Little Lord Fauntleroy

zen master

wait, what?

I didn't go to Penn's university-wide graduation, but I did watch the webcast.  Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, was the speaker.  As is to be expected, his speech was peppered with technological references, one of which was Wii's.  Penn's resident gossip column, Under the Button, tweeted the ceremony.  According to them, when Eric Schmidt said "waiting in line for Wii's", it was closed captioned as "waiting in line for weed".  Man, that's rich.

This is the end, my only friend . . .

I write this as an exercise in catharsis.  Tears stream down my face with each click of the keyboard, threatening to destroy my harddrive and my precious, precious files.  My friends, the Celtics have lost.  Their post-season run has come to an end, and with it, my every ounce of happiness.  While I loved every minute of KG's suited(!) sideline coaching, I can't help but think they might have made it a little bit farther if he weren't injured.  I'm pretty sure Leon Powe was missed as well.  

Ok, so it's not that bad.  The Nuggies are still in the running.  What was it that Mark Cuban called them?  Oh yeah, thugs.  Baller.

John Legend, I love you.

Tomorrow's Commencement for Penn's Class of 2009 is preceded by the myriad graduations for the individual schools of the University.  Graduation for the School of Arts and Sciences (the College, for those "in the know") was held tonight.  The only reason I risked ruining the enigma of a Penn graduation a year prior to my own expected graduation date is because John Legend was the speaker.  So I went because, well, I lurve John Legend.  For reals, for reals.    Sadly, he did not sing.  And though it would have been ridiculous if he had, I still had a more than faint glimmer of hope that he would.
Look at all those bottles of water under the students' chairs.  Now I know where my tuition money is going.

Johnny Boy gave a pretty sweet speech.  But honestly, I can't remember about 2/3 of the inspirational things he said.  I do remember that the crux of his speech functioned on finding the truth in the world, but somehow the last part of his speech transformed from a celebratory homage to the graduates to a condemnation of the Bush administration and a commentary on the waning economy and housing market.  It was relevant, yet kind of weird and preachy.  But whatever, he's still my homeboy. 

If you look closely, you can see that the closed captioning under the image of John Legend speaking says something about insomnia.  Yeah, I don't remember ever hearing that word.

a walking fashion faux-pas

People in France are particularly fashionable, as is to be expected, I suppose.  They always wear really cute scarves, sassy boots, designer jeans, and gorgeous tops.  The click-clack of high heels is ever-present as I walk along the streets, admiring the natural grace and style of all the young, hip Frenchies...

Then, there's me... I walk around in tattered, ill-fitting jeans, plain tee-shirts, ugly beat up sneakers, not to mention the obnoxiously bright orange beanie that is practically a permanent fixture atop my head.  That's how I look almost every single day. 

One day, I decided to change it up a bit, so I traded in my ill-fitting jeans for an old, ill-fitting skirt, kept the sneakers and wore a camisole and cardigan.  But given my lack of style, it's no wonder I got dirty looks as I traipsed around in ratty sneakers and a dowdy skirt.  No joke, I looked like this little kid, but less cute.    

Oh well... I guess I'll never learn...

La quête continue...

I really don't understand why there are so many paperclips here, but I can tell you that finding them is actually really wonderful.  It seems strange, perhaps, but finding a 'trombone' on the street really lifts my spirits.  It's as if the universe has an unspoken agreement with me- when I'm feeling down, I find at least one without fail.  Once, I found four in a single day.  The current count is now 55.  

4 from Paris

1 from Namur, Belgium

1 from Amsterdam 

1 from Maastricht, Netherlands

The rest are from Nancy, Metz, and Toul

Now, let us never think of the various diseases I may have received from picking up random paperclips off the dirty streets of Europe. 

Droplets

It rained this morning, leaving delicates droplets of water on these beautiful flores.