auto vs moto

siiiigh. What a week!

I'm sitting at my desk, in my gorgeous Parisian room...Billie Holiday crooning me into a state of relaxation, aided and abetted by the glass of Côte du Rhône by my side, along with a platter of fresh baguette, two different types of extra stinky cheese, a few dolmades, hummus, and smoked almonds. A lovely little snack, if I do say so myself.

Funny commentary: auto vs. moto (to be said in a French accent, for optimal rhyming pleasure)
You know how in Canada, when people have road rage, it's typically tense, heated, irritated, occasionally violent, and brings with it a general sense of malaise? Well, here...and I'm saying this as a pedestrian, the way roadsters express rage is honestly...comical. They yell at each other alright, but with exaggerated bravado, complete with ridiculous gestures and pulls of the face. They follow each other tauntingly, but harmlessly, provoking each other slightly, and always with a sense of humour about it. I watched a fella on a moto argue with the drive of an auto well into the light change, both adament about their right of way, the other person's insolence, etc. They swirve, somehow not colliding, somehow not running people over as they rush thru red lights. Pedestrians yell, they yell back, drivers not even involved yell back. Needless to say, I'm just glad I stick to the sidewalks and metros; though these both come with their own complexities and nuances, which perhaps I've delve into some other day, some other post.

So, it's Friday. Another week gone, somehow. I've started a report on linguistic and biological diversity, which is extremely difficult to navigate given the direction it needs to go in - but I'm feeling pretty confident that it's going to be convincing, useful, and will hopefully rock the socks off the conference it's going to be presented at. *Fingers criss-crossed*.

Off to a party tonight, and hoping to weather cooperates (no snow today, and the SUN actually came out!) Planning a pretty low-key weekend. Hoping to go on a picture taking mission, so that I can start visually documenting some of my life here. For all you guys know, I could be in Paris, Texas working on a ranch!