Rob knows far too many things.

I am very ignorant about Québec's history, and totally clueless as to everything else. Mostly because I don't care. But still.

So Britain was invaded by French, and they speak English there.

Québec was invaded by England, and we speak French.

Isn't this the most ridiculous thing ever ?

Merde.

Quand mon monsieur m'a appelé et a dit "est-ce que je peux venir demain à une heure", j'ai pas pensé que si je travaillais pas, j'avais l'intention d'aller à mon simili-cours demain et aller diner avec les filles après. Complètement oublié - et puis là, je viens de recevoir un e-mail pour savoir combien de nous étaient partantes, et là ça me fait chier, parce que moi je ne le suis pas.

Enfin.

On se reverra en janvier. C'est tout.

Evaluation Guy called. He's gonna come by tomorrow at 1. For once they made an appointment. That's nice.

Ha. It is a distinction that only exists in French. Bretagne is located in France, up north. And in English, it's called Britanny.

This is stupid.
You English people shouldn't use the term Britain, it's just messing with me.

So. Having figured that out.

Ya un guide voir sur la Grande-câlisse-de-Bretagne, et il coûte 40$ chez Archambault, 34$ sur Amazon. Celui sur l'Irlande est un dollar de moins sur Amazon que sur Archambault.

Je suis pas pour m'acheter les deux, je pense que je vais aller à la bibliothèque et faire beaucoup, beaucoup de photocopies de tous pleins de livres. Le guide de l'Irlande serait sûrement plus utile que celui sur la Grande-Bretagne.

::muchly confused::

They say : "Great Britain is not to be confused with the United Kingdom. Great Britain includes England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland."
Ok. I guess Britain and Great-Britain are the same damn thing, then.

Except that there are two tourism books I found on amazon.ca, from the same collection, one on Bretagne, and one on Grande-Bretagne.

Or is it a distinction that only exists in French ?

I'm having trouble just figuring out where we're going, can't imagine how tough it'll be when it comes to organizing the actual trip...

So. I finally had a little time to sit down with the crappy free litterature I got myself online and it seems Britain is England, the Channel Islands, Scotland and Norther Ireland.

Also realized that if we land in England and then travel north and east to Ireland, we will be going to Scotland.
That would mean 3 different countries in 2 weeks. Anyways.

Je vais au centre d'achat tout à l'heure, je vais regarder les livres de tourisme...

That is traumatizing.

That navbar is nice because it can get you extra traffic if that's what you're looking for - the "next blog" link takes you to a random blog that was recently updated.

In the last two hours, that feature has brought 5 people here.

I have to start being interesting if so many people are going to read from time to time. What a challenge.

Bon, Peanut boude, astheure.

Peanut - tu veux une liste ?

renvoiE
galEnteriE
cé assez durE
fEsait
j'ai compriE
en passEnt

etc, etc, c'est juste quelques exemples pris directement de mon guestbook.
Faudrait presque que tu révises ton français, tu es rendu un monsieur important qui écrit des messages importants à du monde important... :P ;)

Update : the search feature sucks.

That navbar (the silver thing up there) is quite nifty, if you ask me. Only thing is that I had to slightly modify my template else it went over my poll and my marquee. Hope it only happens to templates people create.

Actually, what I really like about that navbar is that you can search blogs with it. I don't know how well it actually works, shouldn't be too bad as the search is powered by Google, but I think that, for once, that was a good, useful idea.

Merci Peanut pour le mot exact à mettre pour le tuyau. J'avais l'intention de regarder dans le livret d'instruction, mais bon, je l'ai pas encore fait.
Maintenant, va falloir que tu perdes ton habitude chronique de mettre un "e" à la fin de chaque mot.

I was forgetting. What might screw things up there is that the maximum claim for Small Claims is 7000$. If it's over that, we have to go to civil court, that means lawyers, that means cash.

So, so, so. My father says I should send a letter to FutureShop right away to tell them that I'm holding them responsible for the damage of the building. I'm not exactly sure, but I've already written a draft. Can't be a bad idea - can it ?

SOUS TOUTES RÉSERVES
Madame, Monsieur,

J’ai acheté une laveuse chez vous le (insérez date), laquelle m’a été livrée le 27 mai 2004. Les livreurs ont procédé à son installation, malgré le fait qu’il n’y ait eu aucune demande à cet effet de la part de qui que ce soit. Cette installation, après vérification dans le livre d’instructions, a été mal faite, et, par conséquent, le 7 juillet 2004, en plein milieu d’un cycle, le tuyau de la laveuse s’est complètement dégagé du mur et l’eau a coulé dans mon appartement et dans les appartements au-dessous.

