*Le pire ennemi, c'est moi même. Je ne le tue pas, car je l'aime.

AlterEgo: Do you know what I always do when I have too many things going on my mind?
Ego: What?
AlterEgo: I visualise a tiny housekeeper walking in my ear and cleaning out my whole brain.
Ego: I'd cut that back to once a week.

***

It took me a year to be able to communicate in French. It took me 3 years to be able to master normal French and end up liking law subjects instead of hating them. But it took me only a few months to lose it all. Almost all.

When I realised that my French was getting worse, I've decided to incorporate the language into my everyday life as much as I can. No, I did not go to Delifrance and order a Croque Monsieur in French. The guy behind the counter would scratch his head before hitting me with yesterday's stale baguette if I did that.

I look for French TV clips on youtube to keep my familiarity with spoken French. Sketches of stand up comedians are always on top of my list. Reading French book helps me to refamiliarise myself with written French although only a few days ago I finally manage to get my hands on good French novels instead of the boring political book by Jospin (it has been 8 months and I still have not finished the 150 or so pages).

But those things only took care of the comprehension part. To find opportunities to express in French, by means of writing or speaking, is less evident. The nearest that I can get to expressing in spoken French is that brief period whenever I am alone in my car during which I could do a karaoke session all by myself (to hell with those people who stare at me whenever I reach a red light). But it's not that effective as the words that I sing have already been memorised and therefore not spontaneous. And I am yet to find a way to make myself write in French.

Come to think about it, I find it quite funny that I used to not be able to converse in English. Sure, I could read and write, but I can never talk fluently. Only after I've learned French, and when I came back for my first summer vacation, I realised that I can speak in English. I believe it's all thanks to the confidence to speak another language that I obtained when I was learning French that enabled me to speak confidently in English. Which is why whenever anyone ask me of how good can I speak French, I always say, as good as I can speak English.

Alors maintenant, si vous voulez bien, je m'excuse pour aller déjeuner avec mon père. A bientôt.

* My worst enemy is my own self. I do not kill him, because I love him.