Le Fabuleux Destin D'Amélie Poulain

So I'm going through a little bit of a French culture kick these days. I attribute it in part to Bobby's trip to Paris which I imagine to be fantastic; His visit is a grainy black and white montage to the tune of some 20's singer smoking and droning on about amour. Partly, it's also my French class. It's been eons since I've taken any French but I'm remembering why I liked it so much and am becoming a bit of a keener.

In this kick I also rewatched Amélie. I know it's kind of a cliché but it's cute and I like it. The video I'm posting is more about the music than the footage. It's actually kind of crappy footage but it's a good song.

The Comeback (of the awkward)

Today was my first day back to school for the term. It wasn't terribly exciting. As the most notable class related happening of the day, I decided my phys. ed. teacher is unnecessarily hardcore. Her opening remark was "You can call me Mrs. Edwards, or Ms. Edwards, or Aletheia. But that's as friendly as it's gonna get."

I'm not sure how much more friendly it could get. "Hey tits" perhaps?

I digress.

This term my classes are all super far apart. I'm going to become the king of speedwalking by the end of the school year. I may invest in a pink Valerie Cherish style track suit for my daily strolls. On the first of my lengthy jaunts today I passed the awkward couple. You know, "the awkward couple" from high school. Both of them are really weird, they generally have acne, and for some reason are uncomfortably affectionate toward each other in public. They're the iconic alpha-couple of the social outcasts. Now they go to Grant MacEwan.

When I encountered them I was walking through the pedway from the 109st building to the Centre for Sport and Wellness. It's a somewhat narrow space, as pedways tend to be. So when I was heading toward them and they were heading toward me (holding each others hands in a death-grip,) it was impossible to look away when they paused to kiss.

It wasn't a pec. It wasn't a gentle smooch. It was a full-on, let's stop in the pedway, open our mouths and tongue-bang kind of kiss.

I don't know why only the really, really, really awkward couples seem to do this. I suppose it's good that they have each other. But I don't need to be part of their loving experience. The first thing I thought of when I witnessed the event was Aunt Sassy.

I burst onto the awkward just as she burst on to baby-girl:

"Note to self: I don't need to SEE that!"

On Board Games

My favourite thing about getting together at Christmas is that my family always plays ridiculous board games.

Over the years we have developed several favourites: Apples to Apples, Catch Phrase, occasionally Cranium or Pictionary. My favourite is Catch Phrase. It's a frantic blend of Hot Potato and a simple word game. You just try to get your team to say the word on the disc and then pass it on before time runs out. The best part is that the timer is random and accelerates as it gets closer to running out. This inadvertently causes mayhem as teams are throwing the disc back and forth and as people's gestures and descriptions become louder and more grand. The team caught holding the disc when time runs out succumbs to the cheers and jeers of their opponents and team mates. It's ridiculous.

Take my sister for example. I'm not sure what she's doing - but it looks stupid and that's enough for me.

MobileMe (pt 2)

I have started working on my other web page. I'm not sure that I'll continue it. But for now, it's a fun distraction.

You can see it here: Grande Fully Body 2

MobileMe

I think Apple products are over-hyped.

But I'm a sucker for them anyway. My newest obsession is their MobileMe service. I started using it when I needed to post some photos online and wanted my friends and family to be able to download decent sized pictures so they could go out and print them themselves. I started using flickr but got fed-up with it after about 10 mins and signed up for the 60 day free trial of MobileMe.

If you've never heard of it, it takes your computers (desktop/laptop/work computer) and syncs them if you so desire (you even have the choice of selecting what is synced between them. In my case, I have Safari bookmarks, my address book, my email, and some other stuff synced. If you have an iPhone or an iPod touch, it also syncs those with your computers. You also get a bunch of storage space, really awesome photo and video galleries, and the ability to make a website/blog using iWeb.

I realize nobody cares about this stuff as I do but I think it's a super big deal when software developers figure out a way to tie all of your devices together using the same suite of software. It makes life a lot easier. My two complaints right now are that the syncing is sometimes a little glitchy and that it's very expensive. It's about $100 for a year's subscription. Right now I've got my free trial and we'll see whether or not I renew once that's up.

Check out the gallery here.

It's pretty sweet.