Some common Chausse-isms…Quirky things I say all the time
“Mot de guerre”: (literally translated from French as “Word of War”; as a figure of speech, when I use it, it means “the thing that fires me up”)
“Chelating”: (a hold over from “Joe’s” Honors Biology in 12th grade. (“Joe” BTW, was our nickname for our lesbian teacher. This was the same class where for our final paper my lab partner Denise P. balked and eventually backed out of our mutually-agreed upon analysis of the organ tissue of a lab rat. What a girl! Just ‘cause we had to kill the rat with chloroform then dissect it and extract it’s organs, then slice them up on a biopsy slicer. (Heavy stuff for high school, I know, but it was “Honors” biology! This was also the class that taught me to hate the Krebs Cycle! Arrrgh!) When I use this word, it means that I am all pumped up and my mind is sharp and alert, like my body chemistry is chelating effectively and oxygen is getting more efficiently to the brain.
“Eh, maudit tabanack de cadisse!”: (from Woonsocket-variant French-Canadian) Though the last word is pronounced very different from either “chalice” or “crisse”, this may be on purpose, kinda like when people say “oh Christmas!” to avoid the more potent (and potentially “blasphemous”- Christ). My mother used to elongate and distort the last word for extra emphasis to “Corrrdisssss!!!” (The “Rs” would be extravagantly rolled in the French manner)
“Paris is worth a Mass”: Used when I feel the effort, investment or what I may “give up” is worthy of the outcome. From the famous (well, “famous” to history geeks, that is) quote of Henry IV of France when posed with the question of remaining Protestant and giving up claim to the throne or converting to Catholicism in order to become the king.
“Oh, Mommy!”: To my knowledge, a wholly unique saying I invented. It’s an exclamation of either frustration or exasperation. It is “performed” in the same manner as Jim Carrey did when he said “Oh, Billy!” to Matthew Broderick’s character in the movie “The Cable Guy” (the scene when he visits Matthew in jail) as he exposes his left nipple and presses it against the glass partition. Sick…I know…but funny! Also, "Oh, Metrobius!" is used the same way, albiet with a very exaggerated lisp...this is from Colleen McCullough's "First Man In Rome". Metrobius was the youthful Greek lover of Roman patrician Lucius Cornelius Sulla.
Objects I still possess that have been with me through the years
The Green Glass Egg: An egg-shaped glass paperweight I bought by catalog from Cash’s of Ireland around 1980 or so. Cost $20. Today’s estimate of value: $60. Probably the longest-owned object I have. Still in pristine condition. In the mid-eighties I wrote a comedy-mystery screenplay centering on the theft of a “priceless” (ala Faberge, I guess) Green Glass Egg. I was gonna shoot the movie myself on a home VHS camcorder borrowed from Blackstone Valley. I even talked Linda and her kids and Mel into acting in it. I never got around to it though. Oh well, if I remember correctly, the script sucked anyway.
My high school diploma, in it’s protective case. Also, pictures of me from my yearbook proofset, and pictures I took in Germany. And one small photo of my date and me at her senior prom.
Photos I took in 1985? of the woods around Cherry Brook in Woonsocket. Aka “Nastralia”. Each snapshot has hand-written notes about it on the back. On the day I took these photos, I also buried a “time capsule” at a location I called Greep’s Crater. The “time capsule” was a plastic index card file box filled with a few of my trinkets. I don’t remember all of them, but one was the costume ruby and diamond cluster “medal-like” broach I wore frequently around this time. It looked “regal” like something you’d see pinned to the breast of a king in an 18th century portrait. (BTW, a few months later, I missed my trinkets so I went back to Greep’s Crater and dug up the box and retrieved them. I then re-buried the now empty box…to my knowledge, that empty box is still there.)
Theme/Amusement parks I’ve been to, the number of times visited (approximate), and the years of the 1st and last visit
Rocky Point, 15, 1968?-1993
Crescent Park, 5, 1976?-1979?
Jolly Charlie’s, 5, 1968?-1971?
Riverside Park, 2, 1978?-1979?
Magic Mountain, California, 1, 1983
Universal Studios, California, 1, 1983
Disneyland (California), 2, 1983
Epcot, 16, 1988-2008
Disney’s Magic Kingdom, 5, 1999-2008
Disney’s Hollywood Studios (formerly Disney/MGM Studios), 12, 2000-2008
Animal Kingdom, 8, 2001-2008
Universal Studios Resort(original park), 20, 1997-2007
Universal Studios Resort Islands of Adventure, 30, 1999-2006
Sea World, Orlando, 12, 1996-2004
Busch Gardens – Africa (Tampa, FL), 8, 1998-2002
Six Flags New Orleans (formerly Jazzland), 5, 2001-2004
Some numbers to ponder (almost all values are approximates)
Places I’ve lived 1964-2003: (39 years, 17 different homes)
Places I’ve lived 2003-2008: (5 years, 13 different homes)
Jobs I’ve had: 39
Jobs I’ve liked: 7
Jobs I’ve hated: 32
Total amount of money I’ve made to date: $462,793
- Total amount of money I’ve spent to date: $458,143
Hours it takes for Bill Gates to earn equal to my lifetime salary: 5
Friends I’ve had: 43
Times I’ve had sex with guys: 47 girls: 1
Times I’ve won money from lottery tickets: 10
Total amount of money won on lottery tickets: $26
Paintings I’ve done: 18
Paintings I’ve either given away or lost: 18
Paintings I’ve ever sold: 0
Times I’ve flown on a plane: 24
Times I’ve skydived from a plane: 0
Times I will ever skydive from a plane: 0