pretending is fun

I was at Hallmark getting a birthday card for Le Club Francophone's president. It's her birthday this Tuesday, and she sent this mass email inviting us to dinner this Tuesday. I'm going because I need to get out (as in socially). Back to Hallmark, I found a birthday card that was in French, and I thought, "Hey, that's pretty cool." I stood in line, looking at the card, and got this weird idea in my head.

I should act like I'm French.

I wanted to see if I could pull it off, if I'd go through with it. I mean, it's just acting, and it's not hurting anyone. She greeted me Hello, and I said Bonjour (a little softly). I handed her the card--making sure that she saw that the card was in another language, haha. She smiled at me, and I smiled back. "Two dollars and sixteen cents." I opened my wallet (I hid my CA driver's license beforehand just in case she saw it--I am so good!) and counted the change carefully. I wanted to give her the impression that I was unfamiliar with her currency, haha. I can't help but laugh as I write this. I even examined one of the new 2005 nickels I had for like 4 seconds. Good thing I was the only person in line. I gave her the money, she gave me my card and the receipt, and then I said, "Merci" and got out of there.

It was fun, pretending to be someone else. I wonder if I fooled her. Anyway, I'd never done something to that extent before. My best friend from my hometown, Ch., and I have these aliases that we use when we go to Starbucks or when we write letters to each other. It's pretty funny. Sometimes we forget we're using them, and the Starbucks guy is calling out our fake names and we have to remind each other that our coffee is ready. Try it sometime, just don't forget your fake name.

Books I want to read over Christmas break:
-- 1984 by George Orwell: I really liked this book in high school and feel like reading it again.
-- Emerson's and Thoreau's works: We only had to read excerpts from them in high school. I feel that their stuff is on a human being's required reading list. Oo! <-- that's really funny looking! I just said that out loud right now. Imagine a little kid raising his hand excitedly because he knows the answer to a question. Oo! Ooh! Oo! I just got a cool idea: make a required reading list for all of human kind. What a task, I don't think I can tackle it.
-- Everything is Illuminated by Foer: T. from French said it was good, and I read some excerpts and was intrigued.

things I must get from home to bring back to SF:
1. hairbrush: I only have a comb here!
2. Zissou cap: My cousin was working at Tower records, and they were promoting "The Life Aquatic." She knew that I was an Anderson fan, so she saved one for me. Yay for family!
3. piano books: for the girls at my volunteer agency
4. earrings: for prettiness
5. Thrice dvd "if we can only see us now": I've been dying to watch it.
6. 2002 journal: I need it as an aid for the Euro film I'm editing (still). All my notes of the places we visited are in there.
7. my small change purse: for change
8. Mom's camera (?): I'm going to ask Mom if I can borrow her digital camera so I can document all things cinematic and documentable.