Refraction

One of the hardest things for me to keep straight in French is the difference between ‘tu’ and ‘vous’. I mean, obviously I know the difference, but I haven’t internalized it… it often happens that I start a sentence with ‘vous’ and switch to ‘tu’ halfway through. I figure I get a semi-free pass as a foreigner, though.

Anyway, this is only relevant because I was in Munich recently, wandering around Marienplatz. It’s right by the city centre: tons of shopping to do, quite touristy overall. One of these survey people (I think) came up to me and asked, “Sprichst du Deutsch?” I muttered “Nein” and kept walking, but the first thing that popped into my head was “He just tutoie-d ¹Fr. tutoyer, to use “tu” with someone me! He doesn’t even know me!”

So maybe the French are getting to me a little.

ETA: I was talking to the Franco-German student at work and he explained to me that people in Germany systematically tutoient people if they appear to be less than 18, which is not necessarily the case in France. Hum. I don’t think I look that young.

There’s this guy ¹I can only assume he lives on my floor who keeps pacing up and down my hallway in the evenings. Talking. On a cellphone, I assume.

I am really really confused about why he needs to do this every night, and why he needs to do it in the hallway. It’s not like he’s bothering a roommate (we’re all in single rooms–or we’re supposed to be, anyway). I doubt he gets better reception in the hall.

Cultural collision, no 1:
When we make an appointment for 10 am, I expect you to be there at 10 am.

One of the other students is returning to Spain tomorrow, and left me a few of her things. Like a pillow. I’m really looking forward to getting a good night’s sleep tonight. 🙂 (I’ve been sleeping on a $2 ‘camping pillow’ for the last three months.)

So a friend of mine has recently started up his own web comic, We Can Sleep Tomorrow. It draws inspiration from our high school years and so it’s been a little bit of a trip down memory lane for me (including the part where I had time and inclination to make websites.)

It’s not a series of one-shots, so if you want to start reading, I would suggest starting from the first one.

Okay, I’ll admit it, I’m really quite homesick. Being nine hours ahead of my friends and family, and living alone don’t really help.

I dreamt last night that I was back home, but it soon became uncomfortable as I realized I’d not really done much of anything in France. At this point dream-me started panicking and really really hoping this was all a dream. In fact dream-me gave my dream-arm several good pinches–

At which point I woke up, uncomfortably ensconced in my studio but a little relieved I hadn’t sleepwalked my way to the airport.

I am quite proud of this icon for no reason; I really loved that Girl & Robot photoshoot. It’s a bit of a strange story, though, should you ever look it up… the last photo in the sequence has the robot in pieces.
The caption, “sputnik sweethearts,” is a reference to Murakami’s novel Sputnik Sweetheart. I just think it’s a cute turn of phrase.

catherinette is a French word denoting an unmarried woman who’s at least twenty-five. I am quite aware that I only have a couple years before that will be me. Suitable, though, I guess.

Last night, my father seemed to take an interest in my romantic life for the first time ever, ¹I do not talk to my parents ever about anything really meaningful. and basically said he was afraid I’d become a spinster. ²I think I can pull off crazy cat lady okay, though.

“Catherine, if you have a chance to get married in your 20s…. do it. You don’t want to get to your 30s… [your older, single 30-something cousins], I don’t think they’ll get married…. You’ll never find someone who’s 100%, you know, everyone has their flaws and you just have to cope.”

All I can say in return is, “It’s a big step between, ‘Hey, I like you a lot’ and ‘Let’s get married!’ ³I confess that I never really thought I’d ever get married when I was younger.”

I don’t post about much these days; few things seem worthy of the trouble of opening up WordPress, and those that are I’d prefer not to discuss on an open blog.

But anyway. This xkcd comic is about the Henry Gates/James Crowley affair, and for that alone it’s pretty good… but the title-text puts it over the top.

My biology grad student friends tell me that different types of alcohol don’t actually have different effects. I trust their expertise, not because of the ‘biology’ part, but because of the ‘grad student’.

So remember the part where I’m a Gmail fangirl? Gmail has made me even happier with their new options for labels! I used to keep the labels menu closed by default since I had so many (I’d make one for each course I took…), but now I can keep only the active ones visible. Since I’m out of school, there are only three. 😀 Makes for a nice clean inbox, anyway, and I’m able to easily see just the messages I want.

I’m so glad I got my Gmail account when I did, so that I’m able to use my real name (sans numbers, etc.) Unfortunately, I seem to get a number of e-mails addressed wrongly to me. Some of these are amusing (booty call), some cause me a bit of concern (receipt for a plasma TV), some are oddly helpful (organic produce newsletter).

I can’t quite say the same for Facebook; I was beaten out to my real name (as a username) by someone else with the same name. Ah well. You win some…