The Daily Adventures of Mercat

So I've been using Twitter a lot more lately, and along those lines:

>Spats is asleep at my feet. Awwww.

>The French use the term "Russian mountains" for "rollercoasters". Pretty cool.

>"Symmetrical" looks really weird atm.

>I need to get ready for my special holiday post. OMG PARADE TOMORROWZ

I finally found a really good background noise: TV in another language, because it's easier for me to tune out, even with four years of Spanish (in which I'd like to think I'm fairly proficient... not great, but surprisingly better than a lot of people with four years of Spanish).


Currently I am watching the debate in Spanish. It's probably good practice too.



BY THE WAY, HOW ADORABLE WAS PUSHING DAISIES THIS WEEK? I think it was the best episode EVER. So much cute and so much funny and so much awesome all packed into one episode... AUGH, it was amazing. It was just the emotional heimlich I needed today ;)

Huh. So I've been thinking about mental diseases again, and I decided to look up schizophrenia because I remembered my great uncle (I think? My first cousin once removed [my dad's cousin]?) has it, and hasn't been seen in like ten years or something. (I think he was last spotted in New York living as a bum. I don't know that side of my family so well, for some reason.) Anyway, because I've always overthought things and overanalyzed everything (and I think I've discussed this recently), I've wondered what kind of mental issue I would have, if I did have one. I always see psychosis things and every once in a while they'll strike a chord, but I figure I'm fine because, you know, I'm not getting panic attacks (MINUS THAT ZOMBIE ONE, it was a one-time thing). BUT, I've wondered if I could find something specific enough that I actually could be crazy. Now, I don't want to be crazy. I mean, I call myself crazy, but we all know I like odd things and enjoy hyperbole (rather a lot I've noticed lately; if I die and people analyze all my writing please make sure they know that my personal style was rather dependent on sarcasm and hyperbole.). I don't want to be taking mind-altering meds or locked up or seen as legitimately crazy. So anyway, I'm paging through wikipedia and I realize that social anxiety disorder strikes a lot of chords. See, the thing is; being crazy would be too convenient, and as I see it I seem to be functioning pretty well, so I don't think I'm actually crazy. (And if you're rationally looking at your issues you're less likely to be crazy, right?) So I don't know if this is just a case of, uh, what's that med-student (especially psychologists?) phenomenon where you think you have what you're studying? But yeah, I don't know if it's that or if I hit the nail on the head with social anxiety disorder. The problem is that it could also be a case of over-analysis (like the way-too-many diagnoses of ADD recently) of extreme introversion, and may be annoying but natural; I mean, each of the symptoms seem pretty common. Presentation, self-consciousness, talking to strangers, dating (!), blushing, mind going blank, increased heart rate, avoidance behaviors, and shaking... pretty common (uh, other than dating, but discussion/research has just led me to believe I'm just more on the asexual end of the spectrum and I just shrug it off... wish there were a less harsh term for it though, as it's not quite spot-on), but pretty applicable to me. (And I didn't include ones that I didn't find applicable.) But nonetheless, that's a pretty impressive list, to me. Mind going blank is a BIG thing for me. I can think of a hundred scenarios to try to head it off at the pass by having answers ready, and I still forget them. And a lot of times when I'm giving presentations or talking nervously my mind will go blank over the stupidest questions because I'm thinking too hard about the question or answering it wrong or whatever.

I dunno, what do you guys think? I'd really love to avoid psychology/psychiatry (FUCK, which is it), and I think some outside opinions might be useful here because we know if there's one thing I can do it's overthink it and work myself up about it.

But moving on.

(Almost) useless fact for the day: the plural of "penis" is not "penii" and if I see/hear that one more time I'm going to kill someone. THAT APPLIES TO "US" ENDINGS (AND OF LATIN WORDS!). If you think you're so clever, it's "penes."

Hilarious, however, is the fact that I can't pronounce this without making it sound like "peonies." Take that as you will.

