The Book Club Blogs

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Book club.... how about a book blog?

So I just had this interesting idea this morning. Whether or not people latch on to it will be a different story.

But everyone knows how much I love to read, right? I know some of you enjoy reading as well. So, why not start an international, online book club??! (This is so dorky, I know, but bear with me.)

Here's my idea: We get a group of people willing to read the same book each month, pick a date every month, and then we all blog our thoughts on the book, or comment on each other's book blog entries.

I sort of searched the Internet for something like this, but came up empty-handed. So if you already know of something like this, maybe you could guide me to those sites and we could latch on to an existing blog?

Or what the hell, enough people should (hint, hint) respond to this..... then we could start our own! (I'm a big dreamer, aren't I?)

UPDATE: I'm going to try and start a webring... if I can figure it out :) Spread the word!

Celebratory Post

I just wanted to put in writing that this was the first year I did not go nuts at a family celebration. Only had three orderves, none of which had any starch. And held off on all the wine, bread, potatoes and sweets that passed me by along its route down the table.

That's really sad. But really promising. If I can hold off on Thanksgiving, I think I'm on the right track to succeeding (after about a week of falling off my diet to get my heart/blood sugar back on track)

And it sounds like everyone had a good Thanksgiving! Now there's nothing in the way to stop the Christmas madness that's just around the corner. I'm so excited!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, whether you're in the States or abroad!

This is going to be my first "English" major holiday this year. I'm kind of looking forward to it, even though I can't really eat anything. Pray for me to stay strong, hah. Because dessert and cranberry sauce are my weaknesses.

Oh and, don't let me find out that any of you woke up at 4 a.m. to go shopping tomorrow. Or I'll make fun of you for the rest of my life :)

My turn for six things!

I'm a big fan of group blogging, or tag blogging, or anything that really involves me. I like being involved.

That's why today, as requested by Andromeda, I bring you my answer to six random things you might not know about me.

Which means I am now, in turn, requesting three other people I want to hear from! So you're on deck: Michelle, Nick and Megan.

1.) In 2003, I was voted Dublin High's prom queen! That same year, I also was voted the biggest klutz in the senior mosts section. Big year for Monique!

2.) I have a boy's middle name. That's right, even though I'm French and all, I've lived in France, my dad's parents were born in France, my middle name somehow slipped through the cracks. Real quick French lesson for those of you who don't speak it: masculine words in the past tense that end in é only have one E. Feminine words end in ée. Which is why my sister's name is Aimée (French for loved). But my middle name is René (boy for reborn). Sweet!

3.) I am terribly afraid of fish. That's my biggest fear. Not like fish in a tank, because we've had fish for as long as I can remember. But fish, flopping around in the ocean. When I was at my cousins' in Boston one summer -- they live near a fishing harbor -- stunned fish that had been caught and released would kind of float to the shore every now and then. And I almost stepped on one, with huge snappers. It scared the shit out of me. I also hate the idea of accidentally slipping on one, as it swims away all scaly and gross. And just seeing a fish out of water, sucking in its last living breath through the gills, also terrifies me. So gross.

4.) I'm pretty sure that I'm double jointed in the elbows. I can flip them inside out and make it look like they're attached to my body backwards. If that's not double jointed, then I guess I'm just a freak.

5.) My life goal is to marry a baseball player. Professional I'd hope. I'm pretty boy crazy and I think baseball players (usually pitchers for some reason) are so dang attractive. Most sports don't do it for me, has to be baseball. Hopefully my boss isn't reading this and decides to fire me from working for our baseball team this year.... just kidding :)

6.) I want to travel the world, everyone knows that. But I want to do sure with fluency in several languages. It's my hope/goal (it fluctuates depending on how much effort I want to put into it) to learn Spanish, German, Italian, Arabic and/or Russian. Good luck with that.

That's it. Now you know a little more about me :)

Pas surprenant

Every now and then, I remember that I can watch the journal télévisé online. Whenever I can remember, I watch the news shows to keep practicing my French listening skills and my trivial knowledge about what's going on in Europe.

Shocking that today they're talking about the huge educational strike, resulting one absence out of every two primaire (elementary school teacher) and one of four séconde (middle-high school teacher).

That's no surprise to me whatsoever, that most French schools are closed today due to the strike. (Or I guess that was yesterday since it's 3 a.m. in France right now)

Dollars and centimes

I'm actually a little surprised at how quickly this worked.

But now that my dad is back in the States, I no longer have any need for my French bank account. Since I still have the checkbook (but somehow lost my CA ATM card), I wrote myself a check for almost the entire remaining balance. I left a little bit in there to pay the monthly assurance for my ATM card, which is lost anyways.

When I first tried to deposit the check at Bank of America, it was after work just before closing. I was told that the latest they'll do international check deposits is before 3 p.m., which sucks because I never get off work that early. But I can come in late....

