KROD

Did I ever tell you about a road trip I took with some of my college besties to Dollywood? Well, After seeing Jes' video submission for the Karaoke Ring of Death, you may ask me more about it...
If you feel like checking out my drunken video, head over to Struggling Twenty Something. (Totally do it, too. Because I have a very special guest blogger accompanying me!)
But don't forget to show Jes some love, things just sort of fell apart with her future husband, so you know...

Hey this is Jes, and when I am not failing German class, acting crazy in photo class, and wiping dirty butts, I write at a pretty famous blog called Jes Getting Started. Oh you havent heard of it before? Pfft. Since I do a pretty good explanation of why I picked the song I did in my video, I figure maybe I should explain a little bit about my video in general. Have you ever seen one of my raw, uncut emotional break down video blogs? Yeah, so maybe I keep them that way on purpose or it could have to do with the fact that I have zero editing skills. But hazah! I got a new laptop with a web cam, that kind of makes it sound like Darth Vader is chilling in the next room, and some very basic video editing software. My video ended up being filmed in two parts. First my intro, which was done Saturday night pre any adult fun, but yet still makes me seem hyper and just a tiny bit off my rocker. And then the second part of my video where I am clearly hung over and heart broken over losing my future husband in a bar to a girl possibly name Joleen.

Karaoke - Soundtracks from Jes Getting Started on Vimeo.

Ok, that was great! Although it begs the question...have you ever heard a nice song about a lady named Jolene? Note to self...skip that name pour le bebe. Make sure you check out all the other posts, we've got a lot of tallent out here tonight!

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Jam for Jerry

Ay ay ay, Rangers. Raise your hand if you love to camp. Good. Now keep those hands up high if you're desperate enough to settle for sleeping outside. To the lame layperson, there really is no difference. But to the few the proud, the sportif, camping is not something you do for one night in someone's garden. Mais non! It takes weeks of preparation  planning and a good amount of traveling before the hike-in and camp-out  can even happen. Oh yes, it takes true grit my friends, true grit and a lot of trail mix--no chocolate in the mix either, because it friken melts.

Well, with a build up like that, you must already know that we didn't have weeks, or trail mix or frankly even a sleeping bag for each person. It was raining and we were in someone's garden. But Sebastien and I also showed a french chick and a german guy how to get down on some smores. I know the picture makes it look a little gross since there was meat cooking at the same time...and this from a people who refuse to mix fruits and cheeses at breakfast! Nevertheless our "camping trip" was win.
I absolutely adore snuggling up when it's raining and there is just something about small spaces that make me feel safe. Thus, tents equal so much love. We all crowded in to hear Sebastien read from one of our favorite steam-punk settings and eventually headed peaceably off to sleep. Well, not before we got a visit from an ambitious little kitten whom, when he deigned to sleep, preferred to lay directly between the faces of Sebastien and myself. It was oddly calming... Mostly though, he indulged in exactly NONE sleep.  He preferred to be chased in and out of the tent, attack the walls, bite my feet and bat at Sebastien's nose. That was, predictably, not so calming.
We went for a hike the next day in a national forest ripe with amazing climbing and bouldering outcroppings. Sebastien is basically half-scout, half-monkey, so he took to it right away. I'm still more of a 'lay in the sun and wait for everyone to feel like walking again,' kind of climber, but I had fun too.
We've had our hands in all kinds of different tricks lately. We celebrated Sebastien's birthday with a party here at our flat that migrated to a friend's house warming party.

Guess who got potato chips to review for his birthday? The Chipster, Aka Mr. Universe 

The whole gang got down

And many a new  friend was made

 We partied like it was 19-99 (on sale)

It was a great night. The second party was even more wild than ours. Seba and I were some of the first only to leave and we didn't even feel like heading home until 4 am. (Though I hear the 1pm breakfast was quite a thing to miss.)
It was also the 14th of July recently. That's the french revolution holiday where they celebrate the jail break of non-political prisoners, for political reasons. One of the traditional events is attending a firemen's fundraising ball where you get to dance around with cute, drunk recruits for less than bar prices on drinks.