I miss studying Spanish, or, heck any language at all. I need a place to keep my Spansh semi-fluent because otherwise I'm going to lose all skills. I'm already forgetting tenses other than present! (Not that I was ever good at those fucking past tenses anyway. And subjunctive! Oh, how I loathe subjunctive.)

Um, woah, George Orwell got shot in the throat by a sniper. That sounds... deathly. (And if you're wondering how I got to that link, it's in light of beatonna's latest comic, and wondering if I could pull off an Orwell comic. With that, maybe.) Additionally (I'm trying to expand from using "also" all the time), "Orwell" is a pretty freaking cool name for a pseudonym.

Back to my language, uh... what's the phrase. You know, the quirks of a language. Idiosyncracies? No. Dammit. Not idioms, either, though I think that was the word I was trying to come up with a few days ago. Anyway, other than a sudden realization in the past few days that if I pointed out that I enjoy hyperbole (and, uh, it's emotionally instinctual, I don't sit there and go, how can I make this ridiculous...), I would scare fewer people, but, um, I completely forget my original point. OH. Being in Hawaii has made me notice a few things. Pidgin kind of bothers me, so I'm pretty sure that even if I lived here full-time I wouldn't pick it up. I really can't bring myself to say "brah." BUT. I have picked up "howzit" (and "howzithowzit", additionally) from my roommate, because I was already prone to asking people "how's it going?"), and I already used "it's all good" though that phrase gets used out here a lot more too. I'll probably end up using "shaka" a lot, too. Not really aloha (mahalo is more likely than aloha, but not very likely either), that seems to be more of a touristy-slash-celebrationy thing. And it really drives me insane when people use it in a touristy way because they go "ALOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHA!" and the crowd is supposed to go "ALOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHA!" and I want to stab people for being ridiculous.

Some days I swear my trains of thought (train-of-thoughts? I doubt it) are more like fractals. I-have-this-idea-and-now-it's-gone-twelve-different-ways! Oye. (Can you use "oye" just as "oh" or "hey" and not like hey-I'm-trying-to-get-your-attention? Spanish input appreciated!)

Reverse dictionary. From a literary perspective, this looks like a ton of fun.

Mm, and more on the topic of languages. I really do miss Spanish, and since I want to go back to Barcelona (guh, at LEAST!) one day, I feel bad forgetting it. I also just feel more knowlegable when I remember miniscule inanities about the English language or enjoy language relationships, so, language always has been and will continue to be important to me. ANYWAY. I've been told when you go to college you (in this case me) should take Italian because it's pretty close to Spanish and then you'll know another language. But, I really have no interest in Italian other than it's another language and languages are cool. Plus I don't know if they teach it at UD. I was hoping to learn Hawaiian here, but that fell through, so I'm hoping maybe I can do it at UH if I come here for grad school. ANYWAY. I've been considering with the five-year deal, picking up a language again (even though I know it will be a lot of work). And, so, this is what I'm wondering. More Spanish, to master it, or Mandarin, or Arabic? Spanish seems most practical, but I don't know if I want to go to that level for now. Mandarin, pretty much purely a "heh they spoke Mandarin in ToD" but it would be cool to travel to Asia (though so many cool places to go scare the shit out of me because I don't speak the language) but Arabic seems to be perhaps the most useful at some point. Except that I can't imagine myself traveling to Araby the Middle East much until things die down (maybe a little?). (I do want to learn Polish but I don't think they offer that at UD either.)

Star Wars: this is kind of true. It's also what I will be saying about Indy IV if there are aliens involved. (Swear-to-fucking-god.)

And on that note (this is a lecture or a commentary [commentary rather], so don't leave me any obsessive comments about this), I am at an in-between level. I hate the cartoon on the premise that I hate the prequels. Love the originals, yes, even the ewoks because I like cute animals. Christmas Special I am not touching, ever. BUT. I do not like to argue the details of the originals, that annoys me. Kind of like all the people showing up at COW arguing over Indy stuff. Some guy posted pics of an original fedora and there were too many "I'm calling bullshit"s and not enough "THE HOLY GRAIL OF HATS"'s (don't ask me about that punctuation). Point is, I'm starting to hate fandom because all the discussion has turned into whining and bitching, and I don't want to hear it. If you're going to be an obsessive and/or whiny bitch please do it where it's appreciated (generally on your own time).

