mitraillette au whisky

Haven't done the machine gun post for a while. Haven't done any posts for a while but oh well.

• It's really "mitrailleuse" but I like it better "mitraillette."
• And in English it's really "whiskey" but in French they omit the "e" for some reason. Wacky French - never know what they're going to do to English words when they adopt them.
• Sammers is next to me in the extra fake sheepskin catbed that I bought when Nina was with us but which no one else would sleep in until it had been washed THREE times.
• The two older catbed thingies are still on my bed and one of them is being spurned lately but I don't know why; I'll try washing them altho usually S&L don't really care when they're dirty as long as they're dirty with their scent and not someone else's.
• One week til spring break and I REALLY want to bring Griz in; at the least I'd like to get him to the vet and doctored up and hopefully neutered and released when he's well enough. But truly I'd like to keep him - just not sure there's enough time to socialize him sufficiently before I leave for France and feel safe leaving him with catsitter, etc. Rather, not safe for him really but safe for the catsitter and for S&L. Chances are he will simply be too wild and will have to go back outside anyway. He is really really looking the worse for wear these days tho. Maybe neutering him will at least keep him out of so many fights if he has to go back out.
• Determined to get TC to the Gr**nville Humane Society b/c I still feel she could be resocialized without too terribly much effort and she's such a cutie; she's been letting me pet her a bit more often but still usually just gets super close but hates actually being touched. She will often just meow at the door to get some attention even when the food bowls are stocked. Then when you open the door it's as if it's all she can do to keep herself from rubbing on you - she does everything but.
• Slightly toasted. I haven't been drinking nearly as much as the last couple of years. That makes me sound like an alkie but what I mean is I've generally been drinking 3-8 glasses of wine a week the last couple years until this winter. Just kind of fizzled out for some reason. But tonight I really wanted something and I have no red wine right now, so I opted for Dewar's... purchased last year during yet another attempt to get myself to like scotch and/or whiskey. The fact that I've had the bottle of Dewar's for about 9 months and it's only 1/3 down should tell you how successful I'm being with the current tack. Usually half the glass or more gets tossed actually (and truth be told I just really like how it looks in my fun Crate & Barrel highballs) altho this evening I ate a little chocolate with it and it was pretty good, altho not as good as with red wine.
• Really I wanted margaritas but I didn't feel like making them, plus I can't make a marg with less than 3 shots of tequila and I really was only hankering for a shot or so of something.
• For some reason I am watching season after season of Weeds on Netflix lately. I don't like it any better than way back when when I watched the first two seasons with Andy. That is I really liked the first season but 2 and 3 I still find pretty mediocre and I think they kind of jump the shark every couple of episodes - even tho it's the early seasons. 
• Fun workshop day today with the hiking club - we talked about water filtration and camp food and snakes, etc. I did kind of a mediocre presentation on essential daypack ingredients, but we really had almost no beginners anyway so it wasn't super necessary. We got to make alcohol stoves with Bill out of pop cans and we made cooking cozies with Marianna (plastic/alum insulation stuff made into an envelope). You can have all your dehyd. meals mixed up in freezer ziplocs, then you boil water and pour it into the freezer bag and put it in your cozy so it is insulated and continues to cook and you can reheat more water for the next thing or use the rest of your water for something else. Great day anyway, for seeing everyone and yacking plus great weather and Oc*nee State Park is always so restful for some reason.
• Four tons of work of course for France altho at least this time I (a) have a better idea of how to go about everything and (b) actually feel capable, as opposed to the last two springs, respectively.
• Otherwise school pretty crappy - more and more discontent actually with my job. Partly it's the students and partly it's me and partly it's because I'm starting to see that the student attitude is never going to improve, which makes my outlook descend accordingly... vicious circle, yadda yadda yadda.
• There is one really cool thing tho - I weigh 7 lbs less than I did 3 weeks ago. Been gyming more or less regularly since August but pretty much completely incapable of controlling calorie intake. Understatement of the century - less a case of not being able to control intake and more flat out eating as much as I possibly could week in, week out, up to 3 half gallons of ice cream a week, a gazillion baked potatoes with butter and sour cream, lots and lots of egg sandwiches with tons of mayo, lots of fast food esp. french fries, you get the picture. Pretty much anything super rich and yummy with loads of dairy or other fat. All these months I have been thinking that it was weird I hadn't lost at least a little weight, despite the intake, but now I see that the exercise was definitely keeping me from gaining more at least, based on how quickly the downtrend took hold when I finally started controlling calories. So yay.

