one day

one day, i will not fulfill a dream that's already broken.
one day, one of those days that never come, i might make a wish come true, although some people around me tell me that i'll fail.
one day, i'll be blissfully happy, because i'll know that this happiness will last forever.
one day, i'll be serene, for i'll know nothing can ever go wrong.
one day, i'll be able to relax, take one deep breath, and smile without fear of the future.
one day, i'll be able to trust someone without being betrayed after a year or so.
one day, i'll be able to open a gate, say "i'm home", and one person, who will be dearest to my heart, will come and greet me.
one day, i'll have seen every country on earth.
one day,









one day.






i think i'll be dead when that one day comes.

pouf! oups, j'ai pensé.

amazing how slaughtering monsters with a necro boy can cheer you up.

useless and uninteresting

my current position on Earth is: (48.486736,7.693959).

2012: Roland Emmerich goes boom!

A couple o' days ago, because of the stress that results from approaching exams, along with other deadlines to be met, I felt I needed to go watch a movie that did not require me to turn my neurons on; more precisely, I wanted to see a film overloaded with visual effects, explosions, wacky technology, and a plot that can stand on a tube ticket and still have some space to stretch out. I remembered Emmerich to have directed "The day after tomorrow" (yet another end-of-the-world-with-cataclysms-on-top motion picture), which was almost bearable (too much water though), and I assumed that with 2012, the director would lay an egg of the same genre. Well, I wasn't disappointed: Emmerich literally blew the Earth away... or so I thought during the first hour approximately (out of 2h45...yah). Alas this "end" of the world is not a real one: the Earth is still there after all elements have everything going to smithereens, and even some humans survive! I couldn't help feeling betrayed by the whole thing.
After all those spectacular ever-so-American earthquakes, tsunamis and floods, the Yellowstone turning into the biggest super-volcano on the planet, Hawaii disappearing under a molten river and so on, humanity manages to go rebuild itself... in Africa! Of course, there's an enormous Christian background here: believing from some Mayan calendar and a random scientist's observations (there's always a scientist in that kind of movies, it injects some credibility into the mess), the world will "end" on December 21st 2012. Only said world decided to surprise everyone by ending 3 months earlier! In the meantime, governments (especially, of course, the American one) are secretly building "arches", ships that are supposed to host 100,000 people per vessel, and... how astonishing! A pair of each animal species! Of course, some tickets are required to get aboard, and they are available for the bargain of one billion dollars. No, wait, euros (to make it sound even more expensive). It is obvious that "common" people, those who are neither presidents, nor politicians, nor filled to the brim with money, will just have to stay where they are and get crushed by some random piece of L.A's 2-storey highway ramp, or burned by a fireball that just happened to soar upwards from Mount Fuji, got tired of it all and changed its soaring direction.
Anyway, the film's actually centered on a Sci-Fi writer, divorced from his wife (who got a plastic surgeon as a boyfriend and keeps the progeniture: a little girl and a dumb rebellious boy), who attempts to escape the series of natural disasters and save his family (along with the plastic surgeon, who has the mighty idea of managing to pilot an aeroplane, useful chum!).
As "common" sense suggests it, everything starts in the U.S with the Yellowstone suddenly turning into a hot spot, and basically everyone runs/flies/whatever to reach the Noah's arches (you'd think they built spaceships, but no, they just made huge bloody submarines), and humans constructing their new home in the "cradle of life", namely Africa, which by a lucky coincidence, got lifted up by 1500km and avoided the floods. We progressively discovered that the poles have been inverted, the South Pole stands somewhere in the middle of Kentucky (chickiiiiin!), and continents have been moved because the lithosphere beneath has melted, because of the sun shooting too many neutrons into our planet's kernel.
So there, anarchy is all over the place; add to it a few reekingly melodramatical farewells ("goodbye daddy" "naaaawwww I love you!" etc), some hearbreakingly desperate effusions ("leave me behind *cough* "Let's stick together til the end!"), a bit of kid humour (the chihuahua survives, damnit!), and you get 2012. It's a fun movie to watch (with earmuffs), if you need to stop thinking for 2h40mn, and if you enjoy disappointing endings (did I mention how horrible the actors were?).
I still recommend watching it, so you can see the extent of nowadays' visual effects technology. It's one hell of a show! Still, try having someone else buy you the ticket; you don't want to waste your money on something which plot was worse than Quantum of Solace!

monde de fous

je croyais avoir tout vu... eh ben non.
Dans Zelda Master Quest, on trouve des vaches coincées dans un poisson géant.
je overflow, là.