That being said, I try to make my obsession fun for you guys, but I'm not forcing you to read it. I try to mock myself enough to keep a level head. I think I do well enough.

(PS--REMINDER--THIS POST IS NOT HERE TO TALK ABOUT STAR WARS, I'M NOT IN THE MOOD.)

Hey, this sounds like a great idea! Let's move a highly contagious lviestock disease to a place where we're more likely to spread it. I am not sure these people have heard of Murphy's Law. It's kind of like "if you build it, he will come" in this case. If they build it, it is only a matter of time until we realize NOTHING IS 100%. (Except possibly death, but even then there is conservation of matter. Oh god let's not get into this either. This is topic #2 barred for comments.)

Hey uh, so, who thinks the Olympics aren't going to happen? This puppy right here does. That is to say, I do "not think the Olympics are going to happen." Which, really, it's just a shame China's not getting its act together.

Reminiscent of one of my many trains of thought on social phobias and my place within that sector. (I just spelled that "secter" corrected myself mentall to "sectre" which is totally my word now and then realized I meant "sector".) I do feel lonelier but I can't decide if that's engineering crushing my soul or not doing enough socializing or what, but on the other hand, I generally uphold better conversation online than I do in person. Uh, that's me trying to combine, like, the past two years of self-reflection into one sentence, so, youd' understand if I say that we're just skimming on the surface of that issue. Can I bar topic #3? Lol. Sorry to be such a hassle, I just think I'm setting myself up for a commentstorm I'm too tired to care about right now. =P

So, look. I found out what steampunk was just a few months ahead of the curve, apparently, and I really enjoyed it. However, the influx of newb idiocy (DO PEOPLE READ EVEN THREE POSTS BACK, AT ALL?) and lack of ingenuity being shown just seems to reaffirm my dislike for popular fashion. Popular fashion kills everything. I enjoy steampunk but if I see one more person spraypaint that fucking multibarrel nerf gun I'm going to strangle them. (PLEASE. INGENUITY. WHY DO PEOPLE FIND THIS SO DIFFICULT.) /rant

On that note, these would be much cooler if I weren't currently hating on the general steampunk populace, and if they weren't so close to those drawings that showed up last year. (Unless it's the same guy, which I doubt, but then that's totally fair.)

40 days! whatthefuck That's crazy. New Shia photos. When I saw them I was like "hmm, something's wrong about theseOH Steve Martin" and now that's unbelievably hilarious and I don't think I can unconnect (similar to unseeing) it. If there is a shot, front-on, of him riding it down the street trying to look like a badass SANS Marlon Brando (I always want to type "Marlin", but that's a fish. It is Marlon, right?) hat, I will be laughing my ass off, and I will probably be the only one. But I cannot. get. the image. out. of. my head.

SON BE A DE-ENTIST...

I forgot, we totally learned about a English architect/designer in History of Furniture today called Inigo Jones. Walter was all "not Indiana Jones" and I just smiled to my dumb self because I was wearing my QC Dashing Hat shirt today. Hee. That can count to back up my 65-day post for today since it was sort of a double-post about the books. Yaaaayzors! (Which, um, has nothing to do with razors.) Unfortunately, he didn't do anything particularly interesting for me to like.

Also, the thought struck me that good spelling, besides having parents who throw around foreign words in both serious and stupid manner, is probably greatly aided by parents who talk with medical terminology all the time. You get to learn big words and crazy spellings and it's easy to find certain roots.

What does make me wonder is the people who put no effort into foreign words... they don't try to pronounce it, and it's even more confusing when it's phonetic and they don't try to learn how to spell it, either. I kind of lose a little respect for all the Dayton kids in my Hawaiian history classes who confuse all the names but don't put any effort into learning the differences. Yeah, I joke about them all being "K-something" too, but I do at least put in the effort to spell the names correctly even if I have trouble remembering who they are. Because to be honest, I do that with other histories, too. (Ask me in a year if I remember the difference between Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI and I'm pretty sure I will have forgotten most of what I'm learning in History of Furniture right now.)