So this morning I went to my bank and deposited the check. I didn't have to walk past any glass doors, didn't have to go through a security check. I didn't need to provide any proof of who I am, where I live, anything.

Yet, somehow the Euro always screws me. When I was in France, the Dollar had reached an all-time low against the Euro, so I was getting horrible USD-EUR exchange rates. Now that our economy is affecting everyone else, the Euro is dropping meaning the Dollar is getting a little stronger in the world economy. So while I could have milked it for all it was worth back in May when I was back from France, I only made 1.2 percent off my deposit today.

Now I'll need to email Credit Agricole and explain how I no longer live in France and would like to stop the monthly charges on my ATM card insurance. Thanks to logical French banking, it actually would cost me money to close out an account, but if I stop my insurance charges, I don't have to pay anything to keep it open....

New hair!

I think I go through hair cycles in my life. I don't know what to do with it and then I get bored. For the longest time, I'd straighten and fry it and that was that. Then I cut long side bangs, then it was short, middle bangs. And now I've finally been able to recreate what they do for me at the salon! It's layered in such a way that I can curl it with nothing but a hairdryer and round brush. Finally.

Chaînes françaises

So I was flipping through my parents' digital cable channels and realized that we have the capabilities to receive German, Italian and FRENCH channels! Such as TV5Monde.


And this has inspired me. It says until Nov. 30 you can get three months free.... I might have to check that out with our Comcast package here in Stockton. But if not, then perhaps I'll wait until I have my own place and order the international package!

Point A to Point B

After car browsing with my parents a few weeks ago, I've made up my mind. I want to buy the two-door Saturn Astra Xr 3:

It's pretty neat for a Saturn! And I definitely want that sweet blue color. But that's because it's not an American car at all.... Nope, it's made by the European company, Opel.

I believe this is what the German version looks like, note the emblem on the front.

sort of insomnia...

I haven't been sleeping much lately. And I haven't really been tired.

But remember how I was talking about still wanting to travel? I just found an organized school trip to Israel for the summer of 2009. It sounds really interesting and is something I know nothing about. It'd be outside of my comfort level, not a romance-langue European country (oops, just realized I wrote "language" in French. Think I'll keep it that way), and it's a language I don't even know a thing about. I've always been afraid of languages I can't figure out (i.e. Arabic, Japanese, Russian... etc.)



There are some informational meetings and I'll keep updating as I figure it out. But I've been saying for so long that I want to expand my reach and travel to foreign places. This would really classify as such a trip.

Let's hope it's not going to cost too much. However, since I'm on an "athletic scholarship" equivalent as a graduate student employee, I wonder if it could be funded for me...

You can still eat without sugar and starches

...It's just very hard. And testing my willpower.

In any event, here's a look at the menus I've been creating lately without bread, pasta, potatoes, fruit and sugar (though Splenda and sugar substitutes are allowed, or else how would I survive?!). See, they're not all just salads! And I have cheated once or twice, but for the most part I'm going strong.

Egg frittata with eggplant, squash, turkey lunch meat, broccoli and cheese

Tilapia in balsamic sauce with olives/onions, served with lentils and artichoke

Lowfat-crustless artichoke, asparagus and shrimp quiche (the difference is this is baked in the oven while the frittata is fried on the stove)

Chicken salad (minus the sandwich) “spread” with vegetable chips

Peanut butter/vanilla soy powder protein balls

Baked eggplant shells stuffed with mixed vegetables and ground turkey, topped with parmesan cheese

High-protein chili served with home-made baked “cheese crisps”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So I'm trying. And if you want any of the recipes, don't be shy!

Photo du soir

**I would have said du jour, but the day's nearly over. So photo of the evening it is!

This one comes to you from Basel, Switzerland. Taken March 21, 2008 during Easter weekend.

What a weekend!

This was one of those weekends that seemed to keep going, no matter what day it was. Friday seemed like a Saturday, and yesterday a Sunday, so today's lazy and exciting.

But I worked for the Kings on Friday night and had such a great time! I ended up keeping stats for the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves radio announcers, and they mentioned my name on the radio as the "official statistician" a number of times. However, no one really heard it, because it was broadcast in Minnesota, but whatever. Hopefully I'm developing contacts now and I can for sure put the NBA on my resume as an employer. I believe more opportunities like this are going to come up in the future, so I'll get other chances to go work for them.

My cousins live up in that area, so they were able to see me on tv often! I guess every time the camera would pan to the visiting bench, coaches, referees, I'd be on it. I was essentially sitting at the end of the visitors' bench, so I got to meet a few players and listen in on all their group huddles, etc.

(That's my very concentrated, stretched out widescreen face down in the left corner! Photo thanks to my cousin.)

