Gimli

I was out in the American Library vicinity today around 1:00, and I thought to myself, "it's too bad that the library doesn't open until two. Retarded, actually. What kind of library doesn't open until two?" I must have been channeling some sort of impulse because I went to the building anyway and to my dismay, people were entering! And exiting! It was like a twilight zone experience. They must be like every other business in France and not want customers because the brochures clearly state Monday: 2 PM to 6:30 PM. I spent a leisurely hour reading back issues of Esquire and enjoying American pop culture and expensive Versace suits.

I did an extreme double take looking at one of the advertisements with a lanky, young, pale fellow credited at the bottom as Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Quoi?! This is Gimli! I was about to suggest an extra Oscar for the make-up crew for Lord of the Rings for transforming this gazellelike youth into the wizened, squat dwarf when I remembered that Gimli was played by Jonathan Rhys Davies. They're too similar for me.

Who doesn't love a bathroom shot? I shivered with trepidation thinking about how horrible the convention center's facilites would be, but I was pleasantly surprised. I had to hurry up and take this while there was no one waiting for a stall since cameras in the loo are frowned upon here. It was really quite nice.


Fisticuffs almost broke out on the bus today, and I really wish I would have had more than a passing understanding as to what was going on. These three annoying adolescent boys were sitting in the way back of the bus playing some loud MIDI-esque tunes from their cell phone and being generally boisterous. Eventually, this middle aged man standing in front me accosts them, and if my French was anywhere near correct, yells, "Are you talking to me? Who are you talking to? Are you talking to me?" He then tried to push them off the bus (we were at a stop at this point) and the driver had to leave his comfy chair and kick the guy out. This other older guy then started talking to the boys but I couldn't tell what he was saying. French life is like watching a movie with mute on, without the benefit of English closed captioning. I guess, more accurately, it's like watching a French movie without any subtitles at all.

I ran out of dental floss about a week ago and every night I'm like, crap! Why didn't I pick up floss today? I had all those opportunities! So today I went to the Monoprix, and found the bath and body aisle. They had toothpaste, toothbrushes, denture tablets, mouthwash, whitening gel, extra toothbrush heads . . . and no dental floss. Darn unhygienic French! I asked this guy farther down the aisle, "pardonnez-moi, monsieur, mais est-ce que vous pouvez m'aider-" and got immediately cut off with a "Sorry, but I don't speak French". Whee! English! I then asked him, in English, if he knew if Monoprix sold dental floss. He didn't, but said that he had seen it before in some other various stores. Great, English dude. That helps. So I'm still without floss.