However. Liliuokalani? Not that hard, people, growthefuckup.

Now French, that's another matter... =P

(I would love to know, from a person who's had to learn French and English as second languages and actually understands languages rather than memorizes them, which is more difficult. There is a good joke my dad has told about all the different sounds for "ough"--through, rough, trough, bough, and I know I'm missing at least one other really weird one...)

I forgot to say earlier that I'm excited for my final project in ceramics. I don't know what my second one will be, but for my first one I've had the idea for a while to do some sort of little shrine. I like the idea of a shrine, just a small note of holiness or sacredness in the middle of something else, sort of like the torii. (Which, incidentally, everyone here [like Waler, who I presume is Japanese] pronounces "tori-i" which I am often tempted to go back and tell Mrs. Steiritz she was pronouncing it wrong.) Anyway, the only problem is that our final projects need to show not only skill but thought and they can't be just some small simple things. Obviously one small shrine is not much to work with, and the only idea I had was that I am kind of fascinated with the idea of the evil eye, because stylistically it's a very beautiful thing, often. So I had the idea to do shrines to the five senses, which got me kind of excited. (Woo, concepts) So I have to figure out a way for them to "fit together" as it were, but I'm going to do five little boxy-shriney things and I have the basic ideas down. For sight, the evil eye, but everything painted on, so you have to use your vision to understand it. For taste, a cup that looks like a shrine, and probably something to do with the layout of the tastebuds. (That idea is kind of weak but I can't think of anything better.) For touch, a box that you can't see what's inside, but you can feel different surfaces and textures. For smell, a cool incense burner. (Got any good ideas on that one? I'd love to do a dragon but that's a bit stereotypical for my tastes.) And for sound, a box that will have a side that can be rubbed like one of those percussion things with the grooves, and chimes hanging inside, and I'm thinking about trying to make a whistle or something and putting it in the box, too.

Good thing is, I have a little more time to work out the design because I have to finish all the galzing with my current slab projects. ;D

[EDIT] Random thought, feel free to input if you know anything, I'm very curious; I like fonts, and I find it fascinating that there are so many ways to express the same number of symbols with it still being understandable. Because I mean, you look at some "g"s and they have the hook, while other ones have that whole loop underneath; and when I first learned cursive a "Q" looked kind of like a "Z", but now it looks like a "Q". (tangent: back to my thoughts about age and education--it's interesting to see older books and see how old and out-of-touch the information is to today. Which makes me wonder about any kids I have/will associate with... what ideas will I teach them that may be wrong, but I learned were right? Like PLUTO IS AN EFFING PLANET. [lol, I am already most defintiely in the Facebook group "when I was your age, Pluto was a planet"] I just think it's a curious thought.) ANYWAY, what about Chinese and Japanese and Korean and those type of languages where there are so many different symbols and every little mark matters? (What do their keyboards look like? I feel stupid and ignorant asking that question, but it's better to ask and show you want to learn, in my opinion, than wait until a later moment to prove you know nothing.) Do they have "fonts", so to speak? Would such stark differences like g's and Q's constitute different words? I mean, it seems like it should, to me, but I don't know any of those languages. I suppose I should ask Emi, she could at least tell me about Japanese.

I think I will do that, yes.

[EDIT2] I am slowly regaining control of my muscles. This is a good thing. (Specifically, upper arm/shoulders.)

Also, I've been forgetting to say that I have actually gained respect for Elvis, because he thought Scientology was a bunch of cultish nutters. And something else, which I'm sure I'll bring up another time, but anyway. Elvis is no longer haunting me, he's decent.

On the other hand, learning about WWII in history has been interesting. I did not know they did lots of nuclear testing on Christmas Island. Which, ah, makes me wonder how effective or whatever Jimmy Buffett's song is.

