Reunion of the Past

Yesterday evening, I went to a reunion of former pupils of the Elementary school of my former town I went to. Thanks to Facebook and another Website that permits you to find old classmates, we decided to organize a little reunion in a TexMex restaurant in Paris.

We were only 9 for this first round but it was perfect to chat and talk about old times for hours! Some of us have kept in touch but you cannot stay in contact with all your former classmates and buddies of your childhood!

The restaurant and food were nice as well as the environment, it is nice we all got along about 15 years later! A part of us still leaves in the town of our school or the neighborhood and others, as I do, leave on the West part of Paris suburb, so one guy of the reunion came to pick me up as for another guy who used to live next to my house.

It was really nice to catch up all together!! Lost of laughings, memories conversations, talking about some kids we did not like and are still, as adult people, ass-holes or about what people became (marriage, kids, moving, etc.).

We already planned to meet for another round on April 18th to try to gather more people, that could not be there yesterday. This time we will try to book something convenient for about 15 people, so more quiet and less crowded and plan a bowling session afterwards! Always an activity very social and practical to chat!

This is when you are glad to leave in the Internet and Facebook era!

Bewitched by a Twilight...

It is, with high expectations, that I went and saw Twilight yesterday at the movie theater. A "teenagers" movie about vampires... At first, I was not really inspired but after all the buzz about this upcoming movie for months in the media and then all my friends and even my mom telling me how great it was, I decided to go and see it.

I cannot say if it is the story, the birth of the romance between the vampire Edward and the human Bella and their true love for each other no matter their huge differences in their way of living, the color and the light of the pictures, the landscapes, the soundtrack the charisma of the main characters or all the above, but I was instantly bewitched and enchanted by this movie!

I never heard about the novels before so I was not prejudiced against anything, only to see an entertaining film and it was more than that that happened.

This non soppy romance just made me want to live something like that - not meeting a charming vampire - but a charming man and be able to live one day, one true love like this like one.

This is just more than a young people movie about vampires, so much more...

Hope to see you soon, Madam!

Yesterday, we made 1400 euros of turnover.

One of our customers, a forty/fifty something woman, spent 750 euros.

What is your status?

I don't know if you are Facebook users - I am, well it is not the word, addict would be more appropriate - but I noticed something odd about some of my contacts and their "relationship status".

You can let your contacts know about it or not, you either tick the Single/In a relationship/Married/Engaged/In a open relationship (okay...)/It's complicated (admitting it is not, obviously) box. Most of my contacts have ticked one of those boxes, since I registered to Facebook, I decided to not let my contacts know about my personal status.

My closer friends know if I am single or in a relationship, the others do not have to know about that, that is "personal". It is like letting your other contacts know about your political views or your religion - I am atheist, so I am in no religion, that is fine with me - these are not things you really want others to know or maybe you want them to know as some pride or challenge...

A friend of mine changed her status from single to in a relationship as soon as she met a new guy three months ago. I was quite shocked because I had not heard anything about that new love story and letting her Facebook contacts know at the same time of her friends and relatives was quite odd and sad I thought. As soon as it ended a month ago, her status went back to single.. and everybody would now know that her recent relationship had ended...

Two other contacts of mine - not friends - also went from being single to in a relationship some time ago, letting everybody know they had started a new relation with a girl, as soon as it appears on their profile, people - as always - begin to ask questions. It did not lasted long and they both went back to being single.

What is the point of this?

In addition of letting people know about your personal status, you can also say who you are dating or engaged or married to. An extra piece of information for the most curious of us!

I don't know if you heard about it but last February 2008, a woman was killed by her future-ex-husband, in England. Having just separated from her husband, she changed her status from married to single what instantly made her husband mad and under the influence of drug and alcohol, he decided to drive to her house and kill the mother of his two children.

Something to let you think about what a simple status changings on a Network Website can affect your life forever...

Happy 14th February!

One of my fellow bloggers was noticing that it was her first Valentine's Day as a single person.

Getting older, I have been caring less and less about that celebration. Who should care?


