A paradigm arrest

I'd like to use my second bowl of Captain Crunch this mojo as a time marker for exactly when I realized I must be kind of hard to take seriously.  The crunch "berries" were not yet soggy and as paused two breaths to give my cramping jaw a rest, I began to empathize with just how exhausting  it must be to know me personally. I guess Mr. Folds was right--the whizman never fits us like the whizkid did. 
At least I don't have a juice mustache anymore.

mais, allo quoi

I've been my own beast of burden out here under this Ohio sized sun. It's been almost grueling -but I have been cutting myself a lot of slack because there have been about a million new beers to try. I wish knowing junk about beer flavors was considered important or sophisticated. Oui, parce que je suis très cultivé, moi. Je connais Jacques Brel et Nique Ta Mère...
Plus I can taste the difference between hops and malts.
Sebastien's parents went to Saint Louis to visit his grandparents and we were effectively living alone for the first time in two years. It was pretty awesome playing house again. We split our time between stowing our saveables in the basement, doing copious amounts of yard work, grilling like villains and sampling the aforementioned beers.
I've really stepped up my grilled game too.

Not trying to brag, but I'm kind of awesome with it.
I saw the Great Gatsby last night. It turns out that even though I've never been in-step with the fashion  currents  of Paris, it's still way too easy for me to over-dress for a movie in Columbus. As for the film, it's hard for me to summarize my feelings about it...
If you haven't read the book recently and don't remember the first film, we've definitely had two different experiences with this amalgamation.  I can't decide how I feel about race relations as they were portrayed. Perhaps it's better for the generations whose first look at the era will come through this window to believe blacks and whites mixed as freely then as they do today. This would serve to give situations in their lives the gifts of normalcy and sideline-acceptance that they deserve.
However, one of the major themes in the book is the concept of old money verse new money, a dichotomy never more obvious than in the descriptions of East and West Egg, Long-island and the drive through the city of ashes where the working class poor labor to make the city great and their decadence possible.  

But just as important was this idea that richness is a retreat from the aspects of life we're not ready to face--that's why the valley of the ashes can exist on the other side of our window screen or how come Billie Holiday can perform here, but she can't eat with the band--strange fruit were  swinging in the breeze--and part of me feels like this movie don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.

I was a bit annoyed by how much the film kept returning to the Eyes of God motif when it is mentioned in the book at least four times fewer than it was in the film or came up in my high school English class. And the framing story? Wow. Derivative at best. I'd say that DiCaprio does an amazing Robert Redford impression, but I'll be very surprised if he get's the Oscar he's long deserved for this reprisal.
Verdict: Pas Terrible, old sport.
Two winners from the soundtrack: 100$ Bill – Jay Z and A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got) You can really smell the hedonistic sweat and close air of the club if you listen to that second track with decent speakers.

Tomorrow, Seb and I be heading out on a road trip to West Virginia to pick up his sister from her post in at The Mountain Institute.

I'm pretty excited not only because she's hilarious and I love her but also because although I've gone many places by car, I've never once shared the driving on a road trip. West Virginia is some beautiful country besides, and we may even get to do a little spelunking before the return voyage to Ohio!
In terms of progress and goals, we finally got our full medical clearance from the Peace Corps on Tuesday. Now it's back to waiting to see where in the US they'll send us for our rendezvous/staging point with our colleagues that we also be serving in China. Should be getting an email or a plane ticket in the mail any day now. You can Youtube some Rebecca Black if you wanna know how I really feel about it.

Later, gators.