Man, it already feels like Spring Break. That is awesome. The only thing I really, really need to do right now is figure out registration stuff and write up one assignment and I will be good. a lot of people have said they feel like it's a Friday today, plus like half of the people don't show up for classes and a lot of the teachers have cancelled because they have some convention or something to go to this week. The library is closed, so there's no one but staff hanging out there.

Ceramics is coming along pretty good, my "plate" made it through with only one small crack, easily fixed with glaze, and even if it breaks in the kiln it will be fixable. I kind of wish I could finish the bird bath right now, though. Grr. Anyway, one effect I was going for didn't really work so I think I'll have to play with it a little, and I'm hoping it will turn out good. And then the raku piece won't be fired until after break, so all in all I have a grand total of zero pieces finished for this grading, haha.

Oh, I almost completely forgot about that petal cup... I wonder if it made it through?

Today I think I am just going to roll up in a ball and die. I am crampy despite attempts to up my iron and potassium levels, exhausted and muscle-sore from surfing (I would like to not use my shoulders all day thankyouverymuch), and the back of my legs hurts a lot from the sunburn from Saturday still. Also my face is kind of red and I think I may have burnt my lips? They don't hurt at all but they look kind of swollen and red at the edges, as if I had been licking them and they got chapped. It's weird. Plus I had a headache since last night (a very heavy and squinty one), so I drank some caffiene (which is supposed to aggravate cramps), but hey, I am a little more awake and my headache is gone. Unfortunately they didn't have plain tea so diet coke with lime is okay but lots of empty calories and I'm not really a coke person so boo. (Run-on much?)

Otherwise, I wrote up a list of the books I got from the free section of the library:
--The Madonna in Art, 1897; really neat cover with stamped lilies and gilt, neat illustrations.
--Legends of the Madonna, 1872; the most amazing cover with gilt stamping and gilt edges on the paper, unfortunately falling apart in my hands. =(
--Christ in the Ancient World, 1933; very small and cute, notes on the inside from 1935.
--Representative Short Stories, 1924; stamped cover w/ floral pattern, notes from 1927, illustrated.
--Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, 1923; stamped and printed cover illustration, illustrated, original copyright 1878.
--The Serpent and the Satellite, 1953; interesting book about symbols in religious history.
--Levitation, 1928; stamped gilt cover, sounds like it would be a somewhat historically funny read.
--The Syrian Christ, 1924; stamped gilt cover, orig. copyright 1916
--St. Augustine, 1933
--Journal of Tyerman and Bennet, Vols. 1 & 2, 1832; illustrated publication of original journals from 1821 to 1829 (that's three years difference... wow)
--Gilbert and Sullivan Songbook, not terribly old, my guess 60's-80's? Two-tone ink. Just picked it up for kicks.
--Fairy Tales, Brothers Grimm, 1966
--Magic House of Numbers, 1957; math tricks for learning/teaching/fun
--Digging for History: Archeology discoveries throughout the world, 1945 to 1959, 1960
--Bermudiana, 1936

Oh hells yes. I dunno, I really appreciate being able to hold something and just sort of feel the gaping history or importance of it, especially if it's something small. And I know, these books are probably not worth much to collectors or anything, but I don't care, it's all about the history for me. Being able to hold something in my hands, in the case of the oldest books, that is one hundred and seventy-five years old. And back then it was three-years-old information, so "brand new". Utterly...wow.

Other fun things I've been meaning to post about! Yesterday surfing, we had trouble starting a fire because it was so windy, and out of all of us I was the only scout there and I got to show off my skills (sort of--I just gave some advice because they guys were having too much fun "being guys" and being in charge of the fire/coals/grilling). BUT, I did regret leaving my purse in the car (because of my wallet and phone); my pocket knife was in there, too. Could have shown off my engineering skills... A guy came down the beach asking if anyone had paper or anything to burn with. I was only half paying attention but I did finally listen enough to catch on that he was asking if anyone had a bong or anything, which was hilarious since a lot of the people there actually do smoke fairly regularly, but didn't have anything with them. He decided we would all try to MacGuyver something (esp. involving an aluminum can if he could find one). I think it goes to show...something... that my first thoughts were: "I wish I knew how a bong worked" and "Damn, I left my pocketknife up in the car." So, yeah. Then he came back and asked the four of us sleeping on the beach if "we burned" and I said no, so he had me give him a handshake-sort-of-thing and was all "good for you, good for you". (I dunno, what do you call it when you grab their hand but your hand is facing upward rather than down... like... a bro-handshake or something?) Anyway it was hilarious and I can honestly say that's the first tome I've ever had someone ask me if I did drugs slash wanted to. Hehe. (You think it would have happened previously in Yellow Springs somehow...lol)

