What's the French word for stakeout! Dammit!

Oh the French. I think if I could sum it all up so far, it would be, "The French just don't give a fuck." I see people walk down the streets and in Metro stations, almost purposefully getting in your way, walking very slowly, sliding in front of you in lines, standing around in the streets, etc... Watching the traffic here just makes me cringe, the driving is nutty, people doing things that make me scratch my head.

So I was in the Metro station on Friday morning, and for the second time, I had heard what sounded like a lady, yelling "Si vous plait!". Really emphasizing the 'plait'. This pisses me off, because at 8am, the last thing you want to hear is someone yelling something over and over. So I figure that this time, I need to find out who this is. It's like what George Carlin talked about when your driving, if someone does a real asshole move, you need to get beside them and see the person to say, "Hey! This guy does look like an asshole!" So I wander on over, all casual, and I finally see this lady. To my surprise, it looks like she has downs syndrom and homeless, so it suddenly all connects. Basically, when people walk by her, without acknowledging what she said, she will yell until you do acknowledge what she said and say, "No" at least. I'm not quite sure as what to think of this one yet.

What else? The fuckin Gypsies. Ok, on the train again, coming home after a long day from work, and this...asshole starts yelling. Not the usual gypsie style of a general announcement to the train, that yes, they are useless and have had such a terrible life, oh they need your mercy. No, this jerk starts yelling it, really abrasively as well. Me, I was asleep in one of the semi-rare occasions I got to both take the train alone and a window seat (with the requisite arm rest, which you then prop your head on your hand), and am woken by this jerk. I mean, really, if it is your job to beg and recieve alms from people, you should at least be good at it. Or have some knowledge of what, I don't know, PISSES off people. Yelling at me after 9 hours of work is not going to inspire sympathy ane encourage me to open my wallet, it's going to encourage me to spit in your general direction. He didn't get a single coin, so maybe this is evolution at work.

I went to a Go Sport location here, which is basically like the French version of a Sport Chek (for you Canucks). Wow, this is how a sports store should be, I was seriously impressed. Everything, all sports, in one store, all with quality items for each sport. There wasn't much selection in terms of brands, but I mean, you at least had one nice thing for each item you need. In principle, it's perfect. I also like how there is only one big chain, that's your sports store, you go there if you need sports stuff. It just makes sense.

The reason I needed to go to said store was because in my boxe francaise class, the professeur finally got on my back about wearing shorts and my cross-training shoes. Basically, he was trying to tell me why pants are necessary and the boxe francaise shoes. They were some bullshit reasons about sweat, but I think it's because of two reasons. One, the French don't like wearing shorts, and they don't want to see anyone else wearing shorts. I don't know why, but it's weird. The second, they don't like actual physical contact (unless you are really good friends, and then you can be lucky to get a fake kiss on the cheek :P), so they don't want to have to be closer than they need to be to my leg. Hell, they don't even kick with their shit, it's with the tip of the shoe, it's as if they are so disgusted with having to touch someone else, they will do it with the furthest point on their body. Whatever.

So yeah, this may sound like I'm upset here, but not at all really. I just find this whole situation very entertaining. I consistently have a good time doing pretty much anything, and I'm always enjoying the food. Yann and I went for dinner last night and I definately enjoy social interaction over food. Sharing meals with someone is a great experience, it's also essential to have a bottle of wine. Also, I love having baguette bread to sop up the delicious sauce at the end of the meal. Then a light dessert, a digestif, and your money.

In terms of literature lately, I highly recommend Hiruki Murakami, as I've found his books very entertaining. They have so much imagination, and the writing style is so quirky, it's as if it is a Japanese Harlan Elison. Try reading "Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" or "The Elephant Vanishes".

Music, I've been digging the album "I'll sleep when you're dead" by El-P. It's very solid rap, and not quite as hardcore as the album title makes it out to be.

Otherwise, I remember I had a few other things to say, but when I get back the laptop this week hopefully, I'll write another proper blog.

New post coming soon, I have some good rants to go on. Seriously, just wait until the weekend.

yeah...YEAH!

Well, why not?

So, sitting here in an internet cafe, very disappointed about my lack of a laptop. That jingling sound when I shake my laptop eminating from the power supply definitely isn't a good thing. So, warranty time.

In any case, it's been a rather busy week here. Not having a computer has forced me to *gasp* go out and do things. So, first on the list was join a gym. After some misunderstood discussion, I ended up getting 3 free classes to try at this local martial arts gym. First up was a class of Savate. This was good fun, all in all. The instructor comes in, an older fellow, puts on a funk cd and gives us all clothes pins to put on the chest of our shirts. A fun little half sparring game of trying to get the pin off your partner's chest followed. It's pretty hilarious to try, and it definitely helps the reaction times. I also realized how out of shape I am. We go to start doing some pushups and situps later in the class, and half way through each I utterly fail (along with all the other new people, whew!). I'm still sore from it.