Strasbourg gets lit up

it's every year (almost) the same: Strasbourg's mayor, along with some CEOs and random VIPs, set up an official ceremony to celebrate the "coup d'envoi des illuminations de Strasbourg". i.e. they turn all the Xmas lights on at the same moment, they talk a lot about how great Xmas is and how glad they are to welcome the invited country's consul (this year it's Russia), and the event's godmother (for 2009, it's Jean Manson, an American singer, accompanied by the Broadway Gospel Choir). As they do every year, they also made a kids' choir come, Les Colibris.
2009's theme color will be all red (and a bit o' gold of course), just when they welcome Russia; now that's a surprise :p
Since I enjoy Christmas time (although I'm an atheist, I find the decorations pretty and I'm a gift[s] giver so... yah), I decided to go see the ceremony for myself, and took a few photos as well as some videos; here they are.

Note: There's a detailed program of everything Xmassy that will go on in december: Strasbourg - Capitale de Noël

"Portail de Lumière" - Place du vieux marché aux poissons, Strasbourg

The stage where singers performed and the city's officials talked

Green laser lights, displaying credits for all those who participated in Strasbourg's lighting (Vitrines de Strasbourg, Energie de Strasbourg etc), and houses already reddened according to this year's theme



Jean (pronounced "djeen") Manson with the Broadway Gospel

Energie de Strasbourg's CEO (second from the right)


Les Colibris, singing "Strasbourg - Capitale de Noël" (specially composed for the event)

Same guy talking, with Les Vitrines de Strasbourg's president on the far right


yay! Santa Claus was also there, giving away Männele


how does the illumination work?



aaaand here we go! ^^

a close-up on the rest of the street in the back - you can see it's... RED! tadaaaam :p

got a kitteh?

life is just soooo hard sometimes.

after being requested to put some photos of my itteh bitteh kitteh on "a blog or something", and since i got nothing better to do right now, i decided to oblige. so here he is.

u wanna piece o'meh?
ai haz a lazy

ai haz a comfyplaytiem!

aw look! a hellacoptur
*snugglesnuggle*
ai iz a bunneh.

note: mousse au chocolat

http://chefsimon.com/mousse-chocolat-noir.htm

http://www.recette-dessert.com/mousse-au-chocolat-r198.htm

bonne combinaison: celle du 1er lien avec la mousseuse du second.

note: brownie

envie de faire un bon dessert d'ici peu.

Faire fondre du chocolat correctement:

- au four à micro-ondes :
entre 1 et 4 minutes selon la quantité et toujours sur la position faible, voire en utilisant la fonction décongélation.

Remuez le chocolat noir à sa sortie du four.

Ne pas laisser le chocolat blanc et le chocolat au lait plus d'une 1 minute 30 sans remuer.

Si on l'ajoute à d'autres ingrédients en cours de cuisson, il faut faire attention à ne pas dépasser 50 degrés, sans quoi il risque de se désagréger, avec formation de grains ou épaississement.

Brownie mode rapide

Préparation : 15 mn
Cuisson : 20 mn

Ingrédients (pour 4 personnes) :
- 2 oeufs
- 100 g sucre en poudre
- 100 g chocolat pâtissier
- 100 g de beurre
- 50 g de farine

Préparation :

Mélanger les oeuf entiers avec le sucre et la farine. Faire fondre le chocolat avec le beurre.

Ecraser (concasser) grossièrement des noix ou des amandes ou des noix de pécan. Mélanger le tout.

Beurrer un moule. Verser dans le moule (ça ne doit pas être trop épais). un moule à tarte, ça va...?

Mettre au four (préchauffé 10 mn) à thermostat 6/7 (200°C) pendant 15 à 20 mn, selon le moelleux souhaité (le gâteau est cuit quand le dessus se crevasse).

21 guns

هل الإشراف على ذاكرتي؟







right this way.

