Duncan's Blog

When I was first introduced to computer I used to go onto the IRC. I felt as if I had found a fun community and discovered that I could have regular online conversations at regular intervals with people who would appear at regular times.
Now I go on there and it seems to be over run by JDs with major attitude and meanspirited/wicked tongues.
I'd be curious to know if anyone else here has noticed the change?

Back in the day when I was learning French, the music of the era was referred to as La Musique de Ye-Ye.
Anyway after four days of language instruction on the chalkboard and in the dull text books we would often be given a music or slide show day on Fridays. We got to hear the contemporary music of France and saw the slides of the instructor's tax-deductable travels. This teacher, however went to a number of places where French was spoken OUTSIDE France... Dakar, for example.
Anyway, at the time I had only dreams of living in San Francisco. This was the first song I had ever heard about the city that wasn't sung in English.


Une maison bleu ( San Francisco )
Maxime Le forestier
Ann?e : 1973

Texte :

C'est une maison bleue
Adoss?e ? la colline
On y vient ? pied,
On ne frappe pas
Ceux qui vivent l?, ont jet? la cl?

On se retrouve ensemble
Apr?s des ann?es de route
Et on vient s'asseoir
Autour du repas
Tout le monde est l?
? cinq heures du soir

Quand San Francisco s'embrume
Quand San Francisco s'allume
San Francisco
O? ?tes vous
Lizzard et Luc
Psylvia
Attendez-moi

Nageant dans le brouillard
Enlac?s, roulant dans l'herbe
On ?coutera
Tom ? la guitare
Phil ? la kena
Jusqu'? la nuit noire

Un autre arrivera
Pour nous dire des nouvelles
D'un qui reviendra
Dans un an ou deux
Puisqu'il est heureux
On s'endormira

Quand San Francisco se l?ve
Quand San Francisco se l?ve
San Francisco

O? ?tes vous
Lizzard et Luc
Psylvia
Attendez-moi

C'est une maison bleue
Accroch?e ? ma m?moire
On y vient ? pied
On ne frappe pas
Ceux qui vivent l?
Ont jet? la cl?

Peupl?e de cheveux longs
De grands lits et de musique
Peupl?e de lumi?re
Et peupl?e de fous
Elle sera derni?re
? rester debout

Si San Francisco s'effondre
Si San Francisco s'effondre
San Francisco

O? ?tes vous
Lizzard et Luc
Psylvia
Attendez-moi

It's just a quick rhetorical thought. I've got things to do, places to go, people to see (as they say).
But sometimes when I look at my private messages I note that a lot of women write to me and they usually have pleasant comments to make. Guys? It's a whole 'nother ball o' wax. I wonder if other folks find this separation to be so.

PSAs, or public service announcements, were around in my day even though drinking and smoking were also in commercials. A friend of mine and I sometimes joke about the commercials we still remember 40 years later.
I've been working in a clinic and have been giving out education about not smoking. It's hard to imagine that you actually still have to educate people on the ills of tobacco consumption! Anyway, a few times I'd say things like, "Kick the habit! Join the unhooked generation! It's a matter of life and breath!" These are plagerized right out of the commercial.
I can't say that anything in recent times is as powerful as what I remember back then. There was one of a little boy (6 or 7) doing things together with his dad; playing catch, hide and seek and washing the car. Then dad took out a cigarette and put the pack down. The little boy picked up the pack and looked inside. And there it ended.
Don't even get me started on what the seat belt safety commercials used to look like. My favorite was an overweight woman with done up bouffant hair who said, "I don't like wearing those seat belts. They wrinkle my dress." Then you see her in the same position completely mummified in a total body cast.
Ah the nostalgic memories. Anyway, I'm glad that there are smoke cessation patches. There are so many ways nowadays for people to quit smoking.
My 2c for the day!

I began travelling on my own when I was 17. I didn't think much of it as I wanted to get out of my parents' home and have some adventures without supervision. So I helped two elderly people drive their car from New York City to San Diego over a period of ten days.
Later that year I also lived with a family in Austria. That was a six week program. It shaped a lot of my life as I had later declared German as my major in college. I also spent a year back there (in Graz, Arnold Schwarzenegger's hometown) and met some curious characters.
I never think of mentioning the places that I have been to because I always imagine there would be a "ho-hum" response. When Eastern Europe was covered with the iron curtain I had visas for Hungary, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland and Bulgaria.
I travelled via rail, saw some magnificent countryside, lived on coldcut sandwiches and mineral water. I went to places where lead crystal and porcelain dishes were made. I saw ancient churches, the Bertolt Brecht theatre, synagogues, art galleries and rivers.
I met school teachers and talked to children (with parents present) as they are generally easier to communicate with. Children under five tend to speak in the present tense and use the pronoun "I" a lot
The passports are tucked away on the bottom of some safety deposit box along with a whole host of other long-expired ID. Who knows, maybe one day there will be a museum dedicated to the history of ID in America. I'd like to be prepared with a contribution.