Paris hates me.

Paris hates me.

Let me take you through the succession of events that brought me to that conclusion:

This morning, I was on top of my shit. I had a plan. I woke up early, got ready, got my stuff together, and headed to the library at the actual time I had intended. I got there an hour early and plopped myself down near the front of the line, feeling content that I would only have to wait at most an additional fifteen minutes past the normal opening time of the library to get in. And then, at about 11:40, a couple of women who work at the library came out with stacks of fliers and started distributing them to people waiting in line. The top of it read (in French) "Strike on May 15 to defend civil service", followed by an almost page-long explanation of why some of the staff would be on strike today. A little later, a man came out and said they still hadn't decided whether there would actually be a strike or not, but the decision would be made in the next fifteen to twenty minutes. Lo and behold, at about ten after twelve, a man inside the library came up to the glass door and held up a piece of paper with the word GREVE written on it, underlined. He did it with the same gravitas and regretful expression on his face as a little journalist gopher would when coming out of a courthouse to announce the verdict of a high-profile murder case to the anxious masses outside. Also, he made that throat-slitting gesture, and someone behind him kept making X's with his arms. It kind of reminded me of the universal disappointment after O.J. was declared a free man.

You have got to be kidding me. On a personal level, it pisses me off because I was counting on this day to finish up some research for my thesis presentation on Monday, and I really do need the WHOLE weekend to work on it. I don't have time this weekend to waste standing in line to get into the library just so I can read books I can't take home. On a less selfish level, would it have killed them to make this decision ahead of time? And maybe put it on their website? And then maybe they should add "whenever we don't feel like working" to their list of days they're closed.

Also, who thinks libraries shouldn't be allowed to strike, especially during finals? Because, really, that's just cruel, not to mention an exacerbation to the problem of poorly-educated, failing students. Seriously, France, step up your game! I'm all for liberal politics and people being rightfully compensated, but if you're going to do shit like this, the least you could do is give students a break for being unprepared in class. How can they be prepared if you close the library on them?

So, after everyone dispersed, I headed to the bus stop and thought I'd go to my café, do a little reading with a crème, then go home to finish up some other work. But the bus never came. And it was raining, in 80% humidity. And I didn't have my umbrella because I thought I would be spending the day INSIDE THE LIBRARY. So I walked to my metro, resigned to eating lunch at home and finally getting through my last academic paper ever (which I have still yet to finish). So I, of course, had to blog about it first, as it's impossible for me to get any work done without a considerable amount of procrastination beforehand.

Voilà, c'est tout. Back to the grindstone. Ugh.


EDIT, 12:20 am : Who SHUTS DOWN THEIR DATABASE AT NIGHT when someone needs it to get biographical information they need to finish their paper?! Fuck you, BPI. Fuck you and the sadistic bastards managing you. You all suck. Next time I go in there, I'm dog-earing all the books I use. Take that, civil servants!