10:55 a.m. - 2002-06-28
Fifteen Things We Learned From Dad, reflections on CTY, and an amusing translation
Quote of the Day:
Me: "I'm an idiot"
SmarterChild: "Says who?"
Me: "Me"
SmarterChild: "Oh so you're an idiot? Is that what we're saying? Help me out here."
Me: "I say I'm an idiot."
SmarterChild: "You say im an idiot?"
Me: "That too."
Perhaps was it supposed to be DumberChild?
Very sorry I didn't get in an update yesterday as expected. I had to leave notes for all the owners of the diaryrings who seem to care if you're locked or not, and as you can see, I have a LOT of diaryrings.
So, a quick update. And I mean quick, because I want to write this, post it, come back later, write a goodbye entry, and lock the diary. LAST CHANCE FOR A PASSWORD. If you're a LOTR sister, you can ask Ivy, Georgie, Sally, Samantha, or Brenda for one. (Don't feel like linking since the Goodbye Entry will go link-crazy.)
Have just been spending my time packing, cleaning, and a lot of time online and getting yelled at by Dad.
Things seem to be going okay in Utah. Alexa is sick. They saw "Lilo and Stitch" yesterday but I haven't heard how it was. Kelsey and Alexa are going horseback-riding today for their first time in a new place. (The first time at the new place, not their first time period.)
Went out for lunch with Gramie yesterday at the local Japanese restaurant. Felt extremely battered when we were done. In the end I wound up feeling stupid because I don't use chopsticks, inferior because I don't count calories like she does, and somehow guilty that a bunch of people had read Lauren's college essay.
Thanks, dear grandmother.
Dad and I went out for dinner at a place nearby, it was extremely noisy but fun. I had caesar salad and cheese fondue, a preparation for France, I suppose. But speaking of preparations for France, I am totally screwing myself up with my sleeping habits. For the past week I've been going to bed after midnight and getting up around ten. In France time, this constitutes going to bed around six in the morning and getting up around four in the afternoon. Somehow, I doubt we'll keep that kind of schedule.
Got an email from Emma saying that we'll be spending a few days in Bretagne with some friends, boating and swimming and all that. Damnit, I guess I have to bring shorts, but I'll avoid wearing them at all costs. I hate shorts. Don't know if this means we're not visiting her grandparents in Normandy? We'll see.
Wednesday night Dad and I watched the first half hour of "Blithe Spirit," a very funny old movie. There's this guy and he accidentally calls the ghost of his dead ex-wife back to life during a seance session... unfortunately, the disk was totally messed up, kept skipping and all that, and he's returning it to amazon.com. So we switched to "Les enfants du paradis" which we've been watching bits of for a while. It was filmed during World War II, which is interesting to watch, and the guy who plays Baptiste the mime is amazing. I actually think he was Berenger in some production of Rhinoceros, because there were pictures in our book from French. But anyways, we finished the first part last night and started the second. Good movie. Dad got me a book of poetry by J. Prevert (not pervert, you... pervert), who wrote the script, and now I really want to read them because he has such clever wordplays in the film.
Speaking of French, Hugues lent me two cds by Georges Brassens which David burned for me. I listened to some songs with Dad. It's good listening comprehension, so I'll make sure to listen to them before French tests.
Oh! I meant to post this on Wednesday, but I forgot. Here is the translation of the email which I sent to Emma on Tuesday night.
