Hidden In France

Jury duty here we come

2009-11-10T08:33:45-08:00

Hi fellow Americans. Have you ever been on Jury duty? Have you ever been part of a jury? Because I am. Apparently, having a self-imposed quota of 1800 words a day to write for nanowrimo was not enough of an excuse to bail me out of my civil duty.

Yesterday, and today are jury selection. The things people said to get out of Jury Duty! Preposterous excuses, sob stories; people lie something awful. After one too many of those, I told myself I was not going to do that; be like them. Also, I realized that it's not exactly like I'm saving puppies in my daily life. I don't have something more important to do.

It's a civil case, that's all I'm allowed to say. A good thing too because I could never on a criminal case. I could not see myself be the one sending someone to jail.

Once on the jury, you get to sit and listen and maybe answer questions. That's it. So much for bringing ten books and getting a lot of work done. Once you're selected and the court is in session there is no ipod, no reading, no doodling, and no dozing off as a sweet, anachronistic judge repeats the same questions (and jokes) over an over to a a bunch of terribly daft people.

There are 18 of us in the box. They need only 12. I hope they reject me. Hey, I've never wanted to be rejected in my life, this will be a first.

I could tell you more about the case, but then I would have to kill you.

I'd rather be in: Deauville and Trouville

2009-11-07T16:46:09-08:00

I have been called for Jury Duty on Monday. I'm not sure who gave anyone the idea that I could be ever fit the definition of impartial. Ha! What a BiG joke.

They say that you need to bring material to occupy yourself while you wait. Well, I'm bringing ten books-- no, literally, ten books-- and a laptop and I'm still set on writing my 1800 words a day, even it is cooped up within the four walls of a municipal court building with 100 other captives reading over my shoulder.

So I'm leaving you with pictures I took this summer on a day we escaped Paris and took a train to Deauville and the adjacent city Trouville.

You can rent those candy-looking tents on the beach.

De jolie maisons partout.

We arrived smack dab in the middle of the sunday market

Fruits de mer. ahhh....sigh... and the size?! You could feed a family of four on a single shrimp.

And ahhh the smell of chicken roasting. I'm drooling just looking at the picture.

Des montagnes de saucissons. Still drooling. returning home, American farmers market felt a bit insipid in comparison.

I wanted to buy all those cans. I didn't care about what was in them or about the taste. I wanted to wear them.

And then for desert: pains aux raisins

See ya'll after jury duty (i call it jury doo-doo)

Passage Paradis

2009-11-05T20:48:35-08:00

She's been there, she's done that but she's not blasée about it.

From the South of France:

... to deep into India

to England's countryside:

or city side:

to the California desert

This is my new favorite blog. Check out Passage Paradis. The soulful writing draws you in, and the pictures make you feel like a globe trotter.

Shitty First Draft

2009-11-03T12:24:42-08:00

I was all set to compete against myself in NaNoWrimo this year. But I eventually decided against it for two reasons. One is that I have been called Jury Duty (one of the booby prizes of obtaining an American citizenship, another is to have to pledge allegiance when I help at my kid's school, a completely archaic, artificial and --since you asked-- reactionary way to instill patriotism on young minds. ) The other reason not to participate in Nanowrimo was that my husband, when I asked him if he thought this was a good idea, said "i'm against it, you're under enough pressure as it" which I heard as "do you really think this family should be left without clean undies and with only frozen pizzas to eat for the next 30 days?"

But i digress.

nanowrimo is National Novel Writing Month and a most excellent way to self-kick your butt when you need to write a first draft in a hurry. The idea is simple: 30 days, 50,000 words. If you reach 50,000 words at the end of 30 days you win! What you win is really nothing other than self-respect and what my beloved Ann lamott calls a shitty first draft , the necessary and embarrassing first step I have learned to like. I find that putting a little fire under my fingers by adding a deadline--especially an impossible deadline that can only produce a terrible product-- is the best way to beat delaying tactics.

The book I'm working on (okay, so i had started it already, which made me ineligible for nanowrimo anyway) has required way too much research because it's a period piece and I don't mean the kind that requires tampons. I never feel fully prepared, I keep having to stop writing to look up dates (thank you wikipedia) and clothing details (thank you google) and eye witness accounts (thank you public library). All this research freezes the writing flow, and you know how you can get lost on the internet, because one minute you're googling for first hand accounts of the Armenian genocide and the next one you're watching this:

I apologize if this distracted you from your otherwise productive day.

So I won't do NaNoWirMo, but I attempting NaNo&DeWriMo. That means I'm giving myself November and December to complete my shitty first draft. I need to average 1500 words a day. I wrote over 1800 words of pure shit today and I'm happy.

This is Halloween

2009-10-31T17:58:39-07:00

Not a bad time of the year in LA.

The light and temperature are kinder

(The idea was to give birds seeds and protection from the cat)

A trickster put playdough on one of the fonds of the agave.

I found fresh masa at the Mexican market so I made tamales today. If you know how to diaper a baby, you know how to make tamales.

Eggplants and peppers still growing strong.

Same for the lantana in full bloom everywhere.

We've trained this guard dog to fetch a lot of candy tonight.

happy halloween

The stuff procrastination is made of.

2009-10-30T10:37:34-07:00

Just peeking my head above a fortress of terribly depressing books to say hello. What I'm writing right now better be good because the reading I'm doing as research, if history is any indication of the future, has me feeling hopeless for the human race.

What I mean to say is that if the book I'm writing is crap, then I will have been a masochist. But you already knew that (especially you Isa.)

Writer's angst has me searching desperately for online distractions. Alas the mindless and entirely relaxing world of home design now revs me up. I've come to resent draperies and candelabras and don't get me started on side tables. It's the accumulation that creeps me out. It's all the STUFF. It's an addiction people!

...all the pretty, pretty stuff..

Just one more picture okay, then I go to work. I needed a boost, those books are soooo depressing.

I knew if anyone would understand, it would be you.

pictures from the rice catalogue.

Now for something funny

2009-10-29T08:39:31-07:00

Chances are I'm not going to get much done today because I've stumbled upon this blog. Move over Sedaris and Dooce; it's a cute 24 year old named Ryan Holman I now want to adopt.

On people my age wearing braces (i'm getting fitted on Monday, fml)

On women who nurse in public. (Had i any idea 20 something men were ogling me then I would have worn lipstick)

On people who clap in at the end of movies in theater. (i would never do THAT)

Ryan if you read this: Add a tip jar to your blog. People will want to pay to hear what's going on inside your brain.