How time flies when you are stressed out

I swear to god, people, I came back to Paris in a good mood but every other person I meet has done his level best to stomp on my smiley face. Which is to say, I have had more than my fair share of run-ins with Paris' finest SOBs. Which means that I have been a bit too stressed out to do anything other than bite my nails and cry.

The most worrisome of this fine line-up of mankind is Ella's new teacher. She changed schools this year and its not been entirely what I had imagined. She is going to a private Catholic school in the 5th and it turns out to be so ridiculously snobby that I actually walked out of the parent's association meeting early, realizing that there wasn't a snowball chance in hell that I would willingly spend my free time hanging out with these people. But thats more due to the snooze factor than anything else. No, the problem is her teacher who is an absolute beyotch- to the point that I am considering taking Ella out of this school. We have already done an inscription for a different private school for next year so atleast I know that I am not stuck with this place, but still. A year is a LONG time to have to deal with this woman.

Then the downstairs neighbors started acting up again. The last time we phoned to ask them to keep the noise down, after midnight, they freaked out and screamed (literally) that 'it was now war!' I am baffled, as I had already declared war back in May. (Seriously, keep up folks) But in their drunken screeching, it appears that they were under the impression that as owners of the apartment (vs the situation of a renter) that they could do anything that they pleased. The concierge later told me that they previously were renters. And they also thought that they coproprieté would support them in a complaint against us (see, the way they figure it, we are harrassing them. Idiots.) when in fact, the coproprieté has asked B to be its president which would mean that he is the boss of the building (which would really help me out in my bid to sue the pants off these asshats for noise disturbances. I could make them replace their tile floors!) Anyways, what a delight to have to worry night and day about being attacked in a dark hall by the people next door, right?

Speaking of people next door, the lady renter in the apartment next to ours is moving out and we immediately phoned the owner to see if he would sell us the flat so that we could have that little bit of extra space that we are lacking and he not only said 'no' but shouted at us for even bothering him with the question. He is like 105 years old, it seemed like a reasonable assumption that he might be tired of dealing with renters. Guess not. Of course, all of our other neighbors have kindly chimed in with helpful speculation regarding the tenuous state of his health and the likelihood that his kids will definitely sell to us. I hate betting on death odds. Seems like it is likely to attract some seriously bad karma. Anyways, noisy neighbors make us a bit skittish about investing any more in this place, but the For Sale listings are not inspiring me (although if we had a million and a half to throw at our next purchase, I might be feeling it...)

Who else has pissed me off lately? Oh right. My playgroup is a bunch of jerks. OK, not entirely. Its just that people seem to prefer meeting up separately, in groups of 2 or 3, rather than just sending out a note to everyone and suggesting something. That just seems not nice. And in my tender state, I have a hard time dealing. I just want a nice group of friendly moms who make me feel like I have an entire gang of sympathetic people to turn to once a week to mop up all the mommy messes that I have made over the course of the past 6 days, rather than having to get on the phone and beg someone to come out and meet me. This doesn't seem like it should be such an issue, but there you go.

And lastly, but most irritatingly, my colorist, who I LOVE, now has a three week waiting list. That means, I need to think about re-doing my roots THREE WEEKS before I notice a prob in the mirror. I might as well switch colorists now because that ain't ever gonna happen. I am always calling up and begging for a same day appointment. I'm never going to get my shit together to sort out an appointment. That sucks but I have to just face reality and move on, I think.

So there you go. Paris, why you bein' so mean to me? Treat me right or I am going to pack my bags and go. Swear. To. God.