Back to Basics.

So the Taurus is dead. We scraped it on Monday. All told, minus the work we owed the mechanic, we got 100$ for it. I was hoping for more so I could get some of it but I know I probably will in the end. Now I'm back to the old bumming rides routine. Goodbye Freedom!

Last night I watched "The Chateau" while folding laundry after a boring evening at work. It was decent, comical in some really bad mishaps of cultural interactions. These two American brothers inherit a chateau in the south of France and they get, well, a lot more than a chateau. I did like the last scene though but I don't want to spoil it. It's a cute movie but I wouldn't suggest running out to get it.

So the few things I need to get together before I leave are as follows:

1- Get my ticket from STA. I called today to check on it and it should be getting here tomorrow or the next day. Icelandair changed the itinerary so I needed a new ticket and had to send it back.

2- Buy a guide book for Paris and France. I know I need to bring one but I'm not sure because they take up so much room in luggage. I could buy one there but that's always expensive. And it'd be in French.

3- Set up Power of Attorney for my mom in case she needs to sign anything for me. Not sure how I go about that. I should ask the town clerk.

4- Ask Bank of America how money transfers from my parents to my French bank account work and if there is a bank I should specifically go with. Then get the papers for Jacques, my ISEP coordinator, so he can open the account for me before I get there (handy, huh?)

5- Get the translated copy for the Town Clerk of my birth record. They say you need it for your carte de sejour (living permit) but then the Montpellier website says that you don't need that when applying. I don't know. They seem to be doing it for free so I'll just do it and go over next Monday and have them give my paper a little official looking stampy on their special paper. I was supposed to do it yesterday but my brother bitched about having to take me to the town office. Oh well. I should email the nice lady back and apologize.

Other than those things and working I need to start getting a move on AJ's book. I'm editing a book for a friend. I'll be honest and say I watched movies at work today instead of reading it. Bad I know. But I needed a break from reading.

As for reading lately, I've read a few things in French, trying to get back up to speed. I read L'Etranger this last weekend. Sad ending but definitely kept me on the edge of my seat. Well I've got to close up shortly so I'm going to start cleaning up. But here's a poem I wrote this weekend at 5am because I couldn't sleep.

"Party Politics"

Shear and

brutal Politics

cut through once

Intimately tangled

Gordian knots.

A single blow

severs twists of

cherished reminders,

giving a sour,

disdained,

frayed relation.

Blame could be placed

on the Wielder but

Politics aren't quite

as simple as a Sword.