My Watch

The watch I am wearing today is special to me. I purchased it in Toulouse, France in 1989. It has a phrase on it that expresses my core belief about people.

Tous les êtres humains naissent libres et égaux en dignité et en droits.

Translation: All people are born free and equal in dignity and in rights. This is from Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ratified by the United Nations on December 10, 1948.

To me, this means that the manner in which you are born (e.g, male, female, white, black, Jew, gay, Peruvian, Bushman, etc.) should have no bearing on the dignity and rights you have.

Does this mean that I think everyone should be treated equally? No. But the important part is that how we are born is not the determining factor in how society regards us. It should be how we choose to act. Dr. King put it best when he said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." In other words, what we choose to do with ourselves should seperate us -- the content of our character.

There are good people and bad people of every color, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, etc. Goodness or badness has nothing to do with how one is born. Is this the way the world works? Yeah, right. Not even close. But it is an ideal for which we can all strive, can't we?

Who needs Mexico?

Since my wonderful Pepper is having surgery on his right back knee (torn ACL - poor baby!), we are not going to Mexico this winter (just like last winter, when Pepper had surgery on his left back knee).

We still wanted a getaway of some sort, so we headed Up North. No, it did not compensate me for missing out on waiter service under a palapa on the beach, wearing SPF 45 while the waves of the Caribbean tickled my toes. We stayed in a cabin at a resort in Grand Rapids, MN (average temperature: 10° F). The cabin was on Lake Prairie, so Dave managed to get some ice fishing in. Pepper enjoyed romping around, only slipping on the ice a few times (if he didn't have a torn ACL already, he'd have one now!).

Some highlights:

So, since Pepper does not have any more anterior cruciate ligaments to tear, we just might make it back to Mexico in February, 2008.

All About Me

TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey
Nom de Web:	Collette
Birthplace:	St. Paul, Minnesota
Current Location:	Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota
Eye Color:	Blue
Hair Color:	Auburn (for now)
Height:	5' 4"
Right Handed or Left Handed:	Right
Your Heritage:	Italian, German, Swedish, Norwegian, English, Scottish, Irish
The Shoes You Wore Today:	Black flat pirate boots
Your Weakness:	FOOD
Your Fears:	Spelunking
Your Perfect Pizza:	Almost anything
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year:	Not get fired
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger:	BTW
Thoughts First Waking Up:	Man, what a strange dream
Your Bedtime:	9-ish
Pepsi or Coke:	Diet Dr. Pepper or Diet Mountain Dew
MacDonalds or Burger King:	BK
Single or Group Dates:	Either
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea:	Lipton
Chocolate or Vanilla:	Depends...
Cappuccino or Coffee:	Coffee
Do you Smoke:	No
Do you Swear:	If necessary
Do you Sing:	In the car, shower, when no one else is around
Do you Shower Daily:	Yes
Have you Been in Love:	Yes
Do you want to go to College:	I did
Do you want to get Married:	I did
Do you belive in yourself:	Yes
Do you get Motion Sickness:	Rarely - when I am in the back seat of a car
Are you a Health Freak:	Yeah, right
Do you get along with your Parents:	Yes
Do you like Thunderstorms:	Yes
Do you play an Instrument:	Define "play" (I have a piano and used to play violin and viola)
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol:	Yes
In the past month have you Smoked:	No
In the past month have you been on Drugs:	Illegal? No.
In the past month have you gone on a Date:	Yes
In the past month have you gone to a Mall:	Yes
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos:	I wish (Double Stuff)
In the past month have you eaten Sushi:	I think it's been more than a month
In the past month have you been on Stage:	In my fantasies
In the past month have you been Dumped:	No
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping:	No
In the past month have you Stolen Anything:	No
Ever been Drunk:	Yes
Ever been called a Tease:	No
Ever been Beaten up:	No
How do you want to Die:	Peacefully at an advanced age
What do you want to be when you Grow Up:	I still don't know
What country would you most like to Visit:	Kenya
In a Boy/Girl..
Favourite Eye Color:	Blue
Favourite Hair Color:	Blond
Short or Long Hair:	Whatever
Height:	Taller than me
Weight:	Appropriate
Number of CDs I own:	No idea (hundreds)
Number of Piercings:	Five
Number of Tattoos:	None
CREATE YOUR OWN! - or - GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS!

They're baaaaaack!

The parental units have returned from Israel. Of course, everything went well and they were perfectly safe. They highly recommended Israel to me (it's on the list, but it's a very long list).

Upon request...

... here is the most bloody national anthem (that I know of anyway...). The French national anthem (a.k.a. La Marseillaise) was written during the French Revolution, when heads were rolling all over the place. It was a bloody mess, complete with real hatred for the royals that made the American Colonies' relationship with King George III seem downright friendly by comparison.

Here are the words en français:
Allons enfants de la Patrie, le jour de gloire est arrivé.
Contre nous, de la tyrannie, l'étandard sanglant est levé, l'étandard sanglant est levé.
Entendez-vous, dans la compagnes, mugir ces farouches soldats?
Ils viennent jusque dans nos bras. Egorger vos fils, vos compagnes.
Aux armes citoyens! Formez vos bataillons!
Marchons, marchons! Qu'un sang impur abreuve nos sillons.

Here are the word in English:
Let us go, children of the fatherland, our day of glory has arrived.
Against us stands tyranny, the bloody flag is raised, the bloody flag is raised.
Do you hear in the countryside, the roar of these savage soldiers?
They come right into our arms to cut the throats of your sons, your country.
To arms, citizens! Form up your battalions!
Let us march, let us march! That their impure blood should water our fields.

Good stuff, n'est-ce pas?

Of course, this is the same country that gave us all the guillotine... which reminds me of a small controversy I learned of when I studied in Toulouse. Did the guillotine kill in the first blow, or did it take multiple whacks? One school of thought said that the blades were too dull to completely chop off one's head with only one try... others believed either that the blades were indeed sharp enough or that the weight alone of the blade was enough to do the trick. Lovely.

Dave and I were fortunate enough to visit Paris and the very spot where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette lost their heads (Place de la Révolution, or as it's known today, Place de la Concorde).