Tuesday Updates

The good news is that I have a new movie idea, not that the first one is finished yet but its probably good to have multiple projects. It's all practice. The bad news is I got 61% on my last French test. It was a grammar test and I didn't do bad in one particular area but rather all of them. I did do well in the Passe Compose vs Imparfait section but there is little else good to take from the test.

Next week I have an oral presentation. I've decided to use Jacques Mesrine as my subject. We can speak on anything French and of course I want it to be interesting so I picked a gangster, not to be confused with a gangsta. When first told of my topic Kate asked me why I would do my presentation on a French rapper, knowing I'm not a huge fan of rap. But no I informed her he's not a gansta but rather a gangster, the kind with guns that steal and kill people that get in their way or don't show them enough respect, wait now I'm confused. Mesrine was a bank robber, committing crimes in the 50s, 60s and 70s. He even came to Montreal for a bit where he also robbed banks, evidently sometimes two in a day, that's ambition.

So this Mesrine character should be interesting and it gives me the oppourtunity to explore some interesting French words. Part of the assignment is to have 5 vocabulary words for the class. So one of my words is 'braquer' which can mean either to hold someone up at knife/gun point or to turn a steering wheel. If it's reflexive 'se braquer' it means to refuse to listen to a point in a conversation. Of course this is all just my roommate Ludo's definitions so I still have to do the research to make sure I have the meanings exact.

After my 61% I'm determined to do well on this oral exam. I've not a fan of public speaking, at least not on topics I'm uncomfortable with or in a language I don't know so it will not be pleasant for me but hopefully if I prepare well enough I'll be able to pull a good mark out. And thankfully I got that good mark on the reading comprehension test, I wish all our tests were reading comprehension.

My volunteering time has been postponed again, filming was set back a week making the first week of filming the same week as my oral exam, which is Wednesday even. So now I'll be out in Hamilton for the week after, including St. Patty's Day. I understand that Eric will be rapping that night so that should be pretty freaking fun. I will of course bring my camera and record the session, maybe we'll even have time to film a few other things but we'll see. One of my problems, if you can call it a problem, is that I have football Saturday nights. I would like to have a weekend in Hamilton to shoot some stuff but I'm going to have to head back to Montreal every Saturday and since filming is Monday to Friday it leaves little time to do anything else. The hours of course being long. I want to play next season but I don't want it to interfere with work and I don't want to let the guys down by making the team and then not playing. I have a few weeks to see how it plays out but my renewed football career may be coming to an end.

That's a pretty full update on all the crap I've done so I'm off to write my French oral and make some fried noodles with tofu. I know it doesn't beat chicken but meat that wasn't treated like it had no nervous system or desire for clean air is expensive and tofu just tastes like whatever you put on it so whatever.