My latest bonnet-bee is healthcare, and the arguments against which are essentially, “I got mine, I worked hard for mine, you shouldn’t get yours for free.” This would be like me saying, “I had to pay a 22% interest rate the first five years of my mortgage, then 13% the rest, now that my house is paid off you all shouldn’t get these low interest rates.”
“I got mine, I worked hard for mine, you shouldn’t get yours” makes no sense to me.
I say this because I’m going to write a post in which I sound like I really, really got mine, and I didn’t even work hard for mine (well, I did work two jobs once), but I want you all to know I think you should get yours, you really should.
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Since I have done nothing today but sleep and repeat, “I haven’t broken my foot, I haven’t broken my foot, I haven’t broken my foot,” I have nothing to say and am forced to confess to you my plans.
Plans for mid-May: go to Louisville for a BNL concert and stay at some unusual hotel called 21c. It seems to be half hotel / half contemporary art museum. And the ad for their bathroom made me want to go buy a Devo album.
Plans for early June: go to Tulsa for a BNL concert and stay at the historic Mayo hotel, where they will give us chocolate-covered strawberries and a suite if we pay them the going rate for a hotel in any other city.
Plans for the rest of the year:We’ve been debating where to go for our 25th anniversary. We’ve even considered some places BNL isn’t playing. As Mom would say, “(!).”
Gary has decided it is our anniversary year, akin to the Birthday Month, and the dates are not relevant, so we can go anywhere, anytime this year, even overseas.
This is how the conversation has gone.
“Gary, it looks like the Greek economy is going in the toilet, maybe there’ll be really good deals in Greece.”
“Greece? You want to go to Greece? I would think you would have wanted to go someplace like Paris.”
“Nah, I’ve never wanted to go to Paris.”
(Days later)
“Gary, I’ve been thinking, I’ve been selfish, we should go somewhere you want to go. I was thinking Ireland.”
“Why Ireland?”
“Well, because your family is Irish.”
“My Dad’s family is German. Should I want to go to Germany?” (pause) “Your family is French, isn’t it?”
(Days later)
“Maybe it would be fun to go to Iceland.”
“Or … Paris!”
(Shield your eyes from the glare of the light bulb going off.)
So, it looks like the day of our anniversary we won’t be having a party, or going out to dinner, but instead we might be staying inside and planning a trip to Paris. For sometime this year, or… Gary is voting for next year, because he’s bought in to the Paris in Spring advertising. I vote for Paris in the summer, because I hear they are more understanding to tourists then. Actually, I vote for Paris in the next few weeks when I could get a $500 per person fare, because seriously, it’s cheaper to go to Paris than Toronto? How does that work?
I’m not even really getting my hopes up, because it seems unreal.
17 responses to “Wanton Bragging”
I think the whole ‘April in Paris’ thing was because of the song, not the other way around. I went the last week in March and the weather was gorgeous. However, not much was blooming. This could be a plus if you have allergies.
But yes, yes, yes, Paris is a must. (Les Musts de Becs..?)
I once had a dirty midweek in Paris. It was my first encounter with a bidet. And I still remember the bateau mouche.
And, the thing I left the motorway north of Brisbane to photograph for you? Here it is: http://travelskite.blogspot.com/2010/05/ftq.html
We had a bidet in Morocco. We used it to keep the beer cold.
Did you see the bidet skit on SNL?
I think you should take me as your translator. I’ve been to Paris in the spring, I want to go next in the fall.
All- you know, if you haven’t commented I assume you hate me. Just FYI.Becs – Is that a French joke? I went to Google translator. The Must of the month? Quest que cest?Big Dot – You always send me to a translator. Urban Dictionary: “Dirty weekend / mid-week. Going on a weekend getaway with a loved one (yours or someone else’s) for the express purpose of coitus. “Harry got us a seaside room in Brighton!!” “Its gonna be a proper dirty weekend.”Allison – I’ve seen a bidet – the youth minister at church had a bidet in his basement. It didn;t strike me as cold though.Caroline – I did, but I’d forgotten it.Zayrina – I think my iPhone might have to be my translator. There must be an app.
There is an iPhone app translator, and it’s free.
Seriously, you had to look up ‘dirty mid-week’? I know it’s a twist on the usual, but really, isn’t ‘dirty weekend’ universal? Does that mean that in the US you’re purer than the Brits, or so much less pure that you don’t even need the phrase?
Didja look at the photo, didja?
Back when I read the NY Times and The New Yorker, there were ads for ordinary everyday things that Cartier had enameled and encrusted with precious jewels. “Les Musts de Cartier.”
I have been to Paris once, and you know what? It was actually awesome. I highly recommend seeing all the famous things that you’ve seen in movies up close. I recommend seeing master works of art at the Louvre. Hell,the Louvre is a bit of a master work, itself, what with the ridiculous glass pyramid that doesn’t fit there at all. Montmarte, Sacre Couer, seeing the Eiffel Tower in the background of a view, bateaux mouche… I think I might just be saying French things, now. I might even be spelling them wrong.
Big Dot – Yes! I looked at the “BurpenGary” road sign with the Old Gimpie addition! I thought I left a comment that it should be “Fartengary.” And no, we don’t do dirty weekends. Nooners, we do nooners. It doesnt take a whole weekend, I suppose.Becs -Ahhh. Like scissors? Google seem to think it’s leopards.Tami – You lost me at Montmarte, except for Eiffel Tower. But you said “mouche.” Everything seems to be either “Mouche” or “bouche.” gary says he thinks it means bakery.
Bakeries are called patisseries. That’s REALLY important in Paris. “mouche” means “fly”, so I suppose that “bateau mouche” (I forgot the “s” in my previous post) would be a “flying boat” or a “fly boat”, not sure. They’re the open air boats that people ride up and down the Seine.
You should go and be in the beautiful place, and eat pain au chocolat in France. It’s the French version of Babka. Sort of.
You should go, so we can talk about it over drinks next February. 🙂
Tami -HAH! That’s what I said. Only I said boulangerie, not patisserie. And I just checked that and I was still right, it didn’t end up boulangerie meant laundromat. And yes, drinks next Feb, absolutely.
Yeah, boulangerie, patisserie, they bake things, but in snooty-ass France, the pastries and the breads/rolls are *separate*. That is some kind of superior pretention they got going on over there. It’s like NJ, where you can’t buy beer in the grocery store. I hate that.
Tami – You cant buy beer? You can buy beer at church here.
We can buy beer, but only at the liquor store, or bars that have a package goods license. Even then, you can’t buy it to take home after 10pm. NJ has strict laws about selling booze, but not as strict as PA. I learned the rules early and well, and manage to never be without booze when I need it.
Have you tried to get drunk in Canada? They sell wine at the grocery store, but only in a special section not with the food. You have to pay for your food, then go to the wine section. If you want beer you go to The Beer Store. Seriously. They have an orange sign with white lettering similar to Home Depot. There is one bottle of each kind of beer in the showroom. You order and they send it out on a conveyor belt from the back, kind of like Service Merchandise. But don’t try to buy hard liquor at The Beer Store! You have to go to a liquor store for that, where of course they don’t sell beer or wine. Good luck getting drunk!
Tami – All I know about our laws is that you can’t sell liquor on Election Day, even at a restaurant. Caroline – That seems impossible! Viva L’America!