banane - Latest Comments in General

Re: My Best Failure: Paris 1996

Baronne Nadine de Rothschild — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:34:11 -0000

You always have a choice. A choice to make. A choice to react... or not. A choice to "see" beauty or the worse things in life. Some psy will say there is a "victim" acting that make the same people always be in trouble.... Everywhere they will be in trouble. Maybe it's not Paris, maybe it's you. Maybe it's the way you act and the way YOU see things. The most important things to do when you travel abroad, is to learn patience. Learn the culture. Learn people. Do you think it's easy to go/live in Japan? No. There is a "strong" culture there... You need to "change" yourself to adapt. If you don't want to change your personality, which is totally understandable, you need to stay in your "family", your area, your country. Then everything is easy.
Anything else is complicated, we call that LIFE.

Spanish are lazy, Americans are speaking too loud and they know everything on everything, Africans are slow and they like music a lot, Japanese are "cold", French are distant, how many "clichés" do you want more? Why France is the first destination for English people for retreat and for buying houses in the South of France? (and they "mix" perfectly with French people...)

That's a lot of questions (and maybe the answers are into the questions..) we need to think about it before giving definitely an opinion on a such big subject.

Re: My Best Failure: Paris 1996

rocco — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 02:18:31 -0000

interesting on the LA stuff. I agree. People are fine here... you just gotta get past that "LA front."

i was sort of amazed reading your post about your experience in Paris. i look forward to the other parts... the good stuff as well !

Re: My Best Failure: Paris 1996

Miriam — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 18:10:01 -0000

This is fascinating to read. I just went through a very similar experience in Scotland. Well, similar in that I (mostly) knew the language before I got there ;) but the culture and the people have such different values and a different way, not only of looking at life, but specifically at job applicants. And being American, so much is assumed about you before you even open your mouth.

The job market in LA is that if you stay in one place for over 6 months, you're viewed as really dedicated to a company, but when I showed my CV to one lady in Edinburgh, she commented that I must not have liked that job so well, since I was only there for a year. I was dumbfounded. LOL

I had to do the same thing, too-- look at my expenses and realize that what I would make would not cover what I would have to pay and that I was burning though my savings. That phone call to the airline nearly broke my heart, because I had wanted to go out there for 10 years, and was finally there ... and I failed.

This was all two years ago for me, and to be honest, it's still a little raw. I guess it's just sort of comforting to know that I'm not the only one who went through this. :)

Anyway, thank you for sharing your story.

Re: My Best Failure: Paris 1996

banane — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 16:24:34 -0000

on another note- Hey I love this threaded Disqus comment, it's really working! First time I've had a real thread comment.

In Paris one of my work advisors said- you're going to be miserable in any major city- and I thought long and hard about that, and realized it isnt' true because I'm quite happy in SF, but you're right that its' a lot about a European major city.

Working on 2 posts (in my head): things I like about France

Re: My Best Failure: Paris 1996

faboomama — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 14:29:43 -0000

I get what you're saying. It's similar with LA. Some people have a hard time adjusting to it because they forget that everyone's a transplant and insecure. That combo + traffic makes for some flaky people. So we hear, "People in LA aren't friendly." and it's not necessarily true. And as time goes on, if I hear people bemoaning LA, I suggest they either move out of the city or out of the state. But it does seem a lot of your problems were uniquely French, or rather European.

Re: My Best Failure: Paris 1996

banane — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 06:59:17 -0000

I think it's tough to see your hometown as a hard place to live. Because of that Paris incident I'm a lot more sympathetic to people who think SF is expensive, hard to live in, etc. It's like, yeah, if the city is getting you down it's probably not for you. But I woudln't have been as open-minded if I hadn't have tried to live in another metropolitan area, you know? I'm not sure how much of it has to do with Paris, per se.

Re: My Best Failure: Paris 1996

banane — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 06:58:05 -0000

So true, Peter. It's like my second hard money lesson of my life, at that time, and well learned!

