end of penultimate week

funny thing, now that i know i am leaving in a week, i am feeling quite fond of AC and studio E. etc. brains are peculiar things.

alors, les updates: weather sunny but cold. mosquito bites getting a bit better. paintings crap but enjoyable which is what counts (M correctly pointed out that la maja desnuda was painted by goya, NOT velasquez; i was actually confusing two paintings, la maja desnuda and the velasquez painting of (i think) venus looking in her mirror on a red sofa, can't remember official title). exercise one hour run today wot a good girl i am. food: boring leftovers for lunch BUT dinner was chinese feast courtesy of larine with pears and chocolate for le dessert, yum yum. social activities: dinner chez M&P as marina's parents were visiting (favourite part: show of kids' drawings; miniM had done one of the whole family peeing, all four with very prominent belly buttons. awesome) and then a fairly raucous game of celebrity chez G&H afterwards. reading material: the economist that sistah sent me (thank you), the bear went over the mountain (dumb so far, but has such good reviews from reputable sources on the jacket that i will persevere). just finished 'pig' by andrew someone, sort of sweet but a little disjointed coming-of-age tale about a boy living in horrible council flat with his horrible family in the north of england in love with an indian girl. next is either the portable mark twain or falling boy, depending on what i am in the mood for. internet life: just reconnected via facebook with farina blueberry (not her real name and matt M (college roommates) and extended barcelona clan members. crazy, man. the percentage of the world with a facebook profile must be up to at least 1% by now, no?

tomorrow C and i are going to attempt the heretofore unattempted, to go where no man has gone before, a daytrip to angers entirely via public transportation. in theory it is possible, although it involves two buses and a train each way, and there are a couple of six minute connections in there, so there is a reasonably good chance will we end up stranded in some small town somewhere between here and angers with no way to get home, BUT courage! we will see how it goes. in all the years that studio E has been operating, apparently no one has ever attempted to get to angers without using the fifty euro taxi ride for the first leg of the journey. i feel like we are preparing to climb everest. mainly it is so C can get her hair cut and i can change my train ticket, and so we can both SIT IN A COFFEESHOP. (which is why angers is even _better_ than climbing everest. you can't do anything of those things on the top of everest. well, maybe you could cut your hair. but a shampoo and blowdry would be out of the question. navigating the french SNCF ticket bureaucracy may prove to be impossible from anywhere on earth, so i guess that doesn't count as a strike against mount everest until i have actually achieved it in angers). then tomorrow evening (always assuming we are _not_ stranded in some farflung outpost of rural anjou and did in fact make it back home) there are plans for another bonfire and a potluck dinner in the backyard of les sylvains. should be fun.

okay c'est time for bed. bisous a tout le monde.