The latent perversity of torn jeans

 

It is not uncommon today to see affluent young women strutting in torn jeans.
Some young men are emulating that trend (or is it vice-versa?) but one knows anyway that young males are inherent slobs.

Personally, I find this practice difficult to understand. It seems rather odd, even masochistic to derive pleasure from looking like in need of public assistance.

While millions of people are struggling to make ends meet and dress in a civil manner, a few fortunate individuals seem to take a perverse pleasure in aping destitute folks.
Why in hell would well-to-do people dress in rags? What is the subliminal message? Is it a misguided way to seek attention? Is it a cry for help? I wonder.

This odd behavior reminds me of an old episode of the Three Stooges.
Curly bangs his head against the wall and screams in pain.
Moe asks him why he is doing that.
Curly says: Because it feels so good when I stop.

So it looks like that these people do this as some kind of therapy to feel better after leaving their rags in the closet and putting on the Ritz… Peculiar therapy…

It seems to me that that a lot of these young ladies women would greatly benefit from a few shrink sessions instead of misspending money on purposefully mangled items.

A pair of “designer” ripped jeans can cost up to $1,000.

I don’t want to sound to sanctimonious, but I could treat myself to at least half a dozen sessions of mud baths for that price and feel much cleaner after that than parading for an hour in hand me down tattered clothes.

The torn jeans fad, like the Lava Lamps, will soon fade away and years from now your children will burst out laughing when you show them pictures of your “hot” torn jeans.

A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous – Coco Chanel

I am with you Coco!

Alain

Sonoma’s Awesome Threesome

 

On June 25th, the Sonoma’s Valley of the Moon Pétanque Club  hosted the FPUSA inter-regional Men’s & Women’s Triples.

I missed the morning games but showed up in time to witness and memorialize the finals.

The weather, which had been unbearably hot the previous week, cooled down significantly and while it became somewhat hot in the afternoon, it remained comfortable.

Surprisingly the attendance was rather moderate, (10 teams on the men’s side and 3 teams on the women’s side) maybe due to the Sears Point race, but the field was nevertheless packed with very good players.

Outstanding among them, the Awesome Threesome, the formidable troika of Peter Mathis, Wolfie Kurz and Mickey Coughlin, all certified shooters and pointers.

Mickey, Wolfie, Peter

To win a game, you need at least a good pointer, a good shooter and a good “middle”. This “dream team” had it all and ultimately proved that versatility is key to victory.

Also outstanding, the Fresno formations whose names unfortunately escape me.

The men’s finals opposing Peter Mathis, Wolfie Kurz and Mickey Coughlin against Christophe Sarafian, Bee Moua and Silent Mike ended up by a 13/5 victory for the Awesome Threesome.

Surprisingly, Peter Mathis played as pointer and did an outstanding job doing so. He steadily put all his shots within a foot of the cochonnet and contributed immensely to the team’s victory.

Wolfie Kurz was the main shooter and also did an excellent job. I estimate his batting average to be between 85% and 90%.

On the opposite team, Christophe, Bee and Silent Mike also played extremely well but were eventually defeated I believe, by Peter Mathis consistent impressive pointing.

The Men’s finals took place on probably the most difficult spot of the field. Every pointing shot was demanding due to the pebbly nature of the terrain.
I believe that the Awesome Threesome benefitted from the familiarity of the terrain, but would have won anyway on any other venue.

Final results:

Concours

1st place: Peter Mathis, Wolfie Kurz and Mickey Coughlin   $60.00 each
2nd place: Christophe Sarafian, Bee Moua and Silent Mike           $45.00 each

 Consolante:

 1st place: Patrick Vaslet, Jacques Mathieu, Cody      $30.00 each
2nd place: David Katz, Adair Hastings, Cliff Knuckles?         $20.00 each

Alain

To look at pictures of this event, click on the “My Photos” link located on the right side of this page. For best viewing, go Full Screen.

The proven benefits of fermentation

 

A man by tumbling his thoughts, and forming them into expressions, gives them a new fermentation, which works them into a finer body. Jeremy Collier

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Drinking beer in Barcelona

I am not much of a beer “connaisseur” but I know that any brew needs fermentation to be palatable.
The same goes for ideas. They need to ferment and percolate for some time to mature.

An idea is like a rough diamond. It has to be cleaned, cut and polished to become appealing. The same goes for writing. The text needs to be thoroughly scrutinized before being released for consumption.

The brain is an exquisite piece of machinery that runs silently 24 hours a day. Even while asleep your brain processes and reprocesses many of the thoughts that you had the previous day. Because of this non-stop activity you often wake up in the middle of the night with answers to your concerns.

When it comes to writing, nobody is harder on himself than a blogger. He/she tries his best but the results vary. An essay is like a cake; sometimes it turns out beautifully and sometimes it is a disappointment… mainly because it was not kneaded enough or fermented long enough.

When writing, being bilingual or trilingual is a big advantage. When you cannot find the right word in English, you search for it in your mother tongue or if you are fortunate enough in a third dialect and you are very likely to find the correct word.

But you also have to be attentive because similar spelling or sounding words can have a different meaning in a different language.

When I first came to the US, my eyes caught a newspaper headline: “Cons escape!”
I found this a little puzzling. In French, a con is a stupid person, a jerk.
So jerks escaped? Big deal! Cons are all around us.

Few writers can produce a whole document in a single draft. Presidential speeches for instance need to ferment and are constantly massaged to sound right.
Speaking from the cuff or impulsive digital graffiti is a bad idea! In cyberspace whatever you say can be retrieved and used against you.

It is much better to sleep on a first draft and let it froth for a while. You can tackle it again the next day and see your flubs more clearly… then you hopefully can correct them.

Fermentation is akin to preparation and,

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Benjamin Franklin

Alain