I tried the Thai boxing class, figuring I'd enjoy that as well since it's my "roots". It was not to be, the instructor was pretty much a jerk who was working with his conditioning coach the whole time and every 5-10 minutes telling us a new combination to try. Thanks, your helping everyone learn so much. Glad I got to try before I bought it.

I had meant to take the third class of pankration, but me running around Paris looking for computer parts prevented that. As much as I love the French, they are so infuriating sometimes. Take an hour and a half lunch and close the store? Why not! Also the big computer store I eventually found closes at 6:45 every day (it's not even opened on Sundays). Isn't that beautiful when you get home from work at 7:15 to begin with? Not to mention they open at 10...le sigh. Tech support for something still under warranty? That's going to cost your .12 Euro per minute. Jesus.

Nonetheless last night turned out to be quite interesting. I met up with my Australian buddy from work, split a bottle of wine, and went for kebab. Note, kebab isn't just meat on a stick here, it's basically a full blown donair. Randomly enough we run into his Aussie friend, and her Spanish friend and they invite us to a cocktail party. So, it ended up being Justin (the Aussie), myself and a room full of Aussie girls (ok, and one Spanish one). That was definitely not expected. So, I drank champagne, ate cheese and fig, and wondered how the hell I ended up in this scenario. Long story short, I ended up doing shots on the Champs Elysee with one of the Aussie chicks, us both complaining about the French and the opposite sex in general. Pretty entertaining all and all. I also love the fact that I can be in a bar until 6am and keep getting served booze. Well, I don't love it so much today, but you know.

In other news, World Rugby Cup is a great time. One set of commercials at half time, and otherwise it's an hour and a half of good sporting action. That being said, the good games won't start showing up until the semi-finals. It's just not that fun to watch the All Blacks/Aussies/South Africans demolish everyone in their pool.

Anywho, I'm going back home to nurse my hangover. I hope all is well with everyone, as it's pretty decent on my end.

I was an idiot last night and dropped my laptop. So as a result it either broke my power supply connection i.e. the cable or in the actual laptop.

Therefore this has given me a forced break from internet at home. Which is probably a good thing. Won't be much blogging or internet activity for the next little while, and I'll actually go out and do something.

So interesting updates in the near future.

And if you say the universe looks like a hyperbolic saddle, you already know too much, skip to the end

So, just got back from an extended wander around Paris. God, this is a great city to just go get lost in, so many interesting places I just randomly run into. There is also always the ultimate safety of the metro system, which you run into a station every few minutes, and it's always 2 trains to get to any other station (beautiful topology, just beautiful!). I stumbled into Jardin du Luxembourg, it looks like a great place to go lose a day in the sun. Bring a book, bottle of wine, and a few like-minded friends, and it's perfect. On up to Montparnasse, with one of the only skyscrapers in Paris, it's really easy to get to. And yes, I finally went to the Eiffel Tower. I have to say, it is quite the interesting piece of engineering. From my point of view, it's an asymptotic point in a regular surface, or at least that is the nature of the design.

On Saturday, I got to have one of my infamous lazy days. For those of you who know me well enough, I've damn near perfected it. The key is inadvertent planning of it all. You need to have food around, but it all has to be easy to make and tasty. My choices? Nutella, peanut butter, cheese, bread, wine, lots of fruit, coffee, and some chocolate. Pretty much all you need for foraging during the day, and in the evening go for a dinner and a walk, then go home and continue where you left off.

While I do say it's a lazy day, I spend a good portion of said days thinking. Just enjoying the complexities of my own consciousness, reading interesting articles, debating them to yourself, appreciating music, and digging around in the caverns of my mind. I feel that there are a lot of people that are afraid of this, they keep themselves busy so they don't have to be by themselves and merely thinking. I think it is one of the best things you can do for yourself, just work out your mind. And it's utterly free!

Friday I enjoyed a drunken night, so once again a few people got drunken emails. Yeah...nevermind those.

The state of MMA is getting very interesting for those who follow. As we've seen with other sports, it only really works with a monopoly architecture. What does this mean for the fighters? Well, they have great potential to get screwed over, but at the same time, this is the only way the company can make enough to pay out the paycheques which are worthy of their talents. We also get an absolute control on quality, if all the best guys are in one organization, there is no problem setting up all the best fights. The big stickler right now is Fedor Emelianenko, the unbeaten former Pride Heavyweight champion. His demands are rather telling of his culture, and it's interesting to see how the contract negotiations are going. At this point in his career, he is obviously concerned about his motherland Russia more than anything, and therefore has requirements other than just monetary (bringing MMA to Russia, his team's fighters to the UFC, yadda yadda). The UFC is just offering a lot of money, and not much else. What does it really come down to? For my sake, being a fan, I hope he just takes the money hahaha.

In any case, I had more on my mind, but I can't remember now. Take 'er easy all.
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Now playing: T.I. - What You Know