Breakfast Item

Hey all, I'll be in Seattle July 20-26th. Hit me up if you don't already have plans to meet. (Heavy post, fair warning) It's a good suit. Easily the best I've owned. Well fitted and good for virtually any occasion where

Les Epochs de Bunny

Early Days Bunny was found after a long search. My partner scoured the internet for an old dog to rescue. They were banned from a official Boston Terrier Facebook group after arguing with the admin, who insisted such dogs are not good for apartment living. This is, on its face,

Against Convenience

The first and only time I truly participated in a democracy was on the top floor of a home for aged persons on Seattle's First Hill, staring at the incredible cosplay of the anime convention Sakura-Con hundreds of feet below, and trying to ignore an ex-boyfriend

Not the B-plot

Calling it a song of my youth certainly dates me, but there it is. There are times When you need someone (yeah) I will be by your side (For sure, for sure) I can't quite bring myself to socialize at this queer board game night event at my

A slow burn to Woke 3

Typical history classes speed up to wars and then fail to describe the results, even medium term. This all but guarantees a stunted understanding of why large conflicts occur and how/when they are prevented. For instance, the lead up to the American Civil War (1860-1865)[[1]] is rushed.

Chicken Milk and Clown Car Ideology

It is officially the end of our second year in Quebec! I've talked about this place quite a lot but let's pick up some parts on the cutting room floor. Too Fast Too Flurryious Yes there is no avoiding this: during the winter Quebec is pretty

Evalyn Normielib has Two Bullets

One of the longest transit strikes in recent memory rocked Montréal as people went to the polls and elected a new mayor: Soraya Martinez Ferrada. At a time when immigration has been increasingly blamed for all manner of social ills - from crime to housing - the city has elected a proud

No..uh...Tyrants? Newsposting

I was informed recently that for all the effort I put into finding and embedding the music for my last post, literally nothing appeared in the email. If you were interested in actually hearing anything I featured, here is a link to the actual post with all the music available.

Palette cleanser music post

You can get news anywhere and there is currently too much of it. I'm happy [[1]] to talk about it in another post, but here and now let me share some music with you. These are good songs even if you don't know French and do

Pride by any other name

I originally wrote this post in French as a means to practice for the language exam - part of trying to get permanent residence - in October. I already took two of the four parts of the exams before the Ministry for Immigration and Francisation changed the rules and made it necessary

And in the spirit of Rambo

Today: summer in Montreal, silly side projects/networking, and why make babies.

Have a great stay at home!

I have a million more things to say about Paris but (1) my last post was rather text heavy and (2) rather than going detail by detail I've thrown together some photo highlights with commentary. The long history: The food/drinks which, like any major world city, were

Of Cats and Communards

Half way through our visit we moved to a hotel in the famous Montmartre district. Montmarte is known for: * Its elevation - beautiful views and strategic position * Its former independence from Paris (made into the 14th Arrondissement late) * Its radicalism - most evident with the Paris Commune * Gypsum mining, which, before they

paris

Bumming a cigarette to a French child outside the horse butcher

There are some massively fucked up people who get very worked up over declining birthrates. Most of these people, like Elon Musk, are of course concerned principally with the birthrate of specific kinds of people. [[1]] The New Yorker recently wrote on the topic. They accurately point out that birthrates

Four Republiques Deep and He Gives You This Look

Two things that Paris impresses upon you immediately is that it is (1) an old city and (2) a world city. The former I intend to talk about at some length next post, but the latter becomes apparent just walking down the street. On your way elsewhere, you will find

paris

Innovating New Accents to Annoy Parisians

FrenchBee is a funny name for a company. I prefer it over the original name, FrenchBlue, that they were called before JetBlue complained to the FAA. Both are sadly inferior to the temporary name the chose in the interregnum - just “French”. Anyway a huge amount of the branding persists because

canada-america

Chute libre of a magical deal

I don't really have anything to add about the economic turmoil we are currently engulfed in [[1]]. Whether you are reading this on a day when the market is up or, as French speakers might say, chute libre, is less important than America's most valuable export

canada-america

The Full Megillah and another time the US tried to invade Canada

We went to a Purim party with the local leftist Jewish group my partner found when we arrived. It was held in a a building that made up part of the first (and until recently, largest) hospital complex in Montréal: Cité des Hospitalières. The original hospital was the product of

Uncomfortably Numb

I'm back in Fayetteville, Arkansas again. I don't think I really have the capacity right now to talk about my father, his life, and our loss in a manner that I would feel proud or happy about. It is still too soon. The collective mood is

Soon in your neighborhood

I've started writing four posts in the last two weeks, never managing to finish them because other events have barged into our collective mental space. Those posts were: * One titled "Hindenburg v2", a retrospective on Joseph Biden * Another about the new Star Trek movie, Section 51,

2024 est terminé

What I've done This year started with finishing the first of four French courses, moving on from Substack [[1]], and wistfully considering alternative futures. As spring rolled in, we started going out a little more - the highlights being a drag brunch Megillah reading (Purim), the first heatwave coinciding

Battery Chicken Improv

A key activity in the final 8 weeks of my french course is improv. The Quebecois fucking love improv and, admittedly, it's a pretty good way to move from "think something, translate it in your head, and then speak" to "just say what you are

Francisissy Hypno November

While the inclination to keep this blog more of a personal thing - for letting friends know how we are doing, experiences foreign and familiar, etc - remains strong, unfortunately the United States is very important and powerful and unreasonably close geographically to Canada, so there is no avoiding talking about the

Best Season by a Large Marge

Montreal autumn is a strong contender for "best season in the world" next to Seattle summers. It's beautiful and, occasionally, warm as heck. As opposed to the summer - which I frankly found a bit too hot for my liking - and winter, the variability of autumn means