How To Fake French

 Lesson plan for the first day of French class... DONE.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edYHlnhxyOI

The 45 Places to Go in 2012

The Times has published its definitive list of "The 45 Places to Go in 2012" and I love it! Chattanooga, TN, made the list, as well as Patagonia, a place I dream of seeing one day. Also, Montpellier, France, (where I will hopefully spend my summer!) appears at #40  and Havana, Cuba, makes the list too. Other interesting choices were Antarctica and "Space" (a little plug for Richard Branson's new "Virgin Galactic," which will allow passengers to orbit the upper edge of Earth’s atmosphere, taking off from New Mexico and landing in Tokyo some 3 hours later). The slideshow that accompanies the list is beautiful!

http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/travel/45-places-to-go-in-2012.html?pagewanted=2&hp

Airport Infestation

I spent a couple of hours sitting in the floor at baggage claim in the South Terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport this afternoon. I whiled away the time drinking Diet Coke, carefully avoiding Dunkin' Donuts, and hoping for a celebrity sighting (Nene! Kim! Other Real Housewives of Atlanta! Where are you??) After some time I glanced up and noticed an army of fire ants tromping across the ceiling above my head. The installation is called "Brute Neighbors" by Joe Peragine, evidently inspired by the artist's reading of Walden by Henry David Thoreau. Why this "apt metaphor for human nature" (according to the artist) is crawling across the ceiling of baggage claim, I do not know. Staring at them didn't really inspire me to contemplate human nature, but it did make me kind of itchy...

Some Articulate Political Commentary

Supporting Mitt Romney, much like filing bankruptcy or drinking RC Cola, isn't something people want to do. It's something they've got to do, cause they ain't got no other option...

http://www.nashvillescene.com/pitw/archives/2012/01/05/santorum-almost-wins-iowa

Iowa: Fields of Opportunities (You read it right, that's multiple fields of multiple opportunities!)

In honor of the fairly surprising (Santorum in 2nd say what???) Iowa Caucuses last night, an homage to the oft under-appreciated state of Iowa.

"That's right, we're nice. F*ckwad."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLZZ6JD0g9Y&sns=em

If Ernest Hemingway had written the Twilight Saga...

This article posits that it isn't the plot that is the terrible awfulness (slash awesome greatness) of the Twilight series. It's Stephanie Meyer's terrible writing that does the whole thing in. But now we get a glimpse into what this classic bildungsroman, this love triangle between girl and undead and shape-shifter, really coulda been...

http://io9.com/5872490/if-famous-writers-had-written-twilight

What do you do when you spend 75% of your time with a 75 year old lady? You learn to frickin' crochet.

I used to do it when I was a little girl, and now I find myself back on the crochet bandwagon. It's fun and funny and something at least mildly productive to do while I am watching TV or doing some other equally sedentary and mind-numbing activity. We will see if I can stick with this and actually finish a project-- hopefully the big thrill that Grandmother is getting from my picking up her hobby will be my motivation. :-)