I was  en forme that night, let me tell you. They also have fireworks and all of that typical patriotic stuff, like guns and parades. We skipped all of that--the crowds, lack of bathrooms, lack of trash cans, lack of picnic space, all of it--and instead availed ourselves of a great Vietnamese restaurant where I finally got some good Pho. Everyone has heard of Vietnamese soup, but a good Pho Bac come with the meat still raw--Not the meatballs version, of course--but when you've got the thin beef strips, the soup broth is actually there to cook it. So many times in the States they've waited until it was rubbery and grey to serve it to me. Yuck.
Hmm, what else?
Harry Potter's last movie came out on the 13th here but I waited until Bastille Day to see it in 3D. Just one day early, no big deal #mlib.

Are you a fan?
It's a series of both books and movies that have had a lasting and powerful impact on my life and my relationships. You can laugh at the power of love and it's ability to deflect evil in our hour of need. But I am going to remind myself of the boy who lived...

I may do a whole post just on the Rowling universe. I also plan to post the Tunisian Sfax wedding event very soon. I even have a video blog in the works for you from our observance of Dork Day!
Well, I'm out like a queer kid at the pride parade, but I just wanted to mention briefly that you should check out Fucking Bad Ass Recipe Box. Among other tasteables, drinkables and amusing prose, he's got a great idea for goat cheese meatballs up that I plan to make this week.
Moreover, if your looking for a new read and tired of the same old life/fashion/sports blogs, check out Mounting and Counting. It's a very intimate look at the life of a professional escort. Also, I wasn't able to participate in the KROD this month but click the link for the full list over at Sara Swears A Lot.
Well that's just about all I have time for.
Our flat looks like a bomb went off. I'll be cleaning for awhile. What kind of music do you like to clean to? I'll be listening to a lot of Holy Ghost! while I work. Check out Jam for Jerry, Wait and See, Say My Name and I Will Come Back if you want a good little emo-disco bop as the backdrop to your life for a bit. Oh, you read "emo" and were turned off, wellzers, it's kind of like Depeche Mode, Air and a Yamaha Scratch pad all spun around in one amazing musical buffet. Tapes may get older but It's Not Over, Eat up!

You have read this article Air / Bastille Day / Camping / Chipster Dairies / Escort service / Fucking Bad Ass Recipe Box / Harry Potter / Holy Ghost / j.k. rowling / KROD / Mounting and Counting with the title KROD. You can bookmark this page URL https://trendcelebrity2014.blogspot.com/2011/07/jam-for-jerry.html. Thanks!

Cloud cover over all that you do

And so, my fine, feathered friends I have come at last to roost.
I know you're as involved with my ongoings as I am so I shall share them with you forthwith!.
I've been busy. As earth shattering as it is surprising, I know.

Well, I did the introduce myself v-log and another one for the KROD and my travel and work plans have been in a state of perpetual flux.
I was going to go to Munich last weekend but my friend decided to take a train instead of driving. I just couldn't drop that kind of dinero on a ticket to voyage to a place I could walk to in a weeks time. Less, if I'm feeling skippy. Plus, if Germany is anything like I imagine it, it's totally dark there 24/7.

I almost went back to the District WILLINGLY to teach summer school but I didn't want to have to cancel my trip to Tunisia. I told them I would, but judging from their lack of response, they wanted to hear yes the first time.
It's a good sum of money to have to pass up. But what's cash to a Gypsy Rover? (I'll just whistle and sing till the green woods ring)
I went on a job interview with Sebastien for a language school and we were both told he'd let us know by Wednesday. Their website is spunky and the chief seemed to enjoy my zest.  But I really have a lot to learn if I'm going to be a better teacher. (Those vagaries speak to my wanting to gouge my eyes out with a grammar spoon.) But I'm willing to try. (Read as: I am so tired of being broke.) It's exhausting.

My cash cow (such as it is) is gone for the summer as all three of my children students are going to go out of town for holiday. If things work out and I'm still here in the fall, we will allegedly pick up where we left off.  But I am not terribly optimistic at this point since they texted me this morning to cancel our final meeting before we call it quits. No ice cream for the kid-oz. Dez-o-lay.
That's just two of them though, the other is a high school student who doesn't want to learn english. She is pretty much the worst to work with ever. But I get a lot of reading done to and from her apartment.