I've been seeing more mongoose (mongeese? mongoosen?) on campus. They are hilariously adorable when they run.

I read a sad article the other day that bats are disappearing, and it could relate to bees disappearance; it could be all the cell signals and stuff are messing them up. That makes me soooo sad. I freaking love bats. I am especially sad that it's Little Brown Bats disappearing in New York, and possibly spreading, because that's the main bats you see at Mammoth Cave. POOR BATTIES

Bailey made an interesting point in Pacific Hist today about air raid sirens, but this is kind of anecdotal in relation to what we actually talked about. When you hear an air raid siren, he pointed out, the first thing you think is "it must be the first Monday" or whatever, not "we're having a Tsunami/natural disaster" or "we're getting nuked". My first thought is always: "TORNADO SIREN?", demonstrating, once again, that Xenia is a panicked little town of failure in that regard. (Carroll made me hate all the Xenians paranoid of tornadoes--THEY ARE NOT THAT COMMON, PEOPLE! A thunderstorm does not 100% a tornado make, so please STFU thankyouverymuch. I always want to say, "stop crying, it's just some FREAKING RAIN". Argh. I really can't express my frustration with Xenians in this regard.)

So, I'm learning that technical classes are uninteresting because they are boring. I really enjoy reading articles in science magazines and stuff because they actually relate the science to application to make it interesting. Case in point? Ceramics today. We were talking about all the chemicals that go into ceramics and glazes and firing (silica, alumina, feldspar, copper, iron, magnesium, calcium [a lot of which are oxides]) and he was trying to explain how iron, which is common in most stoneware, can have so many colors. It's all different ratios, but for example, copper red-green will give you green if you use it alone, but if you base white under it, the reaction will give you red; if you need an explanation: Statue of Liberty is copper, was red, is now green. Yes? Moving on. He was trying to express how iron is so varied, because you can have reds, yellows, and browns. The example he used is blood, and that it is red, but will turn brown, and if you repeatedly wash out a stain will leave yellow behind. We also discussed how it is blue when unoxidized, and he didn't have an example, but we told him about how blood is blue if it is not carrying oxygen (aka has already passed to your lungs and is carrying out CO₂, which I think I learned in like third grade... yay "health class" rather than "science class"). And the coolest thing? Why shrimp, lobsters, mussels, and other related things have blue blood: their blood uses copper to oxidize rather than iron. HOW COOL IS THAT. (It also made me wonder if this accounts for pink flamingos' color, since they get it from eating shrimps, and whether the same sort of thing applies to "scarlet" ibises [versus regular old white ibises].) See? This kind of thing makes me go yaaaaay chemistry! whereas last semester it was definitely I cannot fucking wait to be done with this class.

( Oh, damn, this got kind of long, lol )

Yes, that was rather long winded, but it's a lot of thoughts flying through my brain, and pretty consistently, too.