Dear Emma, I am desoleé not to t.avoir sent an email earlier qu.aujourd.hui. I am happy that you have l.email now! Good, you m.as asked what I want to do when I go to Paris. J.ai some ideas, but I very had fun the last time and I know that you chosis interesting things! Friends of my father suggested the museum Jacquemart Andree (29 ave of Friedland, subway Star or Miromesnil; http://www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com/jandre/) or the Carnavalent museum (in the Marsh). There is also a city apart from Paris where the impressionists had l.habitude to remain. You know that j.adore l.impressionism. Giverny was absolutely beautiful! Unfortunately l.Orangery is still closed. C.est damage! If the museums are not easy to find, or if they are too loins, we can also visit Paris with foot. Perhaps we can flaner in Montmartre, parce qu.Amélie was filmed there. Or perhaps we can see another film! Does some interesting film play in a theatre close to you? Also, of course, we can go in Fauchon, or at the House of the Chocolate or there very good ice is! Now j.ai a question for you. Do you have already Cd of Harry Potter?. If you want, I can make a copy for you. I must lie down, but j.espère that you and your family is good. J.attends impatiently Friday evening! Kisses, Jessica
No, this was NOT my translation (thanks, Altavista Babelfish), but it gave me a good laugh.
Something else I've been meaning to post for a while: the top fifteen things we learned from Dad, that David and I came up with. We ended up editing it to ten, but I have the original sheet.
FIFTEEN THINGS WE LEARNED FROM DAD
1. Don't bring me problems, bring me solutions!
2. You have to have the bad with the good.
3. Forward planning is a good thing.
4. The best time to have questions about essays is not the night before they are due, yet the question will still be answered.
5. Every useless piece of information covering oil, word roots, etc....
6. Naps are beneficial.
7. Don't leave chicken parmesan in the stove too long. It may get burnt, and you will never live it down.
8. Buy EVERYTHING on sale.
9. Some people do still wear briefs.
10. French chocolate is the best.
11. If you flush clogged toilets many times successively, they WILL overflow.
12. Don't overwork yourself before a trip to Utah. Pneumonia sucks.
13. Always bring Pepto-"Dismal" to Mexico.
14. Killing bugs is a life-threatening task that should only be left to you.
15. The banjo really IS cool.
And I meant to post my brilliant Fix-It Poem as well, but it's upstairs, and, well, I'm downstairs.
Oh, by the way, I mentioned a loooong time ago (back in the entry about Utah break in March) that we had a thief. I unsent a letter to the thief a while ago. Here's a link, but beware, much profanity. I was PISSED.
Started looking forward to CTY. I'm going to make it like my first summer, where I danced barefoot in puddles and got up at five in the morning to do laundry and walked over to a table of people I didn't know and asked to play cards with them and made the best friends of my life. I will make myself happy and I won't let it destroy my entire year like it has done this year.
Because I was talking about it with Marsha, and she told me she thought I had had a wonderful year, but I disagreed, and I couldn't figure out why. I've done better academically than ever before (like chemistry), I'm getting along much better with the members of my family (like Mom, and I really have a good relationship with Lauren). But I have lost touch with all of my friends. And I mean EVERYONE. People from CTY my first and second years; from Pathways my first summer away from home; from my years at Fieldston's summer program, from skiing, from everywhere, I've had my away message on all year and I haven't written back to emails or letters and I haven't SENT emails or letters.
So my goal for CTY: I want to meet one persun that I will feel comfortable giving my diary address to.
Just one! That shouldn't be too hard, right? There were some from CTY my first year; I gave jessica5787 to Zach and to Kathy and I would have given it to Tara and Liz and Eelynn if I had stayed in touch with them. (Zach is, by the way, still the most interesting guy I have ever met in my entire life, so if you found the new diary, you can feel special. He is the most fun persun to talk to online and he is the least-depressed persun I have EVER met and always cheers me up.)
But, back on topic: I'm going to have a good time at CTY. (No, that's not a fact, it's me trying to convince myself.) Right? Right. Newish campus, so hopefully I won't be the only persun in my hall who hasn't been there before. And I'm going to stop hiding in corners and slinking along the side of the wall, because I don't want to hide. I shouldn't have to hide. I didn't hide my first summer there.
Alright. This is being posted, and check back in an hour or two for the Goodbye Entry, which I also need to write. It may take a while, because as I said, I'm going to go link-happy in it.
-Jessica
P.S. To end with, a quote from Samantha. When filling out a survey, one of the questions asked:
What is most important in life?
"God, hobbits, love, friendship, Alan Rickman, school. In that order."
