January 19, 2005

Still have my cold. I think it is getting better. At least, that is what I am telling myself. I’ve had it now for almost a week. You know, maybe if I killed off some of the dust bunnies in my room I might actually start to get better. The problem with that is that I feel too crappy to actually do any cleaning. My laundry is piling up. Then again, it does that when I am not sick so I guess that is not such a big deal. I try to handwash everything that I can because the washing machines only make things stinkier.

Nothing really interesting is going on. I wanted to spend some time this week traveling, but, well, I’m sick. Oh, actually, there was a railroad strike today. Tomorrow the teachers go on strike. Oh, And I almost have my Carte de Sejour. I just need to go back to the Prefecture (ugh) and give them my medical certificate. I am going to go tomorrow. I think. If I can drag my carcass out of bed before noon. Which, for the record, I have been doing. Usually.

Boy, MS Word really hates the way I write. Especially when I type something in French—it really goes crazy. Green and Red underlines everywhere. Very Christmas-y.

I am almost finished with Rand. ‘Course, I don’t know how well I will be able to discuss the last third of the novel, as I’ve been sick while reading it. But the book is so long. It goes quickly, but I think she could have made it a lot shorter. I’m at the point where I just want it over. I keep flipping to the end to see how many pages I have left. As I said, Rand’s writing does go quickly, but I think she could have chopped out about a third of the novel, easy. Then again, I say that about a lot of authors I read. I am really a fan of short and concise. Don’t even get me started on Eliot (George). If I were to ever write the story of my life it would probably be about five pages long. Not because my life is boring, but I am not a detail person.

Story of my Life:

I was born in St Louis, Missouri in 1978.

My family moved to Germany when I was one year old and we lived there for seven years. When we moved back to the United States I missed Halloween for the first time in eight years. I was never the same.

We moved to Maryland. Our very first year there was when the cicadas made their once-every-seventeen-years appearance. I thought it was the end of the world.

I learned to play the flute and the oboe. I almost didn’t graduate from high school because I never went to gym class.

I joined the US Army when I was seventeen. I went to Basic Training and proved myself completely useless to the military in and combat situation. I was very proud of myself for this. After Basic Training I went to music school in Norfolk, Virginia for six months. At that point, Norfolk people were supposedly the fattest in the United States. I lost weight because the food in the cafeteria was so bad.

After I finished with the United States Armed Forces School of Music (USAFSOM) I went to Arizona. It sucked. I would have killed everyone in my unit but I was a lousy shot.

I managed to get myself kicked out of the Army on a medical discharge and I went back to Maryland. I got a job doing data entry. The music they played in the office drove me mad. I quit.

At the start of the next semester I started taking classes at the community college. I thought I wanted to study Computer Science. I was wrong. I got a scholarship then flunked out.

I switched to English and went to UMBC. I almost made straight As. I lost my 4.0 GPA the semester I decided it would be a good idea to take 24 credit hours, work two jobs, intern, and play in several music groups. I was sick for a month at the end of the semester.

I gained lots and lots of weight before I graduated from UMBC, so all my graduation pictures are embarrassing. I looked like Friar Tuck with a silly hat.

I decided to work as an English as a Second Language teacher so I got a certificate. Then I lived off my Dad for another year. After that I moved to France.

--The End--

Okay, well that was a little bit longer than it should have been. But this is before editing. I bet I can get rid of about a third of it.