Lyrics | Green Day Lyrics | 21 Guns Lyrics

The Raven - Edgar Allan Poe

The Raven

[First published in 1845]

(fine musical background)

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. `'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door - Only this, and nothing more.' Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore - For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore - Nameless here for evermore. And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before; So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating `'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door - Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; - This it is, and nothing more,' Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer, `Sir,' said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping, And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, That I scarce was sure I heard you' - here I opened wide the door; - Darkness there, and nothing more. Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token, And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!' This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!' Merely this and nothing more. Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning, Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before. `Surely,' said I, `surely that is something at my window lattice; Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore - Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; - 'Tis the wind and nothing more!' Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore. Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he; But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door - Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door - Perched, and sat, and nothing more. Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling, By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore, `Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven. Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore - Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.' Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly, Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore; For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door - Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door, With such name as `Nevermore.' But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only, That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour. Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered - Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before - On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.' Then the bird said, `Nevermore.' Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken, `Doubtless,' said I, `what it utters is its only stock and store, Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore - Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore Of "Never-nevermore."' But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling, Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door; Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore - What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore Meant in croaking `Nevermore.' This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core; This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er, But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er, She shall press, ah, nevermore! Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor. `Wretch,' I cried, `thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent thee Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore! Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.' `Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! - Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore, Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted - On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore - Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.' `Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore - Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore - Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.' `Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!' I shrieked upstarting - `Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore! Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken! Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door! Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.' And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted - nevermore!

gnarf.

parfois, y a des gens qui sont tellement stupides que même avec une claque monumentale, ils sont pas foutus de descendre de leur piédestal.
nouvelle classe découverte dans Life MMORPG: l'imbécile prétentieux macho.

histoires d'eau

non, pas le film pr0n nul à pleurer... de vraies histoires de flotte.
en fait, je dis ça parce que ça pleut depuis quelques temps à strasbourg maintenant, et y a du soleil PENDANT qu'on bosse; météo nunuche va, ça sert à rien... bref.
dimanche 23 août de l'an de grasse grâce 2009, mes parents m'ont traînée par le collet à furdenheim, petit bled alsacien parmi tant d'autres.
oui mais voilà, dans ce petit bled, tous les ans le 3ème week-end d'août, monsieur Dominique Formhals, PDG de la société Aquatique Show International, (qui comme son nom l'indique, est spécialisée en spectacles d'eau) originaire de furdenheim, offre à son village un show (en gros il fait payer, et une asso du coin empoche l'oseille, ce qui est un gros profit avec minimum 15€ la place et 5000 personnes/jour pendant 2 jours). et c'est du lourd.
cette année, l'orchestre philharmonique de prague était invité à faire bande son pour le pestacle (voui zai fait la faute exprès); l'an prochain, ce sera l'orchestre symphonique des jeunes de strasbourg de jouer, et on fera mieux que les tchèques.

PARCE QUE HEIN, SALETE DE TROMPETTISTE AUSSI PRETENTIEUX QUE FRANCOPHONE, RAVEL IL A PEUT-ÊTRE PAS FAIT LE CONSERVATOIRE MAIS T'ETAIS PAS OBLIGE DE LE DIRE POUR MERDER LE DEBUT DU BOLERO APRES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

y a qu'un mec pour sortir des conneries pareilles.
déjà ça, ça m'a énervée, mais alors en plus les solos plantés, les gens pas ensemble sur harry potter, la prétention générale (oui alors pirates des caraïbes a été enregistré dans NOS studios, hein, les nôtres, et vas-y que je pète plus haut que mon cul)... tout ça pour une qualité musicale pas exceptionnelle. on fait pas un répertoire avec juste de la musique de film; faut savoir prendre des risques avec du classique un peu nerveux, aussi, hein, bande de lopettes.

donc niveau musical, c'était un peu au ras des pâquerettes. z'allez voir comment on va vous en mettre plein la tronche l'an prochain :D

par contre, visuellement, là, rien à dire, c'était magnifique; aquatic show compte dans ses employés et associés des artistes qui gèrent les jets d'eau, les loupiotes, les feux d'artifices et tout le tintouin merveilleusement bien.
j'ai aussi été surprise par la qualité de prise de vue et de son de mon nouveau mobile. le sony ericsson w595 est super fiable :)

(On aimerait bien le faire en vrai...)

(...mais ne creusons pas le sujet.)

