Is this going to work?
I am afraid I can’t spare you, I have once again experimented with my new camera and self portraits. I have learned this morning that the way to take pictures of myself is to use the night scene setting, rather than the portrait option. The portrait option invariably uses a flash, which results in all sorts of exciting light effects which obliterate my image – interestingly enough in its way, but not quite my intention.
The other thing I noticed is that my face always looks somehow rounder, less long, than in real life, no doubt a result of having to hold the camera at an angle – if I hold it straight I get a photo of the camera superimposed on my face, which is again interesting as a one off but not really my intended effect. Somehow I don’t think I will ever really be sold on these portrait shots in a mirror ….
With glasses ...
... and without
My cold still has a toehold on me, but I am off medication and hope to be able to go swimming again soon – got to use up those 8 hours still on my multi ticket! About half of my fellow curistes and a third of the staff of Les Galapagos have also managed to catch a cold, whether from me or elsewhere is uncertain. Everyone blames the weird weather – one day it is almost freezing and I have to buy a turtleneck, the next we are over 30C and I am watching Cleopatra in my underwear. Dash dash dash, is all one can say about this.
I love the way my glasses glitter in concert with my earrings - very fetching, eh?
Amazingly, the Spiegel has arrived today at Remys. I am reading German, English, and French publications all at once. You might think this is confusing, but it is really necessary. I noticed that if I focus on only one language I get the other two wrong – for example, I have to be careful not to spell English words the French way, like ‘courate’ instead of ‘curate’. I just can’t afford to screw up my English just to learn French – the idea is to add another language to my brain, not to replace one. But I do feel that all my slapdash half-hearted intermittent – I mean incredibly hard work! is finally paying of. The natives understand me much better, and I understand them as well, even the occasional joke. Still a long way to go, mind – Radio France Inter is still pretty incomprehensible to me, they talk too fast and never repeat themselves. Why can’t they talk with subtitles, like they do in the movies?