6h du matin

I can't go back to sleep.
We've been going to as many museums as we can stand since Dave got here. This November is apparently the month of photography, so we saw a Walker Evans exhibit and a couple of days ago went to a really, really great show of 70s American Photography at the BNF. Yesterday afternoon we hit the Pompidou Center. I had forgotten how huge that place is. We saw a special exhibit on Futurism, but after that we were too exhausted to really take in anything else. I dragged Dave through the rest of the rooms anyway to make our 12euros last.
Tonight we're going to try to see if Wes Anderson and Peter Bogdonovich are actually having a public conversation after the showing of "Royal Tennenbaums."

People often ask me if I have weird food cravings. And my answer is no. I love eating, so I crave food -- but not in any unheard of combinations, or at strange moments of the day. In fact, my eating habits are so normal (perhaps with slightly larger portions) that I was getting worried that my pregnancy was not "as pregnant" as it's supposed to be. Until I realized that maybe I do have cravings. Yesterday I sat thinking about donuts for a while. And just now I had a yearning for pumpkin pie -- or maybe just for Thanksgiving dishes in general. Of course, this could have nothing to do with being pregnant and everything to do with missing American food. But what's strange is -- I mean, like Twilight Zone weird -- is that I, as you may know, love nachos (esp. from La Cabana in Santa Cruz). And I miss them, theoretically, but I haven't craved them like I craved that donut yesterday. So maybe everything really is okay.

Oops, I think I just induced a nachos craving.

Reunited

We're back together again. I picked Dave up from the airport on Wednesday. I exited the elevator the exact moment he exited the gate. And from that strangely synchronous moment, everything's been back to normal. I thought it might be a little weird, being a couple again, having someone around all the time. But it's not. I'm a little more giddy than I was before -- Dave got himself trapped between the sofa bed and the wall yesterday which had me laughing to the point where I thought I may be doing harm to myself and the unborn.
Speaking of, I finally went back to the OB who didn't seem to mind at all that it had been over two months since my last visit. Dave came with, smiling politely while sitting across from the briskly efficient -- and still tan -- docteur who was muttering to himself in French about glucose tests and echograms. But after weeks of anxiety and embarrassing phone calls to receptionists, over bad reception, in broken French, as soon as I entered the waiting room I already felt better. I knew nothing was wrong. I felt healthy. I just needed the surroundings there to verify it.
And also, it doesn't hurt to have Dave back again. To reassure me that I don't have gestational diabetes, or high blood pressure, or a fat ass, or a dumb dissertation. Phew.

Macarons

Today I had lunch at a friend's place. She makes the best Japanese chicken curry. I ate way too, way too much, but still had enough room for some macarons from Pierre Hermé. I've had other Parisian macarons. More than really relishing their taste, I enjoy them as a curiosity -- a French treat that can't be found elsewhere. Even though I love the different flavors you can choose (pistachio, green tea, orange blossom), I usually find them sweeter than I like my sweets to be. Like little colorful sugar bombs. But these Pierre Hermé macarons . . . they have some substance behind them. They're sugary, but meaty too (yes, a meaty macaron). We waited in line for at least 20 minutes for our ten macarons (costing 15 euros), but I'd say it was worth it.

While I wait . . .

. . .for D. to get his ass over here, I've using my time to make some progress on the dissertation. I am both impatient wanting D. to be here NOW and worried that I won't have enough time to actually get anything substantial done.
So, I've been going to libraries. Not to read their books, because I've decided to forget the goal of working on my French chapter. But to get out of the house and work somewhere "studious." I go to the Bibliotheque Ste. Genvieve, which is gorgeous inside but doesn't have free wi-fi (or at least not that I can tell). I also visit the Bibliotheque Forney, which seriously looks like a castle (and very well may be) and has free wi-fi (that doesn't work that well).
Yeah, it's been good jumping from library to library. I get there early and stay for three to four hours -- which I think is a good chunk of time for my brain to be thinking and my hands to be typing. Then I make my way home. Today I left the Bib. Forney and strolled along the Seine toward the Metro at Hôtel de Ville. There's some Jacques Prévert exhibition going on there that is apparently very popular. Which reminds me of all the things I want to do when D. gets here. I think the first thing we'll do is go to the Walker Evans Expo at the Henri Cartier Bresson museum. It's free on Wednesday nights starting at 6:30pm.

Obama Oh-Eight!

Woke up, turned on the computer. I already knew, there was no way that there could have been any other result. But when I saw the headline on the New York Times, of course I had to cry. It makes me so happy and excited.
And I'm a cynical academic! But, as Zizek says of American capitalism, "I know it's not real, but all the same I live as if it is."
But I always have room for worry and today it goes to Missouri which is locked at 49.4% for each candidate! The color-map of the state mirrors the color-map of the country: blue on the sides, red in the middle. If Indiana can go blue with only a .9% difference, I'm hoping the same can be true for MO.

Family Visit

Ok, my parents are gone for the States but, while here, managed to provoke my first non-rational, hormonally-rich mood swings. Seriously. I was going from screaming pissed off to silently crying in seconds. And the whole time I was thinking, "damn - my family really screws me up." Until I realized at least half of this dysfunction just can't be helped. Which is a relief, cause I was starting to feel real guilty for being such a nutso of a tourguide/daughter/sister. I still feel a little guilty.



But I think their trip was a success overall -- given all the photos that were taken. The weather was pretty much cold and rainy the whole time -- but I took them to the Musée de l'Orangerie. Which they loved! We also saw the new James Bond movie, and had dinner at a great little Vietnamese restaurant near Belleville.