Je désire donc vous informer que, l’installation ayant été faite par les livreurs et ce, sans demande de ma part, FutureShop sera considéré comme le responsable des dommages qui ont été causé à l’immeuble et les frais de nettoyage et autres vous seront réclamés.

Bien à vous,
Quartz

This is getting kinda mixed up because :

a. my name is not on the lease, because people had conditioned me to believe I was going to leave for Ottawa. So the apartment is, officially, solely Peanut's. So when the landlord's insurance wants somebody to pay for the repairs, they can't go after me : I am in no way responsible for this apartment - officially. So they will have to ask Peanut to pay - and not me.
b. when I was talking to I. Guy yesterday afternoon, I asked if the landlord's insurance could sue FutureShop themselves. I'm not sure whether he understood what I meant, because he replied that they could sue whoever they wanted, me, FutureShop, or Peanut - "in which case", he said, "he would be insured because his name is on the policy".
c. therefore - if we admit that a and b are true - our insurers would have to pay our landlord's.
d. say I'm right so far and this is what happens. Our insurance won't forget that supposedly the appliances are mine, and mine only, so afterwards they'll probably go after me to get their money back.
e. back where I started. Then I would have to sue FutureShop. But I'd rather be stuck with Peanut's insurance company than the landlord's.
Because by then, my name will probably be on the policy, and although this doesn't change the fact that it wasn't at the time of the damage, I still will be a client of theirs. So then they would find themselves in a very delicate situation. Thou shalt please the client - therefore thou shalt be fukcing nice and careful when you sue them.

Update :

Insurance Guy called back. Suggested I wait until all the cleaning and repairing is done and the landlord's insurance company sends me the bill. Then I should call them and tell them that I am not responsible. In which case I. Guy says they might sue me, and then I could sue FutureShop.

So I will wait until everything is done and then I'll have to call the landlord's insurers to see if I could get them to sue FutureShop themselves. Which would much less of a hassle, because I don't really like being stuck between two giants like that.

Hopefully it won't take too many more months. It's only been one so far and it feels like lightyears.

So the fighting continues.

Our insurance company called Peanut to tell him they've closed our case. Because the delivery company won't admit responsibility ("we had no instructions to install the appliances !" - which in my opinion is just proving my point) and as the invoice is in my name and the insurance is only in Peanut's, they say they can't do anything. (Which is bull if you ask me, because damn it, the apartment is also only in his name, so the person who should have to pay for the damage is him, and who is supposed to represent him ? His stupid insurance company.) Anyways. So I've called the guy to hear stuff from his mouth - Peanut didn't get everything he was told, plus there are questions I want to ask him. I left him two messages, and I'm waiting for him to call back.

I saw the landlord just minutes ago (talk about happy coincidence) and I asked her what was up with the cleaning and stuff. She says she went on vacation for two weeks and she had warned them that it was time out until she was back. She also wants them to come when we're home. She won't open doors for them if we're not home. Which is very stupid as well, but she has her ideas. Some people never get things.
Anyways. I told her the latest news, and she didn't get it, really. Again. She said she thought our insurance companies would settle together.

Except that if I can't get Peanut's insurers to re-open the case (and I'm not dreaming I can), we'll have to sue the delivery company - or actually, FutureShop. And I believe it would be better if the landlord sue them, as the damage was done to her building and the damage has to be paid to her, and not us. It's not going to be easy as long as she doesn't understand what's going on... but anyway.

I'll have to talk to Insurance Guy before I do anything.

It's a hell of a lot of trouble, but I must admit that I'm having fun.
Things are never so bad as long as you know what you have to do.

So. Cats.

1. The story
Well, the storyline was rather weak, but at least there was one - unlike shows like Smokey Joe's Café, which is just a succession of unrelated songs.
So obviously, there's 25 cats on the stage, a lot of the time at the same time. Those 25 cats are "Jellicle cats" and they meet once a year, for the Jellicle ball, at which the leader of the jellicles announces what cat will be chosen to "be reborn to a new jellicle life" (whatever that actually means). We're told that at the beginning, and the whole show is just introducing the different cats, and at the end Grizabella is chosen and goes up through the roof and she's not even there for the finale.
So that's the story. Not too complicated as you see.