Re: My Best Failure: Paris 1996

thinkspace — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 05:28:50 -0000

That's too bad you had such a tough experience there. I remember when I live abroad for a year and the money actually ran out. That was a pretty scary feeling. I also remember thinking, I better get my act together and study hard in college so I can get a decent paying job.

Re: My Best Failure: Paris 1996

faboomama — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 01:58:07 -0000

I'm sorry it didn't work out for you there. This sounds a lot like what my sister is going through now. She's lived there since the end of '02 and can't wait to come back to the States. As a black American, it's extremely hard on her, though her (white) Parisian husband denies that anything is wrong.

Re: Camping Improvements Since the 70s

Nancy — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 01:30:44 -0000

get the headlamp that comes with a red or yellow filter option. those don't ruin your night vision, and are much more palatable to co-campers.

Re: Sewing Machines

banane — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:17:59 -0000

OK I would get thrown out of runway because:
- judges don't appreciate period clothing!
- took me a day to make a smock
- uneven hems
- visible hems
- worked with polyester
- shoulder fit is all wrong

But I did do:
- 1 hr in fabric shop (it was closing)
- time limit ( 2 days or so once machine fixed)
- late night sewing
- I was catty about other costumes @ the fair! (true project runway spirit)

Re: Sewing Machines

Mom — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:01:01 -0000

Very funny! I don't think you can claim the sewing machine expense on one outfit...this is an investment on future outfits. Still in all, quite an expensive project. Just remember, Project Runway also has $ limits.

hee hee

Mom

Re: Biking in the City

Rocco — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:51:09 -0000

Try biking in Los Angeles !!

I love it, though.

Re: About Banane

banane — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:18:27 -0000

thanks Emily!

Re: About Banane

emilyshotwell — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:58:57 -0000

This site is great Anna!

Re: Top 6 Schwag in my Apt

thinkspace — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:30:38 -0000

How funny, I go out and google "cool marketing schwag" and where do I end up, at Banane of course. I should have known to just call you first...

Re: Name the new Mystery Series, Please

Greg — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:16:16 -0000

How about "Death Awaits You"?
Before depressing nozzle I used that war cry on my roomate ants who refused to contribute rent even after repeated requests. "Black Flag" - don't see on keyboard but may have to use an encircled r to avoid hassle - is also ominous.
Good luck. Look forward to series.

Re: Name the new Mystery Series, Please

lisa — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:46:42 -0000

ooh, this is a hard one. titling anything is always terribly difficult. i'd say keep with iMurder, and then have different "flavors," like iMurder: Noooose (play off of zoooomer, or however many o's there are in there).

but it's hard to come up with a title if you don't know how people are dying. and i find mystery titles so cliche these days.

and i have a crush on Vincent d'Onofrio too, but i seriously had problems in the beginning of the series, because he was so creepy that it reminded me of is character in Full Metal Jacket.

i can't wait for the new series! and jealous that someone is getting some real writing done this summer. i can barely get a blog post that i don't hate out the door, never mind any stories or poetry.

Re: El Un-Dead, Elbogarting, and El St. John

banane — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 06:12:19 -0000

Do you have experience of him doing it? I know he's well read on the laws and goes after fax-spammers, but is there something else taht bugs you?

Re: El Un-Dead, Elbogarting, and El St. John

unverified — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:44:38 -0000

Steve Kirsch practices abundant defamation, shows nothing establishing any wrongdoing, and is thus lauded by lame blogger ..

Re: Girl Weekend Recap

greg — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:23:54 -0000

I LOVE uwajimaya, it is one of the things i miss most about seattle.

Re: Biking in the City

Inkyhack — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:07:18 -0000

I love bicycling in San Francisco. Whenever I get a chance, I drag my bike onto Bart, get off downtown and will spend the entire day peddling around. Great fun and the best way to actually explore the city, imho.

Re: Beautiful People Tea

banane — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 05:56:04 -0000

Hey Bradley- you *do* know the 5 ways of judging tea I'm sure!

Re: Beautiful People Tea

Bradley Allen — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:46:26 -0000

Hello there!

Re: Things I Love About SF

anna — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:57:25 -0000

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