g.i., clark gable, gucci, louis vuitton... i love america

what an interesting time i'm having so far in l.a. first of all, i'm no good after 6pm - the jet-lag makes me a cranky, groggy little girl. second, the ghetto-sans-fab steez i wasn't feeling in france exists here too. (well, at least in santa clarita). i went to swim some laps today in my parents' hood. they live right next to saugus high school. on the street that the pool's at, there were a huge group of boys - some with skateboards, and others standing in the back of huge trucks. when i got to the pool two high school girls asked if they could use my phone. i said, sure. then i asked them if there was a fight about to go down. they said that it's the skaters against the ballers. that is very strange. but then again, i guess that's high school. then they said thanks for letting them use my phone. i said, it's all good. and before they took off, they asked me if i went to saugus high because they'd never seen me on campus.

i took it as a compliment.

after, i went to target with my mom. wow, so this is why america is so cool. i love target!!! i felt like a little kid. and then again, i felt like a consumer again. consuming is bad, esp for jane who doesn't know how to save money. i think i have an illness. like, if i had 2 dollars to my name and saw something at target that was 1.50, i'd buy it, even though it would then mean that i'd be broke and out on the street. ehhh, i'm just rambling now. it's the jet-lag talking.

anyway, after target, i went to whole foods. uuuhhhhhh, naked juices. i hugged the carrot juice, orange juice and green machine jugs as i brought them to the cash register. which reminds me...

my carrot/orange juice partner is back in france. holding it down for the team. i found some photos of mr. eisenhour on my mom's computer, so there. i'm done.

eisenhours & stratte-mcclures, originally uploaded by mjane.

who's reading this?

packing, originally uploaded by mjane.

mackenzie booked me a ticket to l.a. back in february to head out there from april 27 to june 27. where does the time go?

march is a complete blur...

april, i started my french classes. and fucking hell, it's now less than a week until i'm back home. holy shit.

in any case, i'm pretty sensitive to the whole situation - i'm talking, emotions times five. or a million, in some cases. meaning, i'm excited, stoked, ecstatic, jittery, loopy, etc. about the trip. it's been seven months since i've been around. whatch'all been up to?

. . . and there you have it.

side note: damn, christina! i wish i were in france while you're visiting in may.

well, i can't wait to kick it with everyone. i miss you guys on the real like crazy.

tres piquant

m.eisenhour: the face of orientedgirl 2005, originally uploaded by mjane.

mackenzie: likes to eat very slowly; he prefers beer with dinner; he loves hot sauce (the hotter the better) (i think he's training his tongue to handle hot sauce like my pops, tony i-like-it-hot san b); candles are a necessary accessory to his dining experience

jane: loves to eat meat; and when doing so, must have plenty of rice, potatoes, bread or pasta to accompany meat; is unable to share kitchen with others - she always cooks alone; prefers a glass of porto before dinner, red wine during, and an amaretto for digestif

blah blah blah

three coffees later..., originally uploaded by mjane.

photo was taken at a rest area on the way to the volcom eu office in marseilles. got to marseilles, and hmm... i don't think i'd ever live there. as soon as we stepped into the volcom office, it was like being in an orange county colony. except in french.

after, stopped off in toulon to see triple5soul france's fall line. sales rep kept describing fur-lined things as being, as i heard it, "zgi lo" and i didn't understand her. so i asked mackenzie ce quoi what sounds like zgi lo and he said, she's saying "j lo". oh...

and now, it's penalty kicks on the television - important for lyon, for france. gotta stop this entry now and see how it ends.

the dishes/taxes are done.

well here we are, originally uploaded by mjane.

these are some happy people right here. hey, it's sunday. and you know what, every day could really feel like a sunday. if you want it to.

right, positive... positive is good

today is my sister's birthday. that's truly a positive thing. she is a best friend like no other. when we were kids, i remember waking up in the middle of the night sometimes to her being up late when she was in high school. one night, she came into my room to borrow my crayola markers. i woke up, wanted to see what she was doing, and i spent the night watching her sketching her fashion designs on her bed. another night, while she was hanging out with her friends in her room, i came in attempting to be down and hang out and shit, she showed me her chippendales playing cards. i remember on a suit card there's some dude with gel'd up hair, posing on hay or something wearing nothing but chaps. hey, chippendales were huge back then. very popular, you know what i mean.

anyway, other than that, it's been hard to keep up the old blog. time has been moving a lot quicker ever since the time changed. i've been here for almost seven months, and i don't know, something's "hit" me, but i don't know what it is exactly. in any case, i've just gotta maintain positive vibes.

this is very hard to do at times. a lot of confusion. a lot of rebellion. a lot of resentment that not only will the 80s keep coming back, but that, seemingly so, a lot of people my age on the cote d'azur are the living, breathing 80s of 2005. i wonder if that possibly makes sense to anyone other me. did anyone ever watch prime-time soaps of back then? like knot's landing or falcon crest or dynasty or dallas? that's kind of where i'm going with all of that - or, at least, the effect it had on me.

okay, but for real, the positive... i started my french classes yesterday. my class is funny. so i'm laughing a lot. one girl is from ukraine, another girl is from russia, and another girl is from poland; then there is a chinese girl and a half chinese-half japanese girl, a girl from chile, a boy from ecuador, another boy from south america - but i forgot which country. and then there's jane, the american. it's an intermediate class so we're always speaking in french and it seems to go by quickly as there's a lot of info to learn each day. so now every day before i visit home that's what i'm up to until 2pm.

and then there's been this thing subconsciously hanging around in the air, like smoke sitting still in a very humid room. it feels very domestic. kind of along the lines of women with blenders and ironing boards and aprons and things like that. or how being a chipper, talkative female sales rep for triple5soul france is considered "femme fatale" down here in this part of the world. the term is clearly french - it's like how the rolling stones sold america better than your average american back in the day - anyway, ironic, right? or, it's just me.

homegirl's gear... it's positive. the sea looks gorgeous., originally uploaded by mjane.