Bai.

red wine riff - as a particularly journal-y post it will only be the slightest bit interesting, and that only if you've had as much wine as I

cause what's better than stream of consciousness when slightly or more than slightly buzzed? not much... school schedule has taken a turn - I kind of freaked two nights before school started to see the my two 104's had 3 students in them (total) - emailed the powers that be only to find out that they were already on it but for whatever reason no one had contacted me about the issue - I had visions of having to get a part time job or something if those sections were dropped... but no, long story short I am now teaching all 2^nd year which means class days only MTWTH!!!!!! crazy! with Paris approaching I'll be at school most of the time on Fridays anyway or working at home but still just the fact that I have a flex-y day... holy shit that feels good even just to think about. the crazy 1^st years are not only 3 days/week but then there's a lab too so on one day you have to meet with each section twice - besides the fact difference between teaching 5 days/wk vs. 4 :) ... watching "A Dance to the Music of Time" miniseries with James Purefoy and Many Others based on the Anthony Powell novels which now I'm intrigued to read. Besides JP there is Simon Russell Beale - hugely underrated actor (on this side of the pond at least) from the 1995 "Persuasion" which stupid imdb has listed as a TV movie which it most certainly was not but oh well... also Paul Rhys who recently has caught my attention more than before - always seemed to be rather forgettable Brit aristocrats until I got "The Cazalets" from the library - he was one of the best parts even tho he's only there about half the time - besides him and a couple of other people (like Stephen Dillane - who I think for the millionth time should probably marry me one of these days if he knows what's good for him) it was pretty disappointing - story-wise anyway... anyway Paul Rhys in "Dance" is a vision -- totally transformed and original and intriguing -weird for such a sappy character but he makes it so engaging but poignantly heartbreaking too - kind of channeling Anthony Andrews' Sebastian Flyte... oh whatever I'm allowed to namedrop Brit actors when I'm toasted - watch some frigging Masterpiece Theater once in a while why don't you... Both kits are here beside me on the couch. it has turned quite chilly so they are suddenly back in cuddlebug mode. Sammers was even ensconced between my legs this morning when I woke up - the traditional spot for his sister most of the time. Here he mostly sleeps on the couch instead of with Lucy and me unless it's really cold. Kinda sad that they both don't sleep with me as a matter of course anymore. I think it has more to do with this house having different draft patterns and lighting than anything about me so I'm not taking it personally :) ...meanwhile...Michael Williams is another really cool thing about this series. Judi Dench's late husband who most of us have only been able to see in "A Fine Romance" but who is so endearing and warm in all the stuff I've seen him in and always makes me think of Vince since MW seems like he resembles what I think Vince will look like when he's old... my legs are tired; I'm being very good about the exercise portion of my new year's resolutions and tonight I did Big Yoga. Tomorrow I will probably ride but it is supposed to be chilly so I might opt for treadmill at Fike instead. Saturday is a pretty big hike if I get enough work done tomorrow at school (see above somewhere about still doing work on Fridays even tho no class to teach :) ... Just remembered I need to invoice Michelin - my most recent student (who is a smoker so made for interesting tutor sessions as he would lean in and I slightly outward keeping my face angled away to avoid breathing scary cig breath) is leaving for France Saturday (it will be an ongoing gig - he'll be back in the US for a few weeks in Feb. and then France again for a month or so, etc. all spring - whenever he's here I'm to work with him to bolster his French whenever possible) anyway only four hours this month but every little bit helps of course esp. as car scares continue... last night thank goodness the huge scary noise was only a branch stuck up between the muffler and Hal's belly. I was on my way to El Charro for margarita and chow with Carrie - we had a good little while venting together, not least because I was so relieved that the branch wasn't some huge part of the car dragging beneath... does Miranda Richardson rock or what? this is getting better than it was the first couple of discs. reminds me a bit of "Fortunes of War" which is wondrous... shades of Gainesville days and only having PBS on the TV and doing possibly the worst waitressing job of my entire life: Ryan's Steakhouse. breakup from hell and potentially total shit time but for some reason not quite as devastating in retrospect as one might think. at least I found Margaret Atwood during my time there (OK yes thanks to Bec) plus the Purple Porpoise was close by for oysters & beer and "Empire of the Sun" came out that year... what more could one need? ... the first stint at Aub*rn was right after that, arguably the turn of events in my life that has the most to do with where I am Right Now, for mostly better... bye