Greed is Disgusting. Gluttony is Better.

Greed is Disgusting. Gluttony is Better.

by Rasmenia Comment Closed
"I do like Christmas on the whole.... In its clumsy way, it does approach Peace and Goodwill.  But it is clumsier every year." ~E.M. ForsterIt's finally over.  The shopping, the wrapping, the unwrapping...the over the river & through the woods.  Ugh.  Finally.  Over.  It's not that I don't like Christmas...it's just that Christmas, like a great many things, annoys the living shit out of me.It's a time of year that is filled with stress like no other.  Deadlines, travel plans, added expenses & the relatives that we've managed to avoid since last year.  But the greatest annoyance of all is that greed is more apparent during the holidays than at any other time of year.  At a time of year when many of us would like to be reminded of the beauty of the human spirit, I generally end up disgusted with it.People forget what's important about getting together for the holidays.  It's not about the giving or the receiving...
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Secrets & Sexy Stirry Sticks

Secrets & Sexy Stirry Sticks

by Rasmenia Comment Closed
All three of us, Olivier, my mother-in-law & myself, all decided that it would have to be Thai food for lunch.  Sure, there are plenty of restaurants in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, but the Thai restaurant down the street was the only thing that would be able to satisfy us.  We had been thinking about it all morning & now we all had a strong craving.After we had been seated, we ordered our food & some drinks.  I watched people wrapped in coats & scarves as they passed by the window, moving around in different directions, none of them paying any attention to one another.The conversation between the three of us moved in & out from English to French to Frenglish, then back to English again.  I tried to follow along, but couldn't think of anything except for my nems, wondering when they would arrive.However, as soon as the waiter brought our drinks, I forgot about the nems.  The...
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Creperie Ty Baron

Creperie Ty Baron

by Rasmenia Comment Closed
Wandering around Brittany looking at trees, rocks & assorted Merlin memorabilia works up an appetite.  I was beginning to feel the familiar sensation of my stomach wrapping itself around my spine, as it usually does just before my body begins to digest itself.Our eyes were beginning to get that glazed look that one gets just as they begin to consider cannibalism.All right, enough of the sightseeing shit.  We needed food.  Preferably vast amounts of crepes, dripping with cheese & meat.After driving around in what seemed like endless circles in the middle of freaking nowhere, we finally saw the sign.We checked the clock on the dashboard.  It was only 6:50pm.  We'd have to wait 10 minutes.  No problem.  My body likely wouldn't reach the advanced stages of auto digestion for at least a half an hour.As soon as the clock flipped to 7pm, we were through the door.  The place was empty, just as one would expect it to be.  The...
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The Megaliths of Carnac

The Megaliths of Carnac

by Rasmenia Comment Closed
Okay, so maybe you thought that I was all done with talking about Brittany. Well, you're wrong, because I'm not.One of the more famous locations in Bretagne is the megalithic site in Carnac, a ridiculously large collection of Neolithic menhirs, or standing stones. The legend says that the stones are a Roman legion that was turned to stone by Merlin, which is why the megaliths are standing next to one another, lined up in perfect formation.Well, that may be true, but it seems to me that if they were men turned into stone, then they would look more like men somehow. I mean, I saw Clash of the Titans and I also saw that episode of Hercules where the men from the local village were being turned to stone.I know how men look once they've been turned to stone.The truth is, the menhirs of Carnac were brought there by a menhir delivery man by the name of Obelix, as those...
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Créteil

Créteil

by Rasmenia Comment Closed
It's a good life here in France. There's plenty of great food, excellent wine, an incredible health care system, more stinky cheese than you can shake a baguette at and plenty of museums, history and culture for everyone.Of course it has some negative aspects, too. That's to be expected. Things like no Arby's, milk in a freakin' box, people eating the cross-section of a veal's head and the occasional strike or car burning.But, the worst has got to be visa renewal if you're an immigrant living in the Val-de-Marne départment.Visa renewal in Paris was a walk in the park. We made an appointment with the préfecture, waited a few minutes, then an employee actually possessing the ability to smile and be friendly processed my paperwork. I was given a date at which time I could pick up the new visa and within 15 minutes or so, the entire process was completed.This is unheard of in Créteil. Créteil is where the...
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A Town Like Paris

A Town Like Paris

by Rasmenia Comment Closed
Author Bryce Corbett – wait a minute. I hesitate to even use the word “author” here. These days it seems like any jackass who can sit himself upright behind a keyboard likes to refer to himself or herself as an “author”.I wouldn’t refer to Corbett as an author – more like a blogger gone pro. Each chapter of “A Town Like Paris” reads like a long-winded blog entry, riddled with references to his friends & outings as if the reader actually cared enough to keep track of Corbett’s lifeless & bland ancillary characters.“A Town Like Paris” is an attempt at telling the story of an Australian expat living in Paris. While I am an American living expat living in France who spent more than two years living in Paris, I wondered with each turn of the page where in the hell Corbett’s Paris could be located on the map, because I had never seen the place.The...
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