happy birthday to me!!

omg, all KINDS ofexcitement today. so first and foremost, woohoo the etch-a-sketch is now fully connected to the information superhighway, two-lane high-speed onramp and everything, so i am no longer dependent on the goodwill of strangers, just the goodwill of people willing to lend me their OLPC's and the goodwill of people willing to spend three days futzing with said OLPC, and of course the socialist work ethic of the electron-toting escargots. and a shout out also to cracked visionary millionaires who think that all under-18's in subsaharan africa would find a laptop more useful than, say, clean drinking water (me, i just drink wine).
second piece d'excitement is that i (nearly) slept through the night last night. i woke up briefly at 4 a.m.ish but half a new yorker article (not a very juicy one. obama's early political career in chicago) and i was right back out. needless to say je suis une whole new woman. i heart sleeping.
when i did finally pull myself out of bed to get to class i had a caramel eclair, a batch of chocolate oatmeal cookies, and some raspberry sorbet waiting for me, along with a very tuneful rendition of happy birthday, which was a lovely surprise (thank you L for organizing). i will attribute my complete failure to paint a masterpiece today to the awesome sugar high in which i spent most of the day. (i detoxed safely at lunch time with gruyere polenta and a tomato salad). ohhhhh, and speaking of which, ich habe tomatendonkeywillowtreeenvy (sorry to be lapsing into faux german, when faux french is more topical at the moment, but this totally deserves a compound deutschenoun). i went for a run at lunchtime down by the river and there is a garden which is like something out of beatrix potter - gorgeous neat rows of runner beans and lettuces and BELL PEPPERS and tomatoes and more tomatoes and a donkey with enormous fuzzy grey ears what i might have to bring home with me b/c he is so flipping cute and a willow tree hanging over the river. will post pics etch-a-sketch permitting.
class wise tout bien - two more poster studies in the morning and afternoon, and then this evening was portrait drawing night - instead of the regular model, the students in the class (there are thirteen of us) take turns once a week posing for two hours. tonight the model was M, a spiky-haired hipster bretonne who is a professional children's portrait painter. she was showing me her portfolio during the break today - she is, um, REALLY GOOD. some of her stuff is a little too cutesy-bouguereau for my taste, but i think that might be inevitable if you are painting toddlers. she had a whole series of her two little girls looking snotty and febrile as apparently the only time they sit still enough to be painted is when they are sick (!)
weather grey and soggy and windy - hopefully it'll clear up in time for the annual town fair this weekend, when all six residents of AC gather in the main square to get drunk, sell each other cheese, and set off fireworks. we're going to get off class an hour early so we can go! fun times.
okay, time to show off my rediscovered sleeping prowess. us geriatric 34-year-olds need our beauty sleep.
love to all, but more love to those who write me emails :). you are great.