(Sunday morning)

Sunday morning

Offline again at 10 to 10 on Sunday morning; sitting at a cafe next to
the Place des Vosges. It's going to be a sunny day!

The cafe is called Cafe Hugo, and it's sposed to have wifi internet,
but my Linux machine somehow doesn't seem to see the wifi. This was
true at another cafe yesterday too.

Cafe Hugo is named after Victor Hugo, who I think used to live around
here. the Place itself is a pretty park with a fence and a row of
trees around it, a fountain and a monument. I'm on the east side of
the park, under a row of galleries (is that what they're called?),
wrapped up in my scarf and jacket. My hands will get cold eventually
but when they do I can move a little farther back where they have
heaters.

It's too bad that the chocolate chaud here (hot chocolate) wasn't made
with the loving care that I would have liked; they really neglected
to stir the cocoa in. But the cocoa is at least a little better than
Swiss Miss. And they give you a whole basket of croissants when you
ask for one; I wonder what I'm paying for!

I wish I had brought my camera out this morning. Well, sort of; the
computer is heavy enough, thanks very much. But the sun is all
morning-slanty against the buildings, and yes, there are wrought iron
fences and geranium windowboxes, and people are just starting to get
their Sundays together.

I live in the fourth arrondissement, near to the Marais (``the
swamp"), a district that includes both the old Jewish district and
the new gay district (you can take the girl out of West Hollywood,
but...). Anyway, I think because of the Jewish connection, the stores
here are open on Sundays, which is definitely not the norm. What I'd
like to do is find a bookstore where I can get some Paris guidebooks,
now that I have a bit of time to stop and catch my breath. Plus, with
D and M coming, I want to scope some things out before next weekend.

Yesterday morning I realized that if I was going to send J in Boston a
birthday gift, I had better do it then, as the post office was only
open until noon. So I came up with a plan and executed it, except for
leaving the house without her zip code and having to wake my parents
up at 5 something in the morning to get it! But in any case I got to
talk to my dad, so that was good.

After that, I went back; I had plans to meet with J in the 5th (Js,
let's call him, to distinguish from J in Boston, who will always be
J!). He was having trouble getting up, as usual, so I went to a cafe
near me, found that I couldn't get the wireless to work, and then
accomplished one of my goals for the weekend: getting back to work on
my paper ``What should should mean?" that is due for a conference
proceedings at the end of the month. It was very good to see it
again. It is a good reminder that when I do things that are easy for
me, I'm happy, and they turn out pretty well.

I have installed LaTeX and Thunderbird on this machine, which were two
other goals for the weekend, though I'm going to have to wait until
tomorrow when I can plug in at work to get things more together. Also,
annoyingly, my Windows application data that I put on a CD is
apparently not there, or at least, this machine can't read it. Argh!
And my external drive is only happy talking to Windows XP
machines. Maybe I can reformat at some point? The Linux machine sees
it but won't open it.

Anyway, Js and I were fairly boring yesterday, did some more work (him on
Swedish homework and guitar playing), he cooked a dinner with steak
that was only one day past the sell-by date (what I like about Js is,
he's so darn classy). We went to the Bom but I only had one drink and
went home.

Actually Friday night I went to the Bom, never did meet N from UCLA
because he was working too hard, but Canadian friend A called and came
over, so Js and A got to meet each other, if briefly. (It's clear to
me that I need to know more girls. :) Later A and I
went out for a late-night crepe on rue Mouffetard in the 5th, which
has to be one of the great late-night pleasures of Paris.

At home, I am starting to figure out my washing machine, getting used
to the lag time required to dry things on racks, and realizing
that fabric softener really is necessary when you don't have a
dryer. Now if I can only find some that is not too terribly
smelly... the non-scented fad hasn't much hit Paris yet, I'm afraid. I
did see some fancy bobo laundry items at BHV, my fave department
store, but didn't feel like carrying them back.

Hmm, is BHV open on Sundays? I really need a book that tells me. Or an
internet. Soon, soon.

And when I have internet, I will be able to spend Sunday evenings
Skyping and webcaming and stuff. Can't wait...I miss everyone a lot,
and would like to call in a cheaper way. I really do think of everyone
all the time, my girlfriends in LA, my high school and college and gradual school
buddies scattered everywhere, Noo and J and company in Boston, and
especially family. I have photos of everyone that I look at to remind
myself what y'all look like, but soon we'll get some webcaming going.

Actually, I could prolly set up Skype at work, and be around at the
end of the work day tomorrow, something like noon or 1 Eastern, 9 or
10 Pacific. Drop me a line before then if you want to chat!

It feels really good to have a chance to sit down and write
again. I'll see if I can find a way to post this today. Until then,
cheers to everyone, and talk to you soon!