Bride insufficiently 'zilla

-After nearly everything I'd requested at the BNF was, for a change (and I mean this sincerely!), not useful, and after I saw a man at the library expel from his nose the largest gob of snot I had ever seen, and in the rare-and-damaged-books section at that, I spent part of the afternoon trying to find a wedding band of the same material as my engagement ring, a long story having to do with metal laws in various parts of the world. A futile quest, and a reminder that even though I'm a bad feminist for wearing the one ring, I'm a bad conventional heterosexual woman for nearly passing out at the various jewelry counters of Paris's equivalent of 34th Street/Macy's area trying in vain to find the latter. Women find jewelry stores interesting? Even the cold-but-not-iced-because-it's-France mocha I had to recuperate did not quite yank me out of the stupor.

-Major life decisions time: I caved and bought ice trays at Monoprix. Given the communal-freezer set-up and all the passive-agressive notes about kitchen theft that adorn said fridges, this means I bought some enterprising hall-mate ice trays. Hopefully I'll get at least one glass of iced coffee before that time comes. Given what a rare commodity iced coffee is in Paris, the price of the ice trays about equals that of the iced coffee at Pain Quotidien, the only place that semi-successfully produces the stuff here.

-Noticed while browsing: the Au Printemps underwear section is this odd Venn diagram of underwear-like articles including not only the usuals (socks, pajamas) but also a section designed for professors looking to aggravate CCOAs. The underwear just keeps getting lacier and lacier, frillier and frillier, until, hey!, there's a table covered in replicas of male genitalia. Sometimes France out-Frances itself, just for the heck of it.

-My new favorite thing - my "cocktail chatter" if I were a participant of whichever Slate Gabfest has that concept - is the Guardian's "Sounds Jewish" podcast. British Jews are something of a mystery to me, and yet I can totally understand most everything they say and write! So far, my sense is it's a whole lot like American Jews who've been the Other amongst WASPs. Further investigation is necessary.