11.23.2008

Snowing in Paris


Picture out my window. You can't see it, but it's totally snowing.

It got very cold over the last two or three days. There was an article in Le Monde this morning about homeless people freezing in the Bois de Vincennes, the big park by my friend M's apartment in the SE of the city. I braved a short trot around the island to see how it felt, and yeah...it would be a lousy week to be homeless in Paris.

Besides meteorological anomalies, I don't have much to report on. I've done a good job being social over the last week, having peeps over for dinner, running around the city, and reducing the beer and wine surplus. Being around people serves two functions for me: it makes me less depressed and it makes the time go faster. This week I've got another professorial compu-intervention to attend to, then I leave for a long weekend in Shriesheim, the little village my friends live in near Heidelberg.

I'm not getting much done on the so-called "research" front. Gorz's 600+ treatise is like climbing one of those frozen waterfalls you see crazy people climbing on afternoon shows on the Discovery Channel. I shoot for 10 - 20 pages a day, taking notes. I started writing the other day as well, but I'm just doing the thing where I write a bunch of jumbled, disconnected paragraphs that I'll stitch together later. It's an effective approach in that you just keep shoveling text into the pile, and all of a sudden you have enough for whole pages, which leads to whole chapters, which leads to whole dissertations...

For everyone back in the states, I hope you've remembered to line up some outstanding Thanksgiving plans. Remember, it's the best holiday. Just mix up a big bowl of stuffing, dark meat, veggies, and red wine, and then hop right in.

6 comments:

Cody Austin Rich said...

Don't forget the sweet potatoes.

Elizabeth M. said...

Paragraphs to dissertations. By my desk I keep a one inch picture frame. This is to remind me to look at one I am writing in a 1x1 view and start writing. Put a few 1x1s together and I've got a page. Put 20 together and I've got meself a draft of an essay.

Dolce Vita said...

Good going on the paragraphs!

So what are your T-day plans? I've heard there is a Thanksgiving store in Paris (but I've never seen it). And it reportedly has everything an ex-pat could want.

kungfuramone said...

Nothing on actual Thanksgiving, but my weekend in Germany will be spent w/ Americans, so we're going to do it up proper. I have two boxes of stuffing B sent me and they're going to get a goose to cook (turkeys being scarce en Allemande, apparently.)

Chrissy said...

and dont forget the gravy!

Adva Ahava said...

This year, I am actually going to have a real Thanksgiving dinner with my family for the first time since I was seventeen. I thought you'd be proud.