bus stories

in the bus the other day, there were some kids who'd apparently never been in a bus before. they kept wondering what all the buttons were for. one of the kids' mother explained that if you pressed on the red one, the bus would stop. they seemed to take it very litteraly, for when i pressed the button, in the middle of a tunnel, one of the kids wondered why the bus didn't stop there and then ;)

this reminded me of Tahiti, where the bus was amazing in that anyplace was a bus stop. if you saw one coming down the road, you simply waved it to a stop. and if you wanted to get off somewhere, it would stop just after you'd pressed the button. it was a great system, if a bit chaotic...

300

apparently, this is my 300th post. why are we so obsessed with round numbers? why am i making this more significant than, say, post 197? cos i've been brainwashed, that's why... ;)

other that that, today's probably the first time in a good week that my favourite student has not mentioned the word 'contraception' in class... in his defense, i'll say we've been discussing how things have or will change in the last/next hundred years, and technically, yes, contraception fits the bill. it's obviously important to him, otherwise i'm sure he wouldn't have mentioned it so often... and while there was no such debate today, he was world-class on the ball this morning, so we still managed to have a good laugh.

the set-up

when a friend suggested we go out dancing tonight, i originally thought, yeah, let's do it! until i remembered i had no money left and pay-day is in another 4 days. so i declined. in the meantime, 3 other friends asked me if i was coming, and when i explained why i wasn't, said to call them if i changed my mind. and me thinking, why don't they get it? it's not that i don't want to go, but unless i suddenly win money by tonight...

anyway, having gone through all that, i thought the matter was settled. silly me. suddenly, the phone rang. my best friend had asked her boyfriend (the organiser) to call me and convince me. apparently, i wouldn't have believed her if she'd told me there'd be loads of nice men there, so he had to tell me. it was a bit of a crazy conversation. i'm guessing it all originated with her offering to find me a boyfriend. but the fact of the matter is, call me crazy, but when i go dancing, i go dancing. i'm not there to meet guys. in fact, i think it's a lousy way to meet guys.

anyway, the conversation ended with the boyfriend telling me to get my arse to the meeting place, where i'd be able to meet the others and surely get my drinks paid for by some unsuspecting man, and if i agreed to sing, he himself would pay me money, and he was sure others would lend me some too. and i'm thinking, you can't ever have heard me sing to make such an offer! (unless he meant to pay me to stop singing)

so there we go. i'm now officially going dancing to avoid other people feeling sorry for me ;) but really, it's damn nice to know people care enough to go through all that just to ensure i join them.

morning glory

i've probably said this before, but there is nothing more glorious than sunrise. walking to my bus stop this morning, i was able to admire the changing sky, so blue, and the colourful trees, all this with the amazing mist hovering over the fields. it made me wish i had my camera on me, and even think i might get up early tomorrow morning and take some pics. but then again, i might just stay in bed... ;)

famous for a day

while the hugging spree was taking place the other day, i was interviewed by the local (free) newspaper. they wanted to know what i thought about it, etc. so today, i'm in the paper, with a picture and a quote. i was a bit worried about the quote because in the excitment, i used words that could have been miscontrued, but they dealt with it well, i must say. so two of my colleagues wanted autographs, other people sent me emails to congratulate me on being in the paper, one adding that he'd always thought they made those 'people opinions' up, so that he now felt a lot better. luckily, all this attention was totally wasted on my students, and will hopefully remain so.

free hugs campaign - part 2

remember my post on the free hugs campaign? if you don't know what i'm talking about, check it out on
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4

and so yesterday, a group of lovely people did the same in Geneva. i went to show support, and ended up borrowing one of the free-hugs signs and giving hugs to lots of total strangers! it was great. most people had no idea what we were doing, but a lot of them joined in the fun. children loved it. there were these two teenagers with us, and they obviously couldn't get enough... must have hugged them 4-5 times each! but it was so nice, everyone wanted more.

