you. Backstory: I took this in 1995. It was one of those "in the right place at the right time" days... I was enrolled in a B&W photography class and was out shooting a few roles of film at Liberty State Park (we only get Lady Liberty's backside here in Jersey). Suddenly, the Bud Blimp put in a surprise appearance (I think it had been over in Flushing Meadows at the U.S. Open Tennis matches), flying all around the statue and providing me with THE collest photo I've ever taken, to date. If anyone has any high-ranking contacts over at Anheuser-Busch, give 'em my name and tell 'em to call me. I'd be happy to consider selling them the rights to this image... for a substantial fee of course. (At least enough to cover some of my moving-to-Paris expenses, perhaps?) Happy Memorial Day, America! Let the summer fun begin! Read more →

Summer of Giving

I've been hearing in the news this week about the predictions for this year's hurricane season... and the predictions for how global warming is going to continue to make the storms we DO get more severe. It's hard to imagine something more severe than what happened during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year, on top of the other hurricanes we got the year before that many in Florida and Alabama were still reeling from. If it's true that things could get worse over the coming years, I think it's fair to say the goverment resources are going to really be strapped to try and help people rebuild. Which means that more of us who CAN do so, will need to be willing to give whatever we can give out of our own pockets to help our fellow human beings in need. After last year's disaster, like many people I donated something to the Red Cross, and at the holidays instead of sending my clients some "Thanks for your business" gifts and cards, I put that money into a lump-sum donation to Oprah's Angel Network's Katrina Gift Registry (which I thought was just the coolest idea!) That was all fine and... Read more →

Beside myself with anger

This is so unbelievably offensive I can't even grasp it. In Nebraska, a judge, a FEMALE judge, has let a pedophile off with 10 years of probation in lieu of any prison time... because she thought he was "too short" for prison. Since when does a criminal's physical height disqualify him from paying for his crimes? That is the most absurd thing I've ever heard about the criminal justice system. This judge, District Judge Kristine Cecava in Sidney, Nebraska, who absolutely should be run out of town on a rail for her inconceivable short-sightedness and utter stupidity, seems to think that the 5'1" stature of this filthy, disgusting, convicted child molester will make him easy prey for some of the more violent elements in the prison system. It's "not safe" for him to be in prison and subjected to those elements, in her eyes. She said he was a "sex offender, and you did it to a child" but "that doesn't make you a hunter. You don't fit into that category." IS SHE KIDDING? ALL pedophiles are "hunters". They are manipulators who prey on their tiny, innocent victims. Of COURSE this pig from hell is a "hunter"... why doesn't this... Read more →

Scribblings: First Love

The Sunday Scribblings prompt this week gave me a lot of food for thought: First Love. The immediate question in my mind was, do I write about my first puppy love, my first time being really IN love, or my first time really experiencing a quality long-term love relationship? Each one is a story in itself. Tough choice. I decided to write about my first puppy love because when I thought about it, while it wasn't the strongest or most intense love of my life, nor does the story have an especially happy ending, it was the sweetest, purest and most innocent love and it has a foothold not just on my childhood but my life as a young woman as well. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet my first love: Kenny G. No, not THAT Kenny G., although wouldn't that be the coolest thing if it were him? No, MY Kenny G. was the boy next door. Literally, right next door. I can look out of my window now, and his family's old house is right there. Oldest son of our dear friends and neighbors, Kenny was my "boyfriend" as far back as I can recall. Here's a photo of me... Read more →

Liberty State Park, circa 1995

I'll Hoffa and I'll puffa and I'll blow your barn down...

As a kid, I used to get some flack from other children about my last name: Huff. What's the obvious joke? The wolf's line from the Three Little Pigs: "I'll HUFF and I'll PUFF and I'll bloooowwwww your house down!" It used to piss me off something terrible. Then in sixth grade, Jeff Ferree (yes, that was his actual name -- talk about someone asking to get teased about his name!) came up with a NEW way to torture me, by singing the theme song from the corny kid's TV show H.R. Pufnstuf, only changing it to HUFF-n-stuff. I wanted to smack that smirk off Jeff-ferree's face every time he said it. Ironically, a few years later when we were 16, Jeff and I had become friends and then we even "went out" for a little while. In fact, he was my first date and we went to see the original "Star Wars". We laughed about how he had teased me so mercilessly in elementary school, and before I knew it, I had a new "cool" nickname with my group of friends: "H.R.", short for "H.R. HUFF-n-stuff". And I loved it! Funny how that "huff and puff" thing turned from... Read more →

Art imitates life

With just one mouse click, I can turn a plain metal watering can into an Impressionist "masterpiece". Bet Monet and Van Gogh wish they'd had it THIS easy! Read more →