Geeking Out

Some of you know of my obsession with This American Life. Please listen to Act I of Fiasco!, which I recently rediscovered. You will pee in your pants. And listening to Ira Glass giggle is wonderful.

I started listening to StoryCorps again, which you should also check out.

Today Jane Goodall came and spoke to us at school. Yes, Jane Goodall. No, there were no chimps present.

I joined the school paper for editing/photo/layout.

Jeremy is a second degree black belt! Who knew? And his current roommate is a highly skilled hula hooper. I kid you not.



love.

What Happens When You Refuse to Use Facebook Photo

So I started a flickr account to house all of my favorites/pictures that are closer to "photography" rather than "snapshot" in my imaginary sliding scale. It's really just an organizational tool for my neurotic self and a way for me to sift through my gazillions (over 16,000...) of pictures and give some of them some sort of meaning/place. I'm trying to get a little bit more serious about photography as it's fallen by the wayside since high school and this is kind of a kick start. My picasa will still have all the new Paris pictures so feel free to ignore the flickr (or both).

This Post is a Mess

- Oubliez St. Michel et le Quatier Latin. Le Marais is where it's at.
- At Jenny's suggestion, I named the toilet. His name is Hector. I like to believe he's channeling Hector Hugo, the temperamental artist and cousin of famous French author Victor Hugo, whose great literary shadow Hector could never escape.
- I just finished another book by Michael Chabon, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. He began writing the novel at age 21, a fact that both stuns and depresses me.
- I have kind of a ton of homework.
- My Uncle, a Paris veteran, was recently here and showed me all his old stomping grounds.
- One place we went to is this curated shop called Collette. It's so cool it hurts but I'm definitely going back.
- Things that are tacky: the poorly lit and lopsidedly decorated tree standing pathetic and presumptuous in front of Notre Dame; the Disney-esque light show that is the Eiffel Tower for the first ten minutes of every hour.
-Talisa Chang, expert lunch maker:

- I haven't seen anyone using one of these:

- Uncle Donny:

- That Paris place all the kids are talking about:

- Le Centre Pompidou, we saw a Giacometti exhibit.

- Haribo Love:

- At the grocery store:


- More pictures at my Picasa.
- I've started putting together a flickr account for more photo type stuff... Guess I'll let you know how that goes.

love and crepes.

Chez Moi

So I made a video tour thing of my apartment. It's a little long (/boring?) but I hope you like it. I think I say "Ok, so..." about fifty times in the beginning, sorry.



let me know what you think! love.

on the bound

I realize that last semester I inundated you guys with South Africa stories/ pictures/ details and you probably heard and saw more than you ever wanted to know. This semester I really want to focus on exploring Paris as a inhabitant and not a visitor. I brought my manual (Nikon) along and I'd really like to go back to doing more photography, more writing, more reading, more everything.

So I guess this blog is going to shift gears a little. I think I'm still going to put up some picture albums, but there definitely won't be as many pictures as South Africa. I'm not going to bore you guys with accounts of all the sights and excursions and what not. I can imagine that hearing me gush about Paris all the time would get pretty mundane and sickening after awhile anyway. However, if you would like to hear me gush, get Skype, and you can see my facial expressions while you're at it.

That being said, I do hope to update this regularly, just with less detail and more tidbits, kind of like how it was before. It'll probably be more interesting to whoever still reads this anyway. (Does anyone still read this?) The much anticipated apartment-video-tour is still coming, so stick around for that at least.

Until then, here's a picture of crunchy, sticky wonder on St. Severin:

And my new favorite shop in my new favorite area in Paris:


One last and unrelated item: Recently my dad started a wordpress blog in which he comments on elections, politics, and other related topics. I tell you this because one, some of you know my dad and would probably like to check it out out of curiosity, but also two, because it's a really great blog that's concise, observant, and often hilarious. If you're looking to find an easy daily politics pill to swallow, start here. If you're like me, you'll be happy to have a little bit of Mr. Chang in your life anyway.

Quickie

So I've been a little lazy with this but I promise better (and more innovative!) updates to come. Paris is wonderful. C'est tout. I've been exploring and making friends and having a really great time. Classes start Monday which I'm also excited for. Today we went to the aquarium! (Guess whose idea that was...) And tonight I think is the last night of AUP sponsored debauchery... Here are a few pictures. A bien tot.

Esther sleeps over!

L'Opera is unimpressive. ok not really

L'Aquarium.

Jason, Marie, Esther, Alex.

baguettes and berets

Je suis arrivée.

Say Baby

The California roomies came and visited for two days and it was magical. Somehow I have no pictures of the occasion, and the most recent picture I could find of Me, Claire, and Steph together is from February 2007. How this happened, I have no idea. But here it is, for kicks:
Also, here's a picture from the last time they came to Irvine:

I mean, we pretty much look exactly the same except maybe our sunglasses are cooler now. So, whatever.

In other news, Paris in three days. How this happened, I also don't know.

Once Around the Block

The past few days I've been up in the Bay Area with family, playing with cousins and watching lots of football. I also got to hang out with Jon... we went to SFMoma and hung out in the city and then spent New Years playing beer pong and rock band with his friends. And also I got to see Henry and Mona! (the real reason I go to Jon's house, let's be real.) Here are some pictures which are not that exciting:

Jon, explaining. Me, unimpressed.

With Nina

thbbt.

happy new year, kids.