Speaking of which, I'm rereading Angle of Repose. The framing story is just as interesting as the actual narrative--a fact which I feel speaks to the rarity of Stegner's capacities. Honestly, the first read through I was convinced it was autobiographical--but that's how dope he is.
Basically it's about a historian confined to a wheel chair, living in the souther california durring the sixties. Obviously he's a curmudgeon who doesn't understand these long hair freaky people.  And yet, he spins quite a tale of the west when it was still young and muddy based on grandmother's correspondences, art, and interviews.
You've heard me mention Edward Abbey, a few times, if you've been paying attention. Wallace Stegner was a major influence on his writing. (He was, in fact, his professor) So if you like engineering, ecology, art, displaced New England intellectuals, building shit, or letter writing, this is a great book for you.

I've been cleaning like a mad villain because Seba's parents are coming into Paris for three days starting tomorrow. I think they'll be bringing me that good, good floss, so I owe them.
Two of my coloc are moving out on Friday. We are thusly having a party for them that night. It's funny because one of my coloc has this long list of things which he keeps emailing us about and updating. I'm like, no one is surprised you're taking your own things.  You don't have to keep emailing me about it!
Anyway, it's made things a little sillier around here. You have to admit, it's kind of hilarious that he's telling us how many spoons are his. I personally can't decide if he was feeling vindictive or just wanted to practice writing in French. Neither would surprise me.

Sebastien teaching me the fundamentals of how best read in French. 

I am also going to be meeting up with a blogger friend, Matt, from, normally, I wouldn't say this but.. And he's going to be crashing at our place with a friend of his for the weekend. Check out his trip blog here.

I have two more classes to teach on Friday, and after that just one more week slash chance to save money for my trip to Africa before I am off. It is entirely possible that I won't be able to reenter France from Tunisia. But I'm still planing to try, and I'm hoping for the best.  I have a layover in Italy, which is pretty cool because I've never been there.

July should hold some upcoming fun for me. I want to go camping in the Alps and visiting in Germany. (Hey, it could happen). I wanna do more bike trips and tons more cook outs. I'll also visit la sud because I have important people to see in Nice and in Bordeaux. And they have pools.

J't'ai cassé !

I've never read Game of Thrones but I am totally digging the series. In all seriousness, I by no means go for long hair dudes. But it must be said: HBO is the best place to go for high production soft core porn. And Game of Thrones even throws in English accents! (Yes, I know; Rome) Well, think of it as part two. With less red and gold more snow and black.

Sebastien and I have started a second edition D and D game with some peeps and it's going pretty sweet.  It was weird at first, since we're not 45 or whatever they are. But I'm bubbly as a mo-fo when I'm nervous, so we soon won them over.
In game, I'm a spell caster. It's great when your conjurations always work. Makes you feel like you didn't just waste your action. Take that 4th edition!

Also, I tried donkey meat this weekend. I'm gunna be that guy who says it tastes like chicken. Cuz it does. But to be fair, it looked like turkey.
Gotta say, I love eating with the French. I'm all the time like, 'Oui, I will have a different alcohol with every course. I'm pretty sure it makes me more fluent in your language!' Doesn't do shit for my enunciation, though.

I am Erin's complete lack of enunciation.

Ah well, I guess a lot of those rotten tomatos I made mention of in my last post are still up in the air, but even if they break on me, I bet I'll enjoy slipping around in the mess. That's just how I roll. (As in around in a mess) YUP.

Hey, you can check out my tumblr if you feel like it. I started it so I could post pictures and basically just be an ass. It's working out pretty well so far.

Sebastien's b day is coming up...but what do you get for the guy who already has me?

You have read this article 20sb / Angle of Repose / Angry Birds / Brice de Nice / Edward Abbey / Kid Cudi / KROD / Tesla / The Postal Service / Wallace Stegner / Whistling Gypsy with the title KROD. You can bookmark this page URL https://trendcelebrity2014.blogspot.com/2011/06/cloud-cover-over-all-that-you-do.html. Thanks!