Boring day, so how about some Maupassant?

Today, I didn't have much going on, so I went to l'ENS, sat in La Cour aux Ernests (which is so beautiful now, by the way - everything is in bloom!) and read some Maupassant. This book I'm reading, Une Vie, is his first novel and reminds me a lot of Mme Bovary. It's a very depressing idea for a book, as far as I'm concerned - a naive and optimistic girl who ends up with the most depressing life ever. Just because Emma Bovary liked to read, she ended up becoming one of literature's most despicable characters, trying to have affairs with multiple men just because she was bored with her husband. And just because (it seems to me) Jeanne in Une Vie thinks that marriage is supposed to lead to an ideal, perfect life, she ends up with a husband who cheats on her and I'm sure the rest is going to be worse. But, at least the writing is fantastic. I just don't understand why authors have to make the good guy finish last. Even when the good guy comes out on top, like in The Count of Monte Cristo, he has to lose everything, including his innocence to get there. Well, I suppose I understand why authors do it, but it's still incredibly depressing.

Other than that, Mme De La Taille told me I could make the frozen hot chocolate tonight. Unfortunately, my improvised translation for "blender" (mixeur) apparently didn't exactly mean a blender. Mme De La Taille has a blender, but one that's for cake batters and stuff - not for smoothies. Now, we need to find someone who has one so we can borrow it. At least I know I'll be able to make the chocolate drop cake. That is, if she ever decides that baking soda isn't poisonous and we find chocolate syrup, which apparently no one has in France. I wonder if Nesquik powder would work...Oh, and they read the CUPA newspaper and loved it, but Mme De La Taille said that my OuLiPo article was beyond her and that she didn't understand it at all. M. De La Taille said he was really impressed with the French, but found one word that French people don't really use the way I did. Oh well, hopefully the next issue will be without errors.