the whole thing was filmed and we were apparently on national tv in the evening, although i missed it. but let's hope it gives more people the will to do it ;)

sweet november

amazingly, it's quite warm, after the cold spell of two weeks ago. which is apparently the reason there are still leaves on the trees. and on the way to my bus, there are quite a few maple trees, and so it's gorgeous. with the clear blue skies and amazing views of the mountains, it's a pleasure walking around. i feel like i'm in Japan... ;)

foot analysis

it's a Grinberg method thing, and i went for one yesterday. the way these people see it, is that the foot is a map of your body, of what ails it. and after answering a few questions, i was pretty much told what i already knew. but that's the point, isn't it: i know it, noone else is supposed to. it was just a little scary having a total stranger tell me about myself. the truth sounds a lot harsher when you actually hear the words. thinking it is one thing. hearing it...

it's all very nice and well but i can't really see there's a lot i can do about it. there are a lot of reasonably good reasons for what i do. yes, of course, i could stand my ground and tell the boss i can't work lunchtimes because i need to eat at regular times. in today's world, who exactly eats at regular times? and then i'd be out of a job, really. maybe i wouldn't be out of a job if i did it a little less thoroughly, but i'd feel like shit knowing i didn't do my best, and isn't that a little worse? and maybe i don't always say what i think - at least not right there and then, but after careful consideration as to the best wording, which yes, i probably spend too much time thinking about. well, yes, but there is such a thing as diplomacy at work, and even with friends, sometimes. as for the wall i put up around me, it's gone down a lot, in the last 10 years. and yes, it's still there, but again, there's a very good reason for it having gone up in the first place. and as it's constantly disminishing, i'm at least going in the right direction, no?

so that was that. obviously, it's all to do with my upbringing and my own standards. but i wouldn't be me if i didn't have all that, would i?

tax people!

this is unbelievable! for the first time this year, i had to pay French taxes. as it was my first time, i had to get all the paperwork myself (ie, it wasn't sent to me automatically). i filled in the whole thing, sent it off, and a few months later, got a letter back saying i'd paid too much and that a cheque would follow soon. nice.

a couple of months later, i got a letter addressed to me, but with a spelling mistake in my first name. apparently, i hadn't paid my income tax! considering i wasn't on their register before sending in my form, i was a bit surprised that there now were two of me. i still had to send in a written letter saying there was just one of me. but ok, it happens. i did ask, however, when i'd get the next round of tax papers (as i own my flat). they said they were being sent out as we spoke. so although i didn't get anything for a long time, i didn't worry too much. and i finally got the papers yesterday. and what a surprise, when i realised that they'd first been sent to Japan (where i haven't lived for over 2 years)! i looked at the due date, which said October 16th... so i called the relevant number and asked what the new due date was, seen as i'd only just received the papers. it was one big mess...

but what amazes me, is that while i didn't exist for the tax people before May, they still managed to get three of me (the spelling mistake and the Japanese me - which by the way, is weird, cos i really don't know how they managed to get hold of that address). what a feat!

on the road to becoming a pool queen

so, was at the regular fortnightly pool night yesterday, and couldn't help notice that, while my games were not equally good (and let's face it, some were downright bad), i feel i'm getting better. i'm not talking about the total flukes that i keep putting in, but the way i hit the balls, for example. i felt very proud of myself last night!

compliment

i'm gonna stop putting numbers to them... the latest goes like this: i was told that it's really great to be with/talk to me, cos you can just be yourself around me. nice! my friend Tinkie points out that this is probably to do with me not minding ridicule at all, but who cares why?

tinkie's birthday party

was great! i had so much fun! eventually went to bed at 5am and was lucky to get to sleep till after lunchtime. i slept over at tinkie's, as she insisted i should drink, and it was so nice to lie in bed and not feel guilty about not doing something - cos as it wasn't my place, there wasn't anything for me to do! so, so nice... ;)

mountains

i grew up surrounded by mountains, and i used to see them all the time, but now that i live in a flat with no such view, i tend to forget how beautiful they are. but today was a glorious (if freezing and windy) day, so there was no way i could miss them. on top of that, i had to take a bus 'far up' in the countryside to pick up my car, and as i wasn't driving, i was able to admire the Jura and it's beauty. then, as i reached the garage my car was at, i turned around and saw a lot more of the Alps than i usually do further down the valley. it was breathtaking. i could see les Dents du Midi and Matterhorn, which are always hidden behind a lower mountain, seen from where i live. and with the sun setting behind me, the sky was tainted in pink and light blue hues. i could have stood there for hours... well, if it hadn't been for the wind and the cold...