1. Physical activity:
My Christmas break taught me that skiing is mega hard when you're a 25 year old beginner, but that doesn't preclude its being super fun. (Ski food also makes it well worth the effort.)
Any sunshine in Région Centre means pack up whatever you're doing and go outside for a run. Unfortunately, the rest of the time I've had to work on moving around the apartment.
I realized I was developing noodle arms, so I started a self-initated weenie push-up routine, and now I've moved on to "The One Hundred Pushups Training Program". The creator spells out how to increase endurance by small increments, and when one week's a bit shaky, I just redo it until I'm feeling ready to move on. It's slow going, but I went from not being able to do one full pushup, to being able to do several sets at a time. My arm also ceased "keeping the greeting going" for so long after I'd stopped waving.
I also just started this "Daily Workouts" App. I don't think it's a revelation, but it's good to have a timer and a little motivation when you're doing repetitive stuff.
2. Movies
The big stuff: Django actually brought tears to these eyes of mine. The Hobbit was awe inspiring.
Weirdo movies: The Master was a real work, and it was good to see Joaquin back. The Celebration, a Dutch movie from 1998. It was made according to "Dogme 95"'s principles. Very, very moving. I don't want to say much more because I think it really needs to be watched.
French fluff: Le Corniaud. It's a 60s classic comedy. A "sucker" gets conned into driving a Cadillac stuffed with drugs and stolen gems through Southern Europe. Road trip antics.
Le Vilain. Real silliness in the French style. A prodigal son returns to his mother's house, fleeing a long history of crime. The mother discovers his wrongdoing and seeks to right his evil deeds...
Astérix et Obélix was a really fun film based on the comics.
Populaire was another light little entertainment well worth the time.
8 Femmes is another noteworthy one. As much as I hate musicals, each character has a tiny song that shows a bit of her personality, and it really works. (Like I said, the songs are so short you're not left nauseated.)
3. Music
Jake Bugg's a young little twerp who knows his stuff.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Foxygen are exciting (JagJaguar).
Check out Tame Impala too.
NPR's been winning lately with their "First Listen" album streams and 5 Heavy Rotation songs. New stuff from Jimi Hendrix is actually sitting over there at the moment.
I found a streaming service called Deezer to use outside of the US. It's still growing so it's not as well crafted with 'Likes' and 'Thumbs downs' and whatever else, but it has a pretty broad catalogue, and it introduced me to French rap, which in itself is intriguing.
4. Books
I know every literature teacher, and probably every well-educated English speaker, will gasp when I say this, but: Paradise Lost is crap. Read the summaries and save yourself time and grief. I'm not linking it.
The Count of Monte Cristo was long, but a fun distraction. (It was one of the audiobooks that kept me company on public transit this semester.) The site's also good for teachers because it has texts sorted by reading levels.
Life of Pi was a super good read, now I've just got to get around to watching the movie.
I finished The Hunger Games series. Overall, it was a decent work.
I found something else on the edge of teen lit, but it's way better than the usual stuff. (It's simple enough grammatically that I can read it in French, but the action and themes are really cool.) It's the Tales of the Otori series, a sort of coming of age saga set in feudal Japan.
5. Now for some photographic highlights from my absence:
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| Villandry |
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| Chenonceau |
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| Super Sauze |
