Today is a Marvelous Day

When I awoke today, the birds were singing a much more melodic tune than normal. The sun was beaming in triumphantly through my window, the sky seemed extravagantly blue, and I arose from my bed in a state of calm.

Now, to anyone else, today might have just appeared as normal a day as any, but to me it is particularly special. At five thirty on this marvelous Monday, October 24th, I will be permanently liberated as the nanny of the children with whom I have been spending the past 22 hours a week for the last month.

Today, it will all be over. I am not sure how this last nannying session will go. It could either be pleasently speedy as I remind myself that it is the last time I have to play "ninja teacher" and the last time I deal with the most defiant children I have ever been around. Or, perhaps it will drag down just to make my last moments with them exceedingly painful.

Whatever the case, I am happy, and ready to dive in and start my "big girl" job tomorrow!

The Hanging Chad

I have been filling my time on the weekends picking up some extra cash being a barista at the coffee shop where I held my first real job from the age of 16 to 18. I am greatful for the owner giving me these hours and I enjoy being there in the bustling (well, when it is not slow) atmosphere of a coffee shop. There is light or classic rock on the radio and that lovely scent of coffee lingering on the air. My favorite and least favorite part of the position is the people that come in.

Some of them are friendly and we are on a first name basis, some even remembered me even after so long (even if I may not have remembered them, making for a rather awkward conversation where I had to pretend to remember that particular person), and some are like the Hanging Chad Lady, as she has officially been dubbed.

I think that something that should not ever be brought up in a 5 minute conversation with a bartista just trying to get through the day is politics. Even worse, possibly, as this lady did, is bringing up politics from a good long time ago. When I punched her frequent coffee buyer card, the piece of paper did not fall out all of the way and she said "gotta hate those hanging chads huh!" and I agreed that yes, they were quite annoying, and then bid her have a nice day and went off to make her sandwich. She, however, was not finished with her conversation and came over to the sandwich area to continue talking with me, much to my, um... pleasure...

"You must be WAY too young to know what hanging chads are, I guess," she began. I just smiled at her and told her I knew what they were. "Let me tell you about them", she continued, clearly ignoring my last statement. "Hanging chads are from the presidential election in 2000 between two men named Al Gore and George Bush", she said. I wanted it to end right there so I tried to speed up the sandwich making process. She had not only entered into a subject matter that I really did not want to get into ever, but she also severely insulted my intelligence and clearly thought I was around 12 years old, which is actually about how old I was when the election to which she was referring happened. She then said something to this effect: "you see, in Florida, that happened to a bunch of the ballots and then all went to hell because it was an inaccurate count and Bush won". She sounded so angry, and I just wanted to punch her in the face for assuming that I did not know who Bush and Gore are, and also tell her to get over it because that was 11 years ago. Dwelling on something for 11 years is a bit much.

I said "hm, yes" and handed her the sandwich and she exited the shop and my life, hopefully forever.

Review of...The Ides of March

Now, initially I was disappointed because when I exited the movie theater the only moral I believed the movie to have taught me was something I, and I assume most other people, are already well aware of: politics are dirty. I got into my car and began the drive home, still feeling rather disappointed and empty at the lack of this film's ability to tell me something other than that which I already knew. Then, hark! It hit me. The other moral, possibly an even more important one: don't sleep with interns.

Okay, so maybe not a movie which made the greatest points (unless, of course, it was being shown to Clinton back in the Monica days). I still cannot say with a strong conviction that I disliked it. It was a quick film, which I felt was nice for a fun little evening out although it also meant leaving me a bit unfulfilled. But, perhaps that is what director (and star, of course) George Clooney was going for. I cannot be certain.

So, basic premise of the plot: Stephen (Ryan Gosling) is a young man working as the press secretary for the campaign of a Democratic presidential candidate, Mike Morris (George Clooney). Everything seems to be going well, which makes for a rather uneventful beginning of the film in which the audience wonders when, and if things will pick up. Then, of course, a young, blonde intern named Molly (Evan Rachel Wood) gets involved and all goes to hell. The rest of the film is scandal, more scandal, and then a little side of scandal topped with, you guessed it, scandal.

Worth seeing? Sure, why not. Is it going to top any lists any time soon? I hope not. But hey, at least it contains that oh-so-important message that audiences can carry with them the rest of their lives: never sleep with an intern (although the film put it in a bit more vulgar terms than that. I decided to spare your virgin ears).

Sid And Nancy

Let me just begin by saying that if I was not already quitting for my new job, I would have been driven to quit today even if it had meant me being unemployed. Let's just say that things got a little Sid & Nancy today to say the least between Connor and I. If it was legal to hit kids, this would have been the instance where I'd done so.