(joli^^)

voici donc quelques photos et vidéos de ce très beau spectacle, ainsi que de quelques-unes des curiosités croisées dans le village en liesse; artistes, bricoleurs, vendeurs et fermiers restaurateurs étaient au rendez-vous. (mrawr I luved that Cadillac baby)

nos vents aussi; quelques-uns de nos meilleurs éléments sont venus en éclaireurs, constituant l'OJS bloss band, pour donner un petit récital, avec aussi un quatuor de nos cordes.

n'empêche, c'est quand même un peu paumé :p

git my arse movin

je ne suis pas un con. même si je voulais en être un, j'en aurais pas les moyens. même nouveau con hein. ça coûte beaucoup trop cher.
je dis pas que j'en ai pas, c'est un autre sujet.
en être un, ça implique avoir une vitesse d'action impressionnante. par exemple, une capacité à claquer 300€ en 5 minutes pour une paire de grolles laides en tissu estampillées petit cheval ridicule, qui mourront bêtement au 2ème kilomètre parcouru. et encore, 5 minutes, y avait du vent.
pourtant, j'ai réussi à partir en vacances hein. pour autant qu'une paire de baskets petit cheval ridicule. bon, une paire et demie, voyons large.
quand même, après les résultats des examens de mai, j'ai décidé de voyager un mois, puis travailler le mois suivant.
holidays then work; sounded like a good ol' deal.
i felt like travelling a bit, but i wanted to earn a little bit of a living too.
so by the end of june, i headed off to belgium first, to pay a visit to my darling. i was to see liège, bruges (or brugge) and bruxelles (or brussels). i truly liked bruges (or brugge), all those adorable little canals, those places filled with history, the cutest marketplace ever, the campanile...

(Brugge's campanile)

do be kind enough to notice that i spared you the frighening sight of my face. yes, that's how much i care about my readers' comfort.

(Brugge's canals)

brussels was more capital city-ish, but the old center and the astonishingly tiny grand'place (name error _ does not compute), along with a lovely little eternally pissing statue, were already enough to make this town enjoyable. didnt get to see the comics museum or the atomium, which is why i have to get back there as soon as i get my driver's licence, which is a matter of weeks.

(Brussels' Grand'Place)

oh, and those awesome waffles. if i had believed in any deity i would have happily let it damn me for another one of those.
hey, i don't drink alcohol, i need to compensate the pleasure of a good beer with that of an excellent strawberry/chocolate/whipped cream waffle.



alright. after these waffly meditations, i headed back to france for the eurockéennes de belfort, and man what a great week-end that was.

Slipknot Eurockéennes Live
envoyé par Eurockeennes. - Regardez d'autres vidéos de musique.

Gojira Eurockéennes live
envoyé par Eurockeennes. - Clip, interview et concert.

Les Wampas live au Eurockéennes
envoyé par Eurockeennes. - Regardez d'autres vidéos de musique.

rock baby rock. anyway, i cannot just pass by like that without mentioning how much fun we had. by we, i mean my cousin, her old bx (a car which, thank goodness, she got rid of recently), sebastien, guillaume, reynald, cyril, jérôme, nicolas, the guys from switzerland... that was one hell of a camping week-end! i'll never forget how the Swiss brought their meat to our campfire and improvised a barbecue. this year was by far better than 2006, mostly because of a major improvement: we had cars. this gave us the opportunity to roam a bit around the area, go to the mall to buy some supplies, to a lake for some (sun)bathing, and to belfort to see the lion and the citadel; i had been there already for the FIMU in 2007 (if it wasn't 2006?... so long ago...) but it was a pleasure to go back to that wonderful town. and the concerts, ah, the concerts! some i awaited, some i discovered. tricky gave us a marvelous performance, along with slipKnot, yuksek, gojira (BOOONNNNSSSOIIIIIIRRRRR!!!!! ahem, bonsoir.), les wampas (pogoing on a chair??) etc etc... then we also had a hell of a time leaving, because the bx' starter was dead. so we used the boys to push that fat-assed baby, which eventually started going. on the road we were almost out of gas and we kept losing the brakes... that car wanted us dead! but we arrived safely anyway, on the 6th of july, leaving me just enough time to catch my plane, along with my significant other, to rome.

(Piazza Navona)

ah, roma. the moment i set foot there i knew i was gonna like that town. i was wrong. actually i loved it; the narrow streets, the fountains, the forums, the ruins, the cats, the gelati (omg ice creeeaaammm), all this created a very unique atmosphere. i don't know how much i've walked though. i guess something like 15km, for a minimum. using the public transports, however funny that was (everyone arms up it's a roller coaster!), wasn't as good as walking, and when you're in such a place and pieces of history are being flung at your face from everywhere, you don't realize that your feet are begging you for a break and calling you all sorts of names. well the last bit is normal, since feet aren't yet known to have a mouth.

