(no subject)

Jesus fuck. Newsweek is such propaganda.

Direct quote about the situation in Liberia:
"Will this effort be any different and alter the dynamics of what experts now refer to as a "failed state"? Maybe, for one reason: U.S. President George W. Bush has pledged to help secure the peace."

Well then. That's just peachy. Cause it worked so well in Iraq, after all.

I was snickering about this on the metro and even the crazy guy across from me was giving me weird looks.

Dream State

The heat has grown to the point where I am still sweating profusely even at one in the morning while lying deathly still on top of my sheets buck naked with the window open and the curtains pulled back. This of course also lets in the mosquitos and I am beginning to look as though I have the measles.

Perhaps this is responsible for the unutterably weird dreams I had.
In the first, there was some sort of talent competition in the Hogwarts Great Hall, and Snape got forced into having to sing. He enlisted McGonagal (dammit, I never remember how to spell her name!) and they did a rendition of "Damn it, Janet" from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. As an encore, Snape then did the "Whatever Happened to a Saturday Night" part.
I woke up, thought "huh" a la Oz from Buffy, and went back to sleep.

I then had one of the worst nightmares I've ever had that didn't involve rape or drowning. Apparently somebody thought that I and Keith were going to get married. Keith is apparently a member of my parents' Quaker Meeting and is one of the many nameless men that attend. Note that I know most of their life stories but am so bad with names that I wasn't sure which one Keith was. So the Quaker Meeting set up a wedding for us. Keith was too shy to say anything, and I for some reason didn't want to upset my dad cause he was so happy putting together my wedding, so the plans went on and I wasn't sure which nameless guy I was going to get married to, and I kept waiting for someone to say something cause for some reason I couldn't. Well along comes the wedding, small and very tasteful by the way, and I really didn't want to embarrass Keith by saying no at the altar, but it didn't come to that because somehow we were married without actually exchanging vows, and only afterwards did it hit me that shit, I was married to this guy and that's serious.
I woke up and really wasn't sure for a while whether it had really happened. I finally decided it hadn't just because my dad would never plan my wedding for me, even if he wanted to.
Yeah, so it doesn't sound like a nightmare. But the realization that I was tied to a perfect stranger was one of the most horrible feelings I've ever had. I take marriage REALLY damn seriously, and don't plan to marry without having lived with the SO for at least two years and survived several large fights. I have trust issues already, so I need to be sure, cause I don't believe in divorce so much. Not for me. Other people can make their own choices, but I don't plan to marry until I'm ready and want to spend the rest of my life with someone. This probably all stems from when my dad and my stepmom's marriage was on the verge of falling apart and my attitude was "Damn you both, you've rearranged your childrens' lives to all fuck just to be together, I know you both love each other to no end, so I'm not going to let you get divorced, I don't care how many fights it takes or how much it hurts, fuck you both cause LOVE HURTS, so deal with it."

Right. Ramble.

Asterix in French is really quite amusing, now that I get the puns, etc.

(no subject)

Clement came home for a few days; his best friend's parents are getting married (after living together for 16 years). Suzanne (mother) is an alcoholic and manic depressive and really some people shouldn't have children, and Eduard is less than thrilled about being dragged on the honeymoon with them.
Clem is half-Arab, and usually has a light-golden/brown skin, but he's been at the beach and now is dark enough to pass as black, with a gorgeous golden undertone. He appears to have shot up several inches in just the month he's been gone. He got into the highschool he wanted (French HS sorts you by test scores after the equivalent of American 9th grade) which was a relief.

I just spent over 200 euros to get 14 rolls of film developped. I'm trying really hard not to think about it. There's one or two good pictures of me, a few really nice nature pictures, and most of the rest is crap but at least it helps me remember the places I've been to. At some point I'll scan the nice ones, but not now.

(no subject)

WHY oh why won't the stupid bloody fax machine let me dial to Russia? I just phoned Madagascar, and Russia's closer!