2. The stage setting and costumes
Awesome. The stage was shaped slightly as a U, so the cats were really all around us sometimes - my mother and I were sitting on the third and fourth seats of the fourth row. At some point some silver ribbons were thrown into the air right onto specific seats (the guy behind me caught one, and I wasn't aware of it until the ribbon slid on behind my right shoulder. And scared the hell out of me.) A guy in the second row got some ribbons and at the end of the show, when the cats went all around us again to salute, he actually teased them with his ribbon and two cats played with him for about 30 seconds. That was so funny.
The costumes were great as well, although, well, it was mostly people in tights of different colors. The makeup was astounding though, and sometimes you couldn't tell from a person's face whether it was a boy or a girl. (don't ask how you finally found a way to tell. i already told you they were all wearing tights)

3. The dancing
What was extraordinary in this show is that there were 25 people on the stage, doing both the dancing and the singing. At the same time. The show contained probably the best choregraphies, by far, that I've ever seen in a musical so far. I'm talking jumps and lifts and backflips, here. Serious gymnastics. Mr. Mistoffelees, the magical cat, especially, was dressed all in black, and was The Acrobat of the show - he was jumping around so much it reminded me of Elvis Stoiko (sp ?).

4. The acting
Once again, very good. I mean, how do you manage to act like a cat ? Every move was smooth and all, the whole superior attitude was there, very funny.
Je dois aussi mentionner que depuis quelques mois, ya plein de monde qui agissent comme des chats autour de moi, en faisant des grimaces, des trucs comme ça (c'est difficile à expliquer, mais bon, c'est dans l'attitude). C'est déjà assez troublant comme ça, et puis soudain, yavait 25 personnes en avant de moi, sur une scène, qui faisaient tous des grimaces de chats, c'était pas mal traumatisant.
I especially liked the Tugger, which was hilarious. Reminded me of Elvis, actually, he was the hearbreaker of the show, and oh so funny. He actually got off the stage to dance with a woman from the audience (who was so embarrassed). All through The Rum Tum Tugger, the song that introduces him to us, this female cat was trying to seduce him (I don't know what her name was, but I decided to call her the Bitch, as she made very bitchy faces all the time) and he was pushing her away.
At the end, after the salutations and all, the Bitch remained alone on the stage, and she waved at the Tugger, who walked up to her - and then she pushed him away, as a sort of revenge, and quickly left. You should've heard the audience cheer !
Other than that, there was this guy who strongly reminded me of another who I went to school with, and he was unintentionally funny because he kept standing very, very straight and tall, with this calm, noble attitude, and he ALWAYS extended his arms on his side.

5. The singing
Very good voices for most of the actors, although it was nothing amazing. Grizabella, who sang Memory, was quite surprising. Memory is sung three times during the show, and everytime she sang she sounded as if the high notes she had trouble getting right. However, at the end, there's a big modulation and she had to sing very high, and she just blew everybody away when she hit those notes. Her voice was probably the best kept secret of the show.
There was another girl who sang Memory twice as well, she actually squeeked at some point and she just sounded so nasal the whole time it got on my nerves.

So all in all it was a very good show, but not one that everybody would enjoy.

I'm tired of typing now.

What is the difference betweent Britain, United Kingdom and England ?

The other night I was looking at tourism books and I saw one for Ireland that I am going to buy when I have bought all the clothes I need to work, and I was looking for one about England. I saw one about London, but other than that, all there was was Britain.

We rented Butterfly effect last night, and suprisingly, I thought it was good. Quite confusing, but good. Slightly reminded me of Forest Gump (the cute little blonde girl and her abusive father) and Stand by me (a group of kids with issues) and of course, there is always that cliché thing that going back in time screws up things, BUT still, I liked the movie. So see it.

Viens de me rendre compte aussi que je n'ai pas fait de compte rendu sur mon traumatisme de co-voiturage avec Émilie. Faudra que je parle de ça aussi.

Mais pour l'instant, faut j'aille me coucher. Avec un peu de chance, peut-être que ce soir, Monsieur ne ressentira pas le besoin de me réveiller en allumant la lumière, pensant qu'en plein milieu de la nuit, quand je dors, j'ai sûrement envie de faire du sô-cial.

Bonne nuit.

Funny how everytime a semester ends, things just start going wrong all of a sudden.