One player's famous uncle, Mike Love of the BEACH BOYS! was actually sitting near me to watch his nephew play. So that was a whole range of excitement, possibly too much for one lone weekend.

Then I got to visit some friends and family from the area, all of whom I haven't seen for over a month, so that was all really relaxing and enjoyable.

Yesterday I worked our Pacific basketball games in the evening, then went out with a bunch of coworkers and assistant coaches into the early morning hours. This was a really fun weekend for me, one I've been hoping to have for a long time.

I haven't always been so sure that Stockton is the place for me to be, but little glimpses like this are making me glad I've ended up here for now. I know I won't stay long term, but I'm really starting to come into my own here. Hopefully, this continues to happen and wasn't just a one-time-accidental thing.

Only time will tell :)

Big day!

Even though I'm crazy busy (wow, I'm going to try and blog just one time without saying anything about how busy I am), work is getting better by the day!

I'm slowly collecting more and more responsibilities as time goes on. For example, today I was told I'm going to be the primary contact for baseball! Meaning I get to be in charge of the media guide. Which, really won't change that much because I was already working on baseball anyways, just not as the official SID. But now it's mine.

So that means I get men's and women's swimming, men's tennis, women's water polo and baseball all to myself.

Apparently I'll get to do some radio for women's volleyball in the near future, so I'm hoping I get better at calming my nerves on the radio. I don't know why, but it makes me so nervous!

And finally, remember how when they came to play at Pacific, I got to work for the Sacramento Kings? Well, they're playing the Minnesota Timberwolves tomorrow night and guess who will be working at ARCO Arena?

That's right, I'll be back on the Kings' media team. I would not be opposed to this becoming a regular occurrence.

On to politics (because everyone seems to have an opinion right now). I heard a lot of people saying that if Obama won the election, gas would finally start to drop. Here in Stockton it's been steadily doing so over the past month, little by little.

Today, I almost died of shock when I filled my entire gas tank for under $35!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gas here has almost fallen below the $2 threshold. I say give it another week or so and we'll be back in the $1-range.

Now that is a welcomed change. I don't know if you had anything to do with it or not, Obama, but thanks and I'm looking forward to the next four years with you.

I shouldn't be doing this...

Every now and then, I delight in travel novels. I really enjoy other peoples' writing about their travels and adventures.

Except this time, it's really getting to me. I'm currently reading Eat, Pray, Love and even though I'm only in the "eat" section, I'm reallllly getting the desire to travel. Nevermind that she left her husband and then went on this crazy life journey, I'm not even close to that level.


But I would absolutely love to work up for a few years (have to get promoted first, because it's not happening on my stipend) and save loads of money. Then, instead of buying property like most normal "adults," I want to travel for a year. Maybe more. Just living with a camera, clothes and money. I don't care where -- South America, Africa, Europe, it really doesn't matter to me.

Reflecting back on my (two) time(s) in France, my absolute favorite parts involved my significant travels. I think if it had all worked out with my roommate/living situation, maybe I'd still be over there, really coming into my own.

But before any of this happens, I need to continue learning Spanish and maybe pick up another language. That's it, I'm deciding when I'm not taking master's classes (be it summer, or when I finish), I WILL take more language classes.

And one day, I will travel. I'm going to live like a nomad and see the world.


...Anyone want in with me?

Last-minute thoughts

Today (and I only say that because it's past midnight), America goes to the polls.

If you haven't by the time you're reading this, go out there and cast your vote! Get a free Starbucks if nothing else.

But as usual, I was rather amused with the SNL Presidential Bash '08, even if I only saw the first half before leaving for my intramural basketball game at 11 p.m.

Along with many Californians, I'm really nervous about tomorrow. This is a huge potential turning point in our country I'd hate to see go to waste. But I guess even if all goes according to plan, it still might not work out how everyone wants. Nonetheless, I'm still interested to possibly witness history in the making. Wow, Stockton is turning me liberal. (Hmm, I guess it would suffice to say I've always been conservatively moderate on some things and liberal on basic human rights and other issues).

It's interesting though to see what kind of effect SNL is going to have on the polls, with McCain on last Saturday and Palin tonight (technically that was last night).

I don't know. I guess time will write the pages of this story, as always.

And that is about as political as I get. Thanks for listening and go vote!

Part 1:

Part 2:


Part 3:


Part 4:


Part 5:

Les souvenirs

On days when I have no motivation to blog (read: nothing exciting happening in my life), I'm thinking about brining back some of my favorite pictures from my year abroad. One picture a day.

So on with the show!

My arrival in Antibes, France, home for one year. View of La Baie des Anges (across from the city of Nice) at the base of Le Musée Picasso. Photo taken: 10/02/07

P.S. Work is extremely busy as always, but unusually exciting now that basketball season started today! So I'm going to be even busier and more excited/crazy. Oh and, happy daylight savings time -- enjoy today's extra hour! I sure did.