I apologize to my vast readership that I haven't posted anything in a couple weeks. I blame the weak internet connection in my room. Yep, that's it. I guess my method, like many things in life, is to delay until it's the 11th hour, and then make up for my laziness by impressing. Well, at least I'll try.
I accidentally burnt off a little eyebrow one morning using this. Always make sure your lighter is not set to two-foot-tall mode.
I'm really phased by the fact that I just paid my third month's rent, and I leave some time after the 6th. Far too soon. My quest for S.... A.... 'meaning' is far from 1/3 complete (honhonhon ... jeer). Far too much to do and see and say and while there's probably enough time to do most things I wanna do, I like taking my time. Moreover, staying-here-indefinitely is not a feasible goal in six months. Damnit.
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Last week, I spent a few hours wandering around Père Lachaise cemetery, one of the several famous cemeteries in Paris, full of famous and rich corpses. Yes, Jim Morrison is there. If you intend to look for famous writers/artists/philosophers/politicians/musicians/etc etc etc, well, you can. But in that case, you should probably buy the map from the guy at the entrance. Cause otherwise, you will wander relatively aimlessly indefinitely (obviously what I did). Not that that was a bad choice at all. The posted maps in the cemetary are vague and confusing. Everything I saw, I found by accident (a true flâneur?) while looking for something else.
The first confusion stemmed from the fact that the French have a set of pretty popular names, leading to endless numbers of people with famous namesakes (indeed, my host family, the Legrand family, constantly makes reference to their famous ancestor from Macedonia (Alexandre Legrand). Har har. Like a fool, I took pictures of 'famous graves' before realizing that they were just ordinary joe's with enough pull to get themselves buried in Père Lachaise. After that, I decided to accept that I was aimlessly wandering, and it was readily apparent, that taking a photo of Jim Morrison's grave (diminutive, if you ask me) was NOT the goal. 
The opulent wealth of nearly everyone buried here is fairly obvious (especially when contrasted with the nameless piles of bones in the Catacombes, for example). There are a lot of families named "Bourgeois" (yes, it is a popular name), but even without such a glaringly expensive name, the wealth buried in the cemetery is evident. I don't mean to connote anything negative (right now) because walking through endless rows of beautifully decorated graves was extremely peaceful and beautiful.
I thought it was somewhat awkward because these celeb-teries are just as much tourist attractions as they are places of mourning and memory. I wasn't sure whether or not I should feel guilty taking pictures of people in the cemetery, or even the gravestones. While the graves date back several hundred years, there are also people buried in Père Lachaise today. It is not just a historical monument; on the other hand, it is not just an anonymous cemetary.
But what is for sure is that the corpses in Père Lachaise lie in style, even if they went out without it. The countless mini-mausoleums containing entire families of bourgeois Frenchmen are beautiful and elegant. Yet, most of them are rusting or in some relative state of disrepair. It makes it feel more authentically old.
Of the famous graves, Oscar Wilde's was probably the most interesting and obviously the most flamboyant. I think that the picture speaks for itself (and the reputation preceding it, as well).
Next time, though, I'll probably go with a map; I couldn't find Maurice Merleau-Ponty or André Breton and I'd like to pay my respects (or at least say whatup).
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