I suppose I have not filled any of my readers in with what I am doing lately with my post-European life. Let me just say that the spark and excitement has completely extinguished and I have found myself caring for three children (Christopher age 5, Gracie age 7 and Connor age 9) five days a week. Thankfully, I am starting a new job on Tuesday, so I will no longer be pulling a Mary Poppins starting then.

Connor and I have butted heads since I began my position almost immediately upon my return from London, so about a month ago. However, things got really ugly today. Let me say that I pride myself on at least being civil with the children, and nice when they are nice to me. Today I was pushed to the breaking point.

I went to the bus stop to wait for Connor and Gracie, and once they arrived Gracie immediately began recounting her day to me. The gift of gab is strong in her, and I am often thankful for that as it means that I have to conjure up surprisingly little to talk about. Connor, however, was more silent than usual in that he completely ignored not only me when I asked about his day, but also ignored her sister. And she was asking him if he wanted the candy that she earned in class! Even I would be unable to ignore such a question!

After we arrived at the house, Connor laid on the couch and I asked him if he was alright, to which he responded with a nod. He then took his cell phone (yes, he seriously has one at his age) into his room and called one of his parents and began a twenty minute conversation during which he was bawling frantically. Once this unpleasantry ended, I went into his room only to inform him that we all had to leave to get his brother.

I was actually rather frightened by how I found him in his room. He was standing in his closet, arms folded, scowling at me with a demonic expression, tears flooding his bright-red cheeks. I informed him that I was sorry he was upset but that we had to get going, and he screamed "I HATE YOU!". I tried to keep calm but this was one of MANY unpleasant things that he has done to me in the past, and I remembered that Monday was my last day, so I told him in a stern voice that it was not okay to say that to someone and that I was not too fond of him either. The rest of the day I did not say a word to him. The one thing I was thankful for was that his sister told me that he says so to everyone, and that their last babysitter was "actually mean".

I love nannying.

D'accord, Paris, Je T'aime Aussi!

I feel so horrendous for my previous negative statements that I have made towards the lovely, inviting Paris. i do not know why this time was so different, but perhaps it was the weather, perhaps it was the company, perhaps it was what we did and what we saw. Most likely it was the combination of all, but I have completely retracted any negative views about the city.

We were only there for one day, and had a rough time getting to the actual city of Paris because of evil Ryanair and their plotting against humanity, but once we were there I fell in love. Last time I think Paris was going through a rough patch, or having her female monthly-time, but whatever it was she was certainly rude to me and completely made up for it in just one short day and night. Upon arrival, we met up with our friend that we met in Galway and he took us to a charming little restaurant where I ordered in French with complete success and the waiter gave us free rose wine because the guy we were with had been in there the past three days.

Afterwards we got a bottle of wine and enjoyed it along the Seine with Notre Dame right behind us, creating the perfect Parisian atmosphere which one thinks only exists in movies. I can assure you now, it is real- the romantic notions of Paris are completely spot-on.

The next day, we did not have much time but went to see the Eiffel Tower and I actually walked up it this time. The views were gorgeous, although my butt and thighs were hurting for a long time after climbing up all of those stairs. Then we went to the Louvre because Dianna wanted to see Mona Lisa despite my warnings that she was tiny and overrated. But it was alright anyways, I got to see the Spanish paintings that I did not know about during my last visit. After that we met with our friend to say our goodbyes and hopped on the metro to the airport. My heart slightly broke upon leaving such a charming place.

A bientot, Paris!

Ryanair Really likes to Mess with Me

Yes, they sure do. As if I have not complained about them enough...
My warning to all who plan to fly into Paris with Ryanair: it is NOT actually flying into PARIS, it is flying into BEAUVAIS. As most minds are unacquainted with what exactly the difference is, let me enlighten you as one who has not only made this mistake once, but somehow twice.

Ryanair messes with people. It is simply in their nature and probably somehow stated in the contracts of the higher-ups. I can see them now, in their smug little suits and greasy mustaches greedily pondering the new ways they can leech off of and piss off their innocent travelers and their lack of knowledge with regard to obscure French cities. Mind you, these are not the same greasy mustache guys who are the ones that want to squeeze money from the poor traveler for the benefit of the company, but rather for simply the loss of money and time that their sneaky actions result in. Like, "hmmm... we cannot really afford things like actual gates for the plane and crap like that so we cannot afford to fly into a real airport in Paris so let's fly into one in some random city kind of close to Paris... Beauvais, you say? Sounds great. Now they will have to pay 30 euros for an hour and a half bus ride into Paris. But on our website, let's say that the airport is IN Paris! BWA HHAHAHAHA!" and then they rub their greasy hands together and smoke fat cigars and chug whiskey.

Point of the story, if you are flying with Ryainair intending to go to Paris, they will drop you off at an airport about 2 hours away and you need to pay about 20 euros to take the bus that brings you to the city. So, it ends up being not the cheapest option. BE WARNED!