CGN

I've safely landed in Cologne and am almost back to normal health wise! Our airplane was one day old - it had this new plabe scent, it was pretty cool. I LOOOOOVE flying, I'm not at all afraid and I love turbulences. Feels like we're on a roller coaster. The lady sitting next to me, however didn't seem to be enjoying them quite as much as I was.


The weather here really sucks - 7 degrees and raining. Johnny, I'd take your californian 27 anytime!

I'll be here on "vacation" (meaning I don't have to work but will be writing some uni papers) for the next ten days...

Where's spring???

Well, not anywhere near my couch. I've been sick for the past couple of days, and yesterday I thought I was feeling better, so I decided to go to work to get the most important stuff done. Bad idea!

First of all, at the latest in the subway I started feeling dizzy and noticed although my throat felt better than the day before, my head was still completely fuzzy.

Secondly, I thought it was spring. it wasn't. We had a mix of rain, spontaneous snow storm, sun and lots and lots of wind. Great!!

Today I am back on my couch underneath my comforter and won't move one inch until I'm feeling better... or at least until tomorrow afternoon, I have a flight to catch to Cologne. I REALLY don't feel like flying sick...

I love cats, but...

I had a cat as I was growing up. Got him when I was 11, and he was my companion throughout my teenage years, survived the move into my tiny first appartment, the move to the second larger appartment with rommate, and when I moved to Germany, my cat retired and lived on a farm on the countryside :)

This week my neighbour was moving, and to help her out, I agreed to catsit her 2 adults cats for a day and a half. I never thought 36 hours could be so long.

First of all, it was kind of tricky, logistically speaking, because of Pouki-Helmoutte, so I put the hamster's cage in the hallway, and kept the cats in the living room / dining room / kitchen. During the first hour, the cats were a bit scared, and meowed a lot. As I was leaving the living room, they slipped through my legs and got into the hallway. All the noise had woken Pouki up and she came out of her nest. I froze for a second, afraid the cats would hunt my baby down.

1-Cats see hamster, and freeze.
2-Hamster sees cats, stands on her hind legs, and makes a loud noise I have NEVER heard her make before (kind of like a hamster-hiss, I guess)
3- Cats freak out and run away!!!

Good Pouki.

Anyways, I still locked the door after that, just to be sure.

Having cats is fun, you always get a surprise each time you come home (Friday afternoon - cats had thrown salt and pepper shakers on the floor, and my whole living room was now perfectly seasoned. Friday night, I no longer had a tablecloth on my table. Saturday morning, there was cat litter underneath the whole length of my dining room table - how appetizing)

Needless to say, as friends of the cat mommy arrived Saturday afternoon to pick them up, I was VERY happy. And celebrated by cleaning the whole appartment, which looked like the cats had shed ALL their winter fur in the 36 hours they were here.

I LOVE having a hamster!!!!

Losing my mind...

No, not quite yet, but I am feeling quite under the weather because I'm at the end of the semester, in the middle of exam week and days away from my internship in a high school.

"Ok, kids, now who can tell me what the following word means: e-x-h-a-u-s-t-e-d..."

Insomnia

Since I can't sleep, here's a great video from a group I used to love, around the millenium: Enigma



Gravity of Love

I haven't followed them much since The Screen behind the Mirror, but I brought their cd back with me when I went home this X-mas. Their video (in this case) and music is artful, intense and slightly erotic. In one word: tastefully done. Loooove it.

I am so happy to have my music again. I know practically everything is available nowadays via internet, but say what you want, it isn't the same as my good old cd collection.

Sorry, non francophone readers!

but this just really has to be in French!

Dans le cadre de ses capsules "Moment chouchou de stars", Marc Labrèche (pour ceux qui ne vienennt pas du Québec, c'est lui qui joue dans "Le Coeur a ses raisons") imite Christian Bégin, et ils se ressemblent juste trop!!!