I think that, since I have been dating, twelve years ago, I have only been in a couple the three years I was dating that Greek guy from University. And we did not want to do anything special on that day because we thought it was kind of lame. For me, 14th of February is just one of my nieces' birthday.

But, you can't not be aware of Valentine's Day, it is in lingerie, jewelry, clothes shop windows. But also on traveling Websites and many other kind of on line shops, in magazines, beauty institutes, even fitness clubs - "Get a discount if you come and join us with your spouse" and what if I am single, I don't get the discount??...

No offense for the ones who like Valentine's Day but it is kind of a crappy-commercial-and-marketing-only feast. If, when you are in love, you wait for that special day to offer a gift to your loved one, be nice, go out, buy flowers, dress well and tell your love... what a pity and what a waste. One should celebrate love every day or at least, when one wants Everyday little attentions are so much nicer and unexpected!

Creating a day for lovers is also kind of selfish, it is like if there was the day of rich or handsome people. Well, sorry, but if you are poor or ugly, you don't get to celebrating. You will say, so Mothers and Fathers day is also stupid? Well, if we go in that direction, yes, can you imagine the pain of every woman who dream to become a mom and cannot be one on Mothers Day...

So, yes, go one and celebrate love with all the lovers on earth, nothing is wrong about that, but what is the deep meaning of such special days? Buy, spend money... marketing goal. Be master of your life!

This weekend, I am at my mom's, in my former town, her and her partner are out for dinner for Valentine's Day. She bought me sushi because she knows I like them, they are just in shaped heart plastic box... *sight*

An evening with a Lady and five Pussycats

Once upon a time, lived a young lady, Lady Gaga. With her golden hair, her black glasses and tiny shorts, she was coming from somewhere in the universe.


She landed on Paris, France, on February 8th, 2009 for only a night. All she wanted to do was to Just Dance, reach The Fame and although she had a Poker Face, she wish she could avoid the Paparazzi and denied the accusations of being a Beautiful Dirty Rich girl. Eh eh, there is Nothing Else I Can Say.

When she left for maybe another planet, a band of five pretty creatures called the Pussycat Dolls took over the place. They were ready to be Takin' Over the World, their show was Magic, but Wait a Minute as many independent women they can say "I Don't Need a Man" but maybe, when the right one comes, they will say: Hush Hush, I Wanna Stickwitu.



Of course, everything good thing has a end and even if I Hate This Part, the loud concert room was just. It was a really good concert evening once more and I come to thinking that When I Grow Up, I would love to be like the PCD, Don't Cha?

Whatcha think about that?!

"Melted Snow, Melted Snow, Melted Snow..."

This morning, as every Saturday morning, I was leaving for the fitness club when it started to rain, I was able to catch a bus so that was okay and I thought I would take the bus back home for once (I usually walk) . Once I got to the fitness club - that is next to the train station - the rain has turned into little hailstones. Once I got into the collective classroom to start the course, it started to snow... again! For once, I had not checked the whether forecast, damned me!

Well, snow is not a big problem, I love walking in the snow. Only, as it is not cold enough, it did not stay on the road and most part of the pavement, melted and turned into a nasty sludge. So, I was definitely taking the bus home... but when I arrived at the bus station, there was a paper sign where was written "because of the snow, the traffic of buses 144, 244, 467, etc is so far interrupted". What the hell????

It was deadly snowing and the ground really horrible! I had no choice but to walk home. I am lucky I don't live far from the fitness club. The thing is, I discovered that my sneakers are NOT waterproof! Within 5 minutes, my socks and feet were wet, it was like I was walking in socks in the melted snow... floc floc... It took me more time than usual because I was trying not to slip but I finally succeeded to make it home safe, although my feet were freezing, the bottom of my jeans and my jacket were all wet.

It was 2:30pm already and I was starving, it felt good to eat something warm and chill the rest of the afternoon. I was supposed to go out but I preferred to postpone it. It took me the whole afternoon to warm me up... My sneakers spent the afternoon in front of the heater but they are still not dry... I may have to think about buying some nice little snow boots!

In France, it is like that! You get 5 or 10cm of snow and the whole world is falling apart! Bus and train stations are closed, planes are stuck on the tarmac... but cars are still driving, go figure!

