Bonjour?

Having spent most of my childhood growing up in France, I can without a doubt make the statement that "I CAN speak French."  I'm sure that most of you are familiar with the quaint French Cafe, La Madeleine.  If not, well it's a so called French restaurant that serves so called French food.  As I walked through the door I was greeted by a hostess with the welcoming phrase "Bonjour, et bienvenue a La Madeleine," (translation: hi, and welcome to La Madeleine).  I was so impressed and eager to practice my French, although her Texan accent would have probably come under scrutiny if she had said that in France.  Nevertheless, I decided to reciprocate her warm greeting with "merci beaucoup madame" (translation: thank you so much miss), only to be given a puzzled and blank glare in return.  Confused by the whole situation - the atmosphere started to get slightly awkward as I stared at her and she stared back at me - I quickly decided to move along and sit down.  When the food eventually arrived, another French phrase was used "bon appetite" (translation: have a good meal), I decided to test the water one more time "Monsieur est ce que vous avez du sel? (translation: excuse me sir, do you have any salt?).  Once again, a blank expression took over his face as he jittered around not knowing what to do - this was completely hopeless.  I decided to shut up, and eat my food satisfied with the conclusion that "fake" sells, it just has to be presented in the right way.  If people are unaware/uneducated on the matter it is really easy to mislead and misinform.

So, the moral of the story - don't believe everything you hear or see.

Modern Fruit

One thing that drives me crazy about the United States is the endless "rubbish" blasted on the TV screens.  The other day, I saw an advert for some "health promoting" company selling "fruit in a tablet." Wait a second, since when did fruit come in tablet form?  The company's "revolutionary" idea was sparked by the fact that cutting fruit is messy, requires cleaning of utensils, chewing with the mouth and preparation time.  To resolve this "horrifying" problem chemicals would need to be placed into capsules, labelled as fruit and sold to the gullible consumers - no mess, all you need is water.  This made me really angry, It appears that humans have become so used to a life of leisure and ease that we are incapable of reaching into the fridge, washing a piece of fruit, opening the mouth, taking a bite, chewing once or twice, swallowing and then cleaning up after ourselves.

But - "what happens if a dribble of juice falls on little Mary-Sue's Roberto Cavalli dress?" - that's not a problem, we have chemicals to get rid of that too.

Everything we eat, wear, drink and inhale is full of man-made artificial chemicals - if this were what we ought to consume then we might as well be robots.  I miss the good old days of running through fields of organic strawberries, letting the juice of ripe watermelons drip down your face in utter contentment and stomach aches from eating too much rhubarb -  I don't think "modern fruit" can compare to this.

Soon we will be consuming all of our meals in the form of tiny capsules.  Sound appealing?  I don't think so.

Like Parents, Like Children

As I busied myself at home, I came to the abrupt conclusion that I am metamorphing into my parents! It all started a couple of days ago when my sister who is currently at high school was getting ready for her homecoming. Like a good sister I asked her around what time she thought she’d be home... ‘I don’t know’ was her answer. Great. So while taking a break from ruthlessly studying for my sociology test, I called my sister, our conversation went something like this, ‘When are you coming home?’

My sister responds, ‘I don’t know...’

“How do you not know, when it looks like the party is thinning out, you know.”

My sister sighs, ‘Well the crowd isn’t thinning and people are still arriving.”

“So around what time will you be home?”

“I don’t know, I’ll call you later.”

I wait. I study. I drink some tea. My mother goes to bed, she doesn’t seem too worried. I wait. I study. I drink more tea and then I pick up my phone. “Where are you?”

My sister responds, “I’m at a rave.”

“A rave? I thought you were at homecoming!”

“We were but we are now at the after party.”

I was getting really annoyed. So after those lovely phone calls, I realised that I had started using words like ‘old chap’ ‘cheery’ and ‘dashing young man,’ and had no idea where I had picked such vocabulary up. I have started bringing up the weather in every conversation, I talk about the younger generation with disdain and I have started changing my programmed radio stations to sad, 60’s songs. What is happening? After some research, it comes down to this. All human beings start life as a baby and ultimately die as babies, when we are unable to do simple tasks without aid; well we are turning into our parents. Simple as that. *rubs hands together* Oh I can’t wait to set my sister a curfew!

A word through images...

If you put all of these in a ziploc bag, shake them all up, and then pour onto my face, I'll feel like I'm at the beach.

Standing Out From The Crowd

Sometimes people feel like they aren't special or that they have no self meaning.  Just the other day, I had a similar encounter with a family relative who is in the process of applying to college. The frustration and stress of writing personal statements was followed by the comment "I'm not special or different from anyone else, why would they chose me - I have no talent - so what's the point?" This remark really resonated with me.  


So, here's my suggestion: what you will need: Faith, Love, Trust, Belief and Determination.  
1) Do something you love
2) Try something new
3) Don't compare yourself to others 
4) Be confident and trust in your abilities
5) Believe in yourself


It's all psychological. People live up to their expectations. If you think you're not good at anything, you'll make that thought become a reality. But if you are sufficiently confident you're a great dancer, singer or painter, you're confidence will shine through and you will be looked as a great dancer/singer/painter.


STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD.  

Halloween.

So Halloween is coming up, and for this year I have decided I want to dress up like the child from the Spanish horror movie, El Orfanato (http://www.programasdetv.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/el-orfanato.jpg) I think that it will make for a couple of fantastic laughs. I’ve never been much of a Halloween spirit myself, however, it might be my sisters last year in the US depending on where she goes to university, so I better make the most of it. For years I have wondered why the Americans are just enthusiasts when it comes to celebrating the night in which evil spirits rise again from the grave? So with this question I set out to do some glorious research – I wikapedia-ed it! So Halloween was a celebration that the Celtics would celebrate then called All Hallows Eve, just like in Sleepy Hollow, the day where they would bless and convert pagans. Now we call it Halloween because we can’t be bothered to say all three words, so we sort of mashed them together and then spread the word that a new celebration was born! We are supposed to dress up to honour the Celtics who would wear masks to scare away the evil spirits and not have demons present themselves as humans among them. Now we like to trick or treat, and I admit, when I was younger I had fun but now… well that’s another story. Halloween is just another day like school where I have to decide what to wear, and that’s already a fiasco, I really don’t need another (lol). The commercialization of Halloween has just turned a traditional holiday into a breeding ground for consumers to buy and compete against others, ‘who has the most decorations?’ ‘who offers the best sweets?’ ‘who has the best costume?’ what are we, 5 year olds?

It "drives" me crazy when..

I’m slowing down because the traffic light has just turned red, so I stop. I have stopped so what is with the man in the big pickup truck behind me still attempting to ram up the back of my car’s tires. I roll forward slightly and the giant monster of a vehicle follows quickly in pursuit. I just want to shout ‘I’m not rolling forward for fun, I’m trying to get away from you!’ but he outs for blood. I stop again. He stops. I roll. He rolls. It’s like an ongoing game of musical chairs except we’re jiggling forward to Eminem and instead of using our juvenile bodies as the source of fun, we’re using blocks on wheels.  Doesn’t the pickup man understand that I don’t want his car so close and that ramming up my car’s backside isn’t going to make the traffic light turn green faster? I roll forward, he rolls forward – I guess not then. Haven’t you noticed this too? If you haven’t, try it...