Tickets to concerts and drinking at clubs

Ahhhh...so now I have the time to update, even though I'm convinced that nobody is reading my blog. Sad for me. Last night I went out bar hopping with a whole bunch of French people that I met through my contact in the Tandem program, Caroline. I ended up having a ton of conversations about American vs. French society and political systems, as well as this fascinating discussion about socialism with a guy that works in the industrial sector here named Guillaume. All in all, it was great fun. We started out at Le Bistrot, where there was this performance art show, uh, thingy. A lady read poetry to pictures she had drawn that she showed on a slide projector while this guy that looked EXACTLY like Sean Penn made all sorts of weird sound effects on a computer using ordinary things like a slinky. Sometimes her poetry was really good, even though I didn't understand it all, and sometimes she just screamed very loudly in French. It wasn't the normal jazz, but I liked it. After that we went to three other bars, two that I had been to before. I got a bit tipsy and tried to call my brother after I got home (didn't work for some reason) and then tried to call Brant (also didn't work for some reason), so I ended up screaming at the nasally-voiced operator in a phone booth in France at 3:00 in the morning.

I just finished Aldous Huxley's Island, and it is absolutely phenomenal. I think I'm going to read it a second time. Basically it's the opposite of Brave New World. He envisions science blended with pragmatism and spirituality to create a perfect society. It's a bit East meets West philosophy, and the blending of the two makes the people of the island of Pala completely blissful. Of course there's drugs involved (it's basically the same as soma only it enlightens you, somehow...) and the main character is an outsider to the society, much as Brave New World. Unfortunately, the underlying question of the novel is whether a utopian society can exist, and if so, for how long. You have to read it to find out what Aldous has to say about that.

It's Christmas here tomorrow! So Joyeux Noel and Bonne Année! I'll be heading to Paris Monday for a week, so you won't hear from me for awhile. I may try to put something up tomorrow when I can get free internet at Anne's house. Until then.