Wed 28 Sep 2005
Free, Free…
After several years of taking college courses at night, I’ve finished my degree requirements. I’ve been getting tuition reimbursement from my employer to help. Now that I’m done with school. my boss declared this a day of celebration and asked people to bring in cakes, cookies and other snacks. No problems with that reason for a party.
I’m celebrating too. For a few years, it was just work, school, necessary life things, and then shoehorn in the things I wanted to do — the writing and cartooning of “What a Good Cat!”, for one.
For another, I wanted to brush up on my French language skills which had gone rusty since graduation from college the first time around. For my birthday in 2002, Pat got me a subscription to Champs-Elysees and we got broadband at home about the same time, so I could improve language skills by listening to RFI and France Info.
Besides those newscasts, there is the streaming on-demand journal télévisé from French networks. I’ve watched TF1 and France 3 as well as i-tele and TV5, but most often it’s France 2 for its weekend anchor Béatrice Schönberg. Using Microsoft Media Player allows me to rewind and replay and slow down the streaming until I understand or give up trying.
(En tout cas, si vous, chér lecteur et visiteur, si vous êtes français/francophone et vous vous demandez pourquoi ce bloggeur anglo-saxon écrit de la belle Béatrice Borloo… eh bien, parce que j’aime la France. Je peux lire, je peux comprendre ce qu’on dit pour la plupart. Mais écrire et parler? Pas bien, pas encore… je fais de mon mieux… en tout cas.)
Indeed, elle est belle, and I appreciated that she spoke clearly when my listening skills were redeveloping. She’s a professional broadcaster, too, but human, evidenced last weekend when (my guess is) the teleprompter quit as she was wrapping up the newscast. She knew to mention that the weather was next. “And then…” she said, and when she slowed down while saying “et puis…” her cheeks puffed out for an instant as if to say “and I don’t know what comes next.” But it was only a split second stumble; she came back to say “…probably an afternoon full of surprises.” And finishing with her usual “As for me, I will have the pleasure of returning tonight at 8 p.m….” and on to the end.
David said,
Thu 29 Sep 2005 at 21:14
Congratulations on finishing school. No more of those long hours of study, study, study, wondering how that will transform into a good grade (preferably an A). Certainly time for a good celebration!