Sometimes I think of leaving, it's something I'll never do

Today, I began writing my last paper. I'm reaching that point where "pride in my work" becomes a quaint, old-fashioned idea and I just want to be *done*. But since this paper is for Caroline, I hope it turns out at least reasonably well. She seemed okay with my topic, so hopefully it'll be alright.

Yesterday I felt partially transported back to Limoges, or at least my mode of life there. After my job interview waaaaay down Monroe street, I decided not to wait 30 minutes for a bus and instead just walk. I passed Trader Joe's on the way and stopped in to buy a bottle of wine and some bread, then kept walking for much much further than I usually do here. (I gave up and caught a bus at Johnson because I was wearing really impractical shoes and couldn't go any further.) It reminded me of last year, when buses were infrequent and not free, and when instead we would walk miles and miles every day. From the Residence down rue Meissonier, then right onto Mauvendiere, down past Place Winston and Malin Plaisir, then through Place d'Aine and past the SNCF office, past Les Halles, down rue Turgot past all the stores to Jean Jaures and Monoprix. We'd buy some vegetables, a few apples, a cut or two of meat for a few days of dinner, cereal, cheese, bread, maybe some soda if we were feeling flush, and of course some wine. Con and I would decide what we'd be eating alone and what together, and split things accordingly. We'd promise not to buy so much wine and do it anyhow, justifying it by saying we'd earned it for putting up with our spartan poverty-stricken existence of walking everywhere. Then back home, maybe via Francois Chenieux this time, past the Grand Ecran and Cafe Bombay. The whole trip was over 3 miles, with groceries on the way back, but it felt like nothing, we did it so often...sometimes three times a day. Con walked over ten miles a day the days he went to La Souterraine for school, and I spent most of my lunch hours wandering around Feytiat's bizarre French version of suburbia. I miss that, like I miss most things about last year, and I'm looking forward to walking more this summer. 

Maybe I'll do another assistantship while I'm dissertating. That would be really nice.

Also, the Limoges gym? So crazy. Although Sebastian, the incredibly fit and attractive co-owner, made for more reliable eye candy than you get at the UW gym.

In other news, this paper's going to be really long. Boooo.