(The Colosseum)

there's one bad thing about rome. I GAINED 2KG THERE AND CAN'T GET RID OF EM for feckin jeezes sake! /end girly yeesh-kebap-sticks mode.

it's my fault: i just got so enthralled by the taste of pizzas al taglio, awesome pasta and (mostly) straciatella ice cream (i had at least 1 big gelato per day for a week...), that i just stopped bothering about my fat and ended up fatter than i was already. still that didn't help my chest in getting less flat, but i'll soon need 2 chairs to sit on. alright, i might be exaggerating a bit, 49kg isn't that fat, but i'm already complexed at a sufficiently high level, so i may not want to add another source of shame.

(The forum)

Of course, apart from the remains of the great roman empire, there was another bunch of stuff to look at: baroque fountains (the 4 rivers fountain and the fontana di trevi were my ultimate favourites), that ugly meringue-like monument to vittorio emmanuele II (that guy had some talent at settling bad taste in the middle of the town), and of course, THE ULTIMATE LOONY BIN, vatican city. yeah, i state here and now that these guys are almost as insane as the muslims.

(The fontana di Trevi)

go throw a fatwa at me, you crazed assholes, i don't care, gotta die of something in the end anyway. so, where was i? ah yes. vatican city has an absolutely wonderful museum, with beautifully high entry fees and an awesome collection of cockless male statues. i mean damnit, FOR ONCE WE GIRLS HAVE SOMETHING TO LOOK AT YOU HAD TO CUT IT OFF!!!! of course, women had their boobs nice and round and visible. pervs. maniacs. i'm off to buy playgirl.

there. feels better already. of course, from a literary point of view, it's pure dogshit, but if you just look at the photos... mrawr.(The piazza san Pietro)

well, i have to say that the piazza san pietro looks fine; could welcome one hell of a metal concert. take, i dunno, rammstein, and get em to play there. you get the greatest musical event ever! but of course it wouldn't be suitable for the sect headquarters that lie nearby.(The piazza san Pietro + the basilic church san Pietro)

as for the basilica san pietro, i'm sure that if they had had common sense, they would have sold half a dozen of those ridiculous chubby angel statues and fed a few villages in africa, for a change. of course, it's very impressive to think that artists have been paid to lose their time in there. that place is freakily gloomy (not ONE statue or painting shows even a start of a smile!!!) and dark. so i just went out and headed off to the museums, and of course, the sistine chapel.
said chapel really deceived me. i thought i'd arrive in a luminous hall with all the paintings on the walls well displayed, and michelangelo's genius exposed for everyone to see.
nope baby. not a chance.

(Judgement day in Sistine chapel)

it was even darker than san pietro; it was hard for me to see my feet! the place was crowded with tourists (of course), and guards whose job were to take your camera away if you tried to catch a shot of a painting(son of a bitch! i managed to keep mine) without the flash, or try to take you outside because you weren't covered enough (with clothes, of course, what were you thinking you little distorted perv).(A bit of ceiling in Sistine chapel)

so yeah, the ambiance was shitty, along with the lighting. plus you had the impression of having come a long way to see a marvel of art and technique, for nothing.
besides, i didn't like the global look of the thing. if you look at the paintings one by one, some of them are even beautiful... but there are way too many of them crowded together in a small area, so the general look of that chapel is detestably kitsch.

so there. honestly, if you go to vatican city, stick to the museums if you don't wanna get sick. go there, and when you stand next to a "sister" that is surely not yours, or a guardian, or any of the lunatics that live/work there, look at any painting (preferably a beautiful one), or a statue like that of the laocoon which is most exquisite to look at, and say out loud HOLY FUCKIN HELL OF A MARY SLUT'S ASSHOLE THAT ONE LOOKS FREEKIN GOOD!!!! then run for your life.
or fart.
or make out with your mate.
or drink a can of beer and burp.

anything will do, as long as you record it and put it on youtube.

