Since I’m no longer going by Chère I thought it was time to move this blog to a more appropriate place – it’s still a work in progress, but you can now find all my updates on the challenge at:
Teasingly Diverse: 101 in 1001
As soon as I’ve made sure that everything was imported, this blog will be disappearing. Please update all your feed readers and go stop by and say hello! Updates coming soon, and no more months long silences!
so much for updating, huh?
really…I will…I promise.
I’ve had lots of posts in my head for that other place lately, which should be appearing in the next few weeks.
add that to a busy school, work, social, spiritual life and you get a tired girl!
BUT I have completed a couple of goals, so I’ll probably update soon for the mere pleasure of getting to strike through something on the list!
my poor little 101 blog…it has been SO shamefully neglected these past few weeks!
my goal is to sit and do some serious catching up here this weekend, in the midst of outlining Criminal Procedure (and maybe a couple other courses).
yes, outlining.
I’ve never started this early, and I’ve never had my outlines finished or up to date by reading period.
I think this is the semester.
Also, I have to start outlining now. We’ve already finished Search & Seizure in Crim Pro and we’ve done a ton of stuff in Evidence too…
2L year the speed picks up…I feel a bit like Lucy in the chocolate factory episode:
I can’t believe it’s been 16 weeks (well, 32 really, since it’s a bi-weekly thing) since the beginning of the year and starting the Siesta Challenge…this year is speeding past me.
Here are verses 15 & 16:
You can see the rest of the verses I’ve memorized here.
Hi friends!
Sorry about this, but Saturday Snapshots (and Frenchy Friday) are on pause this weekend.
I’m having a fabulous visit with my sister and I’m sad she leaves today. I also have a huge project for work due next week and only a few hundred pages still to be read for next week’s classes.
I can’t believe I’m a law student again come Monday! Where did the summer go?
So, no posting from me the rest of the weekend, but hopefully I’ll be back early next week to catch you up on all the shenaniganery going on around here.
Enjoy your weekends, and to all the former 0Ls/now 1Ls who start law school on Monday – GOOD LUCK!
6. Don’t let the dishes pile up by washing them every night for a month (8/31)
I started this goal as soon as I moved into my new place, after spending 2 hours doing dishes at my old place so I could pack them. Never again will I procrastinate that badly on dishwashing! It’s my most hated chore. I would rather scrub the bathroom from floor to ceiling. So far, so good though! The sink has been empty every night before I go to bed, and I put the dishes away in the morning (we don’t have a dishwasher, so they rest in drying racks on the counter).
Amanda asked me a really good question in the comments on Frenchy Friday so I thought I’d answer it here!
She asks,
Speaking of changing keyboards, did you ever use a French keyboard when you were there? How different was it?
In France (and Belgium) they use an AZERTY keyboard (as opposed to the QWERTY that we use, plus many others)
If you look at the picture and look at your keyboard you will see the differences. The biggest one that drove me bonkers??
The Q and A switch. Oh my word. I use the “a” a lot and I was constantly making mistakes when I would use the computers at le Catho, and especially in Tours because that was my first few weeks in France and I wasn’t used to things yet. So I would get all used to the French layout and go home to my American laptop. Frustrating!
Eventually, I just changed my laptop’s keyboard to France French (as opposed to Canadian French) so that I’d have some consistency. After a few days I got used to it and it was just like using a “normal” keyboard!
I have a confession to make: my guilty pleasures are Christian romance novels. I don’t want to offend anyone by saying that (I say this because I recently did do just that, unintentionally). I realize that many millions of people love these books. I do too – hence why they’re my guilty pleasure. I just spend most of my time reading intellectually heavy works, and, well, it would be hard to argue that these books are intellectually rigorous. They’re touching and sweet, but I’d put them in the “fluff” category.
Anyway, on my most recent trip to the public library I saw this on the shelf and grabbed it quickly – it’s one of my favorites! I haven’t read it since college, but it was much better than I remembered. Sophie is a recent Czech immigrant to the United States and she winds up (providentially) as the housekeeper/nanny for the Riley family – three children being raised by their widower father. Although it’s fairly predictable that Sophie and Alec Riley fall in love, it’s still an enjoyable read! I read it in one sitting.