Je me rappelle de Christian Bégin du temps de Télé-Pirate.... Oh boy qu'il a vieilli (oui oui, en beauté aussi!)

Alors voici la capsule, qui est assez drôle, et surtout, l'imitation qui est (du moins au début) vraiment réussie:

Price fluctuations

I went to see Katy Perry here in Berlin 6 months ago. I payed my ticket 11 euros...

Now her tickets for her tour on North America actually go from 40 $ to 342$!!!!

I'm really shocked by the fact that people actually pay that much money to see her live!! I mean, I love her studio music, but live, she just can't sing...

Hell, with those studio computers, I sound just like Celine, too. What makes a real singer is to be able to sing well live. The others are just entertainers. It doesn't make them bad for it, but they're just not singers.

Looooooove it!

Little boots - meddle

also check out their song Mathematics on their myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/littlebootsmusic

Today

Johnny Rat made me an honorary american for today. Thanks, John!!

I'm so moved to be able to experience this historical happening!!

Happy belated New Year, Y'all!

Link:

Baking Christmas Cookies!!!

This one song to which yours truly just HAS to sing to. In my pyjamas, jumping on the couch, singing into my hairbrush...

This weekend my bf is here for the last time before I fly back to Canada (Thursday!!!)

And we will be very busy baking Christmas cookies, cuddling and visiting Christmas markets.

Oh , and by the way, today is Saint-Nicholas Day in Germany. Last night, thousands of children brushed one of their shoes clean, and put it outside their door. Saint-Nick came during the night and this morning, if the kids were good during the year, their shoe is filled with chocolates, treats, nuts and fruit. If they were bad, it's filled with coal.

I got nuts and fruit. And a cactus dressed up as Santa Claus.

;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIUS!!!!!

Je te souhaite de l'amour, du bonheur, du plaisir, du succès, et tout ce que ton coeur désire...

If at first you don't succeed

AAliyah, produced by Timbaland a while ago.

Heard this song today, and just like that, I was back in 2000. Young, sweet and 17. That year, I was in the school fashion show, I had a huge crush on an older guy from Guadeloupe, got in trouble week after week, and really had a blast.

In 2000 I failed most of my science classes, found my true self and re-oriented my option classes to film production and drama.

In 2000, on one Friday night in August or September, I was invited to a party at my ex-boyfriend's place. As soon as I walked in, I noticed a really special guy. His blue eyes, the way he looked, everything about him was so special, so... different.

We spent the whole evening talking, and said goodbye. A friend of mine walked me home and asked "so, what's up with that dude and you?" and I answered "I have no idea, but trust me, this guy is so special, he is definitely going to play a big role in my life, I can feel it, my intuition tells me so". To which my friend laughed. He just said something along the lines of "Oh, Françoise, you hopeless romantic, wake up and smell the coffee, the guy is German, leaving town tomorrow morning and you'll never see each other again."

Well, I'll spare you the whole story, but 8 years later, here I am in Berlin...

All I can say is, gut feeling, connection to the universe or plain and simple feminine intuition, I believe in it... and won't forget the year 2000. Millenium.

What a day!!

Today I starred in an educational film for pupils learning french. This is the only type of thing I like getting up at 7:00 for...

We filmed at the skating rink, downtown, in a coffee shop and in my appartment and I had loads of fun and a great day! I met nice people and had forgotten how much fun it is to work on a set (my option classes in school were film production and drama).

The producer picked me up around 8:30 and we filmed until 6:00 pm. The final verison of the short film will be 3 minutes long. Can't wait to see the result!

All in all, I must say that I love working on projects that allow me to be creative, and this one certainly did. I hope more projects like this one come my way!!

Oh, and by the way, it snowed on Friday, Saturday and this morning everything was white! It seems like these days I just get everything I ask for...

This one is definitely for John...

Apparently Germans think rats are sexy. I learned a new word this week: rattenscharf.

Roughly translated, it means "as hot as a rat". And it's meant in a good way...