July 2- In the mood for summer

Hello July,

I was supposed to try to improve every day, but I feel like being a rebel today! I have a lot of things to do, applications for funding, artistic project, writing etc, but the main objective of the month will be: to have fun!

What is to have fun? Play, enjoy the moment, eat nice things, love, just to give a few ideas.

Now, is this serious? I don’t know! Being serious all the time is not very efficient, I think.

In order to finish the day “en beauté”, I went for a drink with a good friend, one I haven’t seen for a several months. We had to catch up. Her idea was that people become more and more strange. With insecurities, imbalances, issues. Could it be that Parisians -and I include different cultures and nationalities here- become more imbalanced with time? Or is it related to growing up and being more attentive? Or is it us who become stranger and the kind of people we meet? We were of course, discussing relationships.

With people afraid of commitment, not knowing which way they want to go, ambivalent, to have or not to have children, to be in a sex friendship or a relationship, to this or to that person…

Although this friend is younger than me, I consider her more mature in relationship terms, so I was hoping to get a piece of her mind, on the different questions I have been asking myself about my love life.

I don’t know if I see things more clearly. In the end, I felt saturated with all these analysis. Analyzing and generalizing gives us a feeling of control over our world and experiences. But it is a little bit illusionary.

Oh, it doesn’t matter, as long as we realize it.

The weather was beautiful, we were siting at a terrace. Passers-by were dressing up more lightly, they were wearing a holiday mood, it is Paris in the summer, let’s enjoy it!

After all, talking in a terrace is a form of sociability. A kind of ritual.

It is not what we say that is important.

It is the fact that we meet and talk. And participate to the summer party of the city!

 

Advertisement

July 1- Time Loop and Change: “Groundhog day”

Dear July, welcome!

I would like to make a deal with you: there are some important things I need to finish while you are here. Would you mind giving me a hand?

How? The weather for example. Not too hot to make us sleepy but agreeable enough to keep us in a good mood. And to stay outside, by the river bars.

Now, I have been wondering, after three months of blogging, if there is a change in my attitude, in the way I see the world.

There was a film, “Groundhog day”, released in 1993, with Bill Murray and Andy MacDowell. Murray incarnates Phil Connors, an arrogant TV weatherman who is sent by his channel to cover the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. He considers the event beneath him and is odious with everybody. Bad weather obliges his team to spent the night there. When he wakes up the next morning, he finds himself in a time loop, and he keeps repeating the same day again and again. After some time, he knows exactly what is going to happen in every moment of the day, who he will meet and what they will say to him. He indulges in hedonism and then makes numerous suicide attempts but it is useless, he is still alive in this same day. He finally begins to re-examine his life and priorities. And this is the moment when he becomes “liberated” from this “spell”.

Now, the first time I watched this film, I was quiet young, and thought it was a nice comedy. The second time, I was older, and was going through some challenging times. I thought it was a psychological drama and found it disturbing. It was as if I were stuck in a time loop myself. Now I think of it as a philosophical tale.

My question is, have I changed my attitude, my world view and priorities during this period? My feelings about myself and others?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day_%28film%29