Now that I think about it, the plot is very much like The Sound of Music, which I also love 
I will probably add this to my library, as it’s perfect for those cloudy days when you want to curl up on the couch with a heartwarming book, an afghan, and a cup of cocoa.
My rating: ****
Twenty-Two. Watch 10 foreign films (1/10)
This has been a big movie week for me, watching Frost/Nixon and now Belle de Jour (French, 1967).
My roommate Netflixed it and I joined her, at first just to hear French spoken again. I miss it so much. Despite the fact that it’s far from my normal, preferred genre of film, I watched the entire movie. My roommate rented it because it was in a book she has of the top 1001 films of all time. You can click on the link above (to Wikipedia) to learn more about the plot, as it’s a bit difficult to explain.
What impressed me most about the movie was that it really wasn’t about nudity/sex/prostitution/erotica. I mean, it was. Clearly. But that was just the vehicle which Bunuel used to tell Sèverine’s story. I adore Catherine Deneuve, I must say. I saw a couple of other films she was in while I was studying in France, and she’s lovely.
Truthfully, the best part of the movie for me was that I understood it all, without reading the subtitles. I constantly underestimate myself when it comes to French and my abilities. I consistently refuse to say I’m fluent, but I am. I think it comes from years of frustrating classroom experiences. I loved that I just listened and watched, as effortlessly as if it were in English. Oh, and to tie it in with Frenchy Friday, at one point they say “Il y a quelquechose qui cloche!”
My rating: ***
Apologies for not posting last Friday, c’était le jour de mon démenagement and I was a bit…chaotic.
Thus, this week is a double edition of Frenchy Friday!
Use
I have to admit, I haven’t used my French as much over the past two weeks as I would like to have done. Oh, bits here and there, but nothing really worth posting about. I communicated with a friend in Paris, en français bien sûr!
I will, however, point your attention to a new online community for 101ers who are interested in Foreign Languages. Amanda and Tara inspired the creation of a new place for all us 101ers to hang out – Day Zero. There’s a group for people interested in incorporating foreign language into their lists, so if that’s you, check it out! And add me as a friend
Also, I thought I’d take a moment and teach you how to do accents on your computer, in case you were curious. When I’m blogging sometimes I just do it via HTML, but it’s so much easier just to change your keyboard! {this tutorial is only for PCs using XP, sorry!}
1. Go to Start
2. Control Panel
3. Regional and Language Options
4. Languages tab at the top
5. Details
6. Add
7. US – International
8. Okay
9. Apply
Now, when you type you will hit the ‘ key and nothing will happen at first. Hit the space bar to actually get an apostrophe, but if you want accents, here are some of the ones I do the most (for French):
é = ‘ + e (hit the shift button in between to capitalize)
è = ` + e
û = shift + ^ + u
ç = alt + , + c (on my cmputer if I just hit alt + , I automatically get the cedilla!)
Those are just some of the most common, hope it helps!
Vocabulary
Verbs
ébahir – stupéfier, frapper d’étonnement; to astound
ébaucher – donner un premier forme à; to rough out, draft (like a letter)
Words
éclopé(e) (n. m/f) – qui marche avec peine suite à une blessure ou une maladie; lame
écossais(aise) (n./adj. m/f) – qui concerne l’Écosse, habitant d’Écosse; Scot, scottish – I chose these words today because it reminded me of my friend Katy, a Scottish woman in my French classes in Paris. She was delightful. We spoke French exclusively until the last week we were there, and it was then I discovered her amazing brogue!
écrit (adj.) – ce qui est tracé; written
économiquement (adv.) – avec économie; economically
effectivement (adv.) – réellement, en effet; actually – I say this a lot! Also, en effet.
Idioms
echapper belle – échapper de peu à un danger
effeuiller la marguerite – jeu qui consiste à savoir si l’on est aimé – similar to “he loves me, he loves me not”
une marguerite = a daisy!
Enjoy
Somebody emailed me this clip of one of Eddie Izzard’s routines. Hilarity.
|
{
Chattering...