067 Slippiiiiiiiiing

Yes,
What we feared but totally anticipated [in an extremely sarcastic kind of way] has happened. The deadline on which I am basing quite a convoluted countdown system has slipped. It has now gone from Friday May 6th all the way to Friday June 17th [we think ... and hope].

Whaaaat the fuck is going on here? We really don't get a break, EVER. I do get to go back to LA for a quick 5 days (yeah! in a pathetic way). It's going to be a 60hr marathon during which I am going to have to run around like a mad ass just to get things done and resolved in time for the trip back to Paris.

Smok-ish Meat
We've had a very interesting and again TOTALLY not surprising development in our smell experience at the office. Since Monday, between 10am and 4PM the office gets very smoky from the restaurant kitchens downstairs. I guess it's not venting right. The smell is difficult to describe. It's like old fast food burgers with a hint of stale garlic. The smoke is thicker in the hallway and we have to wade through it all day long. The smells clings to hour clothes and our hair ... we bathe in meat!!!! what the helllllllllll is going on here?

Countdown
I have to count the weekend in my latest countdown, because we work 7 days a week. We are officially under 10 for the remaining days "of work" in Paris. I am extremely excited even though I know that there's still a lot of crap I have to put up with until I get there. Still, I am happy.

066 Miscellaneous Happenings

When I came home (late at night) on Tuesday, the street was filled with Pompiers. They had a ladder up to the 6th floor [top] of a building right across the street from where I stay. Big fire. They threw a bunch of stuff from the apartment on the sidewalk below and finally extinguished the fire. Things are so dense here that
I can imagine that this fire could have been bad. Think London 1666.

The burned - disgusting - stinky stuff they threw on the sidewalk is still there. Shocker!

Sick of this
Got really sick last night and slept 2 hours. I couldn't stay home and sleep because in this town, there's always some construction going on. It' everywhere. So I went to work, got off at 10PM, went home and lost consciousness until the next morning. It felt good.

Cheese Part II
We are trying to replace the "cheesy" refrigerator at the office.
The store is in La Defense.
Our office is in La Defense, in one of the more famous building.
Less than a mile away.
Twice they've attempted to deliver the crap.
Twice, they've failed to find the building's parking delivery area.
Whaaaaat the fuck.

Some interesting things coming out soon 

X-Men Fist Class (trailer)

Priest (trailer)

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (trailer) and looking very, very good.

The Perfect Host (trailer) with David Hyde Pierce as the creepy, bad guy ... Whaaaat?

Countdown continues
16 days of work.
Yeah, I know ... This counting of everything is getting out of control. But I like it and I have nothing else to do. And it feels so right!

065 Freshness

Today I was telling this guy that I needed a breath of fresh air, an escape from Paris and if I could only go to LA or anywhere else for a couple of days, it would make me feel so much better. The food, the friends, the beach, the sun, ...

I miss it for sure. I keep thinking that if we could only just have transporters, with portals in our offices, we could actually work anywhere and go home at night. Even if we have to pay for it, traveling thousands of miles instantly is the solution I am sure. Then, we wouldn't have to suffer the consequences of moving away from home all the time. I could just wake up in my LA bed and walk out to the office in Paris.

I want it now.

The only thing I haven't figured out yet is the 9 hours difference. It would be daytime when I want to sleep in LA. We never think of this kind of details when we have our "Sci-Tech-Futuristic-Utopia" water cooler conversations.

Not so good, but we're getting somewhere.

There is a strong CHEESE smell around the refrigerator at the office. All the americans I came here with are just crazy about the French cheese(s). It's insane, they're not scared about the smelly ones, they look for it! They love the sweat on it. You know, these little beads of sweat that appear on the surface of the cheese after it's been out too long? Yeah, that one, the one that makes you gag and roll your eyes.

23 days of work left ...

064 We almost bought the farm ... Almost

And we didn't even know it. Wednesday these two came very close to Earth. No one cared, so I didn't worry about it too much. But when you think about it ... It could all be over in a second. BUUUyah!

nasty, nasty story
I just hear that they found a morbidly obese man unconscious in his lazy-boy chair where he had been stuck in for the past 2 years. His skin was fused to the chair with urine and feces, they had to surgically remove him. The chair was filthy and smelly and there were maggots all over.

28 days
Sounds like a certain horror movie. But it's not. 28 is just the remaining days I have to spend here.

Yes, the days are numbered and I am keeping a close watch, I am definitely on top of things.

063 The Big circle

I had a meeting with some Germans this morning. One of them had a gigantic black smudge of something on his nose and the other one had huge watery stains on the front of his shirt … What the hell do you say? I spent the first ten minutes of the meeting completely distracted because I could not figure out if I should address the issue or not.  And then I was completely confused as to why as colleagues, the two German guys couldn’t talk to each other and comment on their looks. I think that only makes sense. Just the night before I had to tell another guy that he had a bunch of toothpaste all over his chin. I was so proud of myself for making a note of it (aloud). Although I think that if someone really feels the need to brush their teeth at all hours of the day AND during business hours, they should at least check things out in the mirror first. Call me crazy.

I have decided that Paris is too over-crowded. I will never know why so many people want to live here. It's not worth iiiiiiit. People are everywhere. So, whenever there is a hole in a crowd, it doesn’t mean people are just being nice by anticipating your arrival and making a cozy little buffer area so that you don’t feel uncomfortable. No, that little hole in the crowd is usually a very bad sign that something isn’t right. Like a fresh ‘shit’ of origin unknown (meaning it could be human, we don’t know). That's how we experience this town, a sweet discovery at every turn.

They were at it again today in the mall. That dance club of people who have absolutely no problem showing off their dancing skills in front of strangers. Again, just like every week, this was Country music day, with all the square dancing and all that. The French really are fans of the stuff. They may think all Americans are stupids and arrogant, but the country music is A-ok. Everyone dressed appropriately with the stetson hat, the jeans, the cowboy boots and a very eclectic assortments of "cowboy shirts". There was this one guy who seemed to be very, very enthusiastic about the whole think. Making grand gestures in sync with the music. A lot of little "gun hand signs" shooting off all over the place.

For the past 3 days, the guys currently working on the competition have been at work until 5 or 6 am. 3 fucking nights in a row. The organization is just like that piece of warm turd in the middle of that french circle, yes, exactly like that!

In the meantime, I already miss this:

and this:

and of course this:

Dying to kick someone's ass today.