Bailey mentioned there's a movie or something coming out about... Queen Liliuokalani? that people are getting upset about because the title is "The Barbarian Princess". The creators are saying, hey, we know it's one of her nicknames, and we like her, hence the movie showing in her in good light, but the critics are saying, yes, but it's an ironic nickname to point out that though she was Hawaiian she wasn't barbaric. Which, to be fair, I think they have a point; there are a lot of idiots/ignorants in the world (hey, I used to be one of them, no thanks to you St. Brigid), but at the same time, there has to be something said for the use of irony and poeticism and things in art. (Otherwise, what's left? Surprisingly, this is coming out of the mouth of such a literalist. I hate analyzing stories for symbolism and all that shit it's "supposed" to mean; I'll draw my own conclusions. And yes, I used to be a rather literal reader. [Thanks again, St. Brigid!]) Plus, I now have such a ridiculously sarcastic/cynical tone (thanks to Mr. Soucek and Laura, interestingly enogh), that since a blog is my preferred manner of keeping track of everything, it's going to be difficult in the future to tell my tone. (Hence why I am an advocate of emoticons on the internet--we have no face or voice, so it's like a little face to express a little hint of the intended emotion. And then the only problem is something else I like to think about--learned context. I sometimes think that certain word patterns have certain effects on what I'm reading/writing because of the context I learned them in or the way I heard them, and I doubt these apply for other people. Which makes communication all the more difficult, now, doesn't it?)

In History of Furniture the other day, Walter (oh, Takeda... he's such a grumpy old character, like a sort of rude version of Mr. Hemmert who likes to talk a bit more) decided he would teach us the most necessary French phrase: "Talk to my arse, I have a headache." Which because I didn't take French I didn't quite catch all the words, spellings, but as far as I got down was "Parle a mon cule, ma tete (which has an accent grave on the first "e", right?) --somethingImissed--". Haha. If one of you Francophiles would kindly correct me, I am always up for linguistics...

Honestly I'm sort of jealous of my cousin. He's doing an yearlong exchange program in Argentina, so we found out he not only gets to be fluent in Argentinian Spanish, but he's learning French, too. And here I am in Hawaii, deprived of being allowed to learn Hawaiian, when classes here are such a joke I could have soooo easily caught up... *tears* (Note to self, you need to email/chat with the professor to see if there are courses online or something!)

By the way, are any of you out there lingust...i...philes? (Linguists? Er... how do you say "lover of languages"?) I have been thinking I should start trying to write a paragraph a day in Spanish to practice (ack, I am so out of it! Haven't studied for over a year) and throwing in other stuff every once in a while, maybe Polish or Hawaiian or whatever. And does anyone know if there are places online where you can learn a language and actually learn it, not memorize phrases? Danke...

See? I picked up lots of little turns of phrase in other languages from my parents. Like "c'est la gruyiere" from my dad, who speaks Franglais with my uncle [they both took French at Carroll], and so I know lots of butchered French like that. But I mean, I throw "bitte" and "danke" around all the time, which I picked up from my mom, and there's always "gesundheit" and "nastrovia" [sp?] and "garagekey!" [butchered intentionally by my family, but then I do not know the real spelling, either] and many many other things. Plus lots of little linguistic jokes from high school, like the elephant poem the French kids have to learn Freshman year. So probably the most French I can put together is not terribly impressive: "L'elefante se douche, douche, douche, l'elefante se mouche, mouche, mouche" and I don't even know the spelling, that's my best gues. (And "merde!" [thank you Franzie]) Although it was fun to learn about trompe l'oeil (pretend that o/e is mushed together, I'm lazy yanno?) in history of furniture when it was the name of the CD by Malajube (French Canadian band so I can only guess at like 40% of their lyrics... Oh! "Autobus!" That must mean bus! nurr nurr) that I got for Christmas.

Um, yeah. I am soooo just rambling. I need to grab dinner before the cafe (pretend there's an accent, I always spell it with one, just like I write facade with that curly under the c, I just don't know the keystrokes) so I'm posting this and I'll be back to edit it in like... um... a half an hour.

bee ar bee, el oh el

(By the by, when I'm reading things like that I hear "brb" and "lol" phonetically by letter, but "rofl" is phonetically by word and "wtf" and "omg" come out as the phrases "whatthefuck" and "oh my god", respectively. Anyone else want to throw in their two cents on literary quirks?)

( [EDIT] kk back--oh shit, I wrote a lot, so I'm cutting the rest )

[EDIT2] Just kidding, wanted to throw this out there, too. I think the island on the banner of this blog is an east-facing view of Chinaman's hat. If not, it's really fucking close to being it.