Katie Doyle, Girl About Town

Monday, Nov. 27, 2006 - 4:39 p.m.

OMG, I'm a Flickr addict; someone please stop me.

I hope everyone had a happy Turkey/Tofurkey Day or just passed a pleasant Thursday and weekend. Mine was mostly enjoyable. I had a few pangs of "ohmigod, why in HELL did i say that," but mostly it went fine. I have to say though, it was a lot easier being me in Paris, where I mostly didn't give a damn whether or not anyone liked me. I mean, most days it was a given they either didn't care or didn't like me, on accounta everyone was a stranger AND French, and as previously discussed in this hallowed webspace, the French just really don't give a damn, no matter who you are. There's a certain freedom in that. :) (My friends there are, of course, excluded from any blanket statements I might make about their country as a whole, since they themselves RAWK. Just so we're clear. :))

I am always amazed when I come back from France (all both times!) that people find out I've just come from there and then immediately launch into some bullshit about hot hateful the French are and how awful Paris is.

These statements are almost invariably made by people who have never been, or who have spent a totality of 4 days there. Counting travel days. During the height of tourist season. As part of a tour.

It always manages to irritate the hell out of me, because I feel it's a kneejerk response, like I have said I just returned from the arctic, and the immediate response is to tell me polar bears are vicious and that it's damned cold up there. I also fail to understand how you can spend more than an hour (anything over 30 minutes, actually) there without falling head over heels in love with that city forever. Yes, there's dog poop on the sidewalk, and no one speaks english. There's also a museum on practically every corner, nary a building newer than 1898, gorgeous sunsets, mostly beautiful weather (my bout of overcast evil notwithstanding), and something new everywhere you go. Paris has more parks than any other major metropolitan area in the world, making it pretty much the greenest city on the planet. Why the hell would you spend your time there worrying about whether or not one person out of your whole day was rude to you? Jeebus.

I am slowly fitting back into life here. It's hard, because I keep wanting to call MP, Beth, and Elodie and ask 'em what's up and do they wanna hang out. I also want to walk to the store when I need something, or to take the Metro and go shoot pictures, because the weather here is gorgeous, and I can't do any of it. It's very, very sad. :( I joined some Flickr groups to keep me busy, particularly one called "We Do It Everyday," which involves a list of stuff you're supposed to take a picture of (you choose an item) every day.

So far, I've done these:

01 Refrigerator

02 Reflection

03 Personal

That last one is my favorite. :) And you guys can see what Carambar looks like. :) There are 180 items on the list, but like, the one that was actually 4th on the list is "taken by a stranger," and frankly, I am not interested in that, and I think it negates the purpose of the list, which is to get ME taking pictures. So I decided on the way home today, after I'd already taken 05 Bears, to change it to just 04 Stranger, and tomorrow to try to take a picture of a stranger. Hopefully without some uber aggressive Angeleno kickin' my butt.

You can see the set here, if you feel like keeping up. The list is there, too. I'll be posting today's image later. I have to pull it out of the camera first. And no, Pete is not in it. :)

Have I mentioned I really love me the photography? Because I really do. It fascinated me as a kid, too. I was obsessive about it. Mom gave me her old Brownie, which I still wish I had, and I took picture after picture with the thing. It was awesome. I have hundreds of pictures put away in which I experimented or was just snap happy. I took pictures of the dogs, the cats, the kittens, my brothers, my horse, the cows, my dad sleeping, you name it. When my mom got a 35mm Minolta when I was in 9th grade, I bugged the hell out of her to let me use it when we went to Hawaii that Christmas, because you could take close-ups of flowers with a "real" camera like that, and I was all about the close-ups, being, as I was, a frustrated junior artist. Or at least, fancying myself thus. I bugged her after the trip to Hawaii too, but it was a fruitless exercise, as Mom really loved that camera and repeated the mantra "It's not a toy," until the day it was finally lost in a move. I think my dad actually took it to spite her, but lost or spitefully spirited away, the camera was no more. So a few years ago, she bought me my own Minota to replace it, and I can understand her love of hers back in the day, because I won't let anyone touch mine, either. I don't say it's not a toy, because the adult human being in question would not take kindly to that admonition, but he did finally give up asking after I hounded him into oblivion over the dire consequences that would prevail if something untoward were to happen to it. Somehow following someone around harping on how much you don't really want them to use your thing whilst listing all the things they are not allowed to do while it is in their possession just sorta sucks the joy right out of a thing for the other person, and frankly, I don't care. I don't like lending it. To ANYONE.

