31 January, 2007 | 2 Comments
Thanks for the spectacular ass-whooping.
Now please go away.
Archive for January, 2007
31 January, 2007 | Enter your password to view comments
29 January, 2007 | 5 Comments
Now now, there’s no time for tears…
I had an internet connection while I was in Florence, so I posted a couple things while I was there. But I have a bit more to say. I know, shocking. I want to tell you about a few of my favorite Florentine things…raindrops on roses, marble gods, jewelry.
My Favorite Rear View: Il David
One of my New Year’s resolutions is to feature more male nudity on this blog. To that end, I managed to semi-salvage the photo of David’s glorious tush that I mentioned a while ago:
This is the best I could do. When I took this, I was chatting with an American woman who just kept looking at the sculpture and saying, “He is so hot.” Is it normal to be turned on by a statue? Don’t get me wrong – I love staring at the rear end of a 17-foot man as much as the next gal, but lust? It just seems…wrong.
My Favorite Kitsch: The Hotel Lobby
Do the owners realize how tacky this is? Obviously not. I stayed at the Hotel California – and yes, that song was in my head every time I walked through the door. It’s a fabulous budget hotel located in the center of Florence, right between the Duomo and the Accademia (David). And there’s a free continental breakfast (just called “breakfast” on the Continent?). They give you a plate heaped with croissants and pastries. They just plop it down on the table right in front of you, as if this is some sort of normal breakfast eaten by normal humans on a daily basis.
Heavenly.
28 January, 2007 | 6 Comments
He died nine years ago today, but I don’t miss him any less with the passage of time. Ours was a special bond – completely unexplainable, but special. Me, the feisty globe-trotting feminist writer chick, and my grandfather, the Alabama native and Marine, the lover of football and cowboy hats and chewing tobacco and Jack Daniels, were kindred spirits from the day I was born until the day he died in my presence. I was my grandpa’s girl in every way. I adored him and he adored me.
Being a grandfather brought out his best self, made him into the man he should have been all along. In our lives, there are not many people who will love us unconditionally, who will love us no matter what and who’ll do anything for us. We can be loved by a great many people, but very few will ever love us like that.
I am a better person for having been loved by him. And I still feel his love and his energy. I have felt it many times over the past year. He watches over me. I take comfort in that.
28 January, 2007 | 2 Comments
Why did I stay up until 6:00 a.m. chatting with my American friends?
Because I love them. And because everyone I know in France was asleep.
27 January, 2007 | 3 Comments
It’s really not my intention to keep writing about Chinese women, but this story is just one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever read: In a region of northern China, dead women are sold as brides. From WaPo:
The tradition, called “minghun” or afterlife marriage, is common in the Loess Plateau region of northern China, where a recently deceased woman is buried with a bachelor to keep him company after his death.
Obviously, the women who become ghost brides are already dead; it’s not as if women are killed for this purpose. Well, not normally. This news article is about a man who “bought” a woman for $1,600 to sell as a regular, old-fashioned bride (you know, with a pulse) but then he killed her when he discovered she was worth more as a ghost bride. He then killed a prostitute for the same purpose but didn’t get as much money for her because she was “less pretty.” The authorities have said that this isn’t an isolated case. As Salon stated in their coverage, this issue is obviously tied to the millions of missing Chinese women. Given that many men do not have the opportunity to marry in life, their families want female companionship for them after deaths. If that doesn’t sum up the horror of the Chinese gender imbalance, nothing does.
26 January, 2007 | 4 Comments
I participated in Blog for Choice Day this week. It wasn’t my best post — in fact, The Vol Abroad accused me of phoning it in! I had spent all my good feminist energy on the Chinese posts and I was tapped out, so I made only a minimal effort to participate. And then I started getting a bunch of hits from Bush v. Choice (the Blog for Choice website) and I felt like a loser.
The point to my telling you this is that an anti-choice website has linked to all of us who participated in this and has stated publicly that we advocate child murder. I’m not going to link to this site because these people don’t deserve the attention they so desperately crave. But to state on a public website that I and other bloggers advocate for the murder of children fits every definition of libel that I know. However, in the US courts, anti-choicers are never called to account for the lies they spread. Surprise, surprise.
In other blog-related happenings, today I received a comment from Matt. His comment was:
“I want to [blank] you.”
This was followed by links to his favorite porn sites.
Thanks Matt! I’m touched. Do you know what I want? I want to watch you jump off a 50-story building and land head-first on the pavement. Sadly, I don’t think either of us is going to get our wish.
Do you see what I must deal with because I have this blog?
26 January, 2007 | 4 Comments
Yours truly has been embroiled in yet another major crisis over the past few days. Yes, seriously. I took out a student loan to help support my studies in London last year. My American loan provider contacted my university a few days ago to verify my current enrollment status — a routine action. My university kindly informed them that I had never registered or enrolled at all. Gee, glad I made such a great impact on everyone. If I had never actually enrolled, then I would have defrauded my lender and the US government by taking a federal student loan. Hello, prison!
