I tagged along for more shopping today — gifts for all the aunts and uncles. We have the exact same stores back home. I should have stayed home with Joshua. The poor little guy was not enjoying himself at all, and is definitely catching a cold. Repeat once more: this is a family visit, not a sightseeing trip. Stephanie’s grandmother is pushing ninety and has had health problems, so this may be her (and her mother’s) last opportunity to spend time with her. My job is to make sure that this visit is smooth and enjoyable. Repeat once more, etc.

The family came over in the evening for dinner. We ate quickly and escaped to the English movie theater to see Cinderella Man. It wasn’t bad, although its treatment of the Great Depression was heavy-handed to the point of annoyance. Life sucked. Everyone was broke. Boxing made for great escapist entertainment. We get it.

Boxing movies basically write themselves: Boxer wins some. Boxer loses some. Boxer is down on his luck. Boxer gets comeback shot against thug. Boxer wins it all. Is there a more obvious, or more visceral, conflict metaphor than a fistfight? Art imitates sport imitates life.

What I Learned Today

  • Vendes-vous des timbres? = “Do you sell stamps?”

  • I had a pretty good Canadian lager, by the name of Belle Gueule. It means, literally, something like “nice jowls”. It’s a colloquialism used to describe a pretty girl.