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Sunday, June 26, 2011

True Blood and a picnic...

I have two author interviews coming up in the next couple of days (I think...) as one will definitely be Cheryl Bradshaw and the other is supposed to be Jessica Meigs but she might be busy with some other writer blogs so I might be in for a wait. *Sigh*. In the meantime, I thought I would write yet again about my trials and tribulations here in la belle France.

I was supposed to head back to Vegas today (a week earlier than planned) but it didn't quite work out that way. Instead, I'm heading for a picnic that started a little over forty minutes ago and I still have yet to take a shower! I'm getting around to it but can I say if this was my last weekend in France, what a blow out it would have been? My temporary flatmate is gone for the weekend to Normandy with her parents so I hung out with another French friend and we had a "girly" day with her Couchsurfer, Alyssa, who left for London today. Alyssa is a great girl (no, I'm not gay--and even if I was, nothing wrong with it--but we women observe one another as only a woman can); only nineteen but a fresh-faced Canadian beauty who would vaguely remind you of a hotter, tanner looking, lighter-haired version of Liv Tyler out of Stealing Beauty. Yes, she's making her rounds around Europe and having a blast; I am a tad bit jealous as I was stuck in one European country at nineteen (Sweden) with an au pair job and a boyfriend. I was fired from my au pair job three months into my assignment and lived with my boyfriend until his alcoholism got too bad for me to take and I high-tailed it back to the States.

Now, what does this all have to do with True Blood you're wondering? Well, it doesn't, not really except I am a bit like Stephen King and I have to go through Mississippi to get to New York. Sorry for the excessive chatter. My mind is a bit like that and sometimes, I get carried away.

Okay, so it's (finally) beautiful here in Versailles. We had our first officially nice day in about three weeks yesterday and today is even more gorgeous. Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same. Yay!

So why didn't Manon, Alyssa and I not even leave the house yesterday until shortly after 5:30 pm? Well, for one, the sun sets really late here so it messes with your concept of time and you think there is more of the day left than it really is. 5:30 is as good as say 1:30 in the continental United States as we still had plenty of daylight left. What were we doing besides picking out dresses to wear and doing our hair and talking about "girly" things? Well, I was introduced to True Blood for one. Yeah, that show on HBO, which I had never seen before.

I don't watch a lot of television and I am quite proud to exclaim this to anyone who will listen. I can't put up with the silly American shows which are very popular outside the U.S. too. I certainly can't watch Fox, CNN or MSNBC because I am politicked (is that even a word?) out. No, seriously, I am. I hear about it anyway from my politically-addicted relatives who can't wait to fill me in on the juicy gossip. I don't get much out of reality television and if you were to ask me, the last satisfying reality show I watched was The Real World: Chicago (Sorry to all you American Idol and Dancing With The Stars fans ... I just don't get much out of either show). How many moons ago was that?! They have probably done The Real World: Chicago IV and I wouldn't have a clue. That's how out of touch I am.

Then again, the internet makes it easy to stay in tune with what's going on so that is my addiction. I can live without television just as long as I have my laptop near me. It's all cool in the gang and I am one happy camper. I take my iPad-like Android to the park with me, just so I have something to read in case things get a bit slow or I'm all French-languaged out and feel like a little English. I am addicted to technology; is that so bad? I never leave the house without my 80GB iPod and I must always be doing something. But I am not the only one. My French friends pull out their iPhones and check Facebook even when we are all together at the local bar, O'Paris, or if we are having a picnic. Everyone I know stays in touch with their friends and family via a technological device. Kinda scary and reminds me of the SK novel, The Cell. Yeah, it truly has become that bad!

Okay, but back to True Blood! First of all, I had no idea the show took place in Louisiana. Yeah, I knew it was about vampires (duh?) but I also didn't know there would be shapeshifters and hoodoo. Okay, did I mention I have a special place in my heart for Louisiana? My Creole relatives were from there (yeah, all the poor trash in my family that wasn't from Mississippi) and I just find the place magical and haunted all at the same time. Skeleton Key is one of my favorite films (and I'm not a huge Kate Hudson fan but I love her in this film) and I watched Spike Lee's When The Levees Broke about Hurricane Katrina. It's a place that has a hold on me and I would probably live there if I thought I wouldn't miss Vegas or actually thought I could stomach living in the south (problem is I don't think I can... blame me growing up in a shallow, two-faced place like California and always living on the west coast and/or southwest).

Sorry, peeps, but I am an equal opportunity offender. There is no "greatest" place to live in the States. Every region has their issues so I hope my neighbors in the southern states don't think I am unfairly picking on them. I would be the first to pick apart every bad thing about the once golden state of California and Nevada is no picnic either but it's been home for seven years and I've gotten used to it.

***Rant over, back to True Blood***... As I was saying, it's an awesome show and I came in on the sixth episode in the first season. So, you know what I am going to do when I get back to the States? Yep, you got it, I'm buying all the seasons and I'm going to start from the beginning. Yes, there is a lot of sex and violence but it's about vampires not Disney characters. It could only be a cable show (this is definitely one they won't be able to sanitize for TBS or TNT... then again, they sanitized Sex & The City and even I didn't think that would be possible). Maybe it can be done. Point is, I have a new love on television and anyone who enjoys paranormal or vampire tales should definitely check it out. It isn't for everyone but can't we say that about all shows on television? 

Okay, time to take that shower as I have a picnic here in Versailles to attend and I am still not ready. Until I blog again, here is to everyone enjoying a beautiful (or not so beautiful) but hopefully peaceful Sunday.  

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