Given the hell I’ve been through over the past few weeks, I actually thought for a few seconds — Oh my God, I never lived in London. I imagined the whole thing.
But I’m pretty sure I did live there. However, if anyone reading this has photographic evidence, that’d be great.
This enrollment question may seem like an easy enough problem to fix. The fact that this error occurred didn’t surprise me. I was chatting about this with a friend tonight and she reminded me that this same university system had lost all of her records when she was a student there and had no proof she had ever enrolled. My university is completely laissez-faire when it comes to paperwork and record-keeping of any kind. However, if you are one second late with a tuition payment they will send a lawyer after you. Because you know, money is important to them. Why do you think they admit so many Americans and Asian students? Not for our brilliance.
I corrected this big problem, but sadly, this little glitch opened up a rather ugly can of worms regarding when my leave of absence started and when my loan was dispersed. I’d rather not go into the details, but if I hadn’t managed to sort various problems regarding my enrollment status with my university, I could have been in a lot of trouble. And well, I was a wee bit terrified. But my mom calmed me down, in the way that only mothers can. Because you know, I was on the verge of losing it — again. Only this was the worst.
I’m pleased to report that it all worked out. All is well in Anglofille’s world, at least during the two seconds it’s taken me to type this sentence. But I think the universe is trying to send me a message. That much is clear. I’m not sure what it is, exactly. It feels like this: “I’ll get you, my pretty.”
Eek. I don’t like that. Perhaps it’s this:
“Life’s a bitch. You live in Paris. Lots of people would love to live in Paris. Stop complaining about your life and suck it up.”
Okay.
24 January, 2007 | 5 Comments
I think I need to finish up my posts on Italy. I know it’s old news by now and no one probably cares, but it’s the middle of bleakest January and I for one would like to reminisce.
So today, it’s all about food (with lots of photos!). After living in Paris and visiting Italy, I’ve come to the conclusion that food in the English-speaking world tastes like garbage. I’m not even sure why we bother to eat. I’m serious. When world cuisines were handed out centuries ago, we got the shaft. And I blame the English for this culinary disaster, since America didn’t even exist.
While I think French bread and pastry is unparalleled, I much prefer the cuisine in Italy overall. It’s friendlier to my high-maintenance digestive system and isn’t so rich and heavy (plus, it’s a lot healthier). Authentic Italian food is not smothered in globs of melted cheese, unlike what often passes for Italian food outside of Italy. And there are plenty more vegetarian options. Proscuitto is a menace though – good grief, they add it to everything!
So here’s a trip down culinary lane. I desperately miss the food in Italy. Ever since I got back to France, I can’t stop eating sun-dried tomatoes. I crave them constantly.
I found a restaurant in Florence called Lo Scudo that was my favorite. It’s right behind the Duomo. I had the best spaghetti on earth there. If I had the recipe for this, I’d be the most popular gal around:
I can’t even describe how this dish delighted every taste bud in my mouth. So much of the food I ate in Italy did that. While eating you just have to pause and savor it. Eating the food there and taking the time to enjoy it is just as important as visiting a museum or a church. When I traveled in Hong Kong and Thailand, I remember also feeling this way about the eating experience.
Here is bruschetta from Lo Scudo:
No cheese in sight! The toppings included a minced tuna steak that tasted exactly like ground beef. This is something I must try to find the recipe for.
23 January, 2007 | 4 Comments
China’s top “family planner” has stated that it will take 15 years to reverse the country’s gender imbalance. The government has now vowed to crack down on those performing gender testing via ultrasound and sex-selective abortions. I imagine the worldwide revulsion and horror over recent reports of the millions of missing women in their country contributed to them taking action – or at least, their claim that they will take action.
I’m pro-choice, even if the choice is made for the vilest reasons. As such, I think that anyone who wants to abort a fetus because it is female should be allowed to do just that. Why should people with such views be forced to have a daughter? They don’t deserve to have one and no little girl should be sentenced to life with parents like that. Rather than focusing on punishing those who facilitate this kind of behavior, the government should put all of their energy and resources into creating a society where girls are valued as much as boys. Such programs are in place, apparently, but they seem completely inadequate.
The most interesting part of the government statement is this (summarized by China Daily):
The authorities also pledged to improve protection of baby girls, saying that people who kill, abandon or injure infant girls or ill-treat their mothers, should be severely punished.
The Chinese government’s position is that infanticide and neglect of females is rare. I guess not. Apparently, this sort of behavior must exist at an alarming level. And they’ve just acknowledged that those who commit such heinous acts are not, at this point in time, severely punished. It’s sickening that there is now such urgency in protecting little girls, when they’ve known about these practices for decades and have done nothing. Only now that the government is stuck with a gender imbalance have these issues taken priority. But then I guess the one-child policy needed to be enforced no matter what and those who would kill or abandon little girls were just doing the government’s dirty work for them.