I've been twisted!

Friday is the first day of the weekend for me. I have been away every Friday since I began to work again, I thought I would enjoy a long night as I get up "early" on Saturday to go to the fitness club but as I don't have to get up too early on work days, I have preferred to be busy on Friday so far. Going to the movies, to the commercial center, to Paris with my mom...

This morning, I went to pick my digital camera back! It suddenly stopped working 2 months ago and stayed open, but fortunately, it was still under guarantee so it has been repaired, some pieces have been changed and now it's working again, hooray!

I had some other things to see and around noon, I felt quite hungry so I let myself have a little pleasure. A new place has opened on January: it sells salty and sweet pretzels! - we say bretzels in French, don't know why. I tasted a Parmesan one and a cinnamon one! OMG! It is so yummy!!

And you, what would you have chosen: Regular, with salt grains, "hot dog", sticks, Parmesan, melted cheddar, onions, sugar grains, praline or cinnamon?





Well, I guess that was my lunch! Naughty pleasure neurone! lol
Okay, tonight it will be salad with grilled goat cheese ad cereals for tomorrow morning sport session.

A 'Hole' Day

Since I have been working at Kookaï, a month ago, I have faced calm working days but never as this week! Since Monday, working days have been freaking calm and quiet!

There is this period between the end of the month and the beginning of the following one when people are expecting their pay, have paid their rent, bills for the month to come, there have been Christmas's spendings and last month, winter Sales began, people have spent all their money and are now waiting for the sun to rise again...

Each day, there is a costumer that brightens our day with a nice bill and few New Collection pieces (average price of the New Collection clothes 70 euros) but most people are still looking for the last pieces from the Sales, most common sizes are gone, the nicest pieces are gone too so most of them enter the shop and leave within 5 minutes, not much for us.

Our daily turnover objective for February now that Sales are almost over is 2,150 euros. Monday, we did 700, Tuesday 1,500 (thanks to a 240 euro sale to one customer) and today we only reached 910 euros... Far from the 2,000 to 6,000 euros we used to do per day last Month!

During the first weeks of the Sales, we also had a lot to do all day long, change the price on each price sticker - in the shop, in the drawers and in the storeroom - put new pieces bought by the customers from the storeroom into the shop, redo the clothes piles, put the hanging clothes back in the right order, take care of the deliveries and take care of the costumers. Sometimes, we did not have enough time to do all that. Now, we have too much time to just take care of the customers - because there are not many ones - and the shop - deliveries are much smaller now for the New Collection. There were four of us today, it was our boss's (the lady in charge of the shop) day off so we could chat, joke around, just chill and be bored but tomorrow, there won't be time for that... even if we have nothing to do.

I cannot wait to be tomorrow evening and done with this ghostly week!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Last time it snowed in Paris, the weekend after New Year's Eve, I was away at my grandparents' house in the South West of France and the only thing I enjoyed from the snow was an hour delay on the arrival time of the train in Paris in the evening...

When I got up this morning, it was snowing again and the snow has let a thin white coat in the city so far and it has been said that it has been snowing all over the North part of France.

I just dream about a big amount of snow now!

Old powder

Since I moved last summer and am now living on the other side of Paris's suburb (West side), I come to my mother and partner's house from time to time on the weekend. This morning, I felt like baking pancakes, I looked up for a recipe on the Internet - there are sooooo many different recipes, don't know why - and starting to see if there was everything I needed here, but when I looked for baking powder, I found plenty of old little bags near the flour.

My mom's partner has been living on his own for about fifteen years - don't remember exactly - as a widower. And many things have been left as they were before. Since my mother moved in last summer, she begun to put in order some places and for example the kitchen, where there are lots of things that need to be thrown away, kitchen utensils but also old food!

So when, I found the bags of baking powder, plenty of dust, I looked at the expiry date and Ô shocking! but also "ahahahahahahahaha" or "no wayyyyyyyyy": some of the bags were to be consumed before 1995... OK.... but on the other ones, there was no date, just an address about a game and it was written that one should answer before..... 1985!!!!

-"hum... yes, I've found backing powder, but you won't have pancakes today!..."