Strangely appropriate....

You're
the United Nations!

Most people think you're ineffective, but you are trying to
completely save the world from itself, so there's always going to be a long
way to go.  You're always the one trying to get friends to talk to each
other, enemies to talk to each other, anyone who can to just talk instead of
beating each other about the head and torso.  Sometimes it works and sometimes
it doesn't, and you get very schizophrenic as a result.  But your heart
is in the right place, and sometimes also in New York.
Take the Country
Quiz at the Blue Pyramid

(no subject)

There are many things I will miss about Paris. But as you will be hearing them ad nauseum as I prepare to leave in a month, I will relate the thing that I most definitely will NOT miss: The sketchy men who hit on anything that moves.

Eeeewww.

Really, I can forgive a lot of things. But every one who comes up to me while I'm waiting for a bus and sits just a little too close.... I probably wouldn't even notice. Except they SMELL.

And if you make the mistake of making eye contact, they won't go away. No matter what. Unless you yell at them. Which I am fundamentally incapable of doing to any human being, least of all a stranger.

I can't help it; it is another fundamental concept with me that to ignore somebody's existance when they address you is one of the rudest and psychologically violent things a human being can do to another. So I instinctively at least nod in response if someone says "Bonjour." And no matter how uninterested I come off, no matter HOW MANY TIMES I SAY NO when they press me to "get to know them; let's go to a cafe", they WON'T GO AWAY. Last night I had a guy actually get on a bus with me (after I refused to go get drinks with him, to which his reply was "are you racist?", which I pretended not to understand; I wouldn't even have noticed that his skin was a little darker if he hadn't pointed it out--I've lived most of my life just north of the Mexican border and living in Paris is weird cause most people are lighter than I'm used to), then get off at my stop despite the fact that I pointed continued writing the story I was working on and made sure to sit in a seat that was NOT next to his, and walk me home, all the while saying "Don't you want friends? What's the matter?" I finally made up some bullshit about how my boyfriend was waiting and he'd be jealous. But honestly. Even before the bus came, I had blatantly ogled the nearest available gorgeous woman (it's France; there's a lot of them) to try to give him a hint. I look rather butch, I guess; any woman my height and size does. But no, the blatant ogling of the gorgeous woman did not work. And of course I feel ashamed about it, as I try not to objectify women like that. Only once have I actual been distracted by a woman's body enough to stare; it was last summer, Erin was wearing a see-through shirt, and I felt like a dirty old man. Not to mention that not only her boyfriend but also her girlfriend were there. I still feel guilty about it to this day.

So. Sketchy guys that won't go away. Who give you their phonenumbers even when you say you won't call them, then act all hurt when you're getting on the bus and they ask again and you say no. All of these will be gone when I return to the U.S. of A. where our politics may be fucked up beyond belief but at least a guy will get a hint.

Although, to counter that: Reid Hall has been invaded by a bunch of Americans on their summer programs here. They smile at me. This completely weirds me out. The French do not smile at strangers. For any reason. Unless they're interested in a date. I have managed to completely lose the habit, and I'll have to relearn when I return to the States. For some reason, this annoys the hell out of me.

(no subject)

"Naturally the common people don't want war. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." -- Hermann Goering, president of the Reichstag, Nazi Party, and Luftwaffe Commander in Chief, is attribute with making the following statement at the Nuremburg trials



In other news, I have managed to utterly humiliate myself. Will go home and pretend the world doesn't exist now.