So anyway. :)

I have seen all my LA friends this week, and it was very nice. :) I have also started job hunting, which is not so nice, but I did get word I definitely start a new teevee job in mid-January. Woohoo!

Now I have housecleaning to do and to install my workstation in the big bathroom here, so-called because it *is* the big bathroom. The thing is like 12' long and has ample room in what used to be a long closet to set up my bead stuff and a table. Plus, I can go in there and close the door and turn on the heater, so I get to be nice and warm while TB has the house nice and arctic, just like he likes it. (and what are the odds I would ever use the word "arctic" twice in one post, with two different meanings, I wonder?) I already had an armchair in there and used it as my winter reading room and the place where I go when I Do Not Want To Be Bothered Or To Actually Know You At This Time, so it works totally as a workroom. :) Plus then I can leave my beads out without TB having to freak out, because while I am in my element in clutter, it drives him insane. It also stresses him out, and a stressed TB is not a fun TB, so I am happiest when he is not stressed, and if that means working in the bathroom, hurrah.

See what one does when one loves another person?

This relationship thing is hard, btw. For both of us. When you have gotten into one set of habits, it's hard to launch into a new one, and the old habits also come with presumptions, assumptions, and insecurities, so there have been a few instances where I was all, "screw this, I just want out," but then after a cooling out period and a calm discussion, I was like, "oh, so that's what you meant by that. sorry, my bad." It's definitely detrimental to go into it waiting for it to fail, and that is basically my kneejerk reaction to anything in life, especially relationships. So I am trying not to do that, and hopefully I am not annoying the living hell out of him too much. I'm trying to keep my clutter at a minimum and to stay more active, though that last part is hard, because frankly, I like a certain amount of laze to my day, and he is one of those go-go-go people who view laze with a jaundiced eye. He leaps out of bed the very second he opens his eyes, which, given his propensity for extreme grumpitude prior to his morning coffee and for at least 2 hours after, defies all logic. So some sort of agreement needs to be reached there, for sure. I need to be able to have pajama time without feeling judged, and he is so totally NOT a pajama kinda guy. Let that be a lesson to you, my younger peeps: do not date a non-pajama person if you are into valuable pj-time. The non-pajama people just don't get it, and to them, you are being a layabout. I would not want to date someone who did nothing but laze about all day long, but frankly, a certain amount of lazing is a necessary component to life, as far as I am concerned. I have always spent my non-work, non-gym, non-social time in my pj's doing something involving tv, books, music, or art. I am totally happy with that set-up. So unless you want to do something WITH me, please leave me to it. It's my time.

Hey! I am reading Pamela Ribon's new book, "Why Moms Are Weird," and by page 4, I had lol'd 3 times. I can identify with so much of it, it's totally scary. I love, love, love this book so far. :) It's even better than "Why Girls Are Weird," which I liked, but couldn't connect to. This, I am so wired into I feel like Pam and I are long lost sisters, that we grew up in totally different households but in parallel dimensions, so my insanity and her insanity*, which were completely different insanities, were somehow totally and virtually intertwined into some kind of random rollercoaster we each knew by heart. It's like The Lake House, only platonic. And with girls. And totally different. But um, you know what I mean. I can't wait to see where this goes next, and I'm only on, like, page TEN. Or 20. I forget, it's just that good. And that *never* happens. I have already, on several occasions, laughed, nodded, grimaced in accompanying pain, and uttered a dry, "Word" right out loud. It's really good.

not that pam had insanity. i'm just sayin', everyone's family makes 'em nuts, and everyone has some level of wacky trauma, it's just some of us have bigger nutball dysfunctionaries than others, and while i'm pretty sure pamie had a normal life, there's probably a little dysfunction in there somewhere. maybe with a nutty aunt. or an uncle who kept a house full of squirrels. i'm just sayin'. and now that i've dug that hole a little bit deeper, i think i'm done. bygones, pam!

Peace out,
Katie

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Yesterday's News - Next Stop

In which Katie shares sad news - Wednesday, Apr. 01, 2015
In which Katie returns after a very long absence - Monday, Jun. 25, 2012
In which Katie pokes her head in and brushes some of the cobwebs away - Thursday, May. 06, 2010
In which Katie asks you to write your congressman again. - Monday, Jun. 02, 2008
In which Katie asks you to please click the link and send the message to protect the rights of artists - Wednesday, May. 21, 2008