A book vending machine at the science machine! I wish these would catch on at train stations and parks. 

Zosia and Colin at the science museum. They each stuck a hand into a long rubber glove and could then hold hands, although none of us knew why. 

A stunning doorway in, you guessed it, Paris. 

Three ducks out for a stroll at the Jardins de Trocadero. Indeed, it was a lovely day for a jaunt. 

For Grandma! Lovely male brindle riding the metro. 

The manliest sport of them all: Petanque. Like Bocci Ball, Petanque is a game that involves throwing metal balls at each other. For whatever reason, only men play it in Paris. Please note the coat wrack in the back on the left. 

Welcome to the militarized state of France! There are student protests going on now and the police are EVERYWHERE! But even without the protests, security in France is tight and soldiers with semi-automatic machine guns patrol the train stations. For some reason I don't feel safer . . . 

Zosia toasting the camera (or the camera woman) with her very small French beer. The beer itself if Belgian, but the very small bottle is all France's fault. 

Much to my delight, pink is the standard color of TP here in France. 

These are a few of my favorite things . . .

For awhile I've been thinking about taking pictures or my very favorite things in Tübingen and making a photo album. After thinking about it a lot and looking at the things I like a lot in Tü, I've finally started moving about with my camera again. This is only the beginning.

These critters live in the window of a clock shop. I'm not quite sure what they have to do with clocks.

 

I think this picture pretty much says it all. I'm constantly amused by this silly reference to the 90's hit "Insane in the Brain".

 

Favorite Thing #1: "Water + Forest = Paper" Well, yeah, I guess.

 

Words of Admiration for Book Crossing

Years and years ago I read about people leaving books in public places. Leaving books with the purpose of them being found and read by others. Individuals do such things frequently, I believe. The great thing is that you can register your books on Book Crossing and track their travels.
After years of waiting, I finally found such a book. Unfortunately, it stinks. The plot was barely worthy of Days of Our Lives. My enthusiasm is hardly diminished, however. I will be "releasing" my first book "into the wild" within the next few days and I encourage all of you, wherever you are, to do the same.

Off to gay Par-ee!

Ok, I'm not really off to gay Par-ee yet, but on Monday I will be! I can't believe it's four days away. I'm so utterly unprepared and I like it. After all these years of travel I've finally become somewhat good at packing (which basically means I can do it quickly and I don't forget my pajamas), meaning I should be able to thrown things together on Sunday and be ok for a month.

While in Paris, I'll be taking an intensive French class that meets Monday-Friday from 8:30am - 1:30pm (Alliance Francaise). I took 1/2 of a French class in Tübingen in the fall, but it didn't work out so well, in both learning and schedule ways, and so I gracefully withdrew myself (aka I quit, boo). So I'm thinking I'll still be in the absolute beginner class when I get there, and as long as I'm not in the absolute beginner class when I leave, everything should be just fine.

What do I plan to do in my free time? Funny you should ask. My very first order of duty is to find a French soap opera to become addicted to. The requirements is that it be trashy and aired every weekday. Cheap soap operas helped me immensely as I learned Germany -- easy plots that you can follow without understanding and that creepy addictive quality make for the perfect combo. Other than that, I also plan to walk around a lot and maybe talk to strangers while I'm at it. Chances are I'll also be spending some quality time with my lovely old friends Natalie and Zosia. Many of you may remember Natalie from the elementary school part of my life and Zosia from the university in Canada part. Both of them are living in Paris at the moment and I will have the pleasure of enjoying their company (and hospitality) all month long.

Well, I should get back to writing my paper on militarized masculinities in UN peacekeeing.

Toodles

Definately one of the most beautiful nights I have ever experienced in T�bingen. 

Snowy night. Yet another picture taken from my window. This one involved me standing on me bed with the window open for a long time and playing with the shutter speed a lot. 

Trees with snow. Also taken from window. I guess I like the window shots because then everone can see the image as I've seen if from my desk. 

The view from my new window. I say "new" window because I moved. The new apartment is great. The new roommate is great. The view is great. I am happy. 

Daily Affirmation: My life is interesting.

This blog has never really gotten off the ground for two reasons. One, I often forget I have it. Two, I have been involved in a rather long-term and intense discussion with myself about whether my life is interesting enough for a blog or not. My darling Kristen helped clear the whole thing up for me by telling me about a blog she read, wherein someone wrote in detail about every single moment of his schedule. She also made the excellent argument that "your boring life" is the stuff that your friends and family care about.

Welcome to my blog, welcome to my interesting life.