3 January 05
2005 and Still Alive
Well here we are in 2005. Since my last post, my life has kind of been on cruise control; just humming along without anything spectacular happening. I’ve basically just been enjoying myself as the lesser part of a whole, and spending whatever time I can free from interference working on Web projects. Nevertheless, I do have a couple noteworthies that might be of interest.
The Strasbourg christmas market came and went. I made it downtown a couple of times to check it out, but on the days I went, there were just too many people, which sapped much of the enjoyment out of it for me. As I’ve come to find out, you have to be quite careful during the christmas market, or at anytime really when the tourist load is high, because the pick-pocketers are out in force. I don’t have any problems with this myself, as I’m generally prepared for the potential of that kind of thing, but I guess it is here. I will say this though, it is very cool to be in an old city with crazy little, cobblestoned streets (by the way, I learned that “Strasbourg” means the “city of streets”) while people of every nationality run hither and thither with their shopping bags and whatnot. People-watching alone could keep me entertained for many months to come.
Hanane and I didn’t have any plans for New Years, except for the incredible dinner at her family’s house, we just stayed home and relaxed. Neither of us is really into the New Years Eve partying. Even in recent years, when I did imbibe a cocktail or two, I still avoided the night of idiots, preferring a comfortable, safe evening in with a good dinner and a movie, rather than side-stepping puddles of champagne vomit and playing chicken with drunk drivers. Here in Strasbourg, staying home on New Years is good for a couple of other reasons as well. There is a tradition here in Strasbourg to burn cars on New Years eve, and to no one’s disappointment (except the unlucky car owners) several cars were burned this year as expected. You never know where it’s going to happen, but it does. Hanane and I have our own garage for the apartment, so we wisely locked up the auto on this night.
Another problem, as I see it anyway, is that for New Years (and only New Years as I understand it) fireworks are allowed on the streets, and I don’t mean smoke bombs and sparklers, I’m talking about M-80s and full-on exploding sky rockets. I don’t know where people get this level of arsenal, but it was everywhere. To make matters worse, armies of teenage boys, primarily, walk the streets lighting this shit off, shooting rockets at buildings and throwing things that explode at passing cars. It’s fucking nuts! If you do go out on New Years, you have to deal with this gauntlet.
There are two big initiatives taking place in France right now that might be of a surprise to Americans, they are the stop-drinking and stop-smoking initiatives. They are not really called that, but that’s what they are about. There is a big problem in France with young people getting killed in drunk driving accidents, and this is what is really spurring the stop-drinking initiative. The stop-smoking initiative has more teeth to it than the other; there’s actually been a slate of laws lately that makes it more difficult to smoke in certain places. The whole thing reminds me of what the U.S. is doing with its growing none-smoking ordinances. Personally, I’m all for it, but I think it will take many years before things radically change in France (who knows). What I think French politicians really ought to do is make it illegal to buy M-80s and burn cars…oh, and pick up fucking dogshit! God, it’s everywhere!
On a different note, if I have one New Years eve resolution, it is to up my level of health and fitness a notch or two. I have started running again. I have now gone running three times in the last five days, so I can confidently say that I have started running again. It feels good. I can’t go very far or fast right now, but in time I’ll work up to my personal best of 20 miles per week (that would be four days of 5 miles each). There’s a pretty good route that is available to me right outside my door. I follow a bike path for quite a distance, past a couple of round-a-bouts, through a bit of neighborhood back roads, and then on to a sports center where a nice track and field is located. It’s probably 2 miles tops to the track and field, and I haven’t made it that far yet. I have only made it to the second round-a-bout, and I had to stop three times on the round-trip run at that (no laughing). However, my plan is to eventually run to the track, do another mile or two there, and then run back home again. Once I can do that, I’ll be ready for exploring other routes to take. I would like to give a big shout for my man, Nabil, who keeps me inspired in this respect; here is a man who can run all day, stopping every three miles to do 100 pushups, and then keep on again. What an étalon! (stallion)
Like everybody, I’m sure, I have been watching the news covering the disaster in asia. What a catastrophe. Hanane and I were planning to go to the Maldives for our honeymoon, which you probably know is one of the regions hit by that tsunami, though not nearly as hard as some of the other island regions. So many lives lost in so short of time over such a huge area of geography. There’s almost no words. Mother nature…incredible.