(The Laocoon)

and you've got to see one of the longest, thinnest (hmm...) and most interesting (hrrrrmmmm) parts of the museum, which is... (yes, yes, yeeees?) the hall of maps. (aww. okay.) it's absolutely wonderful; regions of italy, sicily and bits of europe are all finely represented on the walls, with towns and roads and everything known at the time when they were painted. it's really astonishing; plus their trompe l'oeil on the ceiling is very convincing. so yeah, let's get the hell outta popeland.(Sicily on a wall)

im not gonna keep raving about how beautiful roma is; you got my point. i went back on the 13th only to leave again on the 14th to poland, for a tour with the orchestre symphonique des jeunes de strasbourg.

(A gate in Lublin)

first, it was no easy task to get there. it took us 25h, by bus, to get to lublin. see a tiny, half faded mountain road in france? well, that's a national road in poland. good thing no one was claustrophobic, at least we didn't have any nervous breakdown to cope with. i saw some of the world's crappiest movies: mamma mia (i barfed), the devil wears prada (some girl pooped the script out), miami vice (porn with some shootings)... good thing that we got to watch the extended version of gladiator on the way back. so yeah, lots of vodka (zubrowka mostly) for all the drinkers that we have in the orchestra, and lots of me dragging them back to their beds with a bucket.
we started by visiting lublin, which is a lovely little town with a cute center... and ugly churches. well, they look fine from outside, but from inside...
and it's like that everywhere in poland. i have to say that altough the inhabitants are fine people, most of them are crazed catholic integrists. it's really, really scary. and they venerate Karol Józef Wojtyla, there are photos and statues of him everywhere. of course, you can't enter those weird places, even for a concert, if you're not covered enough, if you wanna drink something cause you're dehydrated from the heat outside, or if you're in hypoglycemia coz you didn't eat properly (no, cabbages+potatoes+breaded meat isn't a good meal, no matter how often you have it, aka all the time in that crazy country). i've got nothing against polish people, it's just that i would have liked to be respected as a convinced non-believer and not treated like a hapless skank.

after a few days in lublin and a great day in kazimierz dolny, a delightful village 40km (2h by bus) away from lublin, we headed off to krakow, where we slept in a hoStel (our secretary knows the difference NOW) and saw the most beautiful town in poland. they're getting the rights to settle a hard rock café right next to the cathedral (below), but for now they just have a shop; apparently the restaurant will open in mid september. (Krakòw's Rynek, aka marketplace, aka main square)

we also spent an afternoon in warszawa, but the city is really awful to look at. it's just a bunch of grey square buildings. a tiny old town remains, it's the only place in warszawa where you can actually see tiles on the roofs, so it's easily noticeable. they do have a hard rock café there though :)(Warszawa's Hard Rock Café)

we also visited the human slaughtering camps, auschwitz and birkenau. i wasn't sad there; i was disgusted, and that visit comforted me in thinking that humans can never be trusted. it felt strange going there and actually seeing the place where it all happened. many of our musicians couldn't stand the overwhelming atmosphere there.

(The entrance of Birkenau)

to cheer up, we then went to wieliczka, to see the salt mines which were very impressive. after all that and a concert in warszawa, we headed off to a palace hotel named wojanow, in southern silesia next to a small town called jelenia gora; we were invited to stay at that wojanow palace by wroclaw's philharmonic orchestra. we were supposed to play in the park in front of the castle, but when we started rehearsing, a tornado+thunderstorm decided that it was the right time to pass by and try to kill us all. the polish climate has a certain sense of humor...(Wojanòw Palace)

we still managed to play for a small but enthusiastic audience under a veranda, an hour after that storm; of course there was no more electricity/heating/warm water whatsoever, so we had a huge candlelit dinner, heated with a barbecue fire that worked just fine. after that we finally headed back to france; it only took us 15h to do the way back this time, since we were way closer to germany.

the next day i took a train to st raphael, côte d'azur with my boyfriend WHO IS THE BEST GUY ON EARTH ARE YOU HAPPY NOW. i'm pretty proud of having done absolutely nothing productive during that week, apart from turning 19. doing nothing is great, especially when there's a pool, beaches, an astonishingly clean sea, the sun shining all the time (except at night, duh), and a sweetheart :).

(Sunset over Saint Raphael's docks)

i headed back to strasbourg on august 2nd, and on august 3rd i started working in a bank, as a cashier. that was one loooong note, but i wanted to conceal all this year's trips in a single note, which is done. and i'm finally off to bed. took me 3 days to finish that note...