23 January, 2007 | 5 Comments
I finally have the damn internet in my apartment. No thanks to France Telecom. Apparently, they can’t get their incompetent butts over here till February to flip the switch, and they want to charge a huge fee to do it. The family that owns my apartment finally got fed up with them. They bought a router, installed wifi in their place (pronounced wee-fee en français), and I can pick up the signal perfectly two floors above. So far so good.
So it looks like I won’t get fired from my job, go bankrupt and be forced to jump off a bridge into the Seine. Well, actually, these things could still happen (heaven forbid), but I won’t be able to blame the internet or lack thereof.
22 January, 2007 | 4 Comments
Poor Anglofille’s life just keeps getting worse. I need to add Bank of America to my list of enemies and tormentors, except they go right to the top, well above France Telecom. That’s bad.
You know, Bank of America, I hope some teenage hacker in the Philippines or somewhere hacks into your system and transfers every cent and share and asset you possess to some impoverished African nation. Yes, that would serve you right. And then you’d be left with nothing, thus plunging your soulless corporation into financial ruin. Oh, what a happy day that would be!
(I realize that many of you reading this probably have accounts with Bank of America, but you know, tough, because in my evil fantasy you’re all going down with the ship.)
I never chose to have an account with these bastards, but they bought Fleet Bank and I was hostilely taken over. They’ve bought half the banks in America. Pretty soon my homeland will be called the United States of Bank of America.
It’s funny that the almighty “we’re more powerful than God” Bank of America doesn’t have a way for people overseas to make deposits. Is B of A run by the Amish? Apparently. (My apologies to the Amish. You don’t deserve such abuse.)
You know, if George W. Bush formulated a plan to attack Bank of America, overthrow its leadership and liberate its account holders, I just might vote for the son of a bitch. Does this convey to you how much I hate Bank of America? Does it? Good.
19 January, 2007 | 11 Comments
At the top of my list are:
France Telecom
Adobe
Unnamed French Male
I’d rather not elaborate on any of that right now, thank you. Well, except to say that I won’t have internet service until the end of next week at least. The internet is integral to my US-based job, so if I can make it that long without getting fired or having a nervous breakdown, it’ll be a miracle. The odds are about 50-50 right now.
You know, there are actually a few people I’d like to strangle at the moment. Even when weighing the possibility of getting caught and going to prison, it still might be worth it.
In other news of annoyance, I am currently engaged in a battle of wills with UPS. My job sent me a book, valued at around $70 (56€/£35). And since the person who sent it did not bother to lie on the customs form, I have to pay a huge customs fee of 38€ ($49/£25). Who the hell writes the true value of things on customs forms? Idiots, I guess. And why is this whole customs business a legalized form of blatant, sheer robbery? UPS keeps calling me to demand this money so they can deliver my book and I keep ignoring them as a sort of tantrum, even though it’s clear they will win this battle. Or the book will be sent back.
What has annoyed me most recently, as in, within the last 30 minutes? I’ll tell you. In my new apartment I don’t have a washer-dryer. Sniffle. So I need to go to the local coin-operated laundromat. This afternoon, I washed and dried two loads of laundry. And it cost 13€ ($17/£8.50). I think it might be cheaper just to buy new clothes.
In other apartment news, I killed the plant my landlady gave me when I moved in. It wasn’t intentional, it just died, perhaps because I am a heartless killer who should never be allowed to care for living things.
And all of this is just the tip of a very ugly iceberg. So you see, I’m in a very bad mood. And I have been for days. And I tried to hide it from my lovely blog readers, but I just can’t any longer. I am filled with rage and despair and contempt for the world.
And if any of you do anything to annoy me, I’ll add you to my list. It’s a long list, but there’s plenty of room, so don’t push it.
18 January, 2007 | 4 Comments
In every city I visited in Italy, there was at least one place that for whatever reason was particularly special to me. In Venice, that place was Isola San Michele (the last word pronounced something like mi-KELL-ay). This is an island about 5 minutes by vaporetto from Venice, an island consisting of a church and a huge cemetery – and that’s it. It’s a cemetery island, essentially, surrounded by tall brick walls and filled with cypress trees and countless graves:
17 January, 2007 | 4 Comments
My last few posts have been quite grim, so I thought I’d publish a couple photos of what I’ve been eating to chase away the January blahs: miniature pastries and giant croissants.
16 January, 2007 | Comments
In my previous post, I referenced The Dying Room, a documentary on Chinese state orphanages where unwanted little girls are abandoned and left to die. In case you didn’t check out the comments, Robyn included a link to the website of Channel 4 in the UK, which will allow you to view the documentary online. Interestingly, I’ve been getting a lot of hits on my blog from Chinese websites the past few days.
