Sunday, August 02, 2009

Sunday snippets

* Itunes told me there was new Basia available. What?! Apparently it was released in March and they only got around to telling me now. At least they offer instant gratification which I immediately took advantage of. One click and it's downloaded on the ipod.

* Speaking of the ipod, I went ahead and sprang for the new software update. It's rather irritating though, the only difference I've seen is the newfangled way it shuffles. See now you can shake your ipod and it will skip to the next tune. The trouble is that if you are walking and put the ipod in your pocket, it shuffles with every step you take. I paid ten bucks for added irritation, yay.

* Rented Doubt. Yawn. Merril is always fun to watch, but really it could have just been a (very) short story. Nun suspects priest of diddling boy, accuses priest, invents incriminating information and thus priest transfers elsewhere. The end. There, now you don't have to bother.

* Went to greet the bikers from the Toronto to Montreal bike ride Friday. I looked for Snooze but couldn't find (or possibly recognize) her but I did find Don. He seemed smaller than I thought from reading his blog. Sigh it's always like this. I'm the freakishly tall one.

* Booked our tickets to Spain for next March. Mommy's taking the family on a little vacation. It's kind of a replay of a family trip we took in '83. It will be much better this time. Last time I got stuck taking care of my little brother, this time he'll be buying us shots after the folks hit the hay.

* Speaking of shots. No drinking tomorrow. We've decided to cut that out during the week. Not because I don't like it, but because it's expensive and I think it has more than something to do with the weight gain.

* Because of our anticipation of this change we really tied one on yesterday. Yes, we were in full George and Martha mode. I would really like to get that film (Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?) but it's out of print and therefore beyond my budget.

* This was yesterday at the Diverscite site in the village. It's a kind of Gay Pride event that is an annual thing here. We had a look around but that was about it. We used to get so excited about these kinds of things but now we just enjoy seeing the excitement of the newbies. It's kind of like Christmas I suppose. It's all about the kids and seeing their eyes light up now.

* I seem to be eliminating my vices here in my mid-forties. At least there will always be food and sex. I just have to make sure they don't turn into vices too.

* My camera is screwed up again. There are those glare spots again whenever I take a picture. It seems to be a common problem with digital cameras. It's happened to every one I've owned. Maybe that's their master plan, make it problematic after two years so you have to get another one.

* When I went to rent videos Friday, I came up to the counter and gave my phone number, confirmed my name and then specified the number of days I wanted to rent ( 3 versus 7). The clerk then asked me if I was good in English. (since one of the films didn't include the French version) "Pardon me?" I said. He repeated his question and I winked at him and said, "Of course, I'm an anglophone." Woot! I got mistaken for a native. That's definitely a first.

14 comments:

Franciscus van Munster said...

Being mistaken for a native speaker is my favourite compliment!

A Lewis said...

But, WAIT....did she really, honestly, "invent" that information....or wast it true??? How do you know? I'm not so sure....maybe it did happen..... but we'll never know. I thought it was a great movie! My favorite person in the movie was the kid's mom.....last name Davis, I think.....

don said...

I was shorter and smellier for sure.It did not seem to bother everyone though as some random dude told me he loved me and then bought me a beer. Its been many years since that has happened to me. Je t'aime Montreal

CoffeeDog said...

I used to get excited about Pride, but now I rarely go. I feel old.

The Ipod software, I don't see any value to upgrading, but I hear there are new apps that require it. I guess I'll give in someday. Can you turn the shuffle thing off?

GayProf said...

I didn't know there was an "upgrade" of the ipod. I think I'll pass.

Al In The County said...

I seem to be dropping vices in my forties, too. Unfortunately for my suddenly expanding waistline, food apparently isn't being considered a vice yet.

The shake thing would irritate me to no end. Thanks for the warning.

G said...

West Hollywood Halloween is better than pride weekend. This year it's on Saturday, Oh Boy!!! Virginia Wolf is on Netflix, do you guys have Netflix in Canada? Thanks for the info on "Doubt". We love your blog.

Mel said...

Seems to me there should be some way to adjust the sensitivity of the iPod so that it takes a more vigorous shake to do that. Or maybe you've just got too much spring in your step.

When we were up there in June, I never had anyone default to English with me, which they did consistently when I was there before. I think it was the glasses that did it, though, since the current pair is way more euro than what I used to wear. For someone who's self-taught, I think I managed okay, even though I usually had to switch to English after a bit. The couple of times when the other person didn't speak any English, I found we were still able to understand one another reasonably well, and I consistently got compliments on my good accent.

Java said...

Thanks for the review of Doubt. Superman wants to see it, but I've been trying to dissuade him. Your review gives my argument bonus points.

Congrats for being considered a native! That's pretty cool!

wcs said...

Unless he's standing on a box, Don does not look that much shorter than you, Mr. Altitude.

He would tower over me.

Word verif: forgary. Who's Gary?

Rick Bettencourt said...

No alcohol during the week? At least you had your George and Martha moment to celebrate.

Anonymous said...

Wow. I loved Doubt. The script and all 4 actors were nominated for Academy Awards. Viola Davis was robbed! I bet George and Martha would have liked it. Truth and illusion.

Phronk said...

Shaking stuff on the iPod/iPhone is dumb. Who sits motionless listening to music? The whole point is that it's portable, and that involves constant shaking.

Even games that require shaking are dumb. Seems like an easy way to accidentally toss the thing to the ground.

Thom said...

Félicitations on being taken for a francophone! I'm always delighted when that happens, which is rare. But one of my happiest moments was while buying something in a store in France: they were conducting some sort of customer survey, and after chatting with me about the purchase, the clerk asked: De quel département êtes-vous? Yippee!