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Erreur Distante
June 12, 2004 - 4:45 p.m.

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I had a rather odd experience last night. There's a play running in one of the smaller theatres at the concert hall. It features a number of local actors with whom I've worked. That's already a bit strange, ushering a show full of people you used to work with.

I was also the room attendant for the cast party. That was weirder still, though in a way it was no different than a cast party to which I'd gone as guest or actor...I stood in the corner, not talking to anyone and nobody talking to me. The only difference is that I couldn't eat the food but was being paid.


I've moved into a new book...new to me, at least. Paris to the Moon is a delightful collection of American-in-Paris essays by Adam Gopnik. His description of his fax machine's erreur distante about killed me.

But the favourite, all-purpose affiche of my fax machine is erreur distante - distant error - which it affiches all the time, no matter where the error actually originates, far away or right in its own backyard. Whether the error comes from a fax machine in Lille or Los Angeles, it says that it is a distant error. When the machine itself runs out of paper, it is still a distant error. When I have forgotten to clean the ribbon heads, an error has nonetheless taken place, at a distance. Jams and overflows, missed connections, and faulty plugs: all are erreurs distantes. When it really is a distant error, it is still just another distant error. This is the French fax machine's way of getting through life. The error is distant; the problem lies someplace else; there is always somebody else to blame for your malfunctions.

This made me laugh so hard I almost choked.

P.S. - I added a new photo to the bottom of the page...it's the chapel at Trinity College. I'll be there for the Daily Office, and possibly Sunday Eucharist, though Amy